SubscribeBut I’m Too Old To Exercise
Photo courtesy of Diabetes Dialogue
I’ve really been enjoying Ross Enamait’s series on older athletes getting it done.
Dara Torres wins 100m Freestyle at age 40
59-year old playing college football
Randy Couture wins UFC Heavyweight Championship at 44
We all know (or maybe are) people that find any excuse under the sun to not get any physical activity. Yet, CrossFit and The Performance Menu are loaded with 40-plus athletes rocking killer bodies and even better athletic performances. Sure, age makes a difference in how quickly the body recovers and how much muscle can be built, but look at guys like Jack LaLanne and Art De Vany. Art is 70 and LaLanne is in his 90s, both still strong as can be by following evolutionary practices of eating unprocessed foods and hitting intense exercise. Art also throws in some fasting here and there.
And then I came across this WebMD article that dances around the issue and seems a bit wishy-washy (not that I’d expect otherwise from WebMD).
First, they give some advice that is quite a surprise coming from WebMD: do something other than long, joint-pounding runs. Considering this site likes to focus on the high-carb, low-fat, aerobics is good crowd, this is huge.
“Even if you’re aerobically active, you don’t prevent loss of muscles. If you do exactly the same thing, you will lose muscle and gain fat. Strength training is the only way to increase or preserve muscle mass.”
But here’s where they get back to the excuses for not being in shape.
“It is also natural in the aging process,” she says, “to automatically lose a sense of balance.” She discovered that when she tried taking her grandchildren ice-skating after 30 years off the ice: “I was all over the place,” she says.
Hmmm….naturally lost balance; it couldn’t have anything to do with 30 years off the ice could it? They then go on to say that with some practice she’s back to doing jumps and spins. As they say in their article, “Use it or lose it.” One of my favorite excuses for people not exercising is “I’m too out of shape.” Well you have to start some time.
Older athletes do have to be more diligent with recovery and nutrition than their younger counterparts, but age is not an excuse for not being fit. Proper training and proper nutrition will allow your body to express its genes properly rather than languishing into an increasingly decrepit old age. Check out the Senior Olympics in 2009 in the Bay Area to see some old folks that aren’t letting age hold them back. It looks like there isn’t a 2008 Games and 2007 was in Louisville in June, which unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to see.
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Filed in Oldsters 5 Comments so far
mrjling on 01 Sep 2007 at 5:53 pm #
Brilliant blog Scott! Good stuff.
/Jonas
Anna on 01 Sep 2007 at 7:49 pm #
Scott,
Love it! I have been paying attention to lack of exercise & the elderly, as I have a 79 yo old MIL who has been getting quite frail in recent years. As she is in another country there is only so much I can do or say, but it has been eye opening, to say the least. The declining state of her teeth over the past two decades (perhaps due to decades of high BP medication as she says, but also perhaps due to the “free” dental care of UK Nation Health Service) has negatively impacted her ability to eat meats, raw or crisp-cooked veggies, etc., so I really worry about her nutritional status (and of course her sweet tooth and love of soft breads doesn’t help). I sent my SIL a slow cooker crockpot so she can make bone broths for my MIL for better protein and mineral absorption.
I knew that falls are a real danger to older folks. often leading to other complications and a decline in health, but I assumed it was because of loss of balance, declining eyesight, etc. I learned another cause is loss of muscle mass and strength. Simply put, some older people “shuffle” because they don’t have the strength to walk properly with a sense of balance. Shuffling reduces the sense of imbalance. But shuffling also hastens a decline in strength and muscle strength because of disuse.
Scott Kustes on 02 Sep 2007 at 9:25 am #
Jonas, Thanks for stopping in!
Anna,
Good luck with your MIL. My parents/in-laws aren’t elderly yet, but luckily they take pretty good care of themselves. Exercise and nutrition are important to most of them, even if their version of nutrition doesn’t quite mimic mine. Shuffling is a nice Catch-22. They feel more stable, but get weaker, which results in even less balance and even more shuffling.
Obviously there is some level of physical decline as one ages which is why the 70-year olds aren’t competing against the 22-year olds. Age reduces testosterone levels (in men) and makes recovery from intense exercise harder. Balance is probably comprised largely from the reduction in strength that comes from doing less and less. Course, not exercising intensely also reduces test. levels, so again, a catch-22. The bottom line is that we can make excuses as we age and become the typical frail elderly person, or we can take charge of our health, eat right, exercise to the level our body allows us to, and be vibrant, healthy old folks.
Of course, this is easy for us young folks to say. =)
Cheers
Scott
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