Exercise and Aging

I’m a little sad today because one of my new members in boot camp has dropped out, and I think it was my “tough love” that was behind her decision.

The issue of age came up and she said “I’m too old to be doing these exercises”. She went on to tell me about how many children she had so she knew what pain was like, and she didn’t want to feel any pain and (here’s the catcher) she wanted to be there for her children and not have them worry about her. By the way, her children are all grown.

First of all, I do not try to sugarcoat or modify my recommendations to what people want to hear. My mission is to teach people what they need to hear. In this case, it was simply if you want to be there for your children and not have them taking care of you because you are someday unable to get out of your chair, then you owe it to yourself to be here exercising now.

Safety is always a number one priority. In my boot camp, which is far from military style, if any exercise feels compromising or too advanced, I always provide an alternative exercise in its place.

Often the drills are timed which means everybody is working for the same amount of time but at their own speed and level of difficulty. Even when the drills are not timed, one person might be able to finish 3 sets of exercises for 12 repetitions each and another may only be able to complete 2 sets with less repetitions. That’s okay. Everybody’s own level and ability is personal. We work together and rest together as a team.

It is very true that when we age, our metabolism slows down, we have less energy and our muscles experience a gradual loss because of age or under-use. This is certainly not a reason to stop exercising.

Since muscle is active tissue, it is how we burn most of our calories during the day, that is why, the less muscle you have, the more body fat you will gain if you eat the same amount of food. Building more muscle through resistance training will increase your metabolism.

Muscle loss is also related to the onset of many bone diseases. I hope you all know by now the benefits of strength training for osteoporosis. The muscle that holds our spine in alignment can deteriorate as we age and cause back problems. The same is true for the muscle and tendons around the joints like your hip and knee.

Resistance training builds muscle at any age. Here is something extraordinary… after just six months of resistance training you can literally reverse the aging process in the muscle tissue. The muscle tissue actually reverts back to its younger version after simple weight training.

I know I am much stronger at 51 than I ever was 20 years ago or even 30 years ago. (Oh if I only knew then what… okay, that’s another story!)

Are you beginning to see how not exercising and leading a sedentary life can have a considerable adverse effect on the quality of your life as you age?

So… that’s my tough love… you need to exercise! Age should be a reason why, not an excuse! Was the truth too hard on my boot camper? What do you think? I hope you will post your comments.

Be well,

Lauren

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