Muscle Strength
We humans will begin to lose our muscle mass from around the age of forty years.
Around one percent per year up to age fifty, then around two percent after age fifty.
Physically inactive people can lose three to five percent of muscle mass after age thirty.
By age eighty, up to fifty percent of muscle mass can be lost, resulting in significantly increased rates of disability in this age group due to a number of body challenges, including illness.
Translation – we begin to look older, lose our shape, lose general health, and lose strength.
What to do
The best option, according to current research, is to lift weight.
The best form of weight lifting to start the process is to move your body weight.
Body weight type exercise is efficient and requires no membership fees or equipment.
The following exercises are a guide
General guidelines. All exercise should be undertaken based on personal circumstances and under the guidance of a health professional capable of providing specific advice if health circumstances should require pre-exercise assessment and monitoring. See the GeriTraK terms of use policy if in doubt.
Find a series of exercises that you find enjoyable. There is no need to undertake a strenuous activity level, but a level sustainable over a period of time.
Walking. The distance and speed of a walk are dependent on the current state of fitness. If necessary, the walk can be inside. Progress to flat ground, then introduce mild elevation or a few steps. It is possible to progress the distance walked, or the steepness of an incline, number of steps, as well as the speed of the walk. It is not wise to increase more than one of the progression items until used to the challenge for a week.
Moving your body. Changing position from a sitting position to a standing position, then back to sitting and repeating until feeling tired. Progress by sitting on a lower chair or increasing the number of times going up and down. Try standing and sitting without using your arms to push you up or lower yourself down. This exercise can be progressed to going from standing to sitting down on the floor, then standing up from the floor sitting position.
For the upper body. Standing near a solid wall, place the hands on the wall. Stand back from the wall slightly, keeping the hands on the wall, then bend the arms and let the body move toward the wall. Push away from the wall by straightening the arms. This is a standing push up.
GeriTraK will provide other exercises in future articles.
See Part 3: Aerobic fitness
GeriTraK. Good to Know