Time for Change Fitness: PART 3: Getting fit after 50 is all about the little things.

Why Weight Training

Why does Time for Change Fitness promote resistance training?

Many people focus on calories alone. The slash and dash mentality develops destructive patterns, like extreme calorie cuts and/or excessive aerobics. This sets off an alarm-state in the body where the body sheds muscle tissue to lessen energy demands, and stores body fat as a survival response. Once this physiological state is reached, it becomes nearly impossible to lose any more weight no matter how many calories you cut or how much aerobic work you add. What you end up with is a person who is on a starvation level calorie count and performing excessive exercise, yet is still flabby.

The calories burned during an exercise session are relatively small compared to the amount burned during the other 23 hours of the day. Most fat oxidation occurs between training sessions, not during. This means your exercise sessions should primarily be geared towards building muscle and boosting your metabolism.

After a strength training session, the metabolic rate raises (the after-burn effect) for longer periods of time than after aerobic work (up to 48 hours). This is because all of the steps involved in the recovery process from strength training (satellite cell activation, tissue repair, protein synthesis, etc.) require energy (calories).

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

PART 3: Getting fit after 50 is all about the little things.

Why do resistance training?

Aging is associated with a decrease in aerobic capacity and muscular strength. Exercise can reverse both conditions. Performing aerobic exercise can increase aerobic capacity in the elderly by almost 25% according to Lambert and Evans in their book Adaptations to aerobic and resistance exercise in the elderly. Several studies designed to measure strength gains from resistance training in the elderly demonstrated an average increase in strength of 40 to 150% in just three to six months. Muscular growth may be slightly less in older subjects compared to younger, but strength gains are similar in both age groups when first starting out. The harder the older subjects were pushed in these studies, the more their bodies responded with muscle and strength gains. One of the many benefits of such training is that balance is improved in exercisers, which can lead to fewer falls and hip fractures, and decreased death rates from their complications. Exercise also dramatically improves the ability to perform daily functions, allowing a longer life of independence.

If I lose weight at my age will I also lose muscle?

When older people gain weight unintentionally, more body fat is gained than lean mass, which is similar to what happens with younger people. Up to twenty-five percent of intentional weight loss in older people is from lean mass and seventy-five percent is from fat, which is also similar to young people. This loss of lean tissue from dieting can be reduced significantly by resistance exercise, bringing the percentage of weight lost as lean mass to between 0 and 12%. Sarcopenia is age-related loss of lean mass and is not associated with intentional weight loss or dieting. Resistance training is the antidote for sarcopenia.

Final Note

Keep in mind that beneficial exercise can be as simple as moving. In fact, walking is the most common form of exercise. Diet changes can be as simple as reducing the portions of the foods you generally consume. Therefore, for those of you just contemplating a fitness routine; don’t be put off or say you’re not ready because you believe fitness requires a complete lifestyle change or hard work. Fitness is really a matter of minor lifestyle adjustments. The food you eat is your diet and your life is exercise. Are you interested to see what can happen?