Consult your doctor
The first thing to start with is a visit to the doctor. Even if you feel very well, you should not neglect the consultation of a specialist:
- If you have previously had injuries (of varying degrees of severity), then you simply need to establish, together with your doctor, the intensity and regularity of physical activity (taking into account the injury).
- The visit will also help identify contraindications that the person may not be aware of.
- A competent specialist will help you determine which workouts will be optimal, taking into account your age, lifestyle and physical condition.
Find a company
Finding a company to train with is a very good decision. The presence of a person with the same interests will be an additional incentive for regular exercise:
- The achievements and progress of a like-minded person will inspire and motivate.
- It’s always more fun and easier to overcome difficulties and get used to a new regime in a company.
Working out alone makes it much easier to skip workouts or give up on them altogether. And in a company, the likelihood of such failures is much less.
Find a coach
You can build your own training program. But only athletes who have experience can do this correctly. For beginners, it’s better to turn to a professional for help:
- It is important to inform the coach about the visit to the doctor and about contraindications (if any).
- Together with the trainer, a training program is drawn up, which you can then follow on your own.
- If you wish, then you can constantly conduct classes with a trainer who will observe and regulate the load.
- It is very important to contact a trainer for strength training. He will teach you how to use exercise equipment correctly and talk about safety precautions.
The training program is drawn up taking into account the person’s physical fitness, his condition, contraindications and lifestyle.
Even if you don’t work with a trainer all the time, you can contact him periodically to create a new training program. When the body gets used to the stress, you need to change the exercises and intensity of training.
Sports lifestyle after 40 years - action plan
Around the age of forty, processes begin to occur in our body that reduce the performance of various internal systems. At the same time, it is at this age that many people decide to take care of themselves and start leading a sports lifestyle. Due to the lack of knowledge and competent advice from a specialist, most people do not use their body’s resources as they should, and the effectiveness of training decreases. How to train correctly, what to pay more attention to and what you can avoid wasting time on?
In recent years, the number of people over forty starting to lead a sports lifestyle has been growing. But, unfortunately, most of these people do not receive sufficiently qualified help in this matter, and the training loses its effectiveness. So how should you train from age 40 to look and feel your best by age 60?
Age-related changes
As we age, various changes occur in our body. The peak operation of all systems occurs at about 30 years, and then there is a slow decline. The most noticeable changes:
1. Decrease in muscle mass (25-30%) and decrease in nerve conduction velocity (10-15%). This decrease is expressed mainly in the loss of muscle fibers, which affect the speed of daily movements - walking, going down stairs, etc. With age, all movements are performed slower and slower.
2. Reduced flexibility by approximately 20%.
3. Reduction of bone mass within 15-20% in men and 25-30% in women.
4. Increase in fat mass.
5. Lack of balance between muscles (one muscle is stronger than the other), which leads to decreased accuracy in performing everyday movements.
6. Decrease in kidney function by approximately 20-30%.
7. At the age of forty, vision decline begins.
8. From the age of thirty, a slow decline in hearing begins.
These changes lead to a decrease in overall metabolism, increasing the risk of diseases of the cardiovascular system, diabetes and osteoporosis. Difficulties begin with joint mobility and maintaining balance. There is a feeling of lethargy and weakness. With age, the risk of injury increases more and more due to the weakness of the musculoskeletal corset.
Steps to achieve results
In order to achieve maximum results from playing sports at the age of 40+, you need to take the following steps:
1. Create a training program in accordance with age, health status and level of fitness. You need to start small, gradually increasing the load, duration and frequency of training. It is very important to correctly identify the goal of the training. For example: training the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, strengthening muscles, increasing the range of motion of joints and muscle flexibility, reducing the percentage of body fat, etc.
2. It is recommended to perform aerobic exercise for 30 minutes (over time, the duration can be increased, it all depends on your state of health and level of fitness) 3-5 times a week. The workout should be of moderate intensity, and there is no need to train at the limit of your breathing capacity. You can combine several aerobic activities: swimming, cycling, walking, group aerobics or dancing.
3. Even a short workout is welcome. You can count your steps while walking and try to gradually reach 10,000 steps.
4. It is important to train on flexibility and balance at least 4 times a week (preferably every day).
5. Anaerobic training is recommended. That is, a workout in which the muscles are loaded with medium to strong intensity. This workout can be done in the gym or at home with the necessary equipment. You can also use exercises that are performed with your own body weight (pull-ups, push-ups, abdominal exercises, etc.)
An approximate anaerobic training program in the gym looks like this: Number of exercises: eight (even less in the first period of training). For each exercise you need to do 10-15 repetitions (more trained ones can do 8-10 repetitions with more weight). With a pause for rest, repeat the exercise three times and move on to the next exercise.
6. Rest between approaches to one exercise - 60-90 seconds. The operating speed is slow or average. For example, squat 15 times, rest for 60 seconds and start squatting again.
7. Execution style is one of the most important components of training. It affects the quality of training and goal achievement. If we are talking about a trained person, then a relatively large load is recommended when a person reaches a state of muscle fatigue. Sometimes a state is reached in which a person is no longer able to do a single repetition of a given exercise.
8. It is very important to add variety to the training process and change the program every 30-45 days. For example, replace exercises, swap them, vary the number of repetitions and approaches.
9. It is recommended to perform two to three anaerobic workouts per week. Over time, when the body gets used to the load, you can increase the number of training days to four. In such cases, it is not recommended to work out all muscle groups in one workout. For example, on the first day we work our legs, shoulders and abs. In the second - the back and front surface of the arm, in the third - the pectoral muscles and the back surface of the arm.
10. Exercises in which only static muscle tension is performed (muscle contraction without movement) are not recommended.
11. At an older age, it is recommended to perform exercises on an unstable surface - fitball, bosu or just standing (this is not suitable for everyone and depends on the state of health). Such exercises, if performed correctly under the supervision of a specialist, provide strong abdominal muscles and back extensors. But absolutely everyone needs this.
12. You can combine strength exercises in the gym and in the studio with various assistive devices. It is important to note that it is very difficult for trained individuals to increase the level of difficulty in a studio setting with assistive devices.
13. In the training process, it is important to maintain balance and evenly distribute training to all muscle groups.
14. People suffering from osteoporosis, osteoarthritis or other joint diseases can be recommended to do exercises in water (aqua aerobics). Exercises are performed with resistance to water pressure and with the use of auxiliary devices.
Common mistakes during classes
Will any exercise improve the physical condition of the body? Of course not. Here are some mistakes and misconceptions about this:
1. Activities such as yoga and Pilates are very good for flexibility, strengthening muscles (depending on the level of activity) and improving balance. But it is also necessary to introduce aerobic exercise for the cardiovascular and respiratory systems into the training program. But those who want to increase muscle mass will be greatly disappointed.
2. It is not recommended to perform only aerobic training, since anaerobic processes are not included in the work. Thus, strengthening of the musculoskeletal system will be minimal. As a result, there will be no noticeable changes in the way the body functions in everyday life.
3. Swimming is an insufficient exercise for those suffering from osteoporosis, which does not prevent the occurrence of this disease. The load that the skeletal system receives is very small. In this situation, there must be training that will create a more serious load. For example, running, brisk walking, cycling, working out in the gym.
4. Strength training once or twice a week at low intensity (light weight) and a relatively high number of repetitions (20-25) per set does not provide any benefit in terms of strengthening muscles and ligaments and increasing bone density. In this case, you need to increase the number of classes per week (2-4), reduce the number of repetitions (8-15) and add weight to the machine.
Anna Bloch, specialist at the Elisha Clinic
www.myjane.ru
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Balance the load
The training program should be varied. Exercising only strength training or only cardio will be ineffective. It is advisable that they alternate and are carried out not daily, but with breaks for rest.
Different types of exercise have different effects on the body.
Power loads
The main goal of such training is to strengthen bone and muscle tissue. With age, muscle mass decreases and bone structure becomes thinner. Strength training with weights significantly reduces these risks. Especially with the right diet and rest.
Cardio training
Such loads increase endurance, improve heart function, promote weight loss and tone the body.
Stretching
Develops flexibility and strengthens the ligamentous apparatus. Stretching is very beneficial for joints and ligaments. It also helps relax tense muscles. You can do stretching separately, devoting time to it as a full-fledged workout. Or you can complete any other workout with stretching: both strength and cardio.
It is advisable to do 2 strength training sessions, 3 aerobic workouts, and about 3 stretching or balance workouts per week. These are approximate figures. The exact training schedule is built individually.
Should you start playing sports after forty?
The peak activity of most processes in the human body occurs at 30–40 years. After this age, a decline begins, manifested in the following:
- decreased muscle tone;
- deterioration of nerve fiber conductivity;
- problems with joint flexibility;
- loss in bone mass;
- deteriorating vision and hearing;
- increasing volume of adipose tissue.
All this leads to the fact that ordinary climbing the stairs or tying shoelaces turns into an almost impossible task. It is also important for women that their figure becomes far from ideal. Playing sports after 40 will help maintain the body in good condition, improve the condition of muscles, ligaments, and joints.
What you did without any problems in your youth becomes increasingly difficult in middle age, because muscle tone inevitably decreases
Video: is sport good for middle-aged people?
Normalize the load
Regular training is the key to success. Infrequent, hard workouts will not benefit your health. It is better to exercise daily for 30-40 minutes than 1 or 2 times a week, but for 2-3 hours.
- It is necessary to start training with small loads, gradually increasing them.
- It is worth considering that the body will need time to adapt (especially when the person does not have a sports background).
- Be sure to set aside time for rest. Muscles need to recover before a new workout.
- Diet and rest are an integral part of a healthy regimen.
What sports should a woman do at 40?
The choice of sport depends on your preferences and health status. Any workout has a positive effect on the body, but its direction and intensity affects what results you want to achieve: to maintain the body, aerobic exercise is enough, and to burn fat and lose weight, you need to alternate it with strength exercises.
Sports for a 45 year old woman
Among the sports available to every woman:
- Race walking. It is simpler than running, but not inferior in efficiency. In addition to burning calories, blood vessels are strengthened and joint mobility is improved.
- Yoga. Despite the apparent passivity of this type, it allows you to develop flexibility, increases metabolism, and maintains all muscle groups in tone.
- Cycling. It develops the muscles of the back and legs well, and helps reduce cellulite in the lower body.
- Gymnastics. We are talking about stretching and exercises for different muscle groups. You can even do them at home, but you can’t do it without prior consultation with a specialist. They are good for back pain.
- Strength exercises. They are best performed in the gym under the supervision of a trainer. He will help you choose the right set of exercises. There are also various exercise machines here.
Training should be fun. If you don't like the chosen direction, you can change it. It is also recommended to alternate exercises you like with those you don’t like. It is recommended to dress comfortably so that nothing gets in the way while moving.
Loads must increase gradually, otherwise you can significantly harm an unprepared body.
In the gym, under the guidance of a trainer, you can perform various exercises correctly, with maximum benefit.
Preference for outdoor activities
The conditions in which the training takes place largely determine its effectiveness:
- When choosing a gym, you should pay attention to the ventilation in it. Better yet, exercise outdoors.
- Exercising outside provides the necessary amount of oxygen. And they are more fun and interesting.
- In the summer, you can pay attention to Nordic or race walking, jogging, cycling or rollerblading.
- In winter it is useful to ski or skate. Joggers may not change their routes even in the cold season.
