By Richard Gafter, Registered Kinesiologist

If you are over 50, perhaps well into your 60’s or 70’s, you may have let your physical fitness lapse.

Is it too late to recover your fitness?.

While every case is different, we do know that many people can recover a significant amount of fitness and improve their health and longevity

But how do you start?

The following is a ‘best practices’ list I have compiled over the last 20 years while working with many people over 50 who have achieved and maintained a higher level of physical fitness and quality of life:

1. Spend the first few weeks with a fitness coach to create and shape your exercise plan. Remember, your body has changed over the years and you need a qualified coach to help you to maximize your gains and prevent injury.
2. Start with gentle, yet progressive and regular exercise over the first month. Avoid excessive impact, compression, or sudden force on your joints.
3. Have one or more exercise buddies to join you for mutual support and encouragement.
4. Discuss any relevant pain or discomfort with your coach as it happens. Your coach can quickly modify your program to prevent injury while continuing your improvement.

Here’s what we have learned from the research: people who succeed at improving their fitness seem to have a more realistic and accurate assessment of their physical body’s limitations than those who prematurely drop out. Successful changers are more accepting of steady and gradual improvement and embrace the idea of the ‘stress-rest cycle’ and organize their exercise and recovery days accordingly.

So take your time. Don’t put yourself under undue pressure. Trust your body to respond well to a careful and regular program.

For people over 50, strength is the most neglected fitness component. As we age, we lose muscle mass (a condition known as ‘sarcopenia’.) Loss of muscle mass means loss of metabolically active tissue. If we are losing muscle, we are gaining body fat percentage

This is bad because our muscles contribute to the support and stability of our joints. This is important as we age and develop various types of arthritis. An arthritic knee joint, for example, needs as much muscular support as possible because the cartilage in that joint is compromised

Functional strength is the “real world” use of our muscles. Getting out of a car, climbing stairs, getting out of a bathtub, carrying groceries and opening a jar are examples of functional strength. Strength training enables us to perform these activities and to build confidence. Without that confidence, we may succumb to our fears of falling or injury, causing us to over-limit what we can do and cause further muscle reduction

Bottom line: If you want to reclaim your physical fitness, you need to rethink your personal exercise beliefs and methods. Work with a professional to guide you through the early stages of your program. Small changes early on can make a profound impact on success.

Consider this: You are never too old or too frail. Eighty-five year-old muscle reacts to a load by getting stronger just as eighteen year-old muscle does. Also consider that walking, as your sole form of exercise, does not provide enough range of motion or load to effectively recruit sufficient muscle.

Follow a fitness program that safely addresses strength, endurance, and range of motion to improve the quality of your life, for life.

Richard Gafter, Kinesiologist, is owner and senior consultant with MedEx Fitness Centre Ltd. in James Bay Square, with services specially tailored to people over 50. (250) 382-5050