Beginner's Fitness Programs

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Most people lose about 30% of their muscle strength between the ages of 50 and 70 years old. It brings many problems to their daily life, such as:

1. Loss of mobility.
2. Loss of body balance which makes them more likely to fall easily and break hip bones.
3. Loss of bone density.
4. Loss of physical activities which causes one to fain more body fat and may accelerate cardio-vascular problems.Loss of cognitive capacity.

In short, you get many of the symptoms of old age. However, you don’t need to be like that. You can counteract this through strength training. Many people stop working out after hitting the big five-oh, but in fact it is actually the time you need it most.

Although there are many reasons that people after 50 don’t work out, one reason is because their body ‘hurts.’ This is because, like many people in mid 40s who start wearing reading glasses due to loss of flexibility of eye muscles, our muscles and joints start start showing some problems around that age. Even though our lifespan has been extended dramatically in the last 2,000 years, our body still thinks our lifespan is around 40 years old (passed reproductive age).

These problems, however, could be counter-acted by workouts. Although you cannot jump into a boot camp class like 20-year-olds on the day you re-join a gym, you can always gradually increase your capacity to the level of someone who is 20 years younger than yourself. This is really important, especially for those who have not done any resistance training for a long time.

Researchers at the University of Michigan published the following guidelines for those who have not done much weight training.

1. Start just using your body weight.
2. Join a gym and work out with a gym trainer to get used to the gym equipment.
3. Don’t forget to “progress.”

OK, here is a bit more details. There are three basic resistance trainings anyone can do with just their body weight anywhere and anytime: Pushups, Squats, and Situps (PSS). These three workouts use all of the major muscle groups of your body. As for older people, probably the standard PSS workout is too difficult at the beginning, and I recommend starting with a modified version; wall pushups, squats with support, and seated leg raises. The wall pushup is easy. Leaning on to the wall at an angle of between 10 to 45 degrees
(the deeper the angle, the more difficult), and do pushups. If it is getting easy, then try floor pushups, but in a kneeing position (“kneeing pushups” or “girl’s pushups.”)

Probably most people can do squats, but if you have difficulty with the squats, hold the back of a chair (a steady heavy one) while doing the squats. You really need to pay attentions while performing the squats. If you do them wrongly, you will damage your knees. Make sure that you know how to do the squats correctly before doing it; when you lower the body your knees should not pass the position of your toes. In other words, stick your butt out. Go to YouTube and check out the correct way to do them.

If you can do sit-ups that is great, but “traditional” sit-ups are not good for your lower back; so do stomach crunches instead. You need to lie on the floor with your lower back firmly flat on the floor. Then pull your knees towards your chest. If you are not used to doing this and find it difficult, here is another option. Sit on a chair, hold the side of the chair and bring up your knees up and then lower slowly. This will give you a great abdominal workout.

Once you get used to these exercises, you can do more at home, or join a gym, a yoga studio, a Tai Chi center, or a Pilate studio. Probably Tai Chi won’t give your as much of a muscle workout as others, but it is a great option for people in the older bracket. It gives you so many good benefits (see the article about Tai Chi.)

If you join a gym, make sure that you work out with a gym trainer at first. You also need to make sure that she knows how to work out with older people, not just with a 20-year-old. This could be difficult since many gyms don’t have a trainer certified to work out with the older population. You may want to call several gyms to make sure they have the trainer at the gym.

The point three in the list is very important. After a while most people fall into a routine and do the same workout at the same level of intensity day in and day out. Sure, there are some benefits by doing this, but you are not getting a full benefit of the workout. You need to gradually increase resistance and/or intensity. To do this, you may want to work with the trainer once a month or, at least, once every three months to change your routines. I don’t recommend to work out with a trainer every time, since it creates dependency
on the trainer (and it is very expensive!), though it is nice to have workout buddies. Sometime, the trainer at the gym can work out with you and your workout buddy at the same time; and it will save some expenses.

If you keep doing this, you will stay healthy and active. You may become Ms Universe at the age of 90!

Sources:
The Intensity and Effects of Strength Training in the Elderly. Deutsches Arzteblatt International, 2011 Resistance Exercise for the Aging Adult: Clinical Implications and Prescription Guidelines. The American Journal of Medicine, 2011

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We don’t think much about it, but walking and even just standing straight require lots of physical training. Robotic scientists are working hard to simulate stability in the human body, but so far cannot recreate it perfectly. Most of us needed a couple of years to learn how to run without tumbling every five seconds! We are lucky that we went through this training period when we were really young. If we waited until we were 30 years old, we probably wouldn’t have the patience to keep practicing for 2 years, and only 10% of the people on the Earth would be able to walk! Most people’s ability to keep their balance, however, has stayed at the kindergarten level, since a rather sedentary daily life does not require much.

Thanks to the popularity of yoga and functional workouts, more and more people are realizing how important balance is in their daily life. As with any other physical activities, if you start practicing when you are younger, you can delay age-related problems. The main cause of physical confinement of older people is bone fractures from falling. If you develop your balancing ability, your chance of maintaining an active lifestyle as you get older is quite high. Even if you are older, adding a balancing workout will reduce the chance of falling and will lower the risk of bone fractures.

How do we balance? There are three main sensory inputs. The first is through the inner ear (vestibular system); the second is visual reference; and the third involves feeling throughout the body, especially the feet. These three sensory systems send signals to the brain which can perceive exactly where the body is, and send back signals to readjust its position. You can train all of these systems. For example, most people who turn around in a small circle several times will likely get very dizzy. This does not happen for professional dancers – because they are trained. Ballet dancers can turn on the spot quickly 10-15 times without falling down.

Many people think that balancing comes from the legs and that they need to develop strong muscles, especially in the lower legs. In truth, you need to train the entire body, especially your core. Further, it is not just muscle strength, but a combination of strength and quick response from the nervous system. This is why a body builder cannot stand on one foot as long as a tiny ballerina on her toes!

Although yoga is really great to develop your balance, or more precisely, awareness of your body, there are many things you can do without a yoga class. The easiest training you can do is to stand on one foot. Surprisingly, many people cannot stay on one foot for even 30 seconds. You can do this exercise anywhere, (like waiting in line at the supermarket). Here are several exercises you can do without equipment or classes:

• Stand on one foot for 30-60 seconds. Change feet. Repeat for several sets.
• Stand on both feet, but on the toes. Raise and lower the heels slowly for 20 counts. Rest, then repeat.
• Stand with one foot in front of other (inline). Stay in this position for 30-60 seconds. Reverse feet and repeat.
• Stand in this same position with feet inline, but turn your body slowly to your right, then to your left. Reverse feet and repeat.
• Stand on one foot, then raise and lower the heel. Stay at the highest point for 10 second before lowering the heel to the ground. Repeat with other foot.

Here are a few more advanced workouts:

• Stand on one foot, then slowly lower the upper body forward and extend the free leg backward until your body is parallel to the floor. Stay there for 10 seconds and return to a straight standing position. Repeat a few times and then switch feet/legs.
• Stand on both feet, then rise onto your toes. Extend your arms forward, and slowly lower your body by bending your knees. (Don’t go lower than a 90-degree angle with your knees.) Stay there for 10-30 seconds.
• Stand with one foot in front of the other (inline). Rise onto your toes. Tilt your body slowly to your right, then to your left. Switch feet and repeat.

If you would like to use equipment, here are a few suggestions:

BOSU balance trainer: This is really great training equipment. For beginners, put the hard platform side on the floor and stand on the soft half. Many people do leg workouts on this balance trainer (such as squats).

Balance board: There are several different brands. Get the cheapest one, since they work just as well. The expensive ones are surely stronger, but they are made for gyms and serious athletes. For the rest of us, a cheap one will last a long time.

Foam roller: Foam rollers are available from many makers and you can buy them at sporting goods and fitness stores. As for a beginner, choose a one with a half circle (one side flat) since you need to stand on it. This is also quite difficult, and you may want to wait a while, even though it is much cheaper.

I recommend starting balancing exercises without specialty equipment, since you don’t need to spend any money and you can do them anywhere, anytime, and still get a good workout. If they become too easy, then you can try the equipment.

Source:
A computational human model for exploring the role of the feet in balance. Journal of Biomechanics, 2010; 43

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Almost everyone has experienced some back pain in the past, and six out of ten people have semi-chronic back pain throughout their lives. Since you can lower the risk of low back pain with strong muscles, it is a good idea to add back-muscle exercises into your workout routine. According to researchers at the

Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail, not all exercises are effective for preventing back pain. They found that it is better to isolate one specific back-muscle group. Yoga and pilates are generally good for overall muscle development and flexibility, but almost all of their exercises include other muscle groups and may not be able to fully enough
develop those muscles needed to prevent back pain. According to their study, the best back-muscle workout for preventing back pain is a semi-seated back extension machine, where you sit on a seat, leaning forward slightly, then extend your body to a straight position. If you don’t know about this machine, you should ask a gym trainer how to use it correctly.

If you already have back pain, you should first see a physical therapist. S/he can teach you how to do motor-control or stabilization exercises which focus on control of the trunk muscles, such as transversus abdominis and multifidus. These muscle groups support and control the spine. Can you do this by yourself? Not likely. A physical therapist can identify which muscles are weak, which muscles are tight, and find a way to balance all of these muscle groups. However, if you don’t currently have back pain and want to increase stability, besides the direct back-muscle workout, any type of core workout like yoga or pilates would be beneficial.

If you are really in pain, then you may want to try acupressure before visiting a physical therapist. Acupressure is like acupuncture without needles and a therapist uses his/her fingertips to stimulate the same points as acupuncture. Taiwanese researchers compared two groups of chronic low back pain patients. One group received standard physical therapy, and the other, acupressure. The acupressure group significantly reduced their lower back pain compared to the group receiving standard physical therapy. The only drawback of acupressure is that many insurance companies do not cover it, and you may need to pay out of pocket.

Does the use of lumbar supports (those large belts that people wear around their waists) help to prevent low back problems? According to a study done at the Amsterdam School for Health Professionals in the Netherlands, not much. They found that the occurrence of back injuries does NOT depend on whether the person was using a lumbar support belt. Furthermore, according to a UK study, neither does learning the “correct” way to lift heavy objects!

So, what am I saying? BEFORE you have back pain, strengthen your back muscles, and all other core muscle groups. If you already have back pain (unfortunately it can happen even if you are careful), stop lifting heavy weight, get treatment, and retrain your core. It is, after all, common sense…

Source
Specificity of a Back Muscle Exercise Machine in Healthy and Low Back Pain Subjects. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 2010; 42 (3): 592
Motor Control Exercise for Persistent, Nonspecific Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review. Physical Therapy, 2008
Acupressure Relieves Low Back Pain: BMJ-British Medical Journal 2006
Lumbar Supports Not Particularly Effective For Low Back Pain: Center for the Advancement of Health 2008
Training On The Correct Way To Lift Heavy Objects Does Not Prevent Back Pain: BMJ-British Medical Journal 2008

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Although your boyfriend may tell you to lift heavy weights to get more muscular and fit, there are many different weight training routines for women to achieve a great result. A recent study conducted at McMaster University confirmed this fact. The study found that it is not the heavy weight, but the level of muscle fatigue is important. You can use a light weight but you need to lift it until you cannot lift it anymore.

Many women say that they are already doing this but they cannot see any results. Do you know why? Yes, they are using lighter weights and performing high repetition workout, but they don’t push far enough to make the muscles to total fatigue level. For example, if you use 3 lb dumbbells to do bicep curls with 20 reps, you do get tired, but your muscles are still not in the state of “total failure.”

Here are a few ways to do weight training to achieve the total failure level.

Method 1:

Three set workout. This is the most commonly used method. You do three sets of the same exercise: one set to warm up, one set to max out, and one set to total burnout. For women, I recommend using 50 – 60 % of the maximum weight you can lift for safety, and aim for a higher number of repetitions. Let’s use the bicep curl as an example. Let’s say you can barely curl a 15lb dumbbell; this means that you want to use 7lb dumbbells for the workout. For the first set, you do 14 reps of bicep curls, and your muscles are really burning. After a 30-second to one minute break (yes, it should be short), you do the second set. Try to get to 14 reps, but probably you won’t get there — if you did, probably you did not push enough at the first set. After another 30-second break, do another set; if your biceps cannot curl more than 5 reps, use the light weight for this set.

Method 2:

One set workout. This one is very hard to do just by yourself, and you need someone to help you. Basically, you totally burn out your muscle in one set. Start by picking up a weight which is 70 – 80% of the maximum weight you can safely lift. Probably you can do 3 – 4 reps of bicep curls with this weight. Then your partner will assist you in lifting the weight to the top position. Probably you can slowly lower the weight for a couple more reps. Then probably you can’t even control the weight-lowering part of the bicep curl. Your partner needs to give you a couple more lifts so that you really burn the muscle.

Method 3:

This is the modification of Method 2. You may be able to do this method without assistance, but you will need to prepare at least dumbbells with three different weights. Start with 70 – 80% of the maximum weight, do the exercise until you cannot lift the dumbbells more than half-way to the top, then pick up a slightly lighter weight immediately and repeat the process. You can do one more of this, or skip to the last one. The last part will be done with a very light weight — you can probably use one pound dumbbells. Do the bicep curls at a faster pace until totally fatigued.

Method 4:

High-repetition, fast-pace training. For this you use lighter weight, probably 30 – 50 % of the maximum. Do the bicep curls as fast as you can until you cannot lift anymore. Then, after a 30-second break, repeat the set, and then do the third. The difference between this and Method 1 is the weight. Some people feel comfortable using the lighter weight, and for them, this method works better than Method 1. Note: This may not be safe for big muscle groups, if you don’t do it properly. Make sure that you get some on-site assistance from a professional trainer before doing it.

Method 5:

Low-repetition, slow-pace training. This is the opposite of Method 4. You do the lifting very slowly. Pick up a weight around 50% of the maximum weight you can lift. Start curling the weight, but very slowly. From the bottom position to the top position should take at least slow 10 counts (or if you have a clock, 10 seconds), and lower the weight more slowly, say 15 counts. Repeat the process until you cannot lift the weight at all. If you can lift the weight the half way, lift the weight up to there, and hold the position for the rest of the count (e.g., 5 seconds to lift half-way, then hold the weight there for another 5 seconds). You need only one set in this method if you do it properly.

Srouce:
Low-Load High Volume Resistance Exercise Stimulates Muscle Protein Synthesis More Than High-Load Low Volume Resistance Exercise in Young Men. PLoS ONE, 2010; 5 (8)

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Do you have neck pain? Well, you are not alone. Many women who work in offices get repetitive strain injury (yes, it is an injury!) to their neck and shoulders. In fact, a half of female office workers report frequent neck pain. One cause of this problem is their posture. Check your colleagues’ posture when they are looking at a computer screen. Their shoulders are hunched and their neck juts forward — it looks awful, but in fact you are holding the same posture while you are working.

Why this posture? Well, most women don’t have the muscle strength to support their body correctly, and even if they are generally fit, the specific muscle group supporting the neck and shoulder area may not be strong enough to prevent the injury.

One study published in Denmark says that five easy weight training for women can vastly improve this condition. The five free weight training for women are:

One-Arm Row: Holding a dumbbell in one hand, bend forward so that your back is parallel to the floor. Support your body with other hand resting on a bench or some other support. Start from the arm extended, then slowly bring up the dumbbell until your upper arm comes to the side of the body. Then slowly lower the weight.

Shoulder Abduction: Hold a light dumbbell in each hand. Slowly raise your arms out to the side, keeping yours elbows straight and your palms downward. Slightly tilt the dumbbells forward. Don’t shrug the shoulders or lean forward. Raise your arms until they are parallel to the floor.

Shoulder Elevation: Hold a light dumbbell in each hand. Slowly raise your arms out forward, elbows straight and palms downward. Slightly tilt the dumbbells inward. Don’t lean back while lifting the dumbbells. Raise your arms until they are parallel to the floor.

Reverse Fly: Lay on an inclined bench, face down. Hold a dumbbell in each hand. Slowly raise your arms to the side, but slightly forward, until your arms are parallel to the floor. Keep the arms straight. Then slowly lower the weight.

Upright Row: Hold a dumbbell in each hand, and keep them in front of your body. Slowly raise the dumbbells to your chin, with your elbows flaring outward. Don’t lean back while doing this workout. Slowly lower the dumbbells.

This study said that, after 10 weeks of working out, the participants found that their pain level reduced by 50%, and their muscles were significantly strengthened.

Of course, to maintain good posture, you need a strong core area, too, and I recommend that you add some core area workouts while doing these shoulder-specific workouts. You won’t regret it.

Source: Effect of contrasting physical exercise interventions on rapid force capacity of chronically painful muscles. Journal of Applied Physiology, 2009; 107

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