The key to healthy aging, each physically and mentally, is constructing strength and power. It might be easier than you’re thinking that.
We probably don't have to remind you that your body changes with age. Age-related muscle loss begins around age 35 and increases slowly—about 1% per yr. But after about age 60, muscle declines more rapidly, so adults who don't do regular strength training can lose 4 to six kilos of muscle per decade. Moreover, lost muscle is generally replaced by fat.
Doing exercises to construct strength and power
Before you start, try the next: stand up from a chair without using your arms, walk up and down 10 steps without holding onto a handrail, and stand on one foot without support for not less than five seconds. If even one in all these is difficult for you, you must seek skilled help and supervision as you start.
Otherwise, you may try the exercises below yourself. You can do any of those without equipment, but you'll have to add dumbbells or ankle weights as you progress, and increase the load every time the exercise starts to feel easy. As a general rule, take step one—lifting, climbing, or climbing—in three seconds, hold for one second, and take three seconds to return to the starting position.
Power training can increase your response time while it builds strength. Building power allows you to cross the road before the sunshine changes or prevents you from falling for those who trip. You can add power training to the exercises below by increasing the speed at which you perform the primary phase of every exercise, steadily increasing the speed until you may complete it in a single second. Do it.
Finally, allowing your muscles to heal is vital to injury prevention. Be sure to rest not less than one minute between sets. Allowing 48 hours between workouts is very necessary. In other words, you don't wish to strength train greater than thrice per week.
Exercise examples by Barb Cousins.
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