Exercise for over 40 year olds is even more important than in your younger years.
If you’re over 40 and have never worked out or done a lot of exercise, it’s possible you may be thinking “It’s too late to start now!” The truth is it’s never too late to start an exercise program.
In fact, exercise for over 40 yos should be a top priority. Here are some points that will explain why.
Maintain muscle mass
From as young as in our 20’s we start losing muscle mass. And when we hit our 50s the rate of losing muscle mass increases. The net result of this is it slowly becomes more challenging to move freely and perform the every day tasks we once did.
But not only this, muscles play a pivotal role in boosting our metabolism and immune systems, as well as increasing bone strength and aiding weight loss. So when we lose muscle mass, we start to experience a decline in all these other areas of our health too.
Weight resistance training helps maintain muscle mass as we age. Weight resistance training builds the strength that endurance activity can’t. It not only helps regain lost muscles, it also build lean muscle. Cardio training is simply not enough to compensate for muscle loss.
Improve bone density
Our bones and muscles coordinate to move us. As we age the joints become weak which increases the risk and the rate of injuries from falls or even an incorrect twist. Weight resistance training is a very effective way to increase bone density. After doing a lot of studies researchers revealed a direct relationship between strength training and the bone density.
Improve the quality of your life
Resistance training does not just build your lean muscles or improve your bone density. It’s a rival for many of the diseases that you may be facing due to ageing. Weight resistance training at any age leads you to vital improvement in your health condition such as depression, high blood pressure, cancer-related fatigue and a lot more are there on the list. Let weight resistance training stop your heart aging to add more years into your life.
Increase metabolism
Yes, strength training also increases your metabolism. Strength training not only burns calories while you are working out, it boosts your metabolism for 24 to 48 hours after your workout.
So how actually is it increasing metabolism? Strength training builds the strong muscles, and muscles at rest burn approximately 50 calories per day per pound of muscle, while fat cells require about 3 calories per day per pound of fat. Essentially muscle burns more energy than fat stores, so even at rest a stronger body is burning more energy than one without good muscle mass.
More confidence
To feel better and to have a younger mindset exercise is the key. As your body begins to get benefits from the strength training you will feel and function so much better, and this in turn leads to a better state of mind and increased confidence.
Furthermore, it’s possible that as we age we start to fear things we’ve never been worried about before. We may fear falling and breaking a bone. We may fear diseases we’ve not been concerned about in the past. These fears may become a little paralysing. Making us inactive and sedentary. Weight resistance training can help overcome this habit, but also alleviate some of the concerns because you’re conscious that your activity is adding so many overall health benefits to your life. This can only help to increase your sense of confidence day to day.
So you can now see quite clearly there are many reasons to exercise as you age. And, in fact, exercise for over 40 yos is actually crucial for overall health and wellbeing.
It’s never too late to start an exercise program. I can design a personal program just for you which takes into account what, if any, activity you have been doing in previous years. We will slowly build your muscle mass, ensuring no crazy or inappropriate exercise regimes. By following my program closely, I can guarantee you that you will feel better, function better, and eventually look better too.
Keep this in mind… if you start now you will start seeing results one day earlier than if you wait until tomorrow.
Call 0400 038 197 for a free, no obligation, consultation so you can see for yourself how I can help.