As you age, many everyday tasks that involve strength or mobility become more difficult. People tend to fall into one of two camps: those who try to hold onto their youth by exercising harder and those who resign themselves to the fate of aging.
However, there is a third option: doing the right kind of exercise for your age. This means building muscles while making sure you stay safe from injuries. Weight training is ideal for this because it can be safe and very effective if you stick to appropriate exercises.
Why Weight Training Is Important When You’re Over 50
As Stanford Lifestyle Medicine explains, you start losing muscle mass at age 30. However, you only lose around 0.5% a year until you hit 50, at which point muscle mass starts to decline at a rate of 1% to 2% a year. There’s another increase at age 60, when you begin to lose around 3% a year. Weight training, though, can help you halt that loss or even gain muscle mass.
How Weight Training Benefits Your Overall Health
Weight training has specific benefits for people over 50:
- Strengthens bones — As well as building muscle, weight training puts pressure on your bones, pushing them to rebuild mass lost from aging. This reduces the risk of osteoporosis and fractures.
- Reduces the risk of injury — Weight training lowers the risk of injuries by strengthening bones, ligaments and tendons. This is especially important in areas like the hips, spine and wrists.
- Helps maintain a healthy weight — Muscle burns calories, even when you’re not actively using the muscles. Just having more muscle mass will mean you burn more calories, which will make it easier to stay your ideal weight, provided you don’t overeat to compensate.
- Improves posture — Poor posture in older people is often due to weak back and core muscles. Weak muscles may lead to a stoop called accentuated thoracic curvature of the spine, which puts pressure on the lungs and makes it harder to breathe deeply.
- Better quality of life — You’ll both live longer and better by improving your muscle strength. This is because strong muscles make it easier to do everyday tasks, keep up with your hobbies and have an active lifestyle.
- Contributes to weekly exercise needs — Physical activity in general has a number of benefits for people over 50, including lowering the risk of heart disease, preventing dementia, improving memory and concentration, and slowing cognitive decline.
The Keys to Success with Weight Training
Silver & Strong names three critical factors to see physical changes from weight training.
1. Train Five Days a Week
You may find it too difficult at the start to lift weights five days a week, but this should be the goal you work toward.
It’s best to train at the same time each day to give yourself close to 24 hours to recover between sessions. In addition, you should work a different muscle group on consecutive days.
2. Choose Weights According to the Exercise
Throughout the workout, you’ll need to select the most appropriate weight depending on the exercise. You should be reaching a perceived rate of exertion of eight out of 10 by your last rep. This means you should feel it would only be physically possible to do two more reps. Limiting yourself to weights you can lift comfortably will mean you don’t see the changes you want.
You’ll need to figure out what the right weight for each exercise is, being aware that you’ll need to gradually increase the weight as you become stronger. Other ways to make exercises more difficult include adding extra reps or sets and slowing the movements down.
3. Be Patient
If you commit to a weight training routine, you should see changes — but it will take time. You should expect to gain a couple pounds of muscle in a year if you train consistently.
Plus, don’t expect to see any significant results if you’re only weight training and not giving any attention to your nutrition. In particular, you need to be consuming plenty of protein to build muscle, either from animal- or plant-based sources. Try to include some protein in all your meals.
Mistakes to Avoid
It’s crucial to ensure you stay safe when weight training — especially when you’re over 50, as you’re at a higher risk of injury. Make sure you avoid common mistakes.
Performing Dangerous Exercises
Any exercise that could potentially trap you under weights is dangerous. Make sure you’re able to exit safely on your own or have someone spot you. Also consider if the exercise is likely to make you lose your balance.
Not Consulting with Your Doctor
If you have any health conditions or prior injuries, it’s important to talk to your doctor before starting a weight training regime. Your doctor can warn you about any exercises that would be unsuitable for you and give you tips about how to stay safe. If you have suffered a serious injury or illness, it may be worth asking for a referral to a physical therapist, who can create a customized program for you that includes weight training.
Failing to Warm Up
Before any workout, it’s necessary to warm up your muscles to prepare for exercise. Rather than immediately picking up heavy weights, do some light cardio to warm up your lower body (such as by using a treadmill, exercise bike or elliptical) and warm up your upper body with light weights.
Guessing How to Perform Exercises
Make sure you learn proper technique for each of the exercises you perform. The best way to do this is to work with a personal trainer or physical therapist or to attend group weight training classes. Proper form will ensure you avoid injury and help you gain the most from your weight training.
Forgetting to Breathe
Some people find themselves holding their breath during difficult exercises. This is a bad idea because it could lead to injury or even cause you to pass out. Consciously bring your attention to your breath to inhale and exhale in time with the movement of the weights.
Exercises to Incorporate into Your Routine
The possibilities are almost endless for the types of exercises you can use for weight training. Make sure your routine encompasses all the following categories:
- Pulling movements to strengthen your back. This includes pulldowns, chin ups, and rows.
- Pushing movements to strengthen the chest and legs, such as a bench press, overhead press, or chest press for the upper body and leg press for the lower body.
- Hinges to engage the core and work the muscles of the posterior chain (glutes, hamstrings, lower back and calf muscles).
- Single-leg moves to ensure you work both legs.
- Squats with weights to improve mobility when moving between sitting and standing.
In addition to working the large muscle groups like pecs, abs, glutes and biceps, make sure you incorporate exercises for the small, deep muscles. This may include the rotator cuffs, neck muscles, or even gripping muscles in the hands. Choose muscle groups that you feel may be vulnerable to injury.
Always end by stretching to maintain flexibility in the muscles you’ve worked.
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