Golden Lion Publications - Strength Training for Seniors The Only Strength Training Program for Seniors Youll Ever Need to Restore Your Strength, Energy and Stamina

The New You

The Only Strength Training for Seniors Program Youll Ever Need

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Introduction

Why would you want to be strong during your senior years? T hat is an interesting question, and the answer is largely subjective. Only you can answer as to what a stronger physiqu e means for yourself. Strength means different things to different people, especially after you hit the big four zero mark in your life. The reasons to start strength training later in life can vary from the simple desire to have a better-looking body to improving physical flexibility, reducing the risk of disease and injury, and bringing a sense of order and discipline to day-to-day life. All these reasons are important and valid.

Being healthy and happy is at the heart of strength training, giving you peace of mind and better self-esteem along the way. It adds muscle, reduces fat, and elevates your metabolic rate that usually goes down with age. It also reduces stress and anxieties. There is something about physical exercises and exertion that acts as a release outlet to the pressure of daily life. The discipline that comes with maintaining a regular strength training program tends to seep into other areas of life and improve productivity, and the quality of life in general. Moreover, getting into strength training can be an amazing confidence builder, helping you step outside of your comfort zone and seize the day as it is meant to be.

Improving your overall health is a major benefit of strength training, whether you are lifting weights using your body weight for your exercises. Each year after the age of 35, you tend to lose a certain amount of bone mass and can be susceptible to brittle bones that bring many potential risks such as fractures and getting a hunched over posture as you age. Strength training can drastically slow the rate of bone loss that comes with age. When you lose excess weight with aerobic exercises such as walking or cycling, you tend to lose your muscle along with the fat that can lead to a drop in your metabolism as well. Strength training focuses on building muscles, which helps maintain and even boost your metabolism, helping you stay toned and healthy at the same time. The weight loss component that comes with strength training helps keep your LDL cholesterol levels low, hence reducing your risk of cardiovascular diseases which are common among the over forty age group.

There are many pursuits in life that you can do haphazardly and still expect good results. Strength training is not one of them. It requires discipline, and a commitment to see things through to the end. When you work with weights, either you lift that dumbbell, or you do not. There is no halfway. What is important, however, is that you start small and work your way towards your best potential. Strength training is a marathon, not a sprint. Once you are in it, you are in it for the long haul. The good thing is when you experience the exhilaration that comes with proper strength training, you will likely not look back.

Let us guide you through the journey of strength training during your senior years, step by step. In the pages ahead, you will see detailed instructions for your strength training, starting from stretching, introductory exercises, beginners exercises, and finally advanced exercises with higher training intensities that will help push your limits and help you discover realms in your mind and the body that you had not explored before. You will also see plenty of safety tips and suggestions to make this journey safe and fun for you.

The human body has several major muscle groups that are targeted during strength training. Being familiar with these muscle groups will help you properly follow the exercise mentioned in this book, and later formulate your own training program.

- Chest (Pectoral muscles)

- Back (Latissimus Dori/trapezius muscles)

- Shoulders (Deltoid muscles)

- Arms (Biceps/Triceps)

- Legs and Calves (Quadriceps, hamstrings, gastrocnemius)

- Core (Abdominal muscles)

There are also smaller and muscle groups that further help you break down your strength training process, especially if you are planning to tone your body to become more aesthetically pleasing. These smaller muscle groups include your glutes (muscles in your hips and butt area), delts (muscles that form the rounded corner of your shoulder), and obliques (muscles located on each side of your abdominal muscles). Your workout cycles should be planned in a way that each of these muscle groups is targeted, in order for you to get the best out of your strength training.

Here are few basic strength training terms that you will see continuously in the book and their meanings:

- Rep: A repetitionone completion of a certain exercise. (One squat, one lunge, one arm curl)

- Set : A number of repetitions before you rest. (8-12 reps of squats = 1 set)

- Rest interval: The time in between sets to rest your body.

- Intensity : The resistance or how hard your body is working during the workout.

- Program : The structure of your strength training. This includes a strategic sequence of exercises that will help you reach your desired goal.

- Cycle : How strength training programs are segmented.

Without further ado, lets start!

Chapter 1: Diet for Strength Training

Healthy aging is a lifelong guide to your physical and spiritual wellbeing. - Andrew Well

As we age, the metabolic process in our body naturally slows down. Metabolism is a complex process of biochemical reactions that turn the food we eat into energy, so we can stay active and healthy. Slow metabolic processes mean that o ur body is unable to efficiently metabolize nutrients from the food we eat. As a result, we tend to lose our muscle mass and it is relatively harder to gain muscle as we get older. Therefore, when you are strength training as a senior, it is important to consume food and drinks that help with your metabolism and overall health, while avoiding food that can accelerate the aging process of the body.

What to Eat and Drink to Help With Strength Training

By the time you are a senior, you are hopefully aware of the way your body responds to food. You know your likes and dislikes, your bodys natural hunger cues and you have a general idea about how your body metabolizes what you eat. Changing your diet when you start strength training as a senior,it is less about piling your plate with a bunch of high protein food, and more about adding a variety of food that helps you build lean muscle, with a good understanding of their nutrient profile. Apart from lean proteins, you need a healthy mix of calcium, iron, vitamin c, vitamin B12, vitamin d, and more on your plate to give you the energy to persist with strength training, build muscle, and burn unnecessary fat along the way.