In light of recent events and client queries, here are some quick blurbs about how aging affects exercise:
Greater chance of injury. As I wrote about in a recent post, injuries tend to accrue rather than occur. In other words, by gradually wearing down your joints due to activity and as an inevitable result of aging, you set the stage for injuries to occur (particularly if you don’t strength train to strengthen your joints). Well, a decreased sense of balance and imperfect joints set the stage for a spectacular accident to occur. And if you don’t stop listening to your inner 20 year old? Then you get the dubious pleasure of explaining to your doctor how you broke your scaphoid while arm-wrestling with your friends.
Impaired hormonal tone. With aging, the production of several key hormones decreases. Decreased growth hormone secretion makes it harder for your body to repair damaged muscle, burn stored fat, and synthesize new muscle. Decreased testosterone production impairs muscle mass, impacts insulin regulation, and increases the risk for osteoporosis in men (testosterone is important for you gals as well - it protects brain function ). Cortisol, your body’s main stress hormone, affects you more when you age (especially if you’re female ). Higher cortisol levels are associated with greater amounts of abdominal fat (and, unsurprisingly, are associated with increased death ).
Longer recovery. Related to the previous point of impaired hormonal tone is the reality that healing takes longer. Because testosterone and growth hormone production are impaired as you age, the processes that rely on these hormones (i.e., muscle rebuilding) are delayed as well.
As if all that weren’t enough, as the old adage says, “If you don’t use it, you lose it” - namely, muscle tissue. Every year.
Enough of all the doom and gloom. Is there anything that can be done?
As it turns out, continuing to exercise (in particular, strength training) is the key to healthy and vibrant aging:
Turns back the clock. Making sure you maintain your muscle mass is perhaps the best thing you can do to insure a long and active life. Best part is, it doesn’t matter when you start - old muscle is as trainable as young muscle, and even moreso in women - but it is important that you do it.
Delays death. In short, the stronger and fitter you are, the longer you’ll live. Period. Much ado is made about how important “keeping fit” is and making sure your “heart and lungs are in shape”, but this advice is slightly off the mark - what’s key to warding off age-related decline is maintenance of skeletal muscle. Don’t worry - if you work to keep your muscle, your heart and lungs will take care of themselves.
Bonus tip: Exercise, to some extent, is anti-aging. But only to a point. Taken to an extreme, exercise accelerates aging because exercise generates free radicals, molecules that cause oxidative stress to cells. That’s why in training circles marathon runners are oft picked upon - not because the ability to run 26.2 miles is useless, but because developing that ability often comes at the expense of your health.
In light of recent events and client queries, here are some quick blurbs about how aging affects exercise:
Greater chance of injury. As I wrote about in a recent post, injuries tend to accrue rather than occur. In other words, by gradually wearing down your joints due to activity and as an inevitable result of aging, you set the stage for injuries to occur (particularly if you don’t strength train to strengthen your joints). Well, a decreased sense of balance and imperfect joints set the stage for a spectacular accident to occur. And if you don’t stop listening to your inner 20 year old? Then you get the dubious pleasure of explaining to your doctor how you broke your scaphoid while arm-wrestling with your friends.
Impaired hormonal tone. With aging, the production of several key hormones decreases. Decreased growth hormone secretion makes it harder for your body to repair damaged muscle, burn stored fat, and synthesize new muscle. Decreased testosterone production impairs muscle mass, impacts insulin regulation, and increases the risk for osteoporosis in men (testosterone is important for you gals as well - it protects brain function ). Cortisol, your body’s main stress hormone, affects you more when you age (especially if you’re female ). Higher cortisol levels are associated with greater amounts of abdominal fat (and, unsurprisingly, are associated with increased death ).
Longer recovery. Related to the previous point of impaired hormonal tone is the reality that healing takes longer. Because testosterone and growth hormone production are impaired as you age, the processes that rely on these hormones (i.e., muscle rebuilding) are delayed as well.
As if all that weren’t enough, as the old adage says, “If you don’t use it, you lose it” - namely, muscle tissue. Every year.
Enough of all the doom and gloom. Is there anything that can be done?
As it turns out, continuing to exercise (in particular, strength training) is the key to healthy and vibrant aging:
Turns back the clock. Making sure you maintain your muscle mass is perhaps the best thing you can do to insure a long and active life. Best part is, it doesn’t matter when you start - old muscle is as trainable as young muscle, and even moreso in women - but it is important that you do it.
Delays death. In short, the stronger and fitter you are, the longer you’ll live. Period. Much ado is made about how important “keeping fit” is and making sure your “heart and lungs are in shape”, but this advice is slightly off the mark - what’s key to warding off age-related decline is maintenance of skeletal muscle. Don’t worry - if you work to keep your muscle, your heart and lungs will take care of themselves.
Bonus tip: Exercise, to some extent, is anti-aging. But only to a point. Taken to an extreme, exercise accelerates aging because exercise generates free radicals, molecules that cause oxidative stress to cells. That’s why in training circles marathon runners are oft picked upon - not because the ability to run 26.2 miles is useless, but because developing that ability often comes at the expense of your health.