Fitness for Seniors: If You Do Not Use It, You Will Lose It!

Not long ago, it was 'accepted knowledge' that older people could not increase their muscle strength nor their muscle mass. Now, fortunately, this myth has been dispelled.

In 1989, researchers from Tufts and Harvard Universities undertook a study of older people in their late 80s and 90s. The researchers worked with a group of frail elderly residents at Boston's Hebrew Rehabilitation Center for the Aged. These residents had multiple functional problems, chronic conditions and were very sedentary.

At the beginning of the project, the project participants, whose average age was 90, were tested to determine the heaviest weights that they could lift with their legs. Following this initial test, they began a program of weight training. They did three sets composed of eight weightlifting repetitions, each for three days a week. They worked out with weights that were 80 percent of the maximum weight that they could lift.

After two weeks, they were retested and the weights were increased. At the end of six weeks, the group had increased their muscle strength on average by 180 percent. What is more, none of the participants had reached a plateau. As a result of their increased muscle strength, their average walking speed increased 48 percent, two participants no longer needed their canes and one participant was able to rise from a chair without using the chair arms.

All of the participants resumed their sedentary lifestyles at the end of the program. The researchers then retested them and found a 32-percent loss in maximum strength after only four weeks of de-training. The moral of this story is, "If you don't use it, you'll lose it." The happy ending is that you can regain your fitness and strength at almost any age. This will help you to retain or regain your independence and freedom while adding to your good looks.

Weight training is as essential to good physical health in your later years as is aerobic exercise. It strengthens your muscles and bones, and there are indications that it is helpful in lowering cholesterol levels. Weight training also increases the strength of ligaments and tendons so that less stress is placed on your joints. In the past, people with high blood pressure, heart disease and conditions such as arthritis were warned to avoid using weights. But researchers in the Tufts and Harvard study found that weight training had no adverse effect on blood pressure or heart function. They advise that strengthening your muscles, tendons and ligaments actually helps to ease pressure on the joints.

Weight training can either be with free weights such as barbells and dumbbells, or with specially designed equipment that works various parts of the body. Weight training can be used to increase your muscle strength or your muscle endurance.

If you have not worked with weights before, be sure to have a qualified person instruct you in their use and have him or her set up a program of exercise that includes the specified number of repetitions to be done in each set as you progress toward your goal. Muscle strengthening exercises should be done for at least 20 minutes, three times a week.

A program of calisthenics, isometric and stretching exercises combined with dance will enable you to develop muscle strength and endurance as well as flexibility and cardio-pulmonary fitness. Joining a class or renting or buying videos made by qualified instructors (not just movie stars) is a good way to get in shape and to avoid mishaps. Many dance classes, especially those in ballet, modern and aerobic dance include calisthenics, isometric and stretching exercises as part of the routine.

Staying physically fit can give you a body that performs and looks like those of people years younger than your chronological age. At the VA Medical Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, physically fit men in their mid-50s were compared to inactive men in their mid-20s. The results were astounding. Active older men had lower resting heart rates (64 beats per minute vs. 85 beats per minute for the younger men), in addition to higher oxygen uptake during maximum exercise and slower heart beats in the first minute after exercise than the men in their 20s who did not keep fit. What is more, the older men weighed an average of 166 pounds compared to 192 pounds for the younger sedentary men.

As we age, it is important to pay more attention to our exercise programs. We lose muscle mass more easily the older we get, yet through consistent weight training and other forms of exercise, we will be able to keep it rather than lose it.