[/caption]Is it too late to regain your fitness in your forties? Well, look at Jennifer Lopez. She appeared in the cover of V magazine recently. She is 42. But look at her toned body.
It seems that many celebrities in their 40s look fit and sharp. Is it because of their genes? Do you think it is possible for you to have an amazing body like them?
Why People Fail To Stay Fit After 40?
Why many of us are so unfit, or worse still, we tend to put on extra pounds when we hit 40? You can blame it on the aging process.
As women reach mid-years, perimenopause is inevitable. At this stage, your estrogen level is low. This means whatever excess fat you have will end up in the belly. Or an appropriate term would be middle-age spread. This is not something that you can take lightly. Your heart is located not very far from your mid-section. As your belly accumulates more fat, your chances of getting stroke or heart attack is very high.
However, aging is not the only factor that changes our appearance. It is the little time you spend on exercise.
You have your peak probably between mid 20s and 30. However, it starts to slow down as you move into the mid-years. At this point, you gain weight faster than you can imagine.
Can you remember that you were more active when you were young? You burned a lot of calories each time you were involved in any physical activities. This is due to the lean muscle mass that you had.
Muscles burn calories better than fat. They are active tissues. For each pound of muscle, it can burn about 50 calories a day. Compared that to fat which only burns 4 calories a day for the same weight.
[caption id="attachment_190" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Muscle vs Fat"]
[/caption]So, why does your efficiency of fat burning decline when you reach your forties? It is because of the lack of physical activities. When you don't move very often, you start to lose muscle mass, which is known as atrophy. After 30, you will lose 1/2 to 1 lbs of muscle every year due to inactivity. Once you hit 40, you have lost between 5 and 10 lbs of muscle. This means, your metabolism will lose the effectiveness to burn between 250 and 500 calories per day. By the time you reach your 65th birthday, you have lost up to 40% of muscle mass and aerobic fitness.
Besides inactivity, you hardly change the way you eat. You may consume the same calorie amount as when you were young or even more. Since your metabolism slows down, the excess calories is converted into fat and stored in your belly.
It is clear that your inactivity and your unchanged calorie consumption will just reduce your lean muscle mass and increase your fat tissues. Certainly, this will affect your metabolism. Furthermore, all those fats will be making their way to your belly. Over time, you will put on weight.
The Secrets Of Staying Fit Over 40
So, what are the secrets to being fit again? Well, there are no secrets at all. If you have been active during your younger days, you should be doing the same at 40.
You just have to take control of your life again. Obviously, the other half of the equation which is responsible for your low fitness is inactivity. Just by making a new commitment to move more often, fitness over 40 is possible. Getting into activity will reverse the effects of atrophy and ramp up your cardio fitness.
First of all, you have to ask yourself “What is your motivation?”. At this age, what you really want is to stay fit. Being fit allows you to do your regular tasks every day without any hitch. You can be physically self-reliant because you don't have to rely on other people. However, if your motivation is more than staying fit, by all means go ahead and have a hot body like Jennifer Lopez or Hugh Jackman.
Next, your mindset. If you are not in good shape, ask yourself what have you been putting your body through in the past. Once you understand that your poor lifestyle is the culprit, then you have to accept this new challenge to change, which is to adopt a healthy lifestyle. Willingness is the key here. Otherwise, you will return to your bad habits in no time.
There are two simple things you can tweak in your lifestyle: workout and eat less.
I understand when I talk about workout, some of you may take an extreme perspective. My advice is don't. As Colin Milner, CEO of the International Council on Active Aging (ICAA) based in Vancouver, British Columbia said ”Not moving is the worst thing you can do.”
[caption id="attachment_191" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Are You Sitting Down All Day Long?"]
[/caption]Challenges To Exercise
No doubt, there are challenges that you face when you are thinking about working out. During your mid-years, you are preoccupied with your career and family responsibilities that leave you very little time to exercise. As you grow older, you think you have more time. But your energy level is not what it used to be. Furthermore, your connective tissues like your tendon, ligaments, and cartilage weaken as you age. To make things worse, you spend a lot of time sitting down because you don't do the things you used to do during your youth.
One thing about celebrities is that they do press for time. They want the best results in the shortest possible time. I don't think J Lo is endowed with perfect genes. But her results are because of her consistency in working out. She has the time to exercise in the gym regularly. But most of you don't have the luxury of time.
It doesn't mean you can use this excuse not to exercise. You just have to make time to participate in a regular fitness program especially if you have a sedentary lifestyle. And you don't have to hit the gym for hours. Can you commit to exercise 30 minutes a day, at least 3 times a week? Just this tiny change in your lifestyle can set your biological age back more than 10 years, a study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine says.
Am I Too Late To Start Working Out
If you can make time for exercise, you probably feel that it is too late to start. Not true! It doesn't matter how old you are. You start getting fit the moment you start moving.
After adopting a regular fitness routine, people of age 55 to 75 who used to be sedentary became fit again, enjoyed higher level of good cholesterol, experienced lesser risk of cardiovascular disease, and fell sick less frequently, a study published in the March 2005 issue of Diabetes Care reveals.
People who started late in working out showed longer lifespan and reduced risks of heart disease, a study, published in 1999 in the American Heart Journal finds.
Circuit Training
The best workout for over 40 is circuit training, also known as cross training. It is a combination of aerobic and strength workouts. It gives you the best results in the least amount of time because you are performing different routines in one session.
If you stick to the same routine all the time, not only will you get bored, but your body will be able to guess what you are doing. And soon you will hit a plateau, losing lean muscle mass and gaining fat.
Preventing injuries is critical when you start working out late. Repeating the same exercise will cause overuse of muscles, increasing the incidence of injuries. That is why you should treat cross training as the best idea in the world.
The whole idea of circuit-training is to challenge your whole body with various physical drills, achieving overall fitness. Also, it is important to do warming up and stretching exercises too.
Warming Up
Before you begin any physical activities, always warm up. It should be part of your fitness program especially if you are over 40. You can easily hurt yourself during workout if you skip the warm up.
When you warm up, your muscles will receive more blood. More blood means more oxygen, preparing you for the intensive workout. Furthermore, you will have more range of motion and flexibility as you step into either strength training or aerobic routines.
Strength Training
Strength training particularly weight training is more important than aerobic workout for those in the forties. One of the effects of aging is osteoporosis.
The benefits of lifting weights are
- keeping your bone strong to delay osteoporosis.
- increasing your bone density to minimize stress on your skeletal system.
- strengthening muscles around the major joints to improve joint elasticity.
- maintaining and increasing lean muscle mass to crank up your metabolism.
[caption id="attachment_193" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Weight Training"]
[/caption]In fact, when it comes to muscle mass growth, strength training does better than aerobic workout. Even if you are actively doing aerobic exercise, it cannot prevent muscle loss. According to William J. Evans, PhD, director of the nutrition, metabolism, and exercise laboratory at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences' Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, strength training is the only way to build and maintain muscles.
Even at rest, your body is still burning calories after you have stopped doing strengthening exercises. Doing it right will enable your revved up metabolism to last up to 48 hours.
For best results, most fitness experts suggest that you spend between 20 and 30 minutes in weight lifting for each session. You need to perform 2 or 3 reps per set. Repeat it 2 to 3 times a week.
The best result from muscle growth is when you lower the weights. So, make sure the time to lift up the weights is shorter than the time to lower them.
When you start your weight training, begin your first set with light weights for warming up. Then make it more challenging for the last few sets using heavier weights.
Aerobic Workout
When you perform aerobic exercises, you will burn calories. Unlike strength training, after your workout, you will stop burning calories within 2 hours.
So why do you need aerobic workout? Apart from improving your cardiovascular fitness, it can manage your stress and help you sleep better. Do you know that stress and lack of sleep encourage fat storage in your belly?
Aim to boost your heart rate for at least 30 minutes. Do this 3 to 4 times per week.
If you are walking or jogging, carry some light weights. This will strengthen your bones.
If you want to pump your heart rate even more, then try out interval training. It is a series of high intensity training followed by a short rest in between the workout.
Stretching Exercises
People tend to believe that stretching and warming up is the same. However, the opposite is true. Usually after you have completed your workout, you do stretching. It loosens your muscles which have become tight over the years. In addition, it helps to improve flexibility which you may not have during your mid-years.
[caption id="attachment_192" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Stretch After Working Out"]
[/caption]Workout Tips For Getting Fit After 40
- Evaluate your current fitness level. Before you begin any exercise, you must know how fit you are. You can request the service of a qualified fitness instructor to examine your endurance, strength, cardiovascular fitness, body composition (muscle to fat ratio) and flexibility.
- Consistency of your workout is going to make a big difference. Once you have decided to change your lifestyle, you have to stick closely to your fitness routine. Otherwise, you will not see much results.
- As your age is catching up, you may not be able to do certain exercises especially high impact ones which previously were easy for you. The pain they inflict on your joints can sometimes be unbearable. Listen to your body when you are exercising. When your body tells you that it is time to change your routine that causes discomfort, do it. Choose low impact workouts instead like cycling, swimming, or walking.
- Choose a physical activity that you really enjoy. Your fitness regimen is going to be a long term quest. Don't do a particular exercise just because somebody tells you that it is ideal for your age. If you don't enjoy it, pretty soon you will give up.
- Beyond 40, you need more time to recover after your workout. Have enough rest so your body can perform better the next time.
- Have you heard about Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (N.E.A.T.)? It is about making small movements every day, using energy for activities that do not involve exercise. For example, skip the elevator and use the stairs. Or take a walk to a nearby store instead of driving. If you adopt this new behavior, you may burn up to 1000 calories a day. Set a goal to walk 10,000 steps a day. Get a small pedometer like Gruve to record the number of steps you take.
[caption id="attachment_194" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Gruve Personal Activity Monitor"]
[/caption]Eat Less
At 40, you don't need the same amount calories as when you were in your 20s. Furthermore, you burn 100 calories lesser a day than you were in your 20s or 30s. So, you need to eat less.
Portion Control
Forget about restrictive diets. They only work temporarily. Opt for portion control, which can reduce the amount of unnecessary calories. If you find it difficult to control how much you eat, then Cedric Bryant, Ph.D., FACSM, Chief Science Officer for The American Council on Exercise suggests that you use a plate that should not exceed 9 inches in diameter.
Low Energy-Dense Foods
A study from Pennsylvania State University shows that not only the women who ate low-fat, water-rich foods lost one-quarter more weight than other subjects who just fed on a conventional low-fat diet, they felt full. So, choose low energy-dense foods as they usually have high water content, keeping you satisfied for hours. Even if you overeat, you don't have to worry as they are low in calories.
High Fiber Packed Foods
High fiber rich foods such as lentils, brown rice, and buckwheat are a must-have on your daily menu. This will increase satiety, reducing food craving. It also eliminate fats from your body.
Complex Carbohydrates
Leave out simple carbs that are found in processed foods. They are bad as they spike up your blood sugar level, causing you to feel hungry in a short time. Go for complex carbohydrates like oats, beans, and potatoes as they are usually loaded with resistance starch. Resistant starch will increase your metabolic activity, burning extra calories. Also, it stimulates the production of leptin, a hormone that suppresses your appetite.
Clearly by now, you can see that inactivity is the one that prevents you the most from staying fit in your forties. If you want to improve your fitness, check out our sponsor below.
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