There are always some workout misconceptions when you start exercising for fitness as a novice. The same is true for the elderly, exercise misconceptions are varied. Today we will choose three more representative misunderstandings, to analyze.
Myth 1: As long as the activity, always good for the body!Holding this view, at least shows that the exerciser has a certain sense of fitness. And while it is true that exercise itself is good for the body, this is a general, qualitative description.
To achieve the stated fitness goals, there needs to be a requirement for exercise. This is a factor that involves at least three aspects: frequency of exercise, duration of exercise, and intensity of exercise.
For example, in terms of exercise frequency, exercise at least three times a week for the effect of exercise to accumulate. Some people just play a game of ball with their friends over a day or two on the weekend. While a single game may be longer, it does nothing to help accumulate the effects of exercise.
Some older people go to square dances every day, but only casually. And on the whole, the spontaneous, recreational square dances on the street corners have a low intensity of exercise, to which the body quickly adapts. Therefore, this type of exercise can neither lose weight nor improve cardiorespiratory function.
In order to benefit from the exercise, the basic requirement is to "exercise three times a week, and to ensure that each time there is enough time and intensity of exercise". Let's take a look at the State General Administration of Sport in the "National Fitness Guide" to the elderly exercise recommendations:
To moderate intensity exercise is the main exercise, exercise heart rate is quieter than the increase of 10-20%, or to control the 100 to 120 times per minute. Elderly people who have good physical function and are in the habit of exercising can engage in high-intensity exercise.
Small-intensity strength exercises with less than 50 percent of maximum muscle strength and 8-12 repetitions of each part, or unarmed strength exercises.
However, this is a general recommendation. When you first start exercising, you don't necessarily have to reach the recommended exercise intensity in one step, you can start from the amount and intensity of exercise that suits you and slowly reach the above requirements.
Myth 2: I'm too old to run or do strength training!Elderly people who hold such a view actually need to address their mindset first. They may be intimidated by exercise because of the obvious aging of their bodies, insisting that "only young people are fit to participate in sports". In fact, the opposite is true: it is precisely because of their weakened bodies that older people need to improve their physical fitness through exercise.
Taking the improvement of cardiorespiratory capacity as an example, there is definitely more than just running. Older people can pick their favorite aerobic exercises and start with the gentler, low-intensity aerobic workout programs. For example, brisk walking, yoga, beginner aerobics, steppers, and so on, and even quality square dance workouts are possible.
So, is strength training needed? More than ever, it's needed.
Starting around age 30, muscle is lost at a rate of 0.5 to 1 percent per year. By the time you reach your fifties, muscle loss shows an accelerated trend. If you don't exercise, muscle atrophy will be very serious in your 60s, manifesting itself in poor strength, poor endurance, and stiffness and inflexibility.
Through strength training, older people can not only maintain their current muscle mass, but also grow (and even realize considerable growth), as well as muscular endurance and strength levels, all of which can be improved. This will greatly enhance the physical mobility and improve the fitness of older adults, and is especially relevant for preventing unintentional injuries in old age, such as falls.
INFORMATION: A study published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in September 2014 said that most American adults over the age of 45 are not meeting the national health department's requirement that middle-aged and older adults engage in muscle-strengthening exercises at least twice a week.
Back in August 2012, the British journal BMJ published a report showing that those over the age of 70 who participated in strength-and-balance exercises had a 31 percent drop in falls over the course of a year.
Myth 3: Some people who live longer, don't exercise!We need to make one thing clear: The factors that contribute to longevity are numerous and complex, and it is impossible for a single factor to determine whether or not a person will live a long life. If you can't do it with exercise, you can't do it with any other single factor.
The fact that some long-lived people don't exercise is true. But that doesn't negate the fact that there are other long-lived people who do exercise regularly.
Xinhua News Agency reported in May 2015 that a study by Norwegian scientists found that older men who exercise half an hour a day, six days a week, are likely to have a 40 percent lower mortality rate than the "couch potato chip people," and that's true for both light and strenuous exercise. The survey's statistics also show that older people who maintain a vigorous exercise routine live five years longer than those who are often sedentary.
In fact, exercise is conducive to prolonging life research data, but exercise is certain to make people live longer, there is no uniform understanding. However, it cannot be denied that there is a correlation between regular exercise and longevity. Therefore, we can also see old people who live longer without exercise (perhaps their longevity genes are strong), and we can easily find old people who live longer with regular exercise.
What is certain is that exercise can make us healthy, it can make us live a better quality of life, and it can make us age as well as possible and as healthy as possible, and perhaps that's what makes it more meaningful.