Aging and Exercise

 As we grow older, maintaining our health and vitality becomes increasingly important, and exercise plays a pivotal role in this pursuit. Aging naturally brings changes to our bodies, including decreased muscle mass, reduced bone density, and slower metabolism. Engaging in regular physical activity helps counteract these effects, promoting not only physical strength but also mental well-being.

Exercise supports cardiovascular health, improves balance and flexibility, and enhances mobility, all of which contribute to a higher quality of life and greater independence. Beyond the physical benefits, staying active can reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and osteoporosis. It also stimulates cognitive function, potentially delaying the onset of age-related mental decline.

In essence, exercise is not just about adding years to life but adding life to years. It empowers older adults to stay active, engaged, and healthy, making the aging process more graceful and fulfilling. Recognizing the value of movement at every stage encourages us to embrace exercise as a lifelong habit that enriches both body and mind.

Sarcopenia, or age-related muscle loss, typically begins around 30 years of age. It is a progressive loss of muscle mass and strength as well as function. 10% to 20% of older adults experience decreased mobility, higher risk of falls, and bone fragility. Hormonal changes and inactivity are the key factors. It is a progressive decline in which we lose 3% to 5% of our muscle mass per decade. A sedentary lifestyle is the simplest factor we can change. 

I cannot say that one exercise type is best, as combinations of training techniques show the best results. That is to say, a mix of aerobic, strength, and balance training will serve the older athlete well. How you mix these techniques is up to you and your doctor. The total time per week that you want to fill is 150 minutes. 

The best exercise for aging is a combination of aerobic, strength, and balance activities. Key exercises include walking, swimming, cycling, yoga, tai chi, and lifting weights. These activities maintain mobility, prevent falls, and improve cardiovascular health. Strength training also maintains bone density. Together, these activities prevent falls and related injuries.

Training frequency can be as simple as making these daily activities. One can also break the training out over alternating days. How you choose to fit this in is up to you. I find alternating days works best for me with strength training while walking daily, sometimes multiple walks per day.

Strength training can be as simple as push-ups, pull-ups, and squats. The only equipment needed is a pull-up bar. Too easy. 

Lifting weights is also excellent in regard to fighting muscle loss. Key exercises would include some rowing or pull-down exercise for your back, shoulders, and biceps. A pushing exercise for chest, shoulders, and arms. Also, include squats or deadlifts for legs. Done properly and with correct form, these three exercises will work your three major muscle groups and a number of supporting muscles. All you would need after that is something for your core, your abdominals. 

Muscles stiffen with age as well. This makes daily activities difficult. Putting on socks and tying shoes should not leave one breathless. Stretching regularly is imperative. You do not have to break a sweat stretching, nor does it have to hurt. Gentle stretching will improve mobility and flexibility when done daily. 

Check with your physician to be certain your health can handle what you are thinking about doing. Stay strong.

Push Ups.

 Push ups. We have all done them. Have we done them right? Some have and some have not. This is an important exercise for fitness and body stability. Whether you have done them before or not is not the point. The point is they are are marker of health. The more you do the better your health. 

The more repetitions you can do the better your physical and cardiovascular health is. You will find that, at higher repetitions, your heart is beating faster and you are breathing harder. 

This is a weight bearing exercise. As such it will strengthen your bones as well as the supporting muscles and tendons. Bone density is a marker tracked as you get older. This lowers your risk for breaking bones later in life. 

How may should you be able to do? Strength declines with age unless you fight it tooth and nail. How many push ups you can do will naturally vary by age. 

• Men (Standard Push-ups)
• 20–29: 15–24 (Avg) / 35–45+ (Exc)
• 30–39: 12–24 (Avg) / 30–40+ (Exc)
• 40–49: 10–20 (Avg) / 25–35+ (Exc)
• 50–59: 8–15 (Avg) / 20–30+ (Exc)
• 60+: 6–12 (Avg) / 20–29+ (Exc)
• Women (Modified/Knee Push-ups)
• 20–29: 10–20 (Avg) / 25+ (Exc)
• 30–39: 10–19 (Avg) / 22+ (Exc)
• 40–49: 8–15 (Avg) / 20+ (Exc)
• 50–59: 5–12 (Avg) / 15+ (Exc)
• 60+: 3–10 (Avg) / 12+ (Exc

I am at the age where I should only have to do a few; however, I am working on getting one arm push ups. Do not let me out do you. 

10% to 15% can perform 50 or more push ups while 25% cannot perform even one push up. This is important as a measure of health and strength. It is a large reason behind the military doing so many. Being able to do 40+ consecutively significantly lowers cardiac risks. This exercise gives you a strong chest, shoulders, and triceps. It also engages your core for stability and your thighs for support. 

How do you get better at doing push ups? You do more. Break it down into sets and start with 50 reps total per day. For instance you will do 5 sets of 10 repetitions daily for two weeks. At this point you may move to two sets of 25. Then, you keep at it to get your 50 each day.

Maybe you like to bulldoze through things. I get that. You want to do 50 straight away. Do as may full body push ups that you can. When you hit positive failure, that point at which you cannot do another push up, bend your legs. Do the rest of your 50 from your knees. This is a powerful volume building technique. As you do this daily you will find yourself doing higher and higher repetitions at the full plank position. 

However you do it, get there. Push ups are important to your body and its function. First, talk to your doctor about what your health and fitness goals are. Make sure that you are physically capable of handling what you are thinking.

Push ups. Do it now, move!

HIIT: Is It Worth It?

 High intensity interval training (HIIT) is it worth it? This is a training technique that should last about 20 to 30 minutes. Doing it for longer brings risks, but is doable for the advanced athlete. 

Typically windsprints and Tabata drills are what comes to mind with HIIT. Personally, I like these styles of training. These are fast, full body, effective techniques. These, and other styles or routines, do bring inherent risks. These risks can be dealt with as your ability increases. 

Let’s first look at some of the risks of such training. Primarily, due to the force being exerted tendon and muscle injuries are possible. Warm ups are highly recommended. Stretching afterwards is also helpful in avoiding pain and injury. 

Like any good thing, too much can be harmful. Cortisol, a stress hormone, builds up rapidly. This can be dealt with through nutrition. You want to have adequate antioxidants in your diet. Antioxidants will scavenge both free-radicals and cortisol. This results in less point workout pain, or delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). 

Joint injuries are also a risk. Focusing on form is going to mitigate this risk. Proper form, in all exercise techniques and styles, is paramount. There are videos, articles, trainer advice, coaching and more available for how to perform an exercise and routine. Please, take advantage of all resources. Also, talk to your doctor so any physical concerns can be addressed. I ease into new exercises so I can listen to my body and how it responds to the new stress. Form, as stated, is the goal, the right movement for body type and structure. As with any skill, practice makes better.

Now, why do HIIT? This type of training maximizes fat loss, builds muscle, and does this in a minimum amount of time. I like the long workouts, I get that. Sometimes those are not possible due to time constraints. 10, 15, 20 minutes of a full body high intensity cycle can fit the bill. At my last job I’d have an hour for lunch. I would spend that time in the gym. I had only an hour. Some of you may have this constraint as well. 

Most workouts should take 30 minutes minimum. This is how long a body takes to start burning fat under moderate intensity. For HIIT you need a minimum of 10 to 15 minutes. The difference has to do with HIIT using larger proportions of muscle to complete. Tabata Runs are a perfect example. You run hard, 80 to 90 percent of maximum effort, do 20 seconds. Then walk/jog for 10 seconds. This pattern is done for eight cycles or four minutes. Muscle engagement in this is far more intense than a moderate jog for 30 minutes. 

Look at your endurance athletes versus sprinters. Which has a more muscular build? Sprinters are far more muscular overall than distance runners. This is due to how the body is used and the relative intensity over the duration of the exercise. 

Being a full body, or near full body, event makes for effective and efficient workouts. These type of workouts burn fat rapidly while conducting them. The fat burn is more than extended periods of moderate intensity workouts. Say, jogging at a moderate pace in comparison to HIIT. You will burn more calories in HIIT in 20 minutes than 30 minutes of jogging. This also improves your cardiovascular health at a quicker rate. 

Equipment is a minimum. I use my porch and a door frame pull-up bar. You can essentially do these workouts at the local park as easily in your garage. A pull-up bar is not going to break the bank. I have jogged to my local park, used the equipment there for pulling and for dips, and then walked back. All I had to give was the time and dedication to do the exercises. 

In the beginning you will want to start at 10 to 20 minutes. These are intense workouts and will push you to your limits. Advanced athletes can handle more time like an hour.