How To Get Fit After 50
The video above features John Carter, who at 90 years of age still hikes, bikes, swims and plays sports. Doing a swan dive from the 10-foot dive board, he comments that no other 90-year-olds are well enough to join him. Indeed, it’s rare sight to see a 90-year-old doing any kind of physical activity these days.
That doesn’t mean you have to grow decrepit with age, however. You too can enjoy physical activity well into your senior years. The key, of course, is to stay active. The good news is, it’s never too late to start. My mother started a strength training program at the age of 74 after recuperating from a nasty fall, and was able to make significant gains within a couple of years.
So, if you’re ready to take control of your health, keep reading. Below, I list five key focus areas to help you stay fit after 50. Exercise may be particularly important for women entering menopause, as this is when changes in hormones begin to weaken their bones.
Postmenopausal Symptoms and Health Risks Can Be Controlled Through Proper Exercise
According to a paper1 in the Journal of Mid-Life Health, postmenopausal women “should include the endurance exercise (aerobic), strength exercise and balance exercise.” The paper recommends doing moderate aerobic activity for two hours and 30 minutes per week, and to track your target heart rate range and the intensity of your exercise by employing the talk test.
What this means is you should be able to maintain a conversation during your exercise. If you’re huffing and puffing to the point you cannot talk, you’re overexerting yourself. Deep breathing exercises, yoga and stretching are also recommended “to manage the stress of life and menopause-related symptoms.”
Just remember that physical activity, as important as it is, is not the sole factor that determines your health. As noted in a 2017 study,2 while retired adults tend to be more physically active than non-retirees, they are not likely to be following other healthy lifestyle suggestions, such as eating a healthy diet, maintaining a healthy weight, not smoking and keeping their blood pressure under control.
All of those factors, especially your diet, are important considerations if you want to live a long, healthy, active life. You can learn more about my dietary recommendations in my free nutrition plan. All of that said, the following five strategies can go a long way toward maintaining your health and fitness past the age of 50:
Tip No. 1: Walk Daily for 30 to 60 Minutes
Poor flexibility and mobility can greatly impair the quality of your movement and raise your risk of injury, so stretching is an important fitness component. There are a number of stretching techniques out there, but one of my personal favorites is Active Isolated Stretching (AIS) by Aaron Mattes, a registered kinesiotherapist and rehabilitation therapist.
A quick demonstration of how to do AIS is included above. AIS targets muscles and connective tissue in a functional pattern that mimics your spontaneous body movements, without stretching isolated muscles.
While prolonged static stretching has been the gold standard for decades, research shows this technique actually decreases blood flow within your tissue, creating localized ischemia (a restriction in blood supply) and lactic acid buildup that can lead to irritation or injury of local muscular, tendinous, lymphatic, as well as neural tissues.
As it turns out, many of the improvements you gain from stretching are related to the movement of fascia, the connective sheaths covering your muscles. When they move, they create tiny piezoelectric signals that can improve your overall health.
The AIS protocol involves repetitive stretches, performed in a specific order that target myofascial (muscle and connective tissue) restriction. By working with the primary laws of your body, it promotes elongation of muscle and fascial tissue without eliciting your body’s protective mechanisms, which actually inhibit safe, effective stretching and overall flexibility.
AIS Basics and Further Guidance
To perform AIS effectively, keep the following guidelines in mind:
- First you need to move the joint as far as you can in the direction of the stretch. This is the active part of the exercise, which activates the antagonistic muscles that inhibit the stretch. Many fail to do this and only passively stretch the muscle, and that simply will not work.
- Stretch the muscle gradually with a gentle stretch of less than 1 pound of pressure toward the end point of your range of motion, and then hold the stretch for two seconds. After two seconds, release the tension to prevent reverse contractions of the tissues being stretched.
- Do not push through the stretch; instead do multiple stretches. Done correctly, with each stretch you’ll get greater range of motion.
By improving mobility, daily stretching can also go a long way toward preventing and treating chronic back, neck and shoulder pain stemming from poor posture, overweight or excessive sitting. To ease back pain specifically, take a look at “Simple Stretches to Help Relieve Lower Back Pain,” in which you’ll find six helpful yoga-inspired stretches that target your back.
Staying Fit Beyond 50 Doesn’t Have To Be a Challenge
While it’s certainly true that the older you get, the longer it takes to radically transform your body, significant progress is possible at any age. The key is to stay consistently active. To summarize, by incorporating the following five key focus areas, you can get fit, and maintain your fitness, well into your 50s and beyond:
- Walk for 30 to 60 minutes daily
- Incorporate at least one yoga or tai chi session each week
- Strength train two to three times a week
- Do breathing exercises or meditation daily
- Stretch daily
Sources and References
- 1 Journal of Mid-Life Health 2011 Jul-Dec; 2(2): 51–56
- 2 J Am Board Fam Med. 2017 Mar-Apr;30(2):213-219
- 3 The Independent August 30, 2015
- 4 Medical News Today November 7, 2012
- 5 Medical News Today April 23, 2012
- 6 American Journal of Preventive Medicine DOI
- 7 Respirology February 2, 2014; 19(3)
- 8 WebMD March 5, 2014
- 9 Stroke 2013;45:194–199
- 10, 11 London School of Economics and Political Science November 3, 2015
- 12 Prevention January 11, 2018
- 13 NBC News September 2, 2017
- 14, 26 Institute of Science in Society May 21, 2014
- 15 PLOS ONE 2013 Apr 17;8(4):e61910
- 16 J Am Diet Assoc. 2009 Aug;109(8):1439-44
- 17 Headache 2007 May;47(5):654-61
- 18 Journal of the American College of Cardiology March 19, 2013; 61(11): 1177-1182
- 19 Reuters January 30, 2013
- 20 Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease 2016 Apr 5;52(2):673-84
- 21 The Telegraph May 10, 2016
- 22 Journal of Physical Activity and Health, Acute Effects of Yoga on Executive Function
- 23 Huffington Post June 10, 2013
- 24 New York Times March 16, 2016
- 25 Scientific American March 1, 2014
- 27 Huffington Post February 2, 2013
- 28 Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback 2004 Dec;29(4):269-78
- 29 University of Rochester
- 30 Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 2014 Apr;20(4):241-50
- 31 Physiology and Behavior December 5, 2012: 107(5); 809-813
- 32 Froniers in Psychiatry, 25 January 2013
- 33 Huffington Post January 7, 2013
- 34 J Sex Med 2010 Oct;7(10):3460-6
- 35 J Sex Med 2010 Feb;7(2 Pt 2):964-70.
- 36 Mayo Clinic Proceedings, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocp.2017.02.018
- 37 Medical News Today June 15, 2017
- 38 Science Daily June 13, 2017
- 39 Diabetes Care 2005 Mar; 28(3): 662-667
- 40 Idaho State Journal June 17, 2017
- 41 Frontiers in Psychology January 21, 2015
- 42 Yoga International, Diaphragmatic Breathing: The Antidote to Stress
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Source: http://freedombunker.com/2019/02/15/how-to-get-fit-after-50/
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Whistler Blowers, Insiders
Unfortunately, those of us who live in the united states normally have our bodies so destroyed by the work force by the age of 50 that a lot of activity is often quite impossible. When your knees are shot, your back is shot, and your shoulders are shot movement becomes all but impossible. That doesn’t even consider the stress of long hours and struggling to pay the cost of living which is quite high compared to the half a living most men make.