How to stay Forever Fit and Firm - Part 4, Strength Training

In my opinion strength training is the best thing you can do to improve your health and fitness level as you age. Strength training is so important because around age 40 you start to experience muscle loss. “If you don’t do anything to replace the lean muscle you lose, you’ll increase the percentage of fat in your body, “says Dr. Edward Laskowski, a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Left unabated you can lose up to 10 lbs of muscle each decade starting at age 40.

The reason that loosing muscle is so detrimental to your fitness is because muscle is the component of your body that burns the majority of the calories you consume each day. Therefore, when you lose muscle your body requires less calories to function and consequently those extra calories you consume are stored as fat around your waist ,hips, and other places.

Your body constantly burn calories, even when we’re doing nothing. This resting metabolic rate is much higher in people with more muscle. Every pound of muscle uses about 6 calories a day just to sustain itself, while each pound of fat burns only 2 calories daily. That small difference can add up over time. In addition, after a bout of resistance training, muscles are activated all over your body, increasing your average daily metabolic rate.

Fortunately strength training can mitigate and even reverse the loss of muscle at any age. Thus, increasing the amount of calories you need to function. That’s why you hear some people say that after they have been strength training for awhile their appetites increase. This is a sign that they are starting to build muscle.

Increasing your metabolism isn’t the only benefit of strength training. It also, helps you:

•  Develop strong bones. By stressing your bones, strength training increases bone density and reduces the risk of osteoporosis.

• Control your weight. As you gain muscle, your body burns more calories more efficiently which can result in weight loss. The more toned your muscles, the easier it is to control your weight.

• Reduce your risk of injury. Building muscle protects your joints from injury. It also helps maintain flexibility and balance which is crucial to remaining independent as you age.

• Boost your stamina. Building muscle helps to increase your energy level.

• Improve your sense of well-being. Strength training can boost your self-confidence, improve your body image, and reduce the risk of depression.

• Sleep better. People who strength train on a regular basis are less likely to have insomnia.

• Manage chronic conditions. Strength training can reduce the signs and symptoms of many chronic conditions, including arthritis, back pain, depression, diabetes, obesity, and osteoporosis.

How to stay Forever Fit and Firm

My name is Darvis Simms, and I am a personal trainer. Over the last 17 years , I’ve helped hundreds of people get healthy and stay fit. In this series of posts, I want to help you realize your fitness potential by showing you what I do myself and with my clients. I’m writing these posts based on the things that I have learned and applied in my exercise program over the last 30 years in my quest to stay fit and firm as I age. My methods are not based on scientific theory but rather on results that I have attained for both myself and my clients.

As I mature and my client base matures, I’m beginning to specialize in fitness over age 40. I’m in my fifties so I understand the challenges you face as you fight the aging process. I am stronger, fitter, and I feel better than I did in my twenties. I’m writing this series of posts to show you how to look and feel as good, or even better, in your forties and fifties than you did in your twenties.

People seem to think that once they reach the age of forty, their bodies start to deteriorate , slipping down the slope into old age. They blame their lack of energy, their pudgy appearance, and their aches and pains on “getting old”. Most of these symptoms are however the result of years of negative thinking, lack of exercise, and poor dietary choices. The key to keeping your body fit and firm as you age is making healthy lifestyle choices on a daily basis.

It’s a proven fact that people who make healthy lifestyle choices live longer and have a better quality of life than those who adopt unhealthy habits. So, deciding to incorporate healthy habits into your life is the first step to getting and staying fit and firm with age. The next step is choosing those activities that are the most beneficial in your quest to stay fit and firm.

Those, including myself, who stay fit and firm as the years pass find that a positive state of mind, and a proper mix of strength training, cardiovascular exercise, and balanced nutrition is fundamental to getting and staying healthy as you mature. People, such as Jack LaLanne and Al Beckles are examples of the benefits of living a healthy lifestyle.

Jack LaLann, who recently passed away, was a living icon to the benefits of healthy thinking, eating, and exercise. Over the years he performed amazing feats of strength and conditioning on his birthdays as he got older. Jack was in great shape, and worked outs two hours each day, devoting one and a half hours to strength training well into his nineties. This is a true testament to the value of strength training as you age.

Al Beckles is a legend in the bodybuilding world. At the age of 55, Al placed second in the Mr. Olympia competition. The Mr. Olympia Competition is the premier bodybuilding event which thousands of competitors from across the world dream of winning each year. Al Beckles competed well into his sixties because his physique was still phenomenal and better than competitors more than half his age.

While I don’t place myself in the same class with Jack LaLanne and Al Beckles I can tell you the value that healthy lifestyle habits have in my life. As mentioned , I am in my fifties and I keep my body fat at 10 percent or less. My fitness program consists of four strength training sessions each week followed by 20 minutes of cardio. I can chest press 100 pound dumbbells for 10 repetitions and leg press more than 1000 pounds, neither of which I could do in my twenties.

I’m writing this weekly series of posts called Forever Fit and Firm with the hope of changing your concept of aging. You can be healthy, strong, firm, and fit regardless age, and I’m going to show you how.

20 Minute Workout Express

Think you can't get a workout in this week because you are pushed for time?  Checkout my 20 minute workout routines on Health Fitness Nation.

The Mental And Physical Requirements Of Staying Fit and Firm With Age

Last Wednesday I spoke to a group of people at an Active Adult Community about the mental and physical requirements of staying healthy, fit, and firm over the age of 50.  I explained that they had to incorporate the following three things into their lives to do so: a positive mental attitude, a fitness program built on strength training, and a healthy diet designed around balance and moderation.

I feel as though I’m qualified to speak on the subject because I’m an ACE certified personal trainer with over 17 years of experience in the health and fitness industry.  Most importantly, I’m 52 years old and healthier and fitter than I have ever been in my life.  So, I can speak on this subject not only from scientific facts, but also from my experience (proof in the pudding).

A Positive Mental Attitude

I think a positive mental attitude about aging is the first and most important step to staying healthy, fit and firm as you age.  I believe the mental vision you have of aging is what you become.  Your body renews itself every 11 months, and that means every cell in your body is replaced.  I think that if you visualize yourself as becoming weak and frail as you age, your body conforms to this image over time.  Contrarily, if you imagine yourself as healthy and strong as you age, your body continues to renew itself according to this vision.   I always visualize myself as healthy and strong.

A Fitness Program Built On Strength Training

I believe strength training is the most important form of exercise you can do to stay healthy, fit and firm if you are over the age of 50.  Beginning in your 40s you naturally start to lose muscle mass, and if you don’t do anything to combat this process you can lose as much as a pound of muscle each year.  This is not good because muscle is that active component of your body that burns most of the calories you consume.  Also, muscle is what gives your body that fit and firm look.

Strength training has been proven to minimize and in some cases to reverse muscle loss due to aging.  Therefore, I recommend that you build your fitness program on strength training.  A good strength training program should consist of exercises that target all the major muscle groups and should be performed 2 to 3 times each week.  I’ve been weight lifting all of my adult life and I’m as strong and muscular as I’ve ever been.

A Healthy Diet Built Around Balance and Moderation

I was asked by one of the attendees if they could eat fried chicken?  I responded by saying that you can eat anything you desire if you do it in balance and moderation with everything you eat. 

 

I believe balance and moderation in your diet is the best solution to long-term weight management.  If you balance the amount of protein, carbohydrates and fat in your diet and practice portion control you can eat what you want.  Fad diets don’t work in the long-term because they are too restrictive as to what you can and cannot eat.

To practice balance and moderation in your diet you have to know the following two things.  First, how to classify foods into their basic sources of protein, carbohydrates, and fat.  Secondly, how to calculate your serving size.  If you master these two things then you can eat healthy anywhere.  I’ll explain how to do this in my next post, and also how I practice balance and moderation in my diet.

Keeping Your Muscle Is The Key To Fitness Over 40

Image by Rtist MrB via FlickrAs a personal trainer, I am in and out of health clubs all day. I love to observe the things people do in their efforts to "get in shape". The major thing I notice, is the over-whelming amount of cardio I see women doing while neglecting to do much strength training.

While cardio is an important part of any fitness program, it should not be the primary focus, especially if you are female and over 40 years of age. In your 20s you could knock off those extra pounds by just running on the treadmill a few extra times each week.  However, as you approach your 40s and beyond that plan isn't effective anymore and here's why.

As you enter your late 30s you start to lose muscle, and muscle is that part of your body that burns the majority of the calories that you consume each day.  A pound of muscle burns about 6 calories a day even while your are resting, and a pound of fat only burns around one calorie per day.

 If you don't do anything to combat the above scenario, you can lose as much as 10 lbs of muscle each decade beginning in your 40s.  That decreases your metabolism by about 60 calories a day every 10 years of your life.  So, that's about 21,900 calories a year that's being converted to fat, which is approximately 6 lbs of fat you gain each year.


I know, this is a very sad scenario, but there is hope.  Your savior is called strength training.  By incorporating strength training in your fitness program you can slow, and in some cases, even reverse muscle loss.  And, it's never too late to start, studies have shown the positive results of strength training in people well into their 90s.

If You Are Over 50, You Can Be Stronger In 10 Years Than You Are Now

Image via WikipediaLately I've noticed a lot of fitness videos and programs aimed at those of us over the age of 50.  It seems that these programs have good intentions, however the exercises and fitness routines they recommend are more geared toward people in retirement communities.  Just because you are over 50, you don't have to decrease your exercise intensity to the point of working out with resistance bands and light weight dumbbells.

If you are in poor physical condition, using resistance bands, and light weights is a place to start in your quest to improve your health and fitness level, but it isn't a place for you to stay for very long.  The ripe young age of 50 is where you really need to concentrate on building and maintaining your muscle mass and the best way to do this is with strength training.

Building muscle is important because you naturally start to lose your muscle mass at a rate of about 1 lb per year beginning in your 40s.   Muscle is that component of your body that makes your joints strong, keeps your metabolism high (which makes losing weight easier), and helps you remain youthful and strong.

Regular strength training can slow and even reverse muscle loss.  Studies have shown that people in their 80s and 90s can build muscle and get stronger by weight lifting.  I'm a firm believer in regular weight lifting.

I'm in my fifties and I've been weight lifting for over 30 years.  I'm stronger and more fit than I was in my 20s.  If you are over 50, starting a regular strength training program is one of the most important things you can do for your fitness.  If you start now, by the time you are in your 60s you can say, "I'm stronger now than I was 10 years ago."  Wouldn't that be awesome?






 

Two Exercises That Really Tone And Shape Your Arms

Although we are in the midst of winter, warm weather is only a few months away. Now is the time to ramp-up your fitness program in order to look your best by this coming spring. Here are two simple exercises to tone and shape your arms just in time for short-sleeve weather.

Alternating Dumbbell Curls

The alternating dumbbell curl is one of the best exercises for toning and shaping your arms. It strengthen and develop the biceps -muscles in the front of your arms and forearms. Hold a dumbbell in each hand (palms toward your body) at your side, position your feet shoulder width apart, slightly bend your knees, and hold your chest high. This is your starting position. Slowly curl one dumbbell rotating your palm outward toward your shoulder squeezing your bicep at the top of this motion. Slowly return to the start position, and repeat with the other arm. Your breathing pattern is to exhale as you curl up and inhale as you return to start.

Triceps Press-Down

The second staple exercise to tone and shape your arms is the triceps press-down. Triceps presses strengthens and develops your triceps - muscles in the back of your arms. Find the rope that has a ball on each end, and attach it to the cable machine a little above your head. Step back about a foot from the rope, position your feet shoulder width apart, and bend your knees slightly. Grasp the rope tightly with your hands resting on the balls. Bend your elbows to where your forearms are just above parallel to the floor and lift your up chest. This is your start position. Slowly press your hands down until your arms are fully extended and then slowly return to the start position. To get the full effect of this exercise, it is very important to keep your elbows still at your sides throughout the movement. Breathing pattern is to exhale as you press down and inhale as you return to start.

To be most effective, I recommend you do 3 sets of 10 repetitions of these exercises 2 times each week (with at least 2 days between sessions). Use a resistance with which the last 3 repetitions are difficult to complete.