I’ve heard it time and time again.
“It used to be so much easier to keep the weight off”
“I used to recover so much quicker”
“I just feel like I have all these health problems that I didn’t used to have”
Yes, approaching 40, 50 or older is when the wheels start falling off. Especially for women when our hormones start doing all sorts of weird and wonderful things.
It’s the time that the life you’ve led thus far starts to rear its ugly head; if your diet hasn’t been so great up until now, this is when you’ll put on weight or health issues will start to show. Typically, men who have led a lifetime of limited stretching and mobility drills while playing sport will turn to ‘rock’ and it will start to affect their life and workouts.
People, especially women who have always been naturally slim, now want to achieve tone and build muscle and help their health, perhaps because their kids are older and they have more time for themselves, however this is also when you can discover you have osteoporosis, in which case, resistance exercise and a good diet is required to mitigate or stop the decline.
But what else can you do? If you’re reading this and you’re in your 20’s or 30s (or younger!) then get active and eat as well as you can NOW. If you’re older then it’s never too late to clean up your act. But what to do at any age? Look at your lifestyle and your diet firstly, then how much and what type of exercise you’re doing; you want to be be doing not too much, not too little and some weight bearing strength training, particularly focusing on balance of stability Did you know that in the over 65s, 55% of all accidental deaths was caused by falls- so it pays to get stable NOW. Write a diary of all of these factors and each day write down your mood and your energy too. If you are consistently less than 8 or 9/10 on this scale, you’ll know something is wrong. If you’re not sure what to correct or how to, speak to a professional who can help you see the wood through the trees.
Bottom line is that it’s never too late to make positive changes to your life. Sometimes it’s good to start at the bottom. That way- the only way is up!
As well as being a NASM-CPT certified Personal Trainer, Ally van de Pol is also a holistic nutritionist (which gives her a great overall understanding of how the body works as a whole), and a Senior Fitness Specialist. She always offers free holistic consultations to anybody looking to improve their health. Contact her at ally@dragonfitnessandcoaching.com.