The summer cardio workouts are out at Koko Fit Club. Summer Hike is already my favorite. While I’m “hiking” on the elliptical Michael Wood fitness trainer is talking to me. Today he started with this quote:
Being fit, or getting fit, at middle age, even if you’ve never worked out before, changes the landscape of aging.
That came from some study he was citing. Anyway, I love that phrase – the landscape of aging. Aging certainly is a full landscape and when you reach your fifties and sixties you need a whole lot of tools to navigate it. The landscape of aging can have some beautiful beaches and grassy fields, but the hills, valleys and gravel pits are miserable to climb out of.
Every decade you lose 8% lean muscle mass. Bones become weak, thin and very breakable. Belly fat is a fight because we become more sedentary without even knowing it. By the time you’re sixty you could be twice the size you were at fifty – not because you changed what you do, but because of normal metabolic slowdown in those ten years.
Ever think: I still eat right. I still exercise. But I’m two pants sizes bigger. What gives? What give is that most of us aren’t aware of the little changes aging brings to our bodies. You gradually lose energy due to slowing metabolism leading to moving less. The real problem is we go on with our days and we don’t stop and pay attention to what is happening.
We need to be conscious of how we eat and how much and what kind of exercise we do consistently. Consistently. Ah…now there’s a key word in navigating the landscape of aging. Once we figure out what we should be eating and find a great way to exercise that we enjoy, we need to do it consistently. Even then, it’s downright frustrating when you’re doing all you can, but get minimal results.
Koko recommends three strength and three or four 15 minute cardio workouts a week. It works for me. I put Bikram yoga in on the off days. I make sure I exercise Monday through Friday and take the weekends off. As far as food goes for me – I eat very well, but my biggest nemesis lies in sugar. Sugar, more than salt, will cause water retention and store as belly fat. (Emptying my pink wine bottle was not exactly the smartest thing to do.)
It’s a constant struggle to balance food and exercise at any age – the thing is, after fifty, our bodies change the way they react to food and exercise. They teach us at Koko and in yoga, too, that the losses can be controlled. You can build up your lean muscle mass and lose body fat by paying attention to how your body works in these later years and doing something consistently to keep it in check.
And so, as another day goes by, the landscape of aging is a nice phrase, but it’s vast, complicated, and needs constant attention, and…I have written.
While I know everything you wrote, it was a gentle way to hear it and to remind myself that I can work toward fixing some of it. Great post, Linda.
I’m exhausted. hee, hee