Women and Aging: Taking Control

by Tom Furman

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” — George Bernard Shaw

Aging is part of life. Aging gracefully is both art and science. Aging and women is the focus of this article. I’ll use five primary areas of focus to organize a plan of attack.

The Problems —

1. There is a loss of muscle. This is from a lack of maintenance as well as hormonal. It is called, “Age Related Sarcopenia”. This is why if you maintain a lifetime perfect weight, you look worse as you age. Less muscle to move you and to form your shape.
2. There is an increase in body fat. With the habit of moving less and the mild, but consistent downturn of metabolism, body fat increases. More weight to move and less muscle to move it.
3. There is a reduction in strength and endurance. The very qualities that served us as early hunter gatherers diminishes. This decreases our ability to prevent accidents like falls or survive danger.
4. There is a loss of range of motion. Restricted motion due to inactivity, injury and age alters movement. This makes day to day activity less enjoyable. Less activity means less benefit to health and fitness. It also burns less calories.
5. There is a reduction of quality of skin and connective tissue. While aging reduces bone quality, connective tissue and organ health, it attacks the skin in a very vivid manner.

The Fixes —

1. Loss of muscle? Resistance Train and Eat More Protein. Getting stronger is perhaps, the most powerful tool you have to resist aging. This can be with bodyweight, machines, barbells or kettlebells. The main thing is to do it. As well, women often under consume protein. They can’t even tell you how many grams they consumed that day. Simply consuming a gram per each pound of lean body mass would make a huge difference. A complete hormone panel should be addressed with your physician as well.
2. Gaining body fat? Eat fewer calories, but increase the quality of calories you consume. Simple food tracking is amazingly easy with apps on phones these days. The feedback and accountability is superb. You can’t plan the future if you don’t know where you’ve been. As well, tracking can give you a real time view of quality. The calories you don’t think about are often in liquids, notably wine and mixed drinks. The greater surface area of liquids make them an elegant delivery system to get more calories into your body and potentially more body fat.
3. Weak and Exhausted? Strength and Endurance Train. The body is amazingly adaptive. Progressive resistance and cardiovascular exercise far outweigh food supplements and experimental drugs in terms of effectiveness to resist aging.
4. Hard to Get Around? Stretch and Move More. Stretching is FREE. Simply adding more movement to your day maintains movement. Getting down on the floor, walking, taking the steps, reaching, bending and twisting can keep you viable and mobile.
5. Skin Quality Is Awful ? Use sunscreen, don’t gain weight, don’t smoke and minimize alcohol intake. Don’t use the Vitamin D/Sun connection for an excuse to bake your hide. The sun’s benefits can be acquired through 15 minutes of hand and face exposure. Even with that certain individuals will need supplemental Vitamin D. This is determined through blood tests and not Facebook posts by the way.

The Arguments and Answers —

1. “Weight Lifting will give me big muscles like those girls on the internet!!” No it won’t. You probably lack the drive to train with that level of intensity, you lack the unique genetics to look like that and you lack the chemist who guides their diet and intake of performance enhancing drugs.
2. “But I like food and I like to eat!” I like to eat too, but I don’t medicate with food.
3. “I’m too busy to exercise!” Well then realize the human body is amazingly resilient, until it isn’t.
4. “Isn’t getting a bit tighter normal as you age?” Yes. A loss of function is normal if not addressed. The alternative is a consistent behavior to maintain ability and vitality. You may age, but you don’t want to move like an old person.
5. “But I’m a sun bunny and I like my margaritas on the beach!” By all means, choose any path you like. However a reduction in skin quality is accelerated GREATLY by this habit. There is no free lunch.

Knowing is not enough. Taking action is. Five simple steps can be a game changer. Do not insert anecdote or straw arguments into this discussion. It is never too late to start. “Fortune Favors The Bold”.

For more specific or personal online fitness training, contact me at physicalstrategies@gmail.com