We all want to live well. We want to have the most amount of flexibility, athleticism, and strong feeling for as long as we can.
There are some specific things that we have to do; these things are not optional if we want to age well. Now don't fool yourself; we're not talking about anti-wrinkles. We are talking about mobility, balance, strength, endurance, nutrition, and hydration.
My anti-aging series is in no particular order, but I'm going to take one topic and pull it apart. Here we go.
A must do to maintain or establish longevity is lift weights. Alternatively, do resistance training using your body weight or resistance bands. Let's talk about what muscle does for your health.
As your muscles grow, your metabolism increases. Bigger muscles require more fuel. Therefore they ask for more nutrition. When you build muscle, your body will metabolize more fat. If you have an abundance of fat, weight training decreases your body fat percentage faster then cardio training. There's a ton of studies about this, and I won't bore you with linking all of them; however, it's worth looking up.
Our muscular structure is what keeps us standing up straight. How many older adults do you see hunched? They're hunched over because they didn't exercise their back and leg muscles enough to keep them upright. Gravity will take its toll, but you can mitigate the impact by resisting gravity.
More studies show that weight training is just as crucial to overall health as cardiovascular health because healthy muscles help generate stronger immunity. Eating to build strong muscles also helps Digestive Health. So pick up weights do push-ups do pull-ups or anything that causes your muscles to get tired. Those exercises will do more for your health than you can imagine. In particular, weight training does the most benefit for our longevity. Here's a quote from a Harvard University Public Health study.
"Because aging is associated with sarcopenia, the loss of skeletal muscle mass, relying on body weight alone is insufficient for the study of healthy aging," said lead author Rania Mekary, a researcher in HSPH's Department of Nutrition and assistant professor of social and administrative sciences at the School of Pharmacy of MCPHS University.
"Measuring waist circumference is a better indicator of healthy body composition among older adults. Engaging in resistance training or, ideally, combining it with aerobic exercise could help older adults lessen abdominal fat while increasing or preserving muscle mass."
While you may be resistant to doing resistance or weight training, your health depends on it!
The first program I ever did to build muscle helped me drop over 50 lb in a little over 12 weeks.
My favorite program to maintain my muscular strength takes only 30-40 minutes a day 4 days each week. That is because it's rooted in functional fitness. You're able to start at any level and work your way up. CHECK IT OUT! I'll be starting this program AGAIN in December, so feel free to Join Me! (click the link to sign up!)
An additional reason I am so in love with this particular program is it tags on to another healthy again Must-Do. More on that later!
If you would like some different suggestions about weight training or resistance training, send me an email Matt@MattMaus.net Subject: Age Well
Thanks for reading and your consideration.
-Matt