We all tend to believe old age will catch up with us sooner or later. Like a silly game of hide and seek, most of us think that somehow, no matter how well we "hide", we end up inevitably gray like our elders. It is then with no hesitation that when we see an individual ambling slowly down the street, cane in hand, we think that this is just the normal and natural process of life. Sure, the wrinkles will come, the gray will sprout, and with it a small degree of limited range of motion...no more back handsprings!
However, scientists are increasingly discovering that much of how we view aging, decreased strength, loss of bone density, and balance, just to name a few, are actually more due to the fact of physical inactivity then anything else! What a great piece of information! What does that mean for you? Well, for starters, now we know without a shadow of a doubt how to live a better, higher quality of life then previous generations. Moreover, we know the "secret" ingredient of of how to accomplish this. Exercise!
Let's think long term for a moment. Yes, it is true we all know how great it is to burn tons of calories in a Butts and Guts class. We feel a good muscle burn during the workout, like we accomplished something, so there is a huge degree of satisfaction that comes during and after class; not to mention the natural self confidence. But if we continue to persist, making honest commitments with ourselves and following through with the correct balance of exercise throughout the months and years, we are most certainly helping our bodies as we age. Simply put, the time and effort you spend today will undoubtedly affect your general well-being for decades to come.
I want to use bone loss as an example to further my point. Bone loss unfortunately affects millions of women and is especially common between the ages of thirty-five and menopause (average age for this is fifty-one). Generally speaking, women in this range lose a whopping one percent of their bone mass each and every year. Did you get that? One percent! Now, with a healthy lifestyle firmly in place, how much of this bone loss would you think might be avoidable? Thirty percent? One-half? How about none! The fact of the matter is there is no reason why women need to lose any at all. Ever. What's greater still is that even after menopause women performing the same exercise and nutritional regiment can continue to prevent the ailment.
Now let's put the icing on the cake. Some of this bone loss can even be regained! In a study published in the Journal of American Medical Association, fifty to seventy year old women (none whom were taking estrogen) who were lifting weights twice a week actually increased their bone density by one percent while their counterparts who did not exercise lost twice this amount. So if you already know that you suffer from this bone deficincy and were afraid of not knowing how to cope, go ahead and pick up some weights. Even if you aren't even thirty-five, it's never too early to start. And all it took was a little sweat. Who knew?
Now let's take strength as our example. As in the above example, decreases in strength start with women in their mid-thirties. Women in this age lose between one-third to one-half pound of muscle each year while replacing it with...you guessed it, fat. How much could you expect this to be prevented with exercise? Well for premenopausal women how about all! The most important key to remember is to make sure you are lifting weights twice a week while making sure those weights are heavy enough to fatigue your muscles with a predetermined number of repitions, say between eight and fifteen.
Another eye opener is that nearly two-thirds of all women seventy-five years of age and older are unable to lift a grocery bag containing a gallon of milk and a few random cans of soup. If this same group of women were actively exercising on a regular basis, for a decade or more, they would be happy to know that they would have roughly the same amount of muscle mass as a twenty-eight year old woman! Of course after menopause, due to genetics and hormonal changes some muscle loss along with fat gain may happen but experts believe that with a sound resistance based workout these losses would be kept at a minimum. Again, consistency is key here!
As for balance, the ability to keep it begins to decline in the mid-forties. If nothing is done to correct or even maintain this balance yourself, falls will be inevitable. You cannot possibly hope to maintain proper balance if your joints are not flexible and your legs and butt are weak. Scientists now believe that free-weight exercises like squats (we all love em') and deadlifts have the greatest overall effect on your muscles.
Keeping your muscles perfectly balanced as you age will not only preserve your agility but also your flexibity. Sure we might not be able to do all that we would hope to when celebrating our ninetieth birthday. That is a part of life. But keeping our quality of life is what we can do something about. Our age is simply one number of many that we all must reach sooner or later. But it is our way of life that will be remembered most!
