Health & Fitness

Your never to old to get fit! Creaky Limbs? Easily puffed? Whatever your age, there are gentle ways to get in shape. Excercise can slow or even reverse the ageing process, fighting off diabetes, heart disease and osteoporosis. But while we all understand the health benefits, what if you’re someone who hasn’t exercised for years – if ever?
It’s never too late to get fit, says Carlton Cooke, Carnegie professor of sport and excercise at Leeds Metropolitan University. “Too many people give up their usual form of excercise when they age, when what they should be doing is adapting their exercise to suit their changing physiology and lifestyle,” he says. Here we present a decade-by-decade guide to keeping you in fighting form, no matter what your age or current fitness level.

40′S

IN OUR 40′s, our heart rate increases and the proportion of muscle in our bodies starts to decrease, both of which slow down our metabolism – so we may see the first signs of middle-age spread and there will be extra pressure on our hearts during excercise. Meanwhile, our production of growth hormone decreases; this is vital for muscle, bone and tendon strength for excercise efficiency and injury prevention, as well as making your body use fat reserves as a primary fuel source.

THE BEST EXERCISE FOR YOU: You need a combination of high-intensity exercise and strength training. High-intensity exercise such as running helps us to produce more growth hormone. Meanwhile, strength training – press-ups or sit-ups – combats age-related muscle loss, which slows down your metabolism. If you’re coming back to exercise after years of sedentary activity, don’t ignore your break. Countless people in their 40′s suffer with injuries such as Achilles tendonitis and shin splints which are caused by pushing themselves too hard, too fast and for too long. Never increase the duration or intensity of your regular exercise session by more than 10 per cent each week and seek professional guidance with injury issues. See your GP for a full check-up before undertaking any new exercise regime.

HOW TO DO IT: We recommend a mixture of moderate aerobic work such as cycling, swimming or running – incorporating short bursts of speed where possible. So while jogging, run for 60 seconds at a pace where you could maintain a full conversation, then run for ten seconds at a pace where you could manage only single words. Combine this with one or two strength-focused sessions a week, with exercises such as press-ups, sit-ups, squats and lunges. It could be worth some people in the 40 to 50 age range to sign up for a charitable challenge – preferably one that seems too difficult to do and is nine to 12 months away. Start out with a ten-minute excercise session, three to four times a week, increasing by just a few minutes each week until you reach 30 to 40 minutes. Precede each session with a five-minute warm-up and end with gentle stretching.

 

50′s

ON REACHING 50 you may start to feel the impact of spending your working life sitting at a desk in the form of lower back, neck and shoulder pains, expanding waistlines, trapped nerves and headaches. With women in particular, the reduction in peak bone mass accelerates from the 50′s onwards because of hormonal changes linked to the menopause, making osteoporosis a major concern. This leaves joints and bones susceptible to overuse and misuse injury

THE BEST EXERCISE FOR YOU: Because of the risks to joints and bones, consult your GP before beginning high-impact exercise such as running. But weight-bearing, non-impacting exercises such as walking is essential to prevent or delay osteoporosis. Meanwhile, strengthening the muscles in your midriff becomes important – this ensures good posture during exercise, minimising the risk of fractures as well as muscle imbalances [so avoidng injury and pain]. One of the biggest hurdles to getting unfit 50-year-olds to exercise is that of embarrassment, so we recommend an activity you can do at home or with friends. A stretching DVD or Wii Fit are fantastic for alleviating nerves.

HOW TO DO IT: Start with any low-impact activity that encourages a range of motion of the skeleton, such as walking or swimming. Then for a good form of weightbearing exercise – activity on your feet – start with Pilates or yoga to strengthen the muscles. Also do three or four, ten to 20 minute sessions of steady, low intensity walking or swimming sessions a week, increasing each session by a few minutes after each week, up to 30 minutes in duration.

 

60′s

 WHEN YOU REACH 60: Lung and artery elasticity are declining rapidly so exercising regularly is essential. In your 20′s, you can take a month off exercise and easily get back to exercising, but in your 60′s you’ll find it significantly harder.

 THE BEST EXERCISE FOR YOU: The focus now should be on cardiovascular fitness – building and maintaining lung and heart strength through aerobic exercise that is low impact on joints and would advise swimming, walking, badminton and bowls. Don’t forget your pelvic floor. Stress, incontinence, the involuntary leakage of urine when coughing, laughing and exercise, affects half of all women in menopause age.

HOW TO DO IT: Recovery time time from exercise is often longer now, so start with ten-minute sessions and increase as your own body dictates, but don’t exceed half an hour. Start with three ten-minute sessions of steady, low-intensity exercise a week. Try a couple of sessions doing light cardiovascular exercise such as walking where you have never completely out of breath and bodyweight resistance sessions such as slow, controlled press-ups on your knees, slowly increasing the length of your workout until you’re exercising for 25 minutes three time a week. To up the intensity without risking your joints, Nordic walking – propelling yourself while walking with poles – utlilises 90 per cent of the body’s muscles while providing support.

 

70′s

PROBLEMS WITH OSTEOPOROSIS and OSTEOPENIA - natural, age related bone density loss – are major causes of broken bones among people in their 70′s.   Elasticity in muscles and tendons decreases dramatically and the more flexible you are, the less strain you put on your cardiovascular system performing simple functions.     By 70, there has been a decrease in the body’s capacity to produce vitamin D, increasing the risk of depression, chronic fatigue, weight loss and stroke.

THE BEST EXERCISE FOR YOU:  The focus should be on weight-bearing exercise without risking joint or bone damage.  Bowls or joining a walking club will strengthen your cardiovascular system and boost your vitamin D through exposure to sunlight.  

HOW TO DO IT:  Do two supervised, 20-minute classes a week of yoga, Pilates or t’ai chi and two ten to 15 minute sessions of low-to-non-compact light cardiovascular exercise such as swimming.   Incorporating exercise into everyday activities is useful at 70 – getting up and down from a chair, getting out of bed, climbing the stairs.   Pderhaps you should try an adapted ‘squat’ to strengthen the buttocks, thigh muscles and hip stabilisers.    Stand in front of a chair, hold your arms out in front and follow the motion of sitting down slowly until you are about five to 10cm above the seat, hold for three to five seconds, then slowly stand up.    Repeat ten time, once in the morning and once in the evening.

 

80′s

AT 80 IT MIGHT SEEM TO LATE to exercise, but nothing could be further from the truth, particularly to avoid falling – the leading cause of death in the over-80′s.   More than half of those over 80 are affected by debilitating muscle wastage where they have difficulty performing everyday tasks such as cooking, while the elasticity of arteries and veins will have decreased, placing large strains on the weakened heart muscles.   Physical exercise helps 80-year-olds maintain their mobility and independence.   Dance, Arts and craft classes, even daily chores such as gardening are a great way to stay active.

THE BEST EXERCISE FOR YOU:  There is no one-size-fits-all approach, but you might consider walking, climbing stairs and armchair exercises such as lifting yourself out of a chair ten times or squeezing a tennis ball.   Avoid  overhead movements such as cutting hedges, which can place a strain on the heart.    Aim for daily, gentle, no-impact cardiovascular exercise such as seated marching for five minutes at a time plus some light stretching.

For further information contact info@cocoonclub.co.uk