Ages 18-35

Your #1 goal during this stage of life is to achieve peak bone mass.  One good way to do this is to include high-impact exercises in your program, such as jumping rope, running, high-impact aerobic dance, basketball, volleyball, soccer and gymnastics.  Also important, are high-intensity weightlifting with free weights or dumbbells. 

Ages 35-50

Primary goals in this age group are to maintain bone mass and improve coordination and balance.  MENOPAUSE ALSO BECOMES AN ISSUE.  According to information in About.com, menopause isn't the only cause of middle-age spread. Other factors include reduced activity, decreased metabolism, increased calorie intake and genetics.  THE SIMPLEST WAY TO EASE INTO MENOPAUSE IS TO EXERCISE, ACCORDING TO THE AMERICAN COUNCIL ON EXERCISE.  Exercise helps ease symptoms, maintain bone mass and improve balance among other benefits.     

Ages 50+ and post-menopausal

Follow the same guidelines for ages 35-50.  If you have osteoporosis, get medical approval for your exercise choices and follow these general guidelines to protect your spine and avoid falls:  1) avoid impact exercise, 2) avoid spinal flexion (bending forward) and spinal rotations (twisting the torso), 3) Discontinue (or get medical approval) jarring sports such as bowling, tennis and basketball and 4) use lighter weights during resistance training and work your way up to more challenging training. 

Ages 70+

Balance exercises are critical for this age group.  Continue to follow the same guidelines as the 50+ age group in order to protect your spine. 

 

FITNESS ISSUES FOR ADULT WOMEN

Strength training for adult women is critical.  You should not look at this as an option.  Good posture and strong bones are just two of the benefits.  YOU CAN'T GET THIS WITH CARDIO EXERCISE ALONE.  A COMBINATION OF STRENGTH TRAINING AND CARDIO EXERCISE IS BEST.   

According to Phil Beckett, who is the author of The New Women's Guide To Successful Weight Loss & Fitness, these are some training issues that adult women should consider:

1. Muscular strength and endurance of women can increase significantly through participation in a 12-week resistance-training program (weight lifting).
    
2. Skeletal muscle of women in all age groups adjusts to resistance training by increasing strength and size. The major difference is the increased length of time required by older women to fully recovery from weight lifting.
    
3. Some older women who walk with the help of walkers can improve strength necessary to convert from the use of a walker to the use of a cane through regular resistance exercise.
    
4. In a group of women, 72-94 years of age, that he trained for a 12-week program, three-times a week with both resistance and cardiovascular exercises, all more than doubled the strength in their leg and hip muscles.
    
5. It is believed that the main cause of loss of strength in older women is lack of activity - most notably progressive resistance overload.
    
6. Muscle strength of older women increases quickly during the initial three months of training, then levels out.
    
7. Women can carry out prolonged moderate to high intensity resistance training with reasonable compliance and resulting slow-and fast-twitch muscle fiber enlargement.
    
8. Exercise has shown to be an effective means of weight-control by increasing energy requirements (at rest and during exercise), decreasing body fat, and maintaining metabolically active tissue in healthy women of all ages.
    
9. Elastic tubing, even though heavily promoted as being effective, is very ineffective at improving balance, strength, and walking ability in older women. However, free weights and resistance exercise in general are effective.
    
10. Women of all ages (16 - 68) that he's worked with over the years with strength and aerobic conditioning for a minimum of 6 months have shown to increase strength (5-65%), decrease body fat and increase fat free mass and have done it without any injury.

Fitness And Exercise Stops Your Muscles From Wasting Away

It doesn't matter if you're 40 years old or 75 years old. If you don't build muscle, you'll lose muscle.

Exercise and fitness will help you to increase the range of movement, increase lean muscle, strengthen bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments, improve your ability to do everyday activities, improve health, help prevent accidents, injuries, and sickness, and speed up rehabilitation.

Resistance training helps women tone, shape and strengthen muscle fibers, minimizing the "fatty marbling" within the muscle that results in flabby, weak muscles.  In addition, not only will you increase lean muscle mass and overall body tone, but the benefits of exercise also include increased metabolic rate and increased bone density.

Women who exercise on a regular basis with both resistance training (weight lifting) and cardiovascular exercise are able to perform more work without tiring and are less likely to sustain fractures resulting from osteoporotic conditions.

So, what happens when the body you once knew begins to acquire a different shape and doesn't respond to activities and physical exertion as it once did when you were 20 years old?  Unfortunately, you can't change the fact that you'll age, but you can control, to some degree, the rate at which you age.  A lot of women unwisely decrease their activity level as they grow older, assuming it's proper to grow old gracefully.  Regrettably, they grow old ungracefully, with considerable restrictions on their mobility, self-reliance, and quality of life.  From adulthood into middle age, you will lose approximately 6.6 pounds of lean muscle mass during each decade of life. Numerous studies indicate that muscle mass may decline by 20% to 40% between age 20 and age 65.  So, it is critical to continue a regular strength training program throughout your life. 

IF YOU ENJOY WORKING OUT AT HOME BECAUSE OF THE CONVENIENCE AND/OR COST SAVINGS, THEN I CAN HELP YOU.  YOU DON'T NEED ANY EQUIPMENT.  I PROVIDE EQUIPMENT AT EACH SESSION.  I TRAIN MOST CLIENTS AT THEIR HOMES, A PLACE THEY DESIGNATE OR ONLINE.  CALL 512-289-8879, OR EMAIL IF I CAN BE OF ASSISTANCE.