Fitness Training After 40: Is it worth the effort?

HIT Fitness Training After 40: Is It Worth The Effort?

By Joseph Mullen
Fitness Scientist

Although this is not a real HIT article, I want to go on record and say, all of my protocols, regardless of a clients age are HIT protocols.
All one has to do, in simple terms, is to judge the intensity of the protocol to the fitness level of the person (at that point of time) and gradually increase the resistance and lesses the rest period between sets.

One recent client of mine is an 84 year old Physician who began standard free weight training at the time Ronald Essenmaker won the Mr. America. Which was in about 1937 or so. I'll look us the exact date and post it. I'll also place some data on my 84 year old client.

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Recently, I was asked why so many people over 40 years of age feel that exercise is a waste of time. In addition, I was asked why they feel that they are beyond help. That seems to be a valid question.

However, there is no one answer to it. A general answer is that most of the people in the 40-55 age groups have been victims of health and fitness misinformation for most of their lives.

This is stated in a survey taken by the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, which reported that "older" persons have formed many negative attitudes; that are not correct. The report showed that: older persons believe their need for exercise diminishes and eventually disappears; as they grow older that, they vastly exaggerate the risks involved in vigorous exercise after middle age.

Older persons over-rate the benefits of light, sporadic exercise; and they under-rate their own abilities and capacities. Recent information gathered indicated that 60 percent of those over 45 reported that they attempted NO regular exercise.

This may explain why so many senior citizens over! 65 years of age see a doctor more often than any other age group. Recent evidence indicates that, in addition to the general benefits of regular exercise, several major health problems are prevented or managed in part by an exercise program.

Coronary Heart Disease is the major cause of disability and death in the U.S. About one million people suffer heart attacks each year; 20 percent of these are immediately fatal. Exercising on a regular basis can greatly reduce your chance of succumbing to this deadly disease. Hypertension or high blood pressure begins early in life and progresses with age. One of every six persons has hypertension, which is also a prime risk factor for coronary heart disease.

Exercise is generally considered effective in reducing hypertension. Arthritis is one of the major cripplers among Americans. There are over 100 kinds of arthritis and at least 31 million Americans suffer from one or more of them. Exercise is a cornerstone of arthritis therapy. It does not cure arthritis but it does allow for the control of symptoms.

Osteoporosis is believed to cause over 200,000 hip fractures annually, primarily to older women and is a major cause of physical disability. Pain and shortened height, often accompanied by the so-called "dowager's hump" are major symptoms of advanced osteoporosis. Exercise can play an important role in relieving the anxiety and mild depression connected with osteoporosis.

If you need more reasons to get off your duff, consider the following changes are associated with aging are altered with exercise.

• Reduced muscle strength and endurance, loss of lean body mass and an increase in body fat, poor posture; reduced coordination and agility, reduced
• Joint mobility and flexibility, loss of bone mass and reduced reaction time and decreased thinking ability.
• Recent studies indicate that older people who exercise can experience quicker reaction time in processing information. Research indicates that the thinking ability of an older, fit person is GREATER than a 25-year-old person who is not fit.

Every study indicates that life long exercise or exercise begun later in life could enhance all major components of fitness. There is hope for everyone and no one is beyond help.

Perhaps the greatest benefit of exercise is the sense of independence and self-esteem it provides. It can give you the courage to try many things thought impossible without exercise.

The truth is that we need not become victims of aging. It is possible to remain fit, trim and disease free well into later years. All it takes is commitment.

My friend, the great David Mastorakis is well over 40 years of age, and he still trains using the HIT principles. Not bad for the person who was the youngest person to enter a high-level Physique contest. He still looks great.

I know I recommend it and I know David does.

Joe Mullen
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I'm 53. The harder and more regularly I train the better I feel. If I miss a workout and go a week between, I don't feel as good. Today's kayaking session provided strong evidence that weight training is making me faster over longer distances. If only I could get control over my diet (need to drop about 20 lbs) I'd be quite happy.

Hello, Fireman Bob

Thanks for the post. Here's my take on what you say, and I am in no way being sarcastic or critical. Just exchanging HIT views.


"I'm 53. The harder and more regularly I train the better I feel."

I agree with that point of view. You are probably exercising to the point that whatever intensity to workout at, is being bio-chemically recuperated between workouts, otherwise you would not feel refreshed between workouts. There is nothing wrong with that, for sure.
One way to measure "High Intensity Training," is that, every workout you are matching your previous workout day.

You can measure that by multiplying the weight by the amount of reps you performed. If, after you multiply those elements you total performance number is lower than the last workout, then your muscles have not totally recuperated.

If the performance data is exactly the same then, you have recuperated to the exact fitness level you had during the last workout.

If you performance number is higher than your last workout, then you have progressed and with adequate rest you would feel a slightly higher level of energy, prior to your next workout.

Form my point of view, that is was how I could explain to my clients that they either (a) rested enough between workouts or (b) were at about the level their same level he or she were during the last workout. That to me means, that the the person feels healthy but has not stimulated the body to improve more that it was at the last workout and (c) if your performance numbers are higher, then there is no doubt that you are improving.

That's a simple explanation; however in the real world other things influence the recuperation between workouts. Life things, like getting sleep, eating a proper and balanced diet. Caring for a family member, driving long distances and not getting enough sleep or changing the rest period between exercise in your program, etc. But numbers don't lie, so I trust the numbers.

As a side note, I was happy to hear about your kayaking session, etc.. One of my mentors was Professor Stanley Plagenhoef. Stan was a well-known Professor of Bio-Mechanics. He was the coach for the Olympic kayaking team. I live in Florida, and at one point, Stan (who worked for Nautilus Sports Medical Industries in Lake Helen, during the glory days of the company) use to store 4 kayaks in my larger than average garage.

Naturally, he allowed me to take any kayak to Lake Winnemissete, a semi-large lake, across the street from my house, in DeLand, Florida, where I lived when I came to work for Nautilus.

Prior to me moving to DeLand to work with Arthur Jones, I owned three Nautilus facilities in New England. One of which was close to the area of the University of Massachusetts, and Amherst College, where Stan worked when I first met him. He would come to my Nautilus club and do various testing of the designs of the equipment and various other research.

Sorry to ramble like that, but the mention of kayaking brought a lot of great memories back.

Continued Success!

Joe Mullen
Fitness Scientist

Thanks, Joe. I'm experimenting with how many days to recover/grow from workouts. I have noticed that every third day doesn't produce progress, nor does once per week. In fact, watching the schedule over the past year, by the time seven days have passed I have lost some strength and size. So now I target every four days, but sometimes the work schedule disrupts that. I have also noticed that if I work out with my maximum intensity, I'm still a little sore on the third day, and conclude that if I feel great on the third day I probably wimped out on the last workout. Tomorrow is my next gym session, so I'll know more then.

Hello!

The following part of your post interested me, in that I have always believed that soreness comes from an over-stretching in what I call the "Pre-stretched" position. Which means when a person is in a "normal" stretched position, one they are familiar with, they do not experience any muscular soreness. I want to emphasize that this is my thinking, and may not be correct.

"I have also noticed that if I work out with my maximum intensity, I'm still a little sore on the third day, and conclude that if I feel great on the third day I probably wimped out on the last workout. Tomorrow is my next gym session, so I'll know more then."

One of the hard parts of figuring out where the soreness cam from. It may be possible (or not), that it came from an activity that happened on a non-workout day.

With luck, sometime over the next few days, I'll have time for some serious reflection as to how I arrived at the reasoning I came to about muscular soreness. Thanks for getting me re-interested in the issue.

Joe