#for me he has a sexy muscle car from the 60s that GOES FAST !

[agenttommykinard]

Tommy absolutely drives a Toyota Land Cruiser in grey. One of the newer ones that’s lighter weight. The five-seater with the rack on top because he paddle-boards and kayaks with friends (and is usually the designated driver). On days off, he likes to take it down the roads and trails of So-Cal for an early-morning excursion.

the general consensus is that Tommy has one fun car and one practical car and this is a good contender for the practical vehicle

the car debate has been a lot of fun ngl I love reading everyone's tags on that post! it's been very opinionated and it's cool to see how everyone would see this character and his choices

also Tommy paddle-boarding/ kayaking makes me 🥰

[rmkhealth]

Is it just your age?

Age is the destroyer of youth, eerily creeping up on us and stealing our joyous life energies, age makes our joints ache, our minds slower, age piles on the lbs around our waist and leaves us feeling more and more knackered until eventually it takes us to a cold dark and damp grave.

Or are we wine? Could we get better with age? More knowledgeable and experienced of the World and how it works and appreciative of what we have? Could age be the substance that makes people have a better time?

If age is to be accused of such treacherous crimes against our bodies, let’s us consider the evidence.

Does ageing make you fat and weak?

As I sat on my in laws couch and tried my best to pretend I was watching T.V rather than engage in conversation with my brother in law my view was obstructed by a large gut followed by his apple like soon to be diagnosed with diabetes shape.

He patted his belly and told me that I too, could expect to be fat in ten years’ time, it’s just age he told me, it’s what happens.

That was 10 years ago, I’m still waiting for age to add on the lbs as I sit here wearing the same size trousers I could fit into then.

Of course, there is still time, I’m only thirty-five, other people tell me it’s all downhill from here. Perhaps I am not even the right person to write this article? It’s easy for me to generalize on something I haven’t yet experienced, but then as a Personal Trainer I must have worked with hundreds of people older than me over the last 12 years, including clients in their 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and even 90s.

What follows is a mixture of what I believe to be solid facts, my own personal opinions and general advice based on my own experience. I wrote this article for myself, because I’m curious about the future, I hope that in reading this people might gain a better understanding of aging and how to manage this process like a boss. Let’s start with some of the processes that occur as we age that may affect our weight, muscle and fat.

Sarcopenia affects all adults from about the age of 30 onwards. Up until that point, our muscles are still growing and getting stronger. From then on, we can expect to lose around 3 to 5 % of muscle mass per decade, which means at some point you’ll struggle opening jam jar lids.

From about 75 onwards it really speeds up, leading to the fragility and weakness often associated with the elderly and dramatically increasing the risk of falls and fractures with much more devastating effects than when this happens in younger people. Autopsy results from eighty year olds have shown a 25% reduction in Type II (strong type you would use for sprinting) muscle fibres in the quadriceps compared to sedentary younger people.  

In case you’re wondering, this also affects active people, most athletes are in their prime in their twenties and retire around their thirties.

So, what impact does this have on weight gain?

Lean body mass (muscle) burns calories without you having to do anything.  Muscles need to be fed, which means more muscle, more calories you can consume without getting fat (to a point)

Here is an example of how this works,

Sarah and John are twenties somethings who don’t work out, they enjoy the weekends as they are blissfully free of children and whilst they eat mostly healthy, they have a fair bit of junk from time to time.

Sarah can pull of skinny jeans and John likes to put on tight T-shirts (even though he has puny arms)

Sarah consumes about 2500 calories a day, John about 3000, neither of them know this as they don’t track their intake (which is fine btw)

The fact that neither of them are overweight, and their weight is stable, suggest that they are burning roughly the same number of calories each day as they consume.

Fast forward a lazy inactive decade and they have now lost 5% of their lean mass, which means instead of burning 2500 and 3000 respectively their bodies are now burning up about 2375 and 2850.  It’s only a marginal decrease, but it’s enough that in a month they are consuming an extra 3500 to 4500 calories above their needs.

Add that up over a year and factor in a further reduction in lean mass and subsequently lower level of metabolism and it’s easy to see how the weight begins to pile on year after year.

Even if a person’s weight doesn’t go up, most likely their body fat will. So instead of being 10 stone and 12% body fat John might be that same weight and start to develop flab around his waist as his body fat increases to 18%

In addition to this your hormone system begins to shake, shudder and splutter like an aged car that just wants to rest up its final years in the scrap yard with all its friends.

In men, we see a decrease in testosterone production, think lower sex drive and less able to gain muscle.

In women, we see a much more complex change that brings with it potentially higher risk of osteoporosis, disrupted thyroid and mood swings that would be enough to scare Putin into handing back Ukraine so long as you agree to stop throwing plates at him.

In both sexes, there is a decrease in growth hormone, which plays a significant role in metabolism, brain function, energy levels and muscle growth.

Depressed yet? There’s more!

Does age cause increased joint pain?

Arthritis affects people of all ages, but is by far more common the older you get, meaning more swollen, stiff and painful joints.

Flexibility is reduced year on year, especially in the hips, spine and shoulders, one study on loss of range observed around 8 to 10cm of reduced hip flexibility in the sit and reach test in 50 to 60 year olds.

Also, there’s stenosis, the age-related narrowing of the holes in the spine where the nerves pass through causing increased pain sensitivity, in other words, everything hurts from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to bed.

The body is breaking down year on year, disc in the back dry up, they become thinner, bones become more brittle, ligaments and tendons suffer with long periods of strain and muscles get tighter, alongside this people get more grumpy and intolerant. It’s hard to be happy when you hurt most of the time.

We’ve already mentioned the loss of muscle, naturally this is accompanied by more unstable joints leading to higher risk of injury and lower ability to balance.

That lack of balance means more likelihood of falls, and the decreased muscle means less ability to handle that fall and impaired recovery.

Here’s a cute Labrador slowly falling asleep, thanks for reading this section, watch this before the next section, things only get worse.

  Does age make you more tired?

Ever noticed that childlike energy that… well children have.  My kids have so much energy they insist they must literally jump up and down constantly whilst shouting for three straight hours whilst their Mum and I smash our heads hard against a wall.

There are plenty of good reasons for this, for one thing my kids don’t have the energy draining life issues we have such as paying bills on time, cooking meals, keeping the house clean, earning a living, raising kids, pretending to friendly to people etc etc.

My kids also get plenty of sleep, the youngest goes to bed about 7pm and gets up about 6am.

That’s 11 straight hours of sleep compared to my usual 7 hours! I think if I got that much sleep I too would be buzzing with energy!

But adults don’t just get less sleep because night time is the only chance they can catch up on the Walking dead, as we age we experience a decline in sleep inducing melatonin levels which corresponds with a disruption in our circadian rhythms, meaning we have less quality deep sleep, the kind of sleep which completely revitalizes you. My son can literally fall out of bed and carry on sleeping whilst I wake up when I hear a mouse quietly turning the page of its Library book in the next room.

There’s more too, remember that loss of muscle mass I mentioned earlier?  That makes everything more fatiguing. Suddenly going up the stairs becomes an effort, as does everything else that isn’t sitting down watching television. That muscle you lost contained Mitochondria, a little energy factory that gives you a big dose of fuel when you want to move more.  The loss of mitochondria is also a factor in decreased energy.

Now factor in any of the issues that people older than me must face, most of my friends and family are still alive, whilst I have had a few occasional tough times, I haven’t had more than a few decades of them, and then there is the respect that diminishes with age. Some see old people as a burden, many fear them, they don’t want to even look at the wrinkled skin or hair loss because it reminds them what is coming.

Many old people when interviewed say they feel invisible, they get ignored at the makeup counters, advertisers have stopped trying to sell them sexy clothes and now bombard them with funeral financing plans and home mobility help.

If you’re ready to start googling Euthanasia clinics in Switzerland rather than face all this peril then read on, because there is hope, so much hope!

The good News!

The truth is far from the bleak picture I have thus painted so far. Although to some people getting older it might feel that way, because perception is crucial in how we perceive life.  

As a Personal Trainer, I may hear “it’s my age” from clients aged 30, 50 or even 80, and conversely, I have worked with clients in their 70s who are strong and go through workouts that put many younger people to shame.

It’s easy to see age as the terrible stealer of youth if we are not actively engaging with life as we age.

Whilst there is no escaping sarcopenia, it seems likely that active people are less affected by it and those who train later in life can still regain muscle or even experience gains they have never known.

I wrote earlier that most athletes retire in their thirties, but that isn’t always the case

“The Iron Nun” sister Madona Buda is a 86 year old Nun who has completed 360 Triathlons and 45 Ironmans (an event which consist of a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride finished by a full Marathon)

She says

“The only failure is not to try, because your effort in itself is a success.”

You might have seen her in the Nike advert, if not check it out below.

Aerobic training such as running, walking, Zumba or just anything that gets a person out of breath, is important for the heart. This means less risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, osteoporosis and certain kinds of cancers. It’s also going to improve sleep, which in turn means more energy.

Aerobic exercise can even make dramatic changes to your brain, in this study fifty-nine sedentary people aged 60 to 79 took part in a randomized 6 month trial, they found that the group who did cardiovascular work showed significant improvements in their brain volume with increases in both white and grey matter.

It’s never too late to start either, just this year Fauja Singh ran the Mumbai Marathon aged 104. He ran his first one in 2000 aged eighty-seven.

These are cardio examples, but there are plenty of strength examples too, another British athlete Dr Charles Eugster looks pretty good as a ninety five year old bodybuilder, but then I suppose he should be, he’s being doing it for 8 years since he took up the sport up at age 87!.

If elderly people start lifting weights, they have the potential to gain more muscle than that of a twenty something who just sits on their arse all day. Lifting weights also lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease, and has a greater impact on strengthening bones than cardio.  When people build muscle, they need more calories, which means they burn more calories too, on top of this a total body resistance program will produce muscles with higher insulin sensitivity which will massively help reduce risk of diabetes or help those with diabetes control it better.

Another elder athlete who’s holding his own is British Competitor Mark Felix who’s been a regular in Worlds Strongest man for the last decade, he competed this year aged 50.  He set a deadlift record that wasn’t beaten in for seven years, here he is setting another record.

What about flexibility?

Do joints get tighter? Perhaps age does have some impact for sure, but there isn’t really such a thing as a tight muscle.  The range that any person has in any given movement is determined by the comfort that persons brain has in allowing them that movement.

The brain is naturally cautious, it wants to protect you, it won’t allow you to squat deep if it doesn’t think your strong enough to stay stable when you get there or to get yourself back up again.  If squatting deep isn’t something you often do (why would you?) then over time the brain will feel less and less confident about allowing you to go to such depths.

This is kind of a use it or lose it phenomenon. Most kids can do cartwheels, but few adults can even attempt them, and it isn’t because of age, it’s because they haven’t even tried to do one of those things for years.

In 2015 ninety-six year old Tao Porchon-Lynch appeared on Americas got talent with this amazing dance routine. (which starts around 3:30 into the vid)

 What about injuries?

The longer we are around on this earth, the higher the probability that we will experience pain.

If you exercise you’ll most likely experience an injury at some point, and if you don’t exercise then it’s also likely. At least with exercise you stand a better chance of a quicker recovery, stronger muscles and tendons with a good cardiovascular system means less time to heal.

Exercise reduces injury risk by several mechanisms such as enabling better balance, therefore less risk of falls. Also, when you put your body through rep after rep of tough exercises, you get better at being able to handle pain, which means you’ll have an increased pain threshold.  

Research has shown that even when people have painful conditions such as chronic arthritis, exercise helps to manage that pain much better, even though the exercise itself is painful.

Let’s also consider the affect that a phrase such as “arthritis” or a “slipped disc “might have on a person’s psyche. Not to diminish the very significant impact that medical conditions do have on a person’s life, but note that where there is a lack of understanding between what a phrase means between the patient and the doctor there is an increased likelihood of fear and subsequent movement avoidance and physical degradation.

I have arthritis, most of us do, every day thousands of people walk around with slipped disc (which isn’t a disc poking out the back in case you’re wondering) without even knowing it. They have no discomfort, they feel fine, many of them are athletes.

Any injury should always be assessed by a qualified physio therapist, they can advise on the best treatment and help get you back to climbing trees and swimming in lakes in the quickest time possible.

Health, Nutrition, Exercise and aging

Here are just a few thoughts on how we should approach exercise as we age.

First point of consideration is activity, a gym session may just be an hour or two a week but activity is something that can be done every day.

Everything from taking the dogs for a walk to cleaning the house plays an important role in maintaining or even improving the function of our bodies.

When it does come to exercise, simple principles apply, seek a professional, make sure you find someone who can help you exercise safely and in a well-structured progressive manner.

If your keen to just get started then a simple gym program is a machine based leg press, chest press and lat pull down. Do 10 to 15 reps of each, 2 to 3 sets. Do that 2 or 3 times a week and in a month you’ll begin to see a difference. Add in some cardio in the form of walking or swimming or playing knock door run and you’ll be getting both strong and aerobically fitter.

I believe the following are of primary importance to be addressed in a program to help keep us living well into old age.

Good movement through whatever the body will allow and progressively and sensibly trying to achieve more movement and range.  Exercises such as squats, lunges, lifts, presses and pulls in various forms.

Balance movements such as 1 leg work or even practising falls.

Power movements such as jumps, hops, throws. It’s amazing how many people are scared to jump onto a low height step having never had to do such a thing for a long time. It’s always a case of building confidence using a safe environment to practice and progress.

When I was a Teenager and throughout my mid-twenties I trained like a mad man. I would push myself hard, past pain barriers and then some. Plenty of people couldn’t keep up with me.  As I get older I’ve began to realize I get more out of taking a step back, leaving one or two reps in the tank instead of pushing to failure. Starting with just a few sets and adding more in over a few weeks.  It’s a long term sensible and sustainable approach to exercise.

Because inflammation becomes an issue as we age, we should try to lower inflammation through diet by reducing the amount of processed foods we eat (although not necessarily eliminating the tasty stuff!), eating plenty of vegetables, and consuming foods naturally higher in omega three such as oily fish, nuts, seeds etc. It’s also worth adding in natural anti-inflammatory foods such as ginger, turmeric and blueberries where you can.

In addition to anti-inflammatory foods, it becomes even more important as we age to ensure we have enough protein, since muscle loss is of primary concern, any net deficiency in protein will result in wasting away.

So regular consumption of meat, fish, dairy, eggs, tofu, soy, quinoa etc is paramount.

Studies have also shown that elderly people lose muscle much quicker than younger people, so there is a need to ensure training frequency, getting at least 2 to 3 sessions a week may be necessary to not just gain but keep muscle mass.

An important way to look after yourself as you age is to regularly check in with the doc, if you have a pain, it could be nothing, but get it checked out, because if you leave it too long and it is something, you may have lost crucial weeks to treat it.

It’s also super important to have a social group, join a gym, go on group walks, make sure there are people who regularly ask how you’re getting on and help you out when you need it. Isolation can sneak up on people and lots of elderly folk get forgotten about.

 In Summary

I believe that age is a feeling, people feel old, they think they are weaker, they put themselves down in the mind and the body follows suit.

Along with the elderly athletes you’ve seen in this article, there are other examples of achievement at an older age. For example, philosopher Emmanual Kant did most of his best work between 60 and 80, Kernal Sanders didn’t start his KFC chain till he was 65.

Other research has shown that people get much happier with age, the New York times ran a great piece on this. Other research has shown the elder people have better sex lives, happier marriages, more job satisfaction and sharper minds!

From the moment, we are born we are dying, every day on the march towards death our bodies will go through changes, we never wake up two days running in the exact same body!

Age might well be tough, no doubt there are many challenges ahead for us all to contend with in our lives and in our bodies.

But it my opinion, age is a blessing, we all know people who never get to receive the chance to grow old and there are too many daily tragedies involving the loss of life to speak off. whilst I may only be thirty-five I have already seen the passing of many people I knew who were either my age or much younger than me.