Most probably you have heard at least one person over 60 years of age saying “I’m too old to do that” , or “I could have done that when I was younger”, and the majority of times, those statements are related to physical abilities like playing ball with their grandchildren, climbing stairs, carrying a heavier object, walking a longer distance, etc..
I’m not arguing here that there might be the case of some people in that age that have some physical impairments restricting their ability to do some of those things, but more often it is the case of a false reality or false expectation. Let´s say you were over 60, and in your younger years you have been somewhat sporty and you could do some things with much less effort than you could do them now, for most of people that would be enough reason to stop doing them thinking that they are now incapable or too old to do that.
But is it so? Fact is that with the passing of time we start degrading with at a faster pace until one day we die. Another fact is that nobody gets out of life alive, but can actively do something to extend it and to live with a better quality. So, what can we do to slow down aging and live with a better quality of life? I think it´s clear that being generally strong will not hurt anyone, more than that, it will give you independence and freedom of movement, self-confidence and self-reliance, and will bring many other positive aspects in your life. Having more muscle mass can make your late years also much better, as stated earlier we are all degrading, some faster, some slower.
There is a lot of scientific evidence that muscles if not stimulated to grow, will degrade really fast at a certain age, apparently around 60 there’s a critical stage. If you were not busy in your early years to build more muscle tissue, so now you would have a bigger buffer, it´s not too late, you can build muscle mass at any age with proper training, nutrition and regeneration.
Does that mean you can train like a youngster? No! But it means, that if you did not train until now, you can actually see progress, or if you are already someone who muscle trained his whole life, you can drastically slow down your degradation. Working on your muscle strength can drastically reduce the chance of getting osteoporosis as well by bringing more nutrients to your bone tissue, and we all know how important it is to have a more durable frame.
Not only the body can benefit from exercising and conducting a healthy lifestyle, but the mind as well. Strength training has been shown to improve cognition, ones ability to focus longer on a given task, fight depression, anxiety, burnout syndrome , reduce chances of dementia, deal better with PTSD.
My advice for people in this more advance chapter of life is, not to stop exercising because they are getting older, but to continue exercising or to pick up strength training to reduce the unwanted side effects of getting older. It is an option, and yes everybody can do it, understand where you are and decide where you want to go, only so you will know what to do to get there.
Grow old, grow strong!!!
I hope i captured your attention on this important topic, if you have questions don´t hesitate to contact me.
Best regards,
Stefan
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