Filed under: Anti-Aging For Men
Endurance
For those who participate in endurance sports, there is even more to be cheerful about. There is less loss of the endurance capacity that sustains us in a marathon than there is of the muscle strength that counts so heavily in an anaerobic event such as a sprint. Read on.
Endurance is defined as the capacity of the body to sustain while performing continuous submaximal contractionsthat is, maintaining a less than all-out pace for an extended period of time. This is why many runners, swimmers, cyclists, or cross-country skiers gravitate toward longer races as they age. Such a progression is testimony to how endurance predominates over strength as we age. We may not be faster, but at least we can go longer.
When age-related changes in athletes over 30 are reviewed, running speed of men over 40 declines less with longer races than with shorter races as compared with similar times for younger athletes. This difference is substantiated by microscopic changes found in our neurons as well as at the muscle, tendon, and cartilage level. Strength (speed) losses are greater than endurance losses, and results in the sprint are more likely to decline with age than in the marathon. Losses are also greater in events such as high, long, and triple jumps, where explosive strength becomes a more significant factor.
One theory, by the way, on why older men perform better at longer races is that many opt to avoid rigorous, intense, and often painful interval training required for the shorter length races. In other words, although they are able to compete in shorter events, they often choose not to. As the body changes, so does the mind, or maybe vice versa.
With years (should) come(s) wisdom. anti-aging diet
Filed under: Anti-Aging For Men
Muscle Strength
As you age, your muscles lose strength. If you are active, if you exercise and participate in sports, that loss will be minimized. But if you insist on being a couch potato, watch out! Those precious muscles will get noticeably flabbier and weaker. And you’re going to have a tough time getting to the refrigerator. But you probably figured this slice of reality out already.
Muscle strength is defined as the maximum force (tension) generated by a muscle in a single maximal (read “all-out”) contraction. Just as there is a loss of muscle strength, there is also a decrease in muscle mass with aging, commensurate with a decline in the size and number of your muscle fibers. Such an inevitable decline, however, is smaller among active older adults. Naturally, this decline is a function of the type of activity you choose and how the muscles are used. Evidence suggests that vigorous activity, such as weight lifting, running or swimming intervals, pace workouts, and racing, can actually reverse this muscle loss (maybe, so much for a very mellow jog three times a week). In fact, older men (and women too) can actually increase their maximum strength by exactly the same percentage as younger subjects, but only after just eight weeks of progressive strength training. In short, exercise can have as beneficialand as immediatean effect on an older body as on a younger one. Hey, guys, that means you. anti-aging pods
Filed under: Anti-Aging For Men
How to Slow Down, Part 2
Age does provoke a wide array of functions (and dysfunctions). We aren’t as quick. We aren’t as strong. Our joints may not move as easily or as far. Some other body parts degenerate, stiffen up, or generally don’t work as well. The late S. J. Perelman described the condition with humor and insight in his book Under the Spreading Atrophy. We wish it were, but aging is not always a humorous or simple matter. Physical function can still be preserved to a great extent by careful attention to your body. Physical conditioning, reduction of stress, a good diet, and a host of other intercessions can hold off the decline and in some cases even reverse it. In plain English, If you don’t use it, you lose it. Following a plan of regularly scheduled maintenance should keep you running right.
We’ve been conditioned to accept a certain amount of dysfunction as we age. Yet it doesn’t have to be that way. We love the story, for example, of the elderly patient who goes to see his doctor. Doctor Cohen examines his sore right leg and says, “I’m not surprised that you have some problems with your leg. You’re not a youngster any more. You’re almost 80.” The annoyed patient retorts, “But Doc, my left leg’s 80 too, and it doesn’t hurt.”
The point is that there definitely are preconceptions and misconceptions about growing older. For instance, some would have us believe that we aren’t supposed to do certain things any longer because we are aging, or that our bodies have inexorably deteriorated and there’s nothing we can do about it. These, it appears, are myths. Thank the gods. Just think of Roy Carlsted, an internationally ranked ski racer who at 70 keeps up joyfully with racers 30 years his junior (laughing at them, to boot, as he speeds by). best anti-aging for men
