Inkster. Karina - Resistance Band Workouts for Seniors: Strength Training at Home or on the Go

Copyright 2022 by Karina Inkster

Photos 2022 by John C. Watson of Imagemaker Photographic Studio

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

Skyhorse Publishing books may be purchased in bulk at special discounts for sales promotion, corporate gifts, fund-raising, or educational purposes. Special editions can also be created to specifications. For details, contact the Special Sales Department, Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018 or .

Skyhorse and Skyhorse Publishing are registered trademarks of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., a Delaware corporation.

Visit our website at www.skyhorsepublishing.com.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Daniel Brount and David Ter-Avanesyan

Cover photos by John C. Watson

Edited by Leah Zarra

Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-7010-2

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-7011-9

Printed in China

CONTENTS

Introduction

If you want to improve your strength and body composition without a gym membership, this book is for you. Youll be able to work out at home, outdoors, and while traveling. My fitness coaching clients have performed their resistance band strength workouts everywhere from airports and long-haul flights, to sailboats, empty conference rooms at the office, campgrounds in the forest, and everywhere in between!

In this book, youll discover the benefits of strength training for older adults, and the benefits of working with resistance bands in particular. Youll learn how to choose resistance bands, and how to safely use them to increase your strength. Ill go over the three types of resistance bands so you can put together your own inexpensive gym that fits into a small bag.

A collection of fifty strength exercises that work all the major muscle groups will inspire you to createand maintaina regular strength training practice. Once youre familiar with these exercises, youll learn how to put together your own workout programs. After all, having fifty exercises to choose from is well and good, but they wont be of any use unless you implement them!

Strength trainingalso called resistance trainingis one of the most effective ways of improving your body composition, preventing injuries, increasing your bone density, revving up your metabolism, and improving your day-to-day functioning. Given these wide-ranging benefits, everyone, at any age, should be strength training!

The most common form of strength training is lifting weights at a gym. However, not everyone enjoys going to gyms, and not everyone has access to these facilities. My team and I work with clients all over the world, some of whom live in extremely remote places, like the middle of Outback Australia or a tiny island in Bermuda with only twenty houses and no roads. These places certainly dont have gyms! Other clients have family responsibilities like caring for older parents or full-time care of young grandchildren, and must strength train at home. Some want to save money by not purchasing gym memberships, and others prefer training at home for logistical reasons like saving time traveling to and from a gym, or being able to fit in a quick midday strength training session while working from home.

This is where resistance bands come in. If you want to work out wherever you like, including at home and while traveling, resistance bands are the most effective, most user-friendly choice.

As more and more people learn about the incredible benefits of strength training, more and more types of exercise equipment are being produced. The options can be overwhelming! Rest assured that the humble resistance band is one of the most effective, well-studied, economical, and travel-friendly equipment options available. Professional athletes from countless different disciplines have been using resistance bands in their training for decades, especially when traveling.

This book contains everything you need to learn a wide variety of resistance band strength exercises, and put them together into a fun and effective workout program you can perform anywhere.

Benefits of Strength Training

Strength training is a form of physical exercise that uses resistance to induce muscle contraction. This builds the strength, size, and endurance of our muscles. Strength training has incredible benefits for youth and adults of all ages, including injury prevention, improved athletic performance, increased bone density, lowering our risk for many chronic diseases, and improving our day-to-day functioning.

Strength training (also called resistance training; I use the terms interchangeably) is a broad term that refers to any type of exercise that uses some form of resistance to strengthen and build muscle. We can create this resistance by using dumbbells, barbells, weight and cable machines at the gym, kettlebells, medicine balls, our own body weight, andof courseresistance bands.

Note that when we talk about endurance within the context of strength training, we mean anaerobic endurance, where our muscles are relying on stored reserves of fuel, rather than oxygen. Anaerobic (without oxygen) activities are high-intensity and short duration, like sprinting or performing a challenging set of ten weighted squats.

In contrast, aerobic endurance refers to the ability of our respiratory and cardiovascular systems to maintain moderate-intensity exercise over extended periods. Aerobic activities involve oxygen in our muscles energy-generating process. Swimming, jogging, or cycling at a consistent pace for thirty to sixty minutes, for example, requires aerobic endurance.

Here are some of the benefits of maintaining a consistent strength training practice. Youll reap these benefits regardless of the equipment you usewhether its resistance bands, dumbbells, kettlebells, barbells, your own body weight, or a combination of these.

BONE DENSITY

Bone density is the amount of calcium and other minerals in our bones. Stronger, healthier bones have a higher mineral content, while low mineral content (and thus low bone density) is a risk factor for osteoporosis and bone fractures.

Bone density decreases as a normal part of aging. The good news is you can prevent and slow down this bone loss by strength training regularly! We can even build new bone in later life by resistance training consistently. This greatly reduces our risk for osteoporosis, and improves our odds of maintaining independence in later life.

Strength training can increase bone mineral density at any age, and at any fitness level. One study found a 6 percent increase in hip bone mineral density in older women (mean age 71.9) with decreased muscle strength, after strength training for an hour, three days a week for sixteen weeks.

Other research looked at the effects of strength training in older male sprint athletes. For twenty weeks, half the study participants engaged in a strength training program along with their sprint training, and the other half continued with their regular running-based sprint training.