Physical responses to regular exercise

JUST as with young people, older people need to be physically active to improve their health, functional capacity, and quality of life.

But how do older people’s bodies respond to physical activity? Do older people improve their cardio respiratory endurance, body composition, muscular strength and endurance, and flexibility at the same rates that younger people do? Lets take a look at two of those components: cardiorespiratory endurance and muscular strength.

Hagberg et al (1980) conducted a cardiorespiratory endurance training study with men and women ages 70-79. The participants trained for six months to improve their cardiorespiratory endurance. They improved their maximal oxygen consumption (VO²max) by 22% — an improvement not often seen even in younger adults.

This study demonstrates that older people respond positively to cardiorespiratory endurance due to the same physiological changes observed in younger adults. Other studies have demonstrated that meaningful improvements in the cardiorespiratory endurance of older people can occur with lower exercise intensities than are recommended for younger adults. This is significant, because the lower intensity also lowers the risk of musculoskeletal injuries in older people.

Fiatarone, O’Neill, and Ryan (1994) studied highintensity strength training in more than 100 men and women whose average age was 87 years and who were described as frail nursing home residents. A in the study shows the men and women made dramatic improvements in strength, gait (walking) speed and stair-climbing power. (Walking speed and stair-climbing power are typically used as relevant measures of functional capacity in older people.) Strength training can produce dramatic increases in strength in frail older people.

The improvements were much greater than those seen in younger adults who had not already lost much of their strength, and the training produced improvements in functional capacity as well.

These men and women also gained 3% muscle mass in their thighs, which indicates that older people can improve their lean body mass through strength training.

Several other studies have show that older people can improve their strength and functional capacity through strength training. It’s safe to say that fitness training in older people improves cardiorespiratory endurance, lean body mass, muscular endurance, strength, flexibility, balance, reaction time, and co-ordination — thus improving their quality of life. A SPECIAL thank you to our avid readers who keep us going with ever positive feedback. This week we will look at the Honda Airwave, someone looking at importing one.

As time ticks on, the Honda Fit has become so popular and sometimes for the wrong reasons, it is now to us what the VW Golf 1 is to South Africans — like the sand in the desert. It’s that car that everyone wants, but why? Because it’s all things good. And by the way it is basically the same car with the Airwave.

Of the cars that have taken Zimbabwe and Africa as a whole by storm, it takes the trophy. Outside Japan it’s called the Honda Jazz.

What defines it is the compactness — It’s small, powerful, easy on fuel and quite fast for its size. A lot of people who fancy the Honda Fit will fancy a bigger Honda fit if it existed . . . wait, it does exists! It’s called the Honda Airwave.

It may sound funny that the Honda

Airwave is a bigger Fit but as funny as it may sound, the Honda Airwave is the Station wagon version of the Honda Fit and the Honda Aria.

The Honda Fit has ample space with folding seats at the back so if you fancy an even bigger Honda Fit you can get this Airwave because it’s just that . . . a bigger Honda Fit. You get all the advantages of a Honda Fit with extras like bigger boot space and better aerodynamics.

The Airwave might just be the next best thing on the used car market in Zimbabwe. Little by little they are trickling in. The Airwave was produced from 2005 to 2010 so it’s quite a modern vehicle and is still current, well, current for us.

At first glance it looks somewhat confused. It wants to be a mini-van but it’s too small to be a mini-van. It wants to be a Honda Fit but it’s too big to be one. The front is neat and clean with big headlights that slide nicely into the front

fenders. A chrome trim on the bonnets blings up the rather dull grill. It’s more of a Honda Aria than it is a Fit when it comes to looks even though these cars are in the same family.

The interior is okay but rather quirky, it’s not as nice as the Honda Fit or the Honda Jazz but it is just okay.

The instrument cluster was designed by someone who was rushing to knock off and go home, I mean there’s no creativity in it, someone just looked and said, “Oh! We need dials, let’s just throw them there on the cluster.”

It seats 5 people and has a very large boot and that is its biggest advantage. Rear seats fold into the floor for more boot space if needed. They do not come as 7 seaters but seats could easily be added if needed. The design is the same as the Honda Fit in the sense that the fuel tank was moved upfront below the front seats to crest more space at the back. That was genius.

There are models that have a beautiful panoramic sunroof that covers the better part of the roof, apart from space, this is the biggest attraction.

The Airwave has the same engine as the Honda Fit Bluedot. It’s an L15A 1,499cc Vtec motor. The engine is mated with a 7-speed electronically controlled Continuously Variable Transmission, the very same one you find in the Sporty Honda Fit bluedot. Like I said earlier, it’s a bigger Honda Fit! The L15A is a 4-cylinder motor with Vtec so it can be as hard and aggressive as you want it to be and it can also be cool and dignified when the situation calls for it.

They were offered in both 4x2 and 4x4. The four-wheel drive is full time all-wheel drive system on certain models. The fourwheel drive model sits slightly higher than the two-wheel drive and has slightly different suspension components.

So the Honda Airwave may just be one of the next best things to happen to Zimbabwe’s motoring industry. It isn’t old, it’s still newish as they were in production up until 2010.

The reliability is the same as the Honda Fit with claimed 18km for every litre. We may not get such mileage for every litre in Zimbabwe because we have blended fuels but you can not cry too much with Airwave consumption, it’s just a bigger Honda Fit.

Parts aren’t so much of a problem for this car as it uses the same drive train as the Honda Fit.

You will find that some of the suspension parts are different from the Honda Fit but the engine and transmission are the same. You therefore get the reliability and the economy that comes with owning a Honda Fit! Till next time. Happy motoring!

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