Fit and Healthy and Over 60

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It is true that you are only as old as you feel, just because you have grandchildren doesn't mean you need to act like a stereotypical grandparent. Keeping fit for many people is fun and there are plenty of ways to do that. Just the other day I saw a news article of a lady over 60 going skydiving.

Depending on what you can do, keeping in mind your heart health and joint health there is nothing stopping you from doing whatever you like.

One of my personal training clients is 57, she has only recently started training with me, we have now introduced weight training into her exercise program. Starting with Squats and Deadlifts, light weights but she is already starting to see and feel the benefits. These benefits include increase muscle tone (less wobbly bits), easier walking up the stairs and carrying shopping bags.

Providing you are able (health implications would apply here) and maintain the correct safe technique at a weight suitable for yourself (always start low and build up if needed) I would advise resistance training to everyone. If you are contemplating joining a gym and starting an exercise plan it would be a good idea to talk to a personal trainer and ask for them to walk you through techniques and have them watch you do a few sets until you have it right and know how the exercise and movement should feel.

Aerobic exercise will also be beneficial to you including Walking, Cycling and Swimming 30mins of aerobic exercise every day is said to be the target.

‘Fun Fact a 1 Hour workout is only 4% of your day’

However, many people that I have worked with find it tedious to go for 30mins or so doing the same thing at the same pace. To these clients I suggest Interval Training or High Intensity Interval Training. You may have heard of this before or it might be new to you, so basically IT or HIIT is to work hard for a short duration of time and then go at a lower intensity to get your breath back and then repeat.

An example might be 20 seconds at a high intensity and 40 seconds at a lower intensity. As you get fitter and this starts to feel easy you can play with the timings either work for longer or rest shorter or both.

This form of training is far superior to what is known as steady state aerobic exercise and can be done anywhere there is no difference to what you can do. For instance you can do it while you walk, swim, cycle just changing your speed.

5 Benefits of Exercise

Can increase bone density, reducing the chance of osteoporosis. Research shows that resistance training might also benefit those already diagnosed with osteoporosis.