People in the UK are now living longer that at anytime in our history. Medical science & health care are at a level where we can sustain ‘lifespan’ by a decade or more past where we could just 50 years ago.
However, resources are stretched to near breaking point, Doctor surgeries & hospitals cannot cope with increased demand & most importantly there is a BIG difference between ‘lifespan’ & ‘healthspan’.
Sure, you may be able to live to 85 or 90 years old BUT do you want to spend the last 10-15 years of your life in poor heath without your independence?
These are all big questions & big themes & challenges that will be tackled by governments for the coming decades (or centuries).
The purpose of this piece is NOT to become a manifesto for public health policy & society as a whole but to talk about the one area in which we can help you & you can help yourself – PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for your own health, fitness, strength & longevity.
Before I go on, I can already feel a few people raising their hands (or blood pressures) thinking, YES, BUT I have A,B,C, D medical condition & it’s through no fault of my own. Of course, there are genetic factors which MAY lean us towards certain conditions as we age. Accidents happen & sometimes just pure bad luck BUT, I want to discuss what IS in your power & if I may share one of my favourite quotes re our predisposition to various medical conditions from a genetic perspective, that in many cases:
‘GENETICS loads the gun, LIFESTYLE pulls the trigger.”
We can all give ourselves the best possible fighting chance of a long, healthy, happy, energetic, adventurous life through personal autonomy, responsibility & playing the genetic hand we are dealt with as much skill & intelligence as possible.
I’ve been working full time in the health & fitness industry for 26 years & started Unique Results in Chelmsford, Essex 18 years ago (1st August 2007) & I’ve always been drawn toward working with & helping older people since I was in my early 20s.
I love working with people who want to improve their health, strength, movement & life for reasons of family, friendships, experiences, independence & ability rather than purely aesthetics & ego (nothing wrong with that, if that’s where you are in life) but I love hearing about how training has made peoples lives BETTER. have RICHER experiences, move FLUIDLY, have more ENERGY, perform functional daily tasks more EASILY & just enjoy life more.
Most of the fitness industry is heavily targeted towards younger adults in their 20s & 30s (again, nothing wrong with that) & occasionally a leisure centre or health club may throw in a few 50+ classes onto their timetable where members are wrapped in cotton wool & patronised with low impact, light weight exercises – which, while being better than nothing are certainly not optimal.
Older adults have HUGE potential for strength development, improvement of movement quality, increased aerobic capacity, skill acquisition & just having FUN with training. However, there ARE additional steps that should be taken & considerations when training in your 50s, 60s, 70s & beyond that maybe you can get around (or away with) when training in your 20s & 30s.
Thats where we come in.
Out of our 130 members at Unique Results, 95 are over 50 years of age & over 20 are in their 70s. We know a lot, & have a lot of experience working with older adults – & we don’t wrap them in cotton wool either.
When you’re over 50 as a man or women & looking for LIFESTYLE STRENGTH & FITNESS there are 5 main areas your training should focus on:
- Increasing your aerobic base of fitness through lots of walking & low to mid intensity steady state cardio.
- Maintaining & increasing your ROM (Range of motion) around your joints & working on good posture & quality of movement.
- Building as much strength as physically possible for you within a safe, progressive programme of resistance training.
- Maintaining as much muscle tissue & bone mass as possible through eating adequate protein to support your resistance programme.
- Occasional bursts of higher intensity exercise to push your cardiovascular system once it is safe to do so AFTER building a good base level of aerobic fitness.
You may have just read that list & feel slightly overwhelmed or feel that it sounds too complicated to apply to your schedule BUT the reality is that much of the recommendations above can be covered with just 3 structured exercise sessions per week & some additional walking, cycling etc outside in the fresh air.
If you’re not currently exercising then 1 or 2 structured sessions added per week & increasing your steps a bit will provide some stimulus to start making progress BUT longer term IF you are going to start prioritising your health & fitness for a better time in your 60s, 70s & 80s then the more you can do per week the better (within reason).
If you’d like to find out how we’ve been helping people over 50 in Chelmsford, Essex get fitter, stronger & FEEL healthy, LOOK healthy & BE healthy for the last 18 years then please check out www.uniqueresults.co.uk
Our next Fit for Life 6 week programme specifically for people over 50 who are new to exercise or returning after a long break is starting on Monday 28th April – click on the link here for more info & to sign up. https://uniqueresults.clickfunnels.com/fitforlifechallenge
Or if you’d just like to come & see us for a coffee to discuss your needs & how we may be able to help send us an email to info@uniqueresults.co.uk & we will make that happen.
Yours in health,
James St Pierre