GOING STRONG IN MIDDLE AGE
Active people over 40 should change up their exercise routines for maximum health benefits
Maybe it’s a collective mid-life crisis, a late realization of our mortality or an old-fashioned desire to lose the spare tire. But one thing is certain: The middle-aged are getting fit.
And it’s never too late to start. A flurry of studies last year seemed to show that exercising in middle age — even if you’ve never been active before — is the elixir of youth. One, published in the European Heart Journal, found that sedentary, middle-aged people who took up aerobic exercise for six months developed longer telomeres — the tiny caps on the end of cells that shorten as we get older. Scientists generally refer to the length of people’s telomeres as a sign of how quickly they are aging.
Likewise, a study published in the journal Circulation found that middle-aged people who began a two-year program of brisk walking or jogging for 30 minutes, four or five times a week, were able to reverse age-related stiffening of their arteries. Far from giving in to the pull of middle-aged limitations, many of us — including the celeb likes of Cindy Crawford and Drew Barrymore, who have posted gym selfies and yoga videos on Instagram — are the fittest we’ve ever been.
MUSCLE WASTES, SO BUILD IT
Each decade after 30, your muscles decline by three to eight per cent. Muscle has a higher metabolic rate than fat, so the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn during exercise and rest.
“Muscle requires more blood and oxygen to be supplied to it than fat, and that increases the energy expenditure the body has to do to maintain it,” explains John Brewer, head of sport and exercise science at St. Mary’s University, Twickenham.
One study from the American College of Sports Medicine asserts that muscle loss is the single greatest contributor to age-related decline in metabolism, and claims that by adding just two to four pounds (0.9 to 1.8 kg) of muscle to your body, you could burn 100 extra calories a day at rest.
Another study, from the Harvard School of Public Health, followed 10,500 men over 40 for 12 years. It found that, of all the activities they did, weight training for 20 minutes three times a week had the greatest effect on preventing age-related abdominal fat.
“Muscle builds up quickly, even from the first session, when you get sore. That minor damage repairs itself and you become stronger,” Brewer says. “Within two weeks you should see benefits.”
WEIGHT TRAINING HELPS CONTROL BLOOD SUGAR
In patients with Type 2 diabetes, weight training is said to help control blood sugar levels — with one analysis concluding that resistance training should be recommended in the prevention and management of the condition. Moreover, it might help age-related bone loss, too. With age comes a decrease in estrogen for women, a hormone that helps with calcium production. Studies from Glasgow Caledonian University found that strength training improved bone density in the post-menopausal.
KNOW WHAT WORKS
This is the decade to find out what works for you and do it, leaving fads to the young ’uns. That means understanding that fitness has three main pillars. We need:
Strength, achieved by resistance ■ exercise, meaning anything from your own body weight (say, a pushup) to free weights, such as dumbbells or resistance bands.
Flexibility, because becoming ■ more flexible means our muscles can contract and expand during everyday life.
Endurance, which is achieved ■ by doing cardiovascular exercise, such as brisk walking, running, cycling or swimming.
EXERCISE SMART, NOT HARD
We know that overtraining for sustained periods may lead to weakened bones, burnout and even abnormal heart rhythms. But it can also tax your immune system and hinder fat loss. That’s thanks to cortisol, a hormone emitted by the adrenal glands in response to prolonged mental or physical stress.
Exercising too hard has been shown to affect immunity because of cortisol overload, which has also been associated with an increased risk of storing fat around the middle. Not to mention, you’ll probably just get sore and give up.
LISS IS THE NEW HIIT
There was a point when everyone was talking about high-intensity interval training (HIIT) to burn fat. But HIIT — short bursts of exercise at high intensity — is tough on the body, so it needs to be built up to and limited to about once a week in middle age.
Low-intensity steady-state training (LISS), on the other hand, done at 70 per cent of your maximum heart rate, is ideal for burning fat. Think of anything that leaves you quite puffed and not quite able to hold a conversation — for example, brisk walking, cycling, power walking or dancing.
A few LISS sessions are essential. Slowly begin to increase your pace or the length of time you do LISS training because your body becomes more efficient the more you do. Or, add some HIIT training into your routine.
The ideal weekly lineup is three or four sessions of LISS that last 35 minutes or more; resistance training two or three times a week, stretching before and after; and perhaps a yoga or Pilates session.
SMART STRETCHING
Dynamic stretching is the best type to do at the start of your workout because it helps release synovial fluid into your joints. This is the prime lubricator of bones, making you more mobile and decreasing injury risk. As we get older, the amount of synovial fluid our bodies produce declines — cue joint pain.
Do eight to 15 reps of four dynamic stretches before exercise, and focus on the body parts you’ll be working. For example, before resistance training, do 20 fast squats with your arms swinging down and up overhead. You can also try leg swings, arm rotations and shoulder shrugs.
After your workout, do static stretches — where the stretch is held 10-15 seconds to release the muscle. Stretching afterward is essential because your muscles contract during exercise and need to be stretched adequately to prevent soreness and injury. Again, focus on the parts you worked most. London Daily Telegraph