THE BENEFITS OF RESISTENCE TRAINING FOR OVER 40'S

OVER 40 AND NOT LIFTING WEIGHTS?

Being 47 myself I tend to talk to a lot of people over 40 about exercise. A trend I see is how many over 40’s stop or don’t perform resistance training. The reasons being '‘I don’t want to build muscle as i’m too old now'‘, ‘‘I just do cardio as I just want to burn fat these days’’ amongst many other reasons.

Are these people right? Of course they’re not and lets see the reasons why these women and men are making a big mistake leaving resistance training out of their exercise routines.

AGE RELATED LOSS OF MUSCLE AND STRENGTH

As we start to plough through our forties we can lose approximately 1 to 2 % of muscle mass every year and this can speed up as we get older, this is called sarcopenia. It doesn’t have to be like that! Remember that saying if you don’t use it you lose it? Well if you are pretty inactive you will lose muscle mass.

What is the solution? Resistance training of course! An increase in your muscle mass will help build your metabolic rate too, resulting in a leaner body. Muscle is metabolically active so more calories are used throughout the day. Two to three resistance workouts a week will not only maintain muscle mass it will increase it. You can build an awesome body in your forties, fifties and beyond! It’s not too late even if you have never trained before.

BONE DENSITY DECREASES AS WE AGE INCREASING THE RISK OF OSTEOPOROSIS

As we age our bone density decreases and we have a higher risk of osteoporosis. This can result in fractures as we start to get into old age. We all hear of ageing family members having a fall and fracturing a hip etc. It’s more common in women but still affects a large percentage of men too. Guess what? Yep, resistance training can slow down bone loss and in some cases increase the strength of your bones! Two to three weight sessions a week and you’ll have bones as strong a s steel..well a lot stronger than before anyway. Take a look at my client Karen, in her 50’s she has been training with weights for a few years now and she is fit, healthy and strong!

IMPROVED BODY IMAGE

As we age we tend to suffer from the middle age spread. We are less active, we eat and drink more and we put on weight. We can start to feel bad about ourselves because we don’t look like how we used to when we were younger, our confidence goes so we eat some more and drink some more for comfort. It doesn’t have to be like that at all! What can help? Weight training again! You can do all the cardio you want it won’t change the shape of your body at all apart from becoming a smaller version of what you was before. That isn’t knocking cardio at all as it is important but weight training sessions will change the shape of your body by adding muscle in the right places. A great strength training plan with a great nutrition plan can dramatically improve your body and how you see yourself, improving mental health.

My client Dave Ridgewell part way through his transformation. He’s 56 years young.

INCREASED MOBILITY AND FUNCTIONALITY

As we age we do tend to ‘seize up’. Resistance training will increase the mobility in your joints making you much more functional in your day to day life.

So what are you waiting for all you over 40’s, get to the gym and start training! If you haven’t got the confidence to go to the gym on your own then please get in touch and enquire about personal training!

Peter

FITNESS TRAINING FOR THE EQUINE WORLD

'Should I Fitness Train For Equine Sports?’

I have been Personally Training rising Dressage star Sofie Butchart for a few months now and she has really benefitted from the extra fitness, strength and overall well being that results from the training. She is winning competitions and is more determined than ever.

I know my bodybuilding career is ever so slightly different from equine sports but the drive and mental focus needed to win transfers over to all sports! We work on visualisation techniques and a winning attitude as well as the fitness etc.

I’ll hand over to Sofie and she can tell you in her own words how she transformed herself to rise in the world of Dressage. I did not ask her to write anything for me, this was done off her own back!

‘ Within the equine world it is hard to find the time to be healthy and look after your body correctly. Although in order to perform our best to contribute to our equines overall performance, we should look after ourselves like we do our horses!

Previously I literally lived on fast food, carbs and anything with sugar in to give me a boost of energy on a busy day. I had an extremely inconsistent diet with massive gaps between meals, then times of binge eating. I managed although my concentration levels, energy levels and my overall health were pretty awful! I was ill a lot, I would get injured very easily and feel run down the majority of the time.

I knew things had to change to not only become a better rider but also a fitter and healthier person! That’s when I met Peter Chown, former Natural Mr Universe and Heavyweight World bodybuilding champion who is also a well respected personal trainer and nutritional advisor.

With Peters help and guidance I have transformed from being McDonalds favourite customer to now managing to consistently eat the right foods to fuel my body and being healthy. I also train at the gym with Peter 3 to 4 times a week and under his watchful eye I am stronger and fitter and also i’m loving seeing the visual changes. I feel great!

During my training sessions with Peter we do some cardio but mostly weight training to help strengthen my whole body for my riding. We have recently progressed to training lower body and upper body both twice a week. I have felt a huge difference within my riding performance as well as feeling so much better in myself.

Beforehand I had ‘strength’ in my riding muscles but I was extremely weak in other areas making me prone to injuries, form hernias to having major surgery on my shoulders due to reoccurring dislocations.

Peter is always on the end of the phone for me whenever I have any questions regarding my nutrition plan and training.

Originally I thought eating healthy was just salad and boring foods, it isn’t, I now really enjoy my meals A LOT!! I cant lie, when I first started my nutrition plan I felt awful, my body wasn’t used to healthy food, I craved Dominos pizza so much! But I stuck to it and now I look back at how I used to eat and it makes me feel sick! I wouldn’t feed my horses an inconsistent and unbalanced diet and expect them to perform at their best, although I was doing it to myself.

I also have acupuncture and visit an osteopath every 2-3 weeks to keep any twinges at bay and help my bodys energy and my mind. My horses are very sensitive and their performance changes drastically if I am not ‘on form’ so it’s important for their sake I keep myself in the best shape I can mentally and physically.

I hope this has given you and idea to my personal training structure, how I look after myself in order to perform at my best and also how anyone can turn their lifestyle around with guidance and support, not just in the equine world but anyone! ‘