Exercise can do wonders for our bodies, from cardiovascular benefits to protecting us against the harsher aspects of aging.
Research has demonstrated the power of regular aerobic exercise to slow or even reverse multi-system age decline, while resistance training a few days a week can actually reverse them by strengthening muscles and optimizing endurance levels.
Aerobics
Aerobic exercise gets your heart racing faster, expands lung capacity and increases oxygen transport in your blood. Over time, this leads to improved stamina and energy levels as well as stronger bones and muscles – and may help prevent colds or flu from taking hold! This type of workout may also stimulate immune function so as to make you less susceptible to illnesses like colds or flus.
To maximize aerobic exercise’s potential, it’s essential that it be undertaken regularly and at an appropriate intensity level. You can gauge this by holding a conversation while exercising; for those with any health concerns it would be prudent to consult a healthcare provider first before beginning an aerobic fitness regime.
While we have yet to discover a fountain of youth, research indicates that regular exercise may shave years off of our biological age. This effect is caused by something known as telomeres, like little caps on shoelace ends that protect genetic material inside our cells from deteriorating over time. As cells divide more frequently, telomeres get shorter. Exercisers’ telomeres become closer in length with those of younger people. A study published in “Exercise and Sports Sciences Reviews” in October 2023 revealed that high intensity exercisers’ biologically nine years younger than those of sedentary people!
Resistance Training
Resistance training (also referred to as strength or weight training) refers to any exercise which uses any form of force against muscles in order to build their size and endurance. This could range from free weights and resistance bands all the way up to your own bodyweight – although as we age we may notice our muscles become thinner, resistance training can reverse this trend and prevent future muscle atrophy.
Strength training helps strengthen muscles by breaking down and then rebuilding muscle fibres, leading to larger muscles. Furthermore, muscle fibres secrete substances which help the body use blood sugar more effectively which may help lower insulin levels and risk for diabetes.
Recent research indicates that resistance training may also reverse some of the cellular aging in a part of the brain called the hippocampus, providing some promise of better cognitive performance as you age. It appears resistance training could slow and even reverse some aspects of cellular aging – thus providing hope of increased cognitive functioning over time.
For maximum effectiveness when it comes to resistance training, two or three workouts each week is recommended for maximum muscle growth. Doing too many workouts could result in decreased muscular gains; starting off slowly with this frequency and gradually increasing it will allow you to see and feel improvement as time goes on.
Squats
Squats are an invaluable form of exercise, effective at strengthening knees and hip joints while increasing metabolism, core strength, posture and metabolism. Squats may even help increase bone density. Before commencing a regular squat routine, however, it is advisable to screen for potential contraindications like anterior knee pain.
Squatting is a multi-muscle movement, targeting quadriceps, calves, glutes and abdominal muscles all at once. Weights may be added for additional resistance – the more resistance added, the higher your caloric burn.
People often shy away from squats because they can be challenging, yet this exercise should be part of anyone’s fitness regime as they age. When performing squats with weighted vests, barbells or dumbbells this movement becomes much simpler and more effective.
At its core, proper squat form is of utmost importance. A common error involves allowing knees to cave inward and tracking above toes; to check this properly using either mirrors or videos can help immensely.
No matter your daily tasks – from lifting heavy objects in everyday life and playing sports to cleaning the house – or any other physical endeavor, being able to pick things up with your lower body safely requires confidence in using leg power effectively. Squats provide this confidence while simultaneously keeping you mobile as you age while helping maintain balance.
Standing Calf Raise
Standing calf raises are an effective isolation exercise designed to target two muscles that make up your calves: gastrocnemius and soleus. The gastrocnemius forms the main shape and size of your calf while soleus sits underneath and attaches directly to Achilles tendon – stronger calves can help prevent knee injuries while increasing lower body stability during exercises like squats and lunges.
To perform this movement, begin by standing with heels firmly against the floor with weighted hands (or no weights at all) in each hand. Lift your heels off of the ground to an angle of 90 degrees, pausing at this peak position for 2-3 seconds before lowering them slowly back to their starting points and repeating as instructed for your assigned repetition count.
If balance becomes an issue with freestanding calf raises, lean against something or lean against a wall for support. Weighted options — dumbbells, kettlebells, gallon of water or barbell on a Smith machine — can increase resistance by making every movement harder for your muscles.
Try performing seated calf raises as a fun variation to add variety. This movement primarily targets soleus, while simultaneously strengthening your knee joint as gastrocnemius activates more when your knee bends. For added resistance and gastrocnemius activation, add resistance with leg press machine raises or incorporate unilateral single leg raises into your workout plan for unilateral development.
Climbing Stairs
Climbing stairs (also called “stair walking or ambulation”) is an effective cardiorespiratory workout that strengthens leg muscles while being low impact and easy to do for anyone. Climbing the stairs provides a good cardiorespiratory workout and may reduce heart disease risk and obesity risk while improving lung and cardiovascular health.
Stair climbing can burn many more calories than walking flat ground can; an hour spent climbing stairs for one 170-pound person could see him burn over 500 of them! A 2023 study from “Preventive Medicine” suggests such results.
Stair climbing is an excellent alternative for individuals who struggle with impact movements or don’t feel ready to undertake more intense exercises such as running. Stair climbing serves as resistance training that targets all major muscle groups of the legs including quads, calves and hamstrings.
Exercise increases heart rate, strengthening and strengthening heart muscle for more efficient blood pumping throughout your body. Furthermore, this activity engages muscles quickly to exert force quickly and efficiently that builds power; furthermore it is an ideal way to build strength, endurance and agility for other forms of physical exercise such as running or rowing.
High Impact Movements
New research indicates that as we age, muscle fibers become less efficient at regenerating. But according to Amsterdam UMC and Maastricht UMC+ researchers, consistent aerobic exercise may reverse this decline by helping muscle cells recover their ability to regenerate more effectively. They studied the effect of exercise in mice and discovered that consistent aerobic training reverses protein accumulation associated with age in muscle tissue as well as increasing mitochondrial function – results of this research are published in Nature Aging journal.
Mayo Clinic research indicates that high-intensity interval training (HIIT) is the most beneficial exercise to combating anti-aging effects. HIIT increases mitochondrial regeneration while simultaneously improving insulin sensitivity to reduce cellular aging. Endurance activities like running, biking or swimming also play an essential role in protecting heart and lung health.
This research builds upon previous work demonstrating how exercise can renew muscle cells at the molecular level. Exercise stimulates four transcription factors (chemicals that regulate gene expression). These Yamanaka factors, named for Japanese scientists who first discovered them, transform specialized mature cells into more flexible pluripotent stem cells.
Researchers used an exercise wheel progressively loaded with magnetic weights to increase muscle load on mice’s muscles, increasing force on muscle cells and stimulating Yamanaka factors. Their results show that exercise reprograms muscle fibers to become younger-looking by activating Yamanaka factors; such results could one day be used to develop drugs to supercharge exercise response for bedridden people or astronauts in zero gravity environments.
