Seniors Benefit From Resistance Training
We’ve been told often enough that remaining physically and socially active as we age will bring tremendous health benefits. We’ve learned that exercise can help a person maintain or improve endurance, flexibility, strength, and balance, as well as reduce the risk of depression or lessen the severity of symptoms of depression if already present.
What if someone now suggests that recent studies show that by including resistance-training exercises to your workout regimen you can reverse the mitochondrial dysfunction responsible for muscle mass loss associated with aging? What if these positive effects can even be found in healthy individuals who do not begin resistance training until in their eighties? Would that be motivation enough to get even the most skeptical of seniors to put down the remote and get vertical?
The results of a recent study, co-led by Simon Melov, PhD at the Buck Institute, and Mark Tarnopolsky, MD, PhD, of McMaster University Medical Center in Hamilton, Ontario, indicate that is exactly the case. As seniors who still have a world to travel, board meetings to attend, new degrees to earn, and grandkids’ soccer games at which to cheer, shouldn’t we be taking to the gyms with renewed motivation at attempting to slow our genetic tick - - tocks?
To entice those seniors hesitant to make a horizontal adjustment, entrepeneurs have begun developing new workout facilities that cater to an aging clientele who prefer quieter pneumatic fitness equipment over the traditional clanky weight machines, softer music over hard rock or hip-hop, and no more muscle-bulging, deeply-tanned hard bodies to haunt our mirrored periphery.
One such company, Nifty after Fifty, seems to have a really nice business model whose objective is promoting “greater wellness and lasting independence” among the 50-plus age group. Sheldon S. Zinberg, MD, author of Win in the Second Half: A Guide to Better Aging and Fitness for Men and Women, started Nifty after Fifty after a 12-week pilot study of 529 frail seniors participating in strength training. The conclusion of his study showed overwhelming positive results.
Nifty after Fifty offers a variety of programs to benefit seniors. After a thorough evaluation process is administered, a customized fitness plan is set up. Upon enrollment, communication with the client’s primary physician is begun.
Nifty after Fifty offers a physician-supervised physical therapy program, which is accepted by most insurances including Medicare. There are also vibration units available, usually used only by professional athletes and celebrities, and are found to increase muscle strength and bone density, improve flexibility and range of motion, and increase blood circulation.
Computers are available with Brainaerobic
Currently, Nifty after Fifty can only be found in a few locations in California, but their web site indicates the possibility of franchises opening up in the near future, so there’s a good possibility that more of these facilities or ones similar to it will become available across the country.
Of course, if gym membership is not a convenient or affordable option, beginning a physician-approved resistance training routine in your own home is certainly better than not doing anything at all. It is nice to know that new advancements towards healthy aging are constantly being made and additional choices in how we participate are on the way.
