Build Your Fitness Program Around Strength Training If You Are Over 50

I'm in my 50s and I've spent over 20 years in the health and fitness industry as a personal trainer so, I believe I'm qualified to say this "If you are over 50 and you neglect to make strength training the major emphasis of your fitness program you're making a big mistake".

Building and maintaining muscle is key in staying health and fit as you age and strength training is the most effective means for accomplishing this.  Beginning as early as your 30s, if you are inactive you begin to lose muscle mass as a natural process of aging called sarcopenia.  You can lose as much as a pound to a pound and a half of muscle each year beginning in your 40s, and this process accelerates with age if left unabated.

Losing muscle is detrimental to your long term health and fitness in two ways.  One, your metabolism decreases as you lose muscle causing your body to store more fat and consequently increasing your risk of obesity and associated metabolic syndrome.  Two, you lose strength along with muscle loss which leads to an increased risk of falls, broken bones, and a loss of independence.

Building and maintaining your muscle helps to:

• Strengthen and improve your bone density
• Decrease your risk for developing type 2 diabetes
• Improve your balance thus, reducing your risk of falls
• Strengthen your joints thus, reducing the pain of arthritis 
• Lose weight more easily
• Improve your mood
• Improve your self-image
• Improve your sleep
• Perform your everyday activities more easily

While regular cardiovascular activities should be an important part of your fitness routine, it does not build nor maintain your muscle mass.  Strength training is the most proven way to build and maintain lean, and healthy muscle.  You should strength train 2 to 3 times each week in which target all your major muscle groups.  I suggest you seek a nationally certified personal trainer to custom design a strength training program for you.  You can also download my Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced Strength Training Programs for Over 50 by following this link: Forever Fit and Firm.

Competed In My First Powerlifting Competition

I just competed in my first powerlifting competition last Saturday, the 2016 USA North Carolina Powerlifting Championships.  It was a really big show with over 100 of the state's best lifters competing.  When I checked-in and I saw all those competitors, I thought to myself "wow I maybe in over my head!"

The hardest thing about the competition was learning all the rules to each lift.  There are three lifts you have to complete in the competition; a squat, a bench press, and a deadlift.  Every competitor gets three attemps for each lift and your best score of the three lifts is used as a part of your overall total score.  The competitor with the highest overall score of the three lifts wins.  Simple enough?  However, there's a strategy as I learned involved as to how much weight you pick for each of the three attempts.

There are three judges who decides whether or not you perform each lift properly, and you want to choose a weight for your initial lift that's not too easy, but you're sure you complete.  Then on your next lift  attempt you want to increase your weight to where you are nearly at your limit, and on your last attempt you want to go all out.

On my very first attempt I failed to complete my lift properly which meant I couldn't use that score, and as a consequence, I was immediately behind the eight ball, so to speak.  I knew I needed a score in that lift so I did my second and third attempts at a weight that I was sure I could complete properly.  The good news is I made my mistake early and the rest of the competition was smooth sailing.

My best lifts were: a 353 lb squat, a 303 lb bench press, and a 452 lb deadlift for a grand total of 1108 lbs.  Not bad considering it was my first powerlifting competition and I had only nine weeks to train for it.  One of the funniest things about the day was that I was mistakenly put in the 40 to 49 nine year old class and I held my own (maybe I still look that young, least I can hope so).  Well. I've got the bug now an this won't be my last show!

Are You Investing in Your Health and Fitness to Prepare You For Independence as You Age?

Many people put aside the necessary funds for retirement but they neglect to invest in their health, and fitness for physical independence as they get older.  How much can you enjoy your retirement years if you are physically broke?

If you are over 50 years of age it's time to start seriously investing in a health and fitness plan that will help protect you from the mental and physical ailments associated with age.  Beginning in your 40s and as early as your 30s for some, a natural process of losing muscle called sacopenia starts to take place in your body.  You can lose as much as 1 to 2 lbs of muscle each year beginning in your 40s and this process accelerates with age if left unabated.

Sacopenia can lead to muscle weakness, fatigue, insulin resistance, increased risk of falls, and loss independence.  These are the things normally associated with the aging process.  Not a pretty picture.  However, you can begin now to combat sacopenia, and in some cases reverse this process through diet and exercise.


Increased protein consumption, and strength training are two of the most effective ways to combat muscle loss.  0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight (0.36 grams per pound) has been the normal recommendation for daily protein intake for years.  However, new studies show that 1 to 1.5 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight (0.45 to 0.68 grams per pound) may be more beneficial in building, maintaining and reducing muscle loss.

Strength training also know as weight lifting is the best form of exercise to build muscle and strength which helps maintain your independence as you age.  And it's never to late to start.  People well into their 90s have been shown to gain muscle, and strength on a properly designed weight lifting program.  However, the earlier you start the better. I recommend that you strength train 2 to 3 times each week beginning in your 50s.

Now that you see it's just as important to invest in your health and fitness program as it is to invest in your retirement account, where do you begin?  I suggest you find a nationally certified fitness professional and have them custom design a strength training program for you.  You can also download my Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced Strength Training Programs for Over 50 by following this link:  Forever Fit and Firm

3 Days Until the Big Powerlifting Event

Okay, it's only 3 days until I compete in my first powerlifting competition and I'm a little nervous.  Just had my last workout before the event this Saturday and I'm feeling pretty confident that I will do well.  Although, I have to admit that I have to check my sanity each day after my workouts when I'm so stiff and sore that I can hardly move.  It's been a challenge to say the least. But overcoming adversity is the greatest  impetus for growth and that's the main reason I'm competing.

You see, I'm in my late 50s and I've been in the health and fitness industry for over 20 years.  It's easy to get comfortable and settle into a rut after so many years of doing the same thing.  Training for this upcoming powerlifting competition has not only invigorated my personal exercise program, it has also rejuvenated the programs I do with my clients.  So, even if I don't place in the competition the growth in my personal and professional life as a result of the training has been well worth the stiff and sore days.

Here are my best lifts numbers going into Saturday. A 455 lb squat, a 480 lb deadlift, and a 305 lb bench press, not bad considering I started training for this meet just 9 weeks ago.  Below is a video of my best deadlift.  Wish me luck.

480 lb Deadlift at 57

 

Who says your strength declines with age?

Balanced Life Living Life From Within

 A must read if you feel like getting ahead in your life is a losing battle.

Introduction

Ever feel as if there is no purpose to your life and each day is just the same as yesterday? Do you feel you struggle through life while others have it so easy? Ever ask yourself why am I trying so hard and nothing seems to go right for me? What about that empty feeling you have and nothing you do seems to satisfy it? Ever watch the news and think that if God is real why is the world so messed up?

If you’ve ever felt any of these things you are not alone. Everyone struggles at times to find meaning in their life. If you’ve ever felt like you are on a journey and you have no idea of where it will end, then this book is for you.

Some people seem to breeze through life as if they have a guide that’s always showing them the easy way. There is such a life force.  This way of living will bring you peace and harmony in all aspects of your life and if that is what you seek, then read on.

As early as I can remember I always felt a presence with me something within me that was an internal guide. Whenever I would follow that internal guidance things would turn out well for me no matter the circumstance I found myself in. For instance, when I was around age seven, being rambunctious as kids are at that age, I was playing with a pair of scissors and accidently punctured a hole in my mother’s brand new sofa. I was so afraid to tell my mother what had happened that I made up all kinds of stories in my head of what to say to her. Then this inner guide gently said, “Tell your mother the truth and all will be okay.” So I did. My mother was understandably upset at seeing the hole in her new sofa, but she assured me that everyone makes mistakes and that she loved me far more than a sofa. She was proud of me for telling the truth. Ever since that day I have sought that internal guidance in all that I do.

I now know the internal guide in me is Divine Love and Divine Love loves me in spite of the mistakes I make. It understands just as my mother did when I put a hole in her brand new sofa. This same Divine Love resides in everyone and is simply awaiting our recognition of It.

The Divine Love I’m talking about permeates all life. It is the Invisible Life Force that animates and governs all we see—from the movement of the heavenly bodies, to the changing of the seasons, to the beating of one’s heart. Some call this Life Force God, some call it Spirit, and others call it Universal Life. No matter what you call it, you must realize it is Everywhere Present, All Knowing, and All Powerful in order to fully benefit from It in your life. This Life Force created, maintains, and sustains you. It is the intelligence that orchestrates the billions of interactions that happen in your body each day that keeps you alive.

You have unlimited access to this awesome Life Force through your consciousness. As a matter of fact, this Life Force beckons you to recognize it. It stands always ready to come to your aid, but it will not come unless invited. It knows how to guide you easily and harmoniously in accomplishing all your tasks, both great and small.

You exist as an expression of this great Life Force as spirit, mind, and body. In order to live a fulfilled and joyful life you need to recognize and balance these three dimensions. There is a rhythm to life that once entered and maintained, makes things flow easily and harmoniously with little stress.

The object of this book is to help you understand this Life Force, and how to be in tune with It to create the life you truly desire. Take a journey with me and transform your body, mind, and spirit. We will explore balance from the inside out starting with spiritual energy, the spiritual laws and mental energy. Then my co-author, Alisha Lalji, will share the healing modalities that completely transformed her life. The latter part of the book will start a conversation about health, fitness and nutrition—all subjects especially dear to me since I’m a personal trainer. Alisha and I thank you for taking this journey of health and well-being with us and can’t wait to hear about your results.

“All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.” —John 1:3-4.

You can purchase this book by following this link: Balanced Life

Or download as an ebook by clicking here: Balanced Life Ebook 

Did You Know Body Fat is Your Muscles Fuel of Choice at Rest?

In most gyms you will find the majority of the people on the cardio equipment in hope of losing weight and body fat.  They spend most of their time on the treadmills or the elliptical machines and very little time hitting the weights.  After several weeks of this they get frustrated because they see very little progress.  They just can't understand why they are working out so hard and can't seem to lose any body fat.

The answer to the above situation is they haven't built enough muscle to burn the body fat they want to get rid of.  Here's a fact you probably don't know about your body. Your muscles fuel of choice during most of the day is body fat.  That's right, your muscles prefer to burn fat as fuel when you are doing low intensity activities, and and also when you are at rest.  More specifically, the metabolism of fat furnishes about two-thirds of the energy your body requires at rest.

Even while you are asleep your muscles are active and they need fuel to survive.  Actually, you burn most of your calories just doing the activities of daily life and when you are asleep.  Your body's aerobic energy system supplies your muscles with fuel during these times and this fuel comes mainly from burning body fat.

Strength training or weight lifting is the most effective way to build and maintain your muscle mass.  Cardiovascular exercise does little to build muscle, and in fact, too much cardio can lead to muscle loss.  Additionally, you start to naturally lose muscle as consequence of age.  Thus, the less muscle you have the less body fat you burn.  So, the best long-term approach for losing that stubborn body fat is to maximize your muscle mass through strength training.  With this approach you  burn body fat 24 hours each day.  Just think of burning fat while you sleep, how sweet is that?