I am fit at age 50 by taking training slow and steady
Grainne Parker on how you can start to get healthy at any stage
WITH so much information out there, it can be difficult to know what’s good for you and what isn’t. In fact, the best-intentioned workouts can end up falling by the wayside when you overdo it and pull a muscle or find yourself unable to get out of bed the next day.
But there’s no need to take the ‘eyeballs out’ approach to fitness. According to Gráinne Parker, she’s in the best shape ever at 51.
‘A lot of the fitness industry promotes youth, inexperience and over-enthusiasm,’ Gráinne says. ‘And that is just not how you get to your objectives and it is not sustainable. We are still going to get you into the shape you want to be but you don’t need the “all pain, no gain” attitude with crushing workouts.
‘If you listen to the language around the fitness industry and the diet industry it is all extremes. There’s no moderation, and if there is, it is always seen as a step down. People have this attitude that more is better, but that isn’t true.’
Gráinne insists there is no age limit to getting fit but that you should look at body, mind and nutrition together to ensure you are looking at the whole person.
Together with her husband, personal trainer Dominic Munnelly, Gráinne recently published Move, Train Nourish: The Sustainable Way To A Healthier You, which aims to help everyone get fit and healthy and stay that way, no matter what their starting point.
‘We work and we are parents so you have to be able to fit it all in so if you are starting out to get fit them some of the messages you will be getting are very off-putting,’ Gráinne says.
IT’S all about it being hard. When we sat down together we felt if you asked someone what it means to be healthy they wouldn’t only talk about fitness; it would be eating well, sleeping well, managing stress.’
Gráinne insists she is proof that these ideals work.
She says: ‘I stepped away from a very busy consultancy career because I wanted to show people how it is possible to be all those things and work or have a family or both.
‘I am 25 years old in my head and while in reality I am much more than that, being fit and healthy means at 50-plus, I can do a handstand and lift weights. That makes me proud of my body and all it can achieve.’
Grainne studied health and wellness coaching while husband Dominic is a qualified personal trainer. And they believe in taking a measured approach to getting yourself fit.
Dominic says: ‘Ordinary people are not professional athletes yet we are nearly always setting ourselves these kind of training goals. There are other factors that need to be addressed — when I’m working with clients I always ask them how they are feeling, how they are sleeping and what they did the day before so that I know what training they should be doing.
‘You are not Wolverine and none of us have an infinite supply of recoverability, where you can do anything and be fine the next day.
‘So what we do is structure your exercise in a sensible way so you can use it for the rest of your life.’
Faddy diets are best avoided according to Gráinne and Dominic. ‘Sugar is sugar at the end of the day whether it is table sugar or agave syrup, it’s still sugar.
‘People have developed a dysfunctional relationship with food because no one is sure what is true any more. The secret is to eat meals made from scratch and watch your calorie intake.
‘Also we tend to deride sleep, but it is the ultimate performance aid. I love my bed and sleep helps up. Aside from not feel ratty the next day it helps with learning and memory. It also helps regulate our appetite and it helps is recover from sport. And our central nervous system cleanses the byproducts of our metabolism while we sleep It is essential. If your sleep isn’t right, nothing is right.’
In fact, lack of sleep also makes stress worse, as does lack of exercise. ‘Working days are much longer and commutes are much longer, while our phones mean we almost never switch off,’ says Gráinne.
‘We might be in bed and have the telly on or be scrolling through our phones, so I always say we should prioritise our sleep. Lack of sleep can also make stress feel insurmountable.
‘We are raising our children for a lifetime of poor sleeping habits with smartphones, never mind the anxiety that comes from being on social media all the time.’
Exercise is a way to relieve stress but eating highly-processed foods and drinking too much alcohol can make the impact of stress on the body much worse. Dominic says: ‘We are all for the merits of having one glass of wine while you chat about your day but an awful lot of people are drinking too much too often.
‘Controlling your stress levels will make you take more control of your alcohol consumption because they are related.
‘And make time for yourself to take a breather — take that lunch break, go for a walk for 15 minutes — even that will help keep stress levels down.’
Move, Train, Nourish: The Sustainable Way To A Healthier You by Dominic Munnelly and Grainne Parker, Collins Press, €19.99