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Community Corner

You're Never Too Old To Exercise

No matter your age, you can benefit from a regular exercise routine.

Recently I was teaching a class at  in Gig Harbor called Silver and Fit.

This class meets twice each month and is free for our senior population. Sometimes I lecture about topics such as balance training, flexibility or nutrition, and sometimes we do an actual strength-training circuit workout. This particular day one of the members approached me after the class to talk about doing some individual training with me. She mentioned that she felt like she just needed a push and wanted to mix up her routine a bit. 

Mikki has always struck me as a fit woman. She and her husband work out regularly and I assumed she was in her early 60s. Are you ready for this? She is 75 years young.

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Two things about Mikki surprised me. First, she is not afraid to push herself just because she is female. She wants to lift weights and get stronger. Second, her age does not stop her from wanting to become even more fit than she already is.

As people age, many times they reach a point where they feel they are just too old to make any kind of progress. There also seems to be a fear of working outside the comfort zone, which is what needs to happen to slow the loss of muscle tissue. Strength training is an essential component of any fitness program, regardless of a person’s age.

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Mikki is not the only Silver and Fit member who has surprised me. Frank and Joan joined the gym almost a year ago. I took both of them through a fitness consultation to make sure they were comfortable with the equipment, both weight machines and cardio. They both had a desire to lose some weight. Joan also had a myriad of other health problems and was making regular trips to see her doctor.

“I felt like everything was breaking. I had pain everywhere,” she shared. Not only were they both medicated for diabetes, Joan was also on blood pressure medication. She said she just felt lousy most of the time.

They began their regular routine of coming to the gym, doing cardio, lifting weights and attending the Silver and Fit classes. After two months, 69-year-old Joan was taken off her blood pressure medication. Now, Joan is 35 pounds lighter and Frank, at age 70, has lost 46 pounds. They are also both testing as non-diabetics. “We spread 11 yards of mulch in two days,” Joan told me proudly, “and I didn’t have any aches. I was tired, but I didn’t hurt. 

At age 75, Mikki is going strong and it shows! At 69 and 70, Joan and Frank are the perfect examples of the results you can get with a little dedication, no matter what your age. Because we can begin to lose muscle as early as our 30s, developing a strength-training program can drastically reduce this muscle loss. It will also help to strengthen the bones and will help maintain a healthy weight, reducing the effects of things like arthritis.

I do recommend finding a qualified trainer to help design an appropriate program, especially if you are new to exercise. There is no reason to fear the gym, even if you are a complete novice at age 60 or 70. Aging is inevitable, and although you cannot stop the clock, you can certainly slow it down and choose to live a healthy, active life well into the senior years. With exercise and proper nutrition, you can maintain your independence longer and enjoy a better quality of life. Period. Joan told me, “If I would have known that doing all this would make me feel this good, I would have started a long time ago.”

Work hard everyone, and don’t ever quit!

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