See training to age with strong and healthy muscles – 03/10/2023 – Equilíbrio

When we’re young, regular exercise can allow us to go for a run after a night out or snowboard on a Doritos diet. But as we age, fitness has a much broader impact, boosting our energy levels, preventing injury and keeping us mentally sharp.

Aging causes muscles to lose mass, bone density to decrease and joints to stiffen – affecting our balance, coordination and strength. At the same time, hormonal changes and persistent low-level inflammation can set the stage for chronic diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

And changes start sooner than you might think. Muscles begin to shrink in our 30s and continue their downward spiral into middle age, with up to 25% of their maximum mass lost by our 60s.

But there is hope: Exercise can stop muscle loss, cognitive decline and fatigue.

“It’s never too late to start exercising, and it’s never too early,” says Chhanda Dutta, a gerontologist at the National Institute on Aging.

You can’t just start lifting 150 pounds at the gym. Start slowly, experiment and gradually increase the intensity.

Experts suggest trying exercises that target one or more of four fitness categories, all of which deteriorate with age: flexibility, balance, endurance, and strength. Preserving function in these domains can prevent injury and disability, keeping you active and independent longer.

There is no magic full-body exercise to prevent aging, says Brian Feeley, chief of sports medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. But here are five moves that target different areas of the body for you to try.

Strengthen Lower Body: Do Squats and Stairs

During exercise, “injuries happen when you’re tired and your muscles can’t react as quickly,” says Feeley. Squats help prevent this fatigue by strengthening the large muscles in the lower body while moving multiple joints at once, which improves overall endurance as well as balance and coordination.

Feeley suggests doing three sets of 10 to 15 squats four times a week. To further challenge your balance, do them with one foot or both on a pad. Or, to focus on strength, squat down while holding free weights – close to your chest to start or extended forward to work your core muscles more.

If you hate squats but still want to strengthen the same muscle groups, try taking stairs, which are adaptable to different fitness levels, says Maria Fiatarone Singh, a geriatrician at the University of Sydney in Australia. Start by going up and down the stairs and move on to jogging or using ankle weights.

Get Your Heart Rate Up: Try Nordic Walking

As a cross-country ski enthusiast, Michael Schaefer, a rehabilitation physician at University Hospitals in Cleveland, loves Nordic walking — an exercise that uses ergonomic poles that move with you.

“Nordic walking is second to none as an aerobic exercise because you not only use the major muscle groups in your legs and hips, but also your core, shoulders and arms,” ​​points out Schaefer.

Exercise lowers blood pressure and improves the body’s use of oxygen. And when you traverse uneven terrain, you’re strengthening your ankles and challenging your vestibular system — a sensory system housed in your inner ear that improves balance and coordination.

“Start with 15 to 20 minutes three times a week and build up to an hour,” advises Schaefer.

It may take some time to get used to the basic movement – ​​walking using poles to propel the movement – ​​but online videos or a local Nordic walking group can help you get started. The key is to swing your arms like the pendulums of a clock, keeping your elbows relatively straight and planting the pole behind you and pushing off as the opposite leg comes forward.

Train Your Upper Body: Try Hanging

If kinesiologist Katy Bowman has her way, everyone’s New Year’s resolution would include a trip through cages or jungle gym bars.

“It’s such a primitive move and uses all of the upper body parts” that otherwise aren’t used very often, says Bowman, author of “Rethink Your Position.”

Hanging from a horizontal bar increases grip strength and shoulder mobility, strengthens your core and stretches your upper body – from chest to spine to forearms.

As with any exercise, it’s best to progress slowly – start by hanging from a barbell with your feet on a box or chair so muscles unused to weight-bearing can get used to some tension. From there, move on to something active where your shoulder blades are retracted and pulled down (as if you were going to initiate a high pulldown) so that your core and arms are engaged and your hands are shoulder-width apart.

Add a slight front-to-back or right-to-left sway to further work your core and spine. Or mix up your grip – palms facing outward or towards you, or one of each – to emphasize different muscles. A pronated grip (underneath), for example, forces the biceps more than a supinated grip (on top), which works the lats.

And you don’t need fancy equipment to hang yourself. Bowman suggested creating a suspended station in his home with a “door lift bar that doesn’t take up much space”.

Since having one installed, she said she’s noticed a “radical” increase in upper body and grip strength — which is linked to a decrease in cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. A little goes a long way: Start with 20-second pulls twice a day, working up to one minute.

“Frequent, short pulls spread out throughout the day are your best tactic for progress,” says Bowman.

Once you’re comfortable with one-minute exercises, she recommends eight to 10 of them, with an hour of rest in between. These breaks also give the skin on your hands some time to adjust.

Strengthen your core and hips: do sliding discs

If you work in an office or at a desk, all that sitting can affect your hip flexors, the muscles that help bend your knees toward your waist and stabilize your spine. And bending over a table shortens the muscles in your chest while stretching those in your back, contributing to “text neck,” which is muscle strain and weakness in your lower neck, shoulders, and upper back.

To counteract this, Nicole Sciacca, a mobility expert in Los Angeles, uses discs that you rest your hands or feet on and glide freely on the floor (you can also use paper plates). Working out on an unstable surface increases the intensity of the exercise, forcing you to engage your core – especially the diaphragm, transversus abdominis and pelvic floor – to maintain the position.

“It’s great because it requires everything in the front of the body that’s been asleep on a table or in the car to get stronger,” says Sciacca.

If you’re starting to work your upper body and core, Sciacca recommends doing a simple plank for 30 seconds. Once you’re comfortable, place your feet on the gliding discs, assume the same position, and work to stay stable.

To progress, move one foot under your body until your knee reaches your chest. Slide the foot back as the other foot comes in. Continue alternating feet for up to three rounds of eight reps, keeping your core strong and your back straight. Or, try a 60-second timed effort when you’re ready for more. Variations include bringing your knees in and then out at the same time or moving your legs in a jumping jacks motion.

Improve Your Flexibility: Try Foam Roller

Tala Khalaf, a physical therapist at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., thinks of fascia — a connective tissue system that wraps around our muscles and organs — as the Cinderella of orthopedic medicine. For years this tissue, which is studded with sensory nerves and can feel like a sheath around the outside of muscles or found inside them, has worked hard in obscurity, ignored and minimized.

But studies over the past decade have highlighted fascial tissue as a crucial component of the musculoskeletal system. As we age, fascia becomes less flexible and elastic, which contributes to back pain, stiffness, and limited range of motion.

Khalaf, who is also a faculty member at Stanford’s Orthopedic Physical Therapy Clinical Residency Program, says one solution is the foam roller, which massages fascial kinks and improves flexibility.

The best are basic, simple, and time-efficient moves. Typical areas to roll include the calves, thighs and back. Experiment to see which exercises offer the most relief.

Translated by Luiz Roberto M. Gonçalves