Are you intimidated by the idea of weight training due to fear of injury? Or worried you will get “bulky”? No matter your age, you need not be fearful, particularly if you’re engaged with one of our fitness professionals who can design a custom program for you.
There are no age limits when it comes to exercise. All of us can benefit. We’ve all heard the term “move it or lose it”, but what does it mean?
It’s true that with ageing, we experience a progressive loss of muscle mass, a condition called sarcopenia. The loss is due to decreases in the total number of both slow twitch and fast twitch fibers and, secondarily, to the shrinking of fast twitch fibers.
In a simplistic view (as we now know there are five known fiber types), we tend to think of “slow vs fast twitch” fibers. Why are we interested in this and what is the functional relevance? As we age, there is a selective reduction in fast twitch fibers which means that we lose the ability to react quickly or catch ourselves from a fall for example. Therefore like any type of exercise, we need to specifically train these fibers and resistance training is a great way to do this.
Resistance training has been shown to be a powerful tool for preventing and treating sarcopenia in older adults. Performing resistance exercise on a regular basis at intensities that challenge you can help retain and build your fast-twitch muscle fibers.
We believe physios have a unique opportunity to empower and educate people to optimise health and movement once they have assessed, diagnosed, and rehabbed the acute need/injury that someone has seeked your expertise for. You don’t have to be the professional to deliver it but highlight to people what they need to be doing long term and encourage them to incorporate strength training into their lives.
At tops:health, we understand the tremendous health benefits of staying physically active and being properly nourished throughout our lives. Participating in regular strengthening exercises will help prevent osteoporosis and frailty by stimulating the growth of muscle and bone.
If you’d like to explore which of our training options might work best for you, get in touch today!