The best Anti - Aging workouts

“If you don’t use it you will lose it!” is the old saying. As we get older we tend to slow down. Take a look around at the general population and you will notice what an inactive and deskbound existence we lead. Every decade we lose 2 – 5 kilograms of muscle as we age. Combine this with the sedentary lazy lifestyle and it is a recipe for becoming fat, sick, weak and pathetic.
The main 2 reasons for aging and degeneration are loss of muscle and loss of strength, says Tufts University in the USA.
Here are my top 5 tips for staying a spring chicken:
1. Strength Training: Increase strength and function of the body by lifting weights. You must lift weights heavier than what your body can easily do. Major improvements in the way older adults are performing everyday tasks is a significant reason to start strength training. There have been many studies to show the value of lifting weights to help fight the loss of muscle and bone mass. It can also assist with the symptoms of depression, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, and osteoporosis. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends 2 – 3 days of strength training per week.
2. Cardiovascular Exercise: Want to increase your energy, vitality and the speed of your metabolism? You must do activity to get you huffing and puffing. The get up and go that you may lack from time to time maybe because of the need of huffy puffy exercise. Whether you take a brisk lunchtime walk in the park, on the treadmill at the gym, bike ride around home or swim after work, all that matters is that you get your heart rate up. 30 minutes every day is what is recommended by the world health organization. If time is a constraint, aim for 2 x 15 minutes or 3 x 10 minutes etc per day.
3. Stability Training: Improve balance and stability by including functional type movements in your daily exercise routine. Functional movements are that which imitates everyday activity like bending down to pick up something or carrying uneven loads (child on 1 hip and pushing trolley with the other) Stick to exercises that will improve the everyday function of your personal lifestyle. I have seen allot of strong weaklings who can lift 200kg on the leg press but cannot be stable in a squat with light weights. Doing a squat against a wall with a Swiss ball will not assist your ability to squat down to pick up what you drop, unless you tie the Swiss ball to your back (and have a wall handy nearby) every other minute of the day. Free weight work with dumbbells and barbells can assist greatly. Try throwing and catching a ball while standing on 1 leg, or a squat on 1 leg, or do a push up on a medicine ball. Stability and balance can also be improved with movements such as Tai Chi and Yoga. Both of these disciplines rely purely on body weight and alignment for balance. If you don’t include some stability in your workout, there are businesses out there getting rich from people who need walking sticks and walking frames.
4. Stretch: Increase flexibility of the muscles, joints and connective tissue. With a combination of deskbound activities during work hours and lounge lizards after hours it is no wonder we are seeing a high incidence of lower back and shoulder problems. The body simply does not get the range of movement that it needs to maintain flexibility. The body is not designed to cope with long hours of being relatively inactive. Stretching is vital for improving the blood circulation around the body and enhanced posture. You will also benefit from the alertness and productivity that it brings. Get up and stretch at your desk at regular intervals, stretch before retiring at night and when you first get up in the morning.
5. Nutrition: Boost your immune system with real foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, oily fish, oats, and garlic, and eat less processed foods. A good rule of thumb is the 2/3 + 1/3 rule. 2/3 of what you eat should look like it came out of the ground (as above list). 1/3 is the other stuff (this includes meat, dairy, cakes and biscuits and many takeaways). If you are exercising yet still carrying too much body fat, then take an honest look at your portion sizes. As we get older we need to think of quality and not quantity of foods. Carrying excess body weight is aging and is attributed to heart disease, type 2 diabetes, depression, disability, and cancers.
So if your goal is to stay young and not let an old person move into your body, then these top 5 tips are not just a recommendation - but a necessity.