What is a Senior, Anyway?

Since my web site and newsletters are designed as services to people over age 50, the following “Dear Abby” item from today’s newspaper caught my eye.

A reader writes Abby: “Could you please tell me at what age can a person claim to be a senior citizen?”

(I’ve often wondered that, too. -LF)

Abby answers: “I have known some people in their 20s who were ‘older’ than many vibrant people in their 80s. Years ago, individuals were considered to be seniors at 65. But then AARP began soliciting people at age 50.

“The specific age to qualify for senior-hood isn’t carved in granite — as you will find in various restaurants and movie theaters.”

True.

When I was in my 50s, I sure didn’t think of myself as a senior. Still, after age 50 it is time to recognize that some physical activities ought to be moderated, or there’s a price to be paid later. That doesn’t mean you should baby yourself. But it does mean that overuse injuries are more likely, and they won’t heal as fast as when you were younger.

As the saying goes, workouts should be “age appropriate.”

To Stretch or Not to Stretch . . .

The argument against stretching before training or a competition is that it may "dampen" muscle strength, and in some sports "loose joints" increase the risk of injuries.

A report in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, August 2008, says that a little easy stretching before training does not dampen muscle strength.

The Gray Iron interpretation is that you should save the more serious stretching for post-workout. That's when you should relax and take a little time to stretch out.

But before your training, it's best to warm up with movements that simulate your workout or competition. They should include enough range of motion movement to prepare your body and mind for what's to come.

Read more on the study here, and reach your own conclusions.

Is Our Fate All in Our Genes?

Well, maybe not so much as we thought, according to a report in Scientific American. So read on and learn some pretty encouraging news . . .

Dean Ornish, MD, is founder and president of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute and a clinical professor at the University of California, San Francisco (U.C.S.F.). He said the following:

"We found that simple changes have a powerful impact on gene expression. People say, 'Oh, it's all in my genes, what can I do?' That's what I call genetic nihilism. This may be an antidote to that. Genes may be our predisposition, but they are not our fate."


Read the full Scientific American report here.

Fat but Fit?

There have been recent news accounts of people being overweight (read fat) but still being fit. By fit, let's assume it means the overweight subjects had healthy cardiovascular systems and adequate muscle -- in spite of their excess. And that they were no more likely to contract heart disease, diabetes, etc., than leaner people.

You have to wonder: Just how fat were the test subjects? And exactly how fit were they? Because at some point in being overweight, it is impossible to be what any reasonable person would define as fit or healthy.

The whole "Fat but Fit" concept sounds a little goofy to me. And it may be that researchers have already found signs of it being invalid. Check it out here.

Smart Training for Seniors

I subscribe to several health, fitness, and bodybuilding newsletters and read as much as possible about trends in those fields. I sort through the information looking for things that might be applicable to senior fitness. Some of the material is useful but, generally speaking, much of it not suited for people over 50.

Why is that?

Generally, around age 50 (the year we all become eligible to join AARP, coincidentally), we should approach exercise and training differently than we might have 10 or 20 years earlier. Though proper training will keep us fit and strong for the years to come — at the same time our bodies will not tolerate some of the kinds of training that might have been beneficial during our 20s, 30s, or even into our 40s.

One example that comes to mind is beginning trainees who try to do too much too soon. While most resistance training exercises and cardiovascular activities may be fundamentally the same at almost any age, workout duration and intensity should be scaled back in accordance with age. I realize this probably seems almost too obvious to mention, but you might be surprised at how many beginners ignore or deny it.

And it is not only beginners who should recognize the age factor. Even many longtime trainees often continue such practices as regular all-out effort, maximum poundage, low-rep weight training. I wouldn’t suggest an exact age for modifying that sort of training. But there is no getting around the fact that 50-, 60- or 70-year old tendons and ligaments cannot handle the same stresses they could at 20 or 30. At some point, higher repetitions with more moderate weights are probably a better way to go, even for those who are in top shape and have been training for most of their adult lives.

Don’t equate this with babying yourself. Beginners should know that progressive resistance training concepts have remained the same since the time of Milo. You begin with manageable weight and repetitions and gradually add to them. Progressive cardiovascular exercise works in much the same way. A 20- or 30-year old beginner may start training and many times be at full speed and intensity in a very short period of time. At 50, or older, acceleration should be more gradual.

Overuse injuries are common and most are avoidable. Respecting your tendons and ligaments as you grow older is one way of staying out of trouble. Short warm ups before training are a small investment that pays big dividends. Replacing low-rep maximum effort movements with respectable but moderate poundage and somewhat higher repetitions means you’ll likely avoid overuse injuries and will remain fit and strong a heck of a lot longer.

Battling Belly Fat

The evidence keeps piling up and growing stronger: Women who carry excess fat around their waists are at greater risk of dying early from cancer or heart disease than are women with smaller waistlines -- even if they are of normal weight. That's the conclusion of researchers from Harvard and the National Institutes of Health.

Previous studies have shown that the tendency to deposit fat around the waist increases the risk for health problems. The current study is to date the largest and most comprehensive of its kind and shows that accumulation of abdominal fat can increase the risk of death.

As Gray Iron Fitness readers know, the solution to excess body fat is sensible portion control eating -- not crash diets -- and regular, consistent exercise that includes both cardiovascular and resistance movement such as weight training.

Go here to read the full report from the National Institutes of Health.

In Search of a Six-Pack

It’s a myth that doesn’t die easily: "You gotta isolate those abs and go for the burn!"

You’ve heard it. We all have. The thing is, "spot reducing" does not exist — except in the fantasy world of some infomercials.

Don't fall for it.

Here are some facts:

• Fact: Fat is distributed throughout your body, with some areas storing more of it than others. Where is determined mostly by genetics.

• Fact: The first place that fat accumulates on your body is the last place it leaves as you reduce.

• Fact: Doing thousands of reps will build muscular endurance, but to reduce body fat requires taking in fewer calories than needed for present maintenance requirements.

• Fact: Exercises that strengthen underlying abdominal muscles are essential in a balanced fitness program, but assigning them special significance as "fat burners" is nonsense. That burn you feel after doing the umpteenth set of crunch/sit-up type movements is lactic acid buildup -- not fat cells miraculously melting away. As fat burners, isolation movements do very little. Let me say it again: As fat burners, isolation movements do very little.

Here's an item culled from Men's Health magazine that puts fat loss in perspective: "If your abs are covered with fat, cut 250 to 500 calories a day from your diet (or 10 to 20 percent of the calories it takes to maintain your current weight). Focus on eliminating refined carbohydrates, such as white bread and pasta. Don't bother working your abs more often [Emphasis is mine. --LF]. It takes 250,000 crunches to burn 1 pound of fat -- that's about 100 crunches a day for 7 years."

Here is a far better strategy:

• Do mostly big, compound muscle building exercises. The itsy-bitsy crunches won't get it done.

• Include some specific abs work. But forget the endless reps. Treat core exercise reps about the same as other movements.

• Include cardiovascular work. Short but intense is usually better than long, slow distance. A ratio of 2 days of short but intense intervals to 1 day of moderate distance can work well.

• Eat more often but smaller portions. Portion control is the most important element in body weight/fat reduction.

• Stop eating sugar foods and drinks and all refined carbohydrates.

• But don't go to extremes, such as eating less than 1500 calories per day. Your body may go into a “starvation mode,” meaning a slower metabolism.

• Balance your macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates and fat). Most overweight people eat too many carbohydrates, and especially the wrong kinds. However, programs that practically eliminate all carbs, or any one of the three macronutrients, are not sustainable and may be unhealthy.

You don't need diet pills and some are dangerous.

Our Greatest Fears (for men only)

If you are reading this now you are 1) already physically fit, or 2) in the process of getting fit, or 3) you are not fit but know that you should be. Probably you are at mid-life or a senior. Most likely you are not a subscriber to Men’s Health, a magazine geared mostly to younger men. Yet much of its information and articles have relevance at any age.

The April edition of MH has a page called “On the Minds of Men.” Over 2,400 of their readers were asked the following: What scares you most about aging?

Here is how they answered:

• Feeling old physically: 32%

• Declining in mental health, 15%

• Outliving savings, 12%

• Nothing, 11%

• Being closer to death, 10%

• Seeing my loved ones go before me: 8%

• Losing looks, 8%

• Losing my sex drive, 4%

My guess is that the top three fears of mid-life men and seniors would be about the same as younger men's. Some of the other fears might move up or down as we age. But feeling old physically would still top the list.

The dictate to “Use it or lose it” becomes more relevant with each passing year.

Sex is Good for What Ails You

Gray Iron read an article from an NBC connected web site in which the writer covers several neat things about sex, things that people aren’t necessarily mulling over when they get the urge. As compelling as they are, Gray Iron doubts that the writer is talking about indiscriminate risky sex, which can be dangerous health-wise (or career-wise, as one big-state governor learned recently). But don’t take my word for it. Let the writer Melissa Walker convince you that sex really is good for you, should you need convincing.

Read the full story: “Was It Good for You?”

When Working Out is Too Much of a Good Thing

On the other side of the couch potato coin is the person who regularly exercises to the point of mental or physical exhaustion, and sometimes to overuse injury. A column in the New York Times addressed this recently and how top athletes must walk a narrow line that divides not enough training to reach peak performance from the risk of "overtraining syndrome." The article is worth reading.

That said, most seniors are not training for a spot on a national team, though some may still compete in age level competitions. So knowing when enough training is enough is just as important to them as it is to the young elite athlete. But for most of us who simply want to be strong and fit, knowing that we have not overdone it does not have to be such an exact science. A few practical guidelines will work just fine.

My own measure depends mostly on how I feel after a good night’s sleep. A few sore muscles now and then only means that I’ve changed a routine or pushed a little harder than usual, which is normal and to be expected. But a feeling of real fatigue after 7 or 8 hours of sleep on a good mattress usually means that I’ve been training too much or too hard. And should my fatigue last into a second day, a little time off is in order along with a reevaluation of my workout structure.

In other words, the cliche “listen to your body” happens to make a heck of a lot of sense

Read the NY Times article here.

A Royal Pain in the Neck

Spending long hours in front of computer screens has resulted in more chronic shoulder and neck pain, according to the journal Arthritis & Rheumatism. Ah, but there seems to be a solution -- short of tossing out the computer -- and it turns out to be weight training. And an old-time bodybuilding movement called the “Shoulder Shrug” is often a major ingredient in the magic potion.

It’s an easy one to learn, too. Simply stand holding two dumbbells at your sides and lift your shoulders toward your ears. In other words, you shrug. The old standard of 3 sets of 10 or 12 reps sounds about right. If you’re a beginner, start off with a very moderate weight and gradually make increases.

Two other Gray Iron suggestions: Anytime you have chronic pain, check in with your doctor before anything else. Second, read the full story on neck and shoulder pain here: Weight training aids chronic neck pain

Can You Be Too Lean?

Obesity gets all the attention. But believe or not, there are people at the opposite end of the fatness problem, those who are too lean. That is, their body fat percentage is too low to be healthy. It may come as a surprise that many in that category are athletes – people we generally consider physically superior. In fact, a study involving Olympic athletes indicates some may be putting their health at risk.

So, when it comes to body fat, just how lean should we be?

Many fitness professionals recognize the following table. Some may factor in age, but, generally, the categories are about right for everyone, regardless of age.

Category (Body Fat Percentage):

• Excessively Lean (Men) Under 5% -- (Women) Under 12%
• High Performance (Men) 5 – 9% -- (Women) 12 – 17%
• Good Fitness (Men) 10 – 20% -- (Women) 18 – 25%
• Marginal (Men) 21 – 25% -- (Women) 6 – 30%
• Obese (Men) Over 25% -- (Women) Over 30%

[The table is from Gray Iron: A Fitness Guide for Senior Men an Women.]

Read the full report about the study: Olympic Athletes May Risk Health for Trim Physique.

Couch Potatoes Never Get A Break

Sometimes life just isn’t fair – at least not for the physically inactive.

In yet another study, this one from Great Britain, the evidence suggests that people who are physically active may be biologically younger than couch potatoes.

"A sedentary lifestyle increases the propensity to aging-related diseases and premature death. Inactivity may diminish life expectancy not only by predisposing to aging-related diseases, but also because it may influence the aging process itself," said study author Lynn F. Cherkas, of King's College London.

Gray Iron says the message is unmistakably clear, and so is the solution: Turn off the TV, the computer, and the video games. Rise from the couch or chair and move. Walk, run, swim, skate, pump iron, whatever. You will retain or possibly regain the attributes of youth. They say you only go around once. Don’t waste it.

Read the full story, "Sedentary Lifestyle Accelerates Aging."