Anti - Aging Where To Start

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Stay strong forever - The Anti-Aging Workout

THE FIRST STEP

in age-reduction training is to improve your frame for better posture and performance (see "Injury-Free at 40, 77 or 109," June, page 20). But before you incorporate new lifting techniques, make sure your joints are protected. Otherwise, your efforts could backfire, leaving you plagued with injuries and muscle loss.

Muscles can be rebuilt, but joints aren't so lucky. With age, synovial membranes wear down, meniscus cushions get ripped, femurs dangle precariously, and blood delivers fewer healing nutrients. What to do?

SOLUTION: WARM UP EXTENSIVELY

Do you really have the time to do a 15-minute prep?

"Do you have time not to?" asks Rob Bolton, a certified strength-and-conditioning specialist at the University of California, Santa Barbara. "No matter if you're young or older--but especially if you're older--you need to gradually increase your heart rate, get synovial fluid lubricating your knees, elbows and shoulders, and work up a light sweat so you know your body is ready for action. Don't lift or run without lubing the joints."

Bolton's warm-up includes body-only moves and light weights to systematically hit all joints from top to bottom.

Afterward, jump on the treadmill or bike for five minutes, perform some quick stretches to avoid cooling down, then proceed to your resistance routine.

1. Jumping jacks: Start with five minutes.

2. Neck rolls

3. Shoulder shrugs

4. Alternating arm circles

5. Hip circles

6. Trunk rotations: hands on hips, rotating in circles.

7. Leg swings: side-to-side like windshield wipers, and forward and back like kicking a soccer ball.

8. Knee bends: Put hands on quads to avoid overloading them.

9. Knee circles

10. Single-leg balances: Reach forward and back, sideways, and 45 degrees with each foot, then do the same thing with arms extended straight up.

SOLUTION: STRENGTHEN HIGH-RISK AREAS

Since injuries to the shoulder are the most common in sports, fortifying the four rotator-cuff muscles is critical. "Unfortunately, it's not so easy," says Robert Forster, a Santa-Monica-based physical therapist. "The cuff gets little blood flow and is invisible to the naked eye, so it's ignored, understrengthened compared to the glamour muscles, and subject to tears."

These exercises strengthen the rotator cuff. Starting with two- or three-pound weights in each hand, do three sets of 10 to 15 reps twice a week.

1. Straight-arm lift: Raise both your hands out to the side. Don't exceed 90 degrees.


2. Lying-arm lift: Lie on your side with elbow on hip, then pivot your arm upward. Switch sides.


3. Inner-arm rotation: Pull elastic or surgical tubes sideways across your body, like windshield wipers.

SOLUTION: AVOID EXTREME RANGES OF MOTION

Most trainers and therapists warn against excessive sweeps of movement for all weight exercises, regardless of the trainee's age, due to potential joint injuries and a lack of functional benefit.

When the arms move too far, bench presses, dips, push-ups and flyes can jeopardize the shoulder joint, which is supported only by tendons and ligaments. General rule: To avoid rotator-cuff injuries, keep your elbows visible in front of the body. To guard the knee joint, avoid going too deep during squats and too high during leg extensions. Don't go too far on back extensions. And do without the military press.

Bolton is especially cautious about one ubiquitous exercise. "You can't avoid pinching your shoulder joint on the bench press because it inhibits the scapula [shoulder blades]," he says. "The scapula is pinned between the bar and the bench, causing the humerus [upper arm bone] to grind into and overload the glenohumeral joint." Bolton favors pulling exercises in general and suggests replacing the bench with a standing cable machine press, which frees the scapula and requires hip, stomach and lower back to stabilize the body.

SOLUTION: STRETCH FOR RECOVERY

"After lifting weights, your capillaries are dilated and pooling with lactic acid," says Bolton, "so jump on an easy cardio machine to pump it out. The bike allows you to slowly take your heart rate down to 90 beats per minute."

But you're not done yet. The elasticity of tissue diminishes with age; instead of bending and stretching, tissues break. So don't leave the gym without doing five minutes of stretching.

SOLUTION: RUN SMARTER

Running is a fantastic fitness activity, but hard on the knees and ankles. Forster's recommendation: Shorten stride length and pick up cadence. "Go for 180 steps per minute," he says. "It reduces joint strain because it puts your body weight directly over the landing point, not behind it."

You should also limit your time and distance. The Cooper Clinic in Dallas says that regularly extending your cardio past 45 to 60 minutes can reduce flexibility and muscle strength. It can also boost blood pressure. Meanwhile, James Garrick, M.D., director of the Center for Sports Medicine in San Francisco, advises older runners to limit mileage to 15 to 20 miles and mix in cycling and other aerobics. "We're seeing a big increase in hip and knee arthritis in the vanguard of the running boom," he says.

TIMES HAVE CHANGED; has your workout kept up? Doing a 10- or 20-year-old program can easily backfire, leaving you plagued with injuries and shrinking muscles. Undertaking our longevity workout before you hit 40 is the solution: It's easier to prevent damage than it is to repair it.

To use these techniques, start with stretches to improve your flame for better posture and performance (see our June issue, page 20). Next, strengthen high-risk areas to protect your joints and connective tissues from rips, tears and nutrient loss (see our August issue, page 34).

Now you can start hitting your endangered muscles, which normally disappear at a rate of 1% a year--or about five pounds per decade--beginning in your 30s. (You may weigh the same at 48 as you did at 18, but your body composition is more fat and less muscle.) You have four ways to stop the decline.

SOLUTION #1: SPIKE HORMONES THROUGH TRAINING.

NATURALLY occurring growth hormone promotes lean muscle mass, body-fat reduction, youthful skin, thick bones, strong connective tissue, and deeper sleep. But after age 30, GH levels tumble by 24% per decade.

YOU CAN SLOW down that trend by increasing the frequency and amplitude of GH "spurts." One option is an injection of GH; talk to your doc. The needleless method is to lift weights: three sets of eight to 10 reps to failure, with no more than a minute's rest between sets. "This floods your bloodstream with lactic acid, which cues the pituitary gland to secrete GH," says William Kraemer, Ph.D., a researcher at the University of Connecticut. "Just cut out the talking and work out for at least 15 minutes to maximize the spurt."

SOLUTION #2: HIT FAST FIBERS WITH FAST CONTRACTIONS.

REMEMBER "superslow" lifting? Forget it. A Boston University study led by Roger A. Fielding, Ph.D., found that performing rapid contractile movements--such as a speedy upstroke on a leg extension--brings back your thick, powerful fast-twitch muscle fibers more quickly. Unlike the smoother, aerobically oriented slow-twitch fibers, the fast-twitch variety will wither substantially by 50; without stimulation, they can virtually disappear in old age.

AMONG A TEST group of seniors, Fielding discovered that superfast contractions stimulated far greater fast-twitch fiber size and peak power output than slow contractions. "But why wait until you're 73?" he asks. "In younger people, they'll come back even faster."

So hit the triceps, as it is predominantly (90%) composed of fast-twitch fibers, says Michael Bemben, Ph.D., director of the Neuromuscular Research Lab at the University of Oklahoma. Also, pound calves and forearms, which wither quickly for another reason: They're routinely stressed less than muscles nearer the body's core.

SOLUTION #3: EASE INTO IT, RECOVER, CROSS-TRAIN.

CONVERSELY, while you need more training intensity with age (to produce growth hormone and fast-twitch fibers), safety requires you to take it easier by warming up with lighter weights for your first set and taking more recovery time between workouts.

ITS A GOOD idea to alternate heavy and light sessions. "If you're 35, make every second workout a recovery workout--below 80% of max--and every fifth week an easy week," says Dan Wirth, president of Sierra Fitness Health Clubs of Tucson, Ariz.

TO PREVENT gradual decline, Wirth advises cross-training and periodization. Muscles use fewer fibers as they become accustomed to a move, so work your muscles with different weights and reps every few months.

SOLUTION #4: KEEP YOUR BACK STRONG.

YEARS OF SITTING can waste your core muscles. Strengthen your lower back and abs to improve posture and reduce back discomfort. Before you hit the weights, do three sets of 10 reps each.

* Back extension: Lying belly down, raise your head and upper back. Caution: Don't hyperextend.

* Dying bug: Lying face up with your arms at your side and the small of your back pressed to the mat, tighten your core by making a pssst! sound. Then raise and lower opposite legs and arms at once without moving the spine.

* Ab twist: Standing with light dumbbells at chest level, twist side to side as you draw a sideways figure eight.

* Cross crunches: Fold your left leg over your right knee and cross over with your elbows to hit the transverse abdominus, intercostals and obliques.

THE LONGEVITY WORKOUT: PUTTING IT TOGETHER

POSTURE EXERCISES (10-15 minutes)

Why: Straightens your frame before you work out.

1. Static floor

2. Crossover

3. Cats and dogs

4. Arm circles

5. Shoulder rotations

6. Overhead extension

7. Extended floor position

8. Wall sit

B. WARM-UP (15 minutes)

Why: Uses body moves and/or light weights to lubricate joints.

1. Jumping jacks or treadmill (5 minutes)

2. Neck rolls

3. Shoulder shrugs

4. Alternating arm circles

5. Hip circles

6. Trunk rotations

7. Leg swings

8. Knee bends

9. Knee circles.

10. Single-leg balances

C. HIGH-RISK SECTORS (5-10 minutes)

Why: Gets blood flowing to oft-forgotten areas.

1. Straight-arm lift

2. Lying-arm lift

3. Inner-arm rotation

4. Back extension

5. Dying bug

6. Ab twist

7. Cross crunches

D. WEIGHTS (45 minutes)

Why: Grows muscle mass or prevents its decline.

Technique: Rapid contractions, eight to 10 reps to failure per set, three sets, one-minute rests between sets. Use lighter weights on the first set to warm up muscles, joints and connective tissues. Pair push/pull or upper/lower exercises to maintain pace. Don't forget triceps, calves and forearms, which tend to deteriorate quickly.

Protect your joints. You can't train if you blow out your meniscus or your rotator cuff. Avoid extreme ranges of motion, which are all stress and no benefit. Don't go past your comfort level on bench presses, dips, push-ups, flyes, squats, leg extensions or back extensions. And pension off the military press.

1a. Standing cable machine press

1b. Row

2a. Squats

2b. Leg curls

3a. Incline press (keeping arms parallel or higher)

3b. Lat pull-down

4a. Leg extensions (only go up halfway)

4b. Calf raise

5a. Dips

5b. Biceps curls