Age Appropriate Exercise

#1

Should we be more attuned to age when designing an exercise program? Have we bought too much into the idea that you can exercise just as you did at a younger age? Are you waiting too long to adjust your exercise routine to your age?

You should act your age – at least when it comes to exercise. Here’s why

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#2

I adjust my exercising routine to my biological age instead of chronological. Yesterday I went skating with my 7 year old granddaughter - she did it for 2 hours nonstop and would do it even more if time permitted, and I reduced it to 1 hour only. I felt great after that, my Apple Watch showed 100% blood oxygen, and today I have only mild muscle soreness in my legs. Of course it would be a different story if I fell down on ice and broke a bone.

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#3

The article seems misguided.

Lots of us at age have parts that go wrong. Knees, feet, shoulders, backs, necks, wrists, … all the parts that can limit specific exercises or activities.

That said, lots of things exist that one can do to restore function. Quick examples…

Goals:

  • Fix what you can (by training, therapy, or intervention).
  • Keep training, by finding ways to work around the things that don’t work so well.
  • Pursue training methods that enable you to train as intensely or more intensely as one ever did.

Consider protocols like

  • Superslow (isometric training),
  • Time static contractions,
  • EMS training (e.g., Katalyst suit),
  • Rowing or ski machines or bikes instead of running.
  • Swimming with a drag.

I had a friend, who took up a late career as a physical trainer at 84. He developed a practice of conducting physical training in nursing homes. Most of his clients 85 to 98.

He met them where he found them (many in wheelchairs) and in months he out them out the wheel chairs and going on outings.

Showing my age, I remember Jack LaLanne doing the same thing in the 1950s and 1960s.

#4

There, corrected some typos.