No matter how much you try and slow down the clock, time keeps on going by. With aging, our bodies change and these changes have impacts on how we are able to perform our daily activities – everything from going for a three hour bike ride, to lifting groceries out of the car, to getting out of bed in the morning!
With age, peak performance decreases by about 1% per year, starting around 20 year old. The heart slows down and so sports that require sprinting and explosive power become harder to do; it is very difficult to reach the same level in these types of sports that you would have done in your late teens and early twenties. Aging is inevitable, but with some daily exercise training, the impact that aging has on performance can be lessened.
People associate aging with a greater susceptibility to diseases, a decreased ability to perform daily tasks efficiently and an overall shift towards a more sedentary lifestyle. With increased age comes a greater risk of heart disease, which is one of the leading causes of death in North America. However, sedentary lifestyle increases the risk of heart disease two-fold compared to a person who is physically active. Studies have shown that the other risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels and smoking are not as much of a risk for heart disease as physical inactivity is!
And you don’t have to become a marathon runner to achieve a healthy state of being. A brisk walk four days a week for half an hour can have significant benefits. It can help control high blood pressure, maintain weight, reduce the risk of diabetes, and help alleviate stress.
With aging, people expect to experience decreased athletic performance and a loss of overall body strength. However, inactivity may play a larger role in this outcome than one would expect. Studies have shown that older people have considerable ability to increase their strength and aerobic capacities with exercise training. It is possibly the sedentary lifestyle that can accompany old age that leads one to an unhealthy state. It appears that aging doesn’t have to be the obstacle in the way of being able to maintain a healthy, fit and strong physique.
Tip:
When you’re starting your warm up, start with dynamic stretching (moving stretches), such as arm swings, leg swings, or walking on heels then toes.
For your cool-down, end with static stretching (holding stretches), such as hamstring stretch or calf stretch. To increase your flexibility range, hold your stretch for at least 15 seconds. The longer you hold it the better.
Here’s a flexibility exercise you can try:
Take a big breath in, and on the breath out, go to your stretch position and hold for 15 seconds, breathing deeply and slowly. Come up, take another big breath in, and then exhale out to your stretch position. You will probably find that you are able to go further this time. Keep doing this a couple more times. In no time, you will find your flexibility range improving.