Bodybuilding delays premature aging; understand how

In addition to muscle mass, the bodybuilding routine helps strengthen ligaments, tendons and joints, ensuring healthy aging.

Making bodybuilding a routine, especially after the age of 30, is very important to ensure healthy ageing. A new study by researchers at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark has shown that older people who lift weights are able to slow down the natural process of wasting muscle mass, which leads to pain and discomfort.

For personal trainer Caio Signoretti, a bodybuilding specialist, hypertrophy has the power to delay the loss not only of lean mass, but also of bone mass, a process that occurs naturally in old age.

“From the age of 30, our body begins to lose more or less 0.5% of lean mass per year. This percentage can reach up to 2% per year from the age of 60, when bone loss also occurs”, explains the expert. Given this scenario, bodybuilding becomes essential to ensure healthy aging.

Most suitable exercises

However, Signoretti argues that it is not just any physical activity that guarantees a better quality of life in old age, but the hypertrophy. “People don’t lose muscle mass because they’re getting old, but they do age because they’re losing muscle mass. And it’s not just any exercise that will stop this process,” warns the specialist.

A walk, for example, does not favor health in terms of delaying aging because it does not generate major muscular adaptations. “For this reason, the ideal is to train the weights with intensity, until the muscles give way, that is, up to the maximum that the student tolerates. This is because the elderly feel a lot of pain in their knees, spine and begin to have inflammation in the joints precisely because they have muscles strong enough to armor these limbs”, he clarifies.

Therefore, a muscle-strengthening routine is essential for maintaining the health of the elderly. Caio states that there are some exercises that are essential for this purpose. “I like to say that all of us, not just the elderly, need basic exercises, which I call EPA: push, pull and squat“, comments.

For the “push”, Caio indicates the flat bench, shoulder development or arm flexion as options, which have the same muscle activation. Traction exercises, both vertically and horizontally, are activities that work all the spinal and dorsal stabilizers, i.e. the muscles responsible for posture.

Finally there are the search exercises, also fundamental in our daily life, such as sitting on a chair, bending down to pick up an object on the floor.

How to make bodybuilding more effective

However, for the result to be effective, the practitioner must always be aware of certain points during training. The first, according to the personal trainer, is that this weight training must always exceed the previous training’s ability to promote results. Also, it needs to be varied.

“It is useless to always do the same exercises, always with the same load and the same sequence. To prevent your body from stagnating, it is necessary to stimulate it, at least every month, in a different way. This can be done, for example, “by increasing the load, the quantity and even the order of these exercises. All these are necessary attitudes to take the body out of the comfort zone”, underlines the professional.

Another noteworthy point is that there are no restrictions for the elderly of the 3rd age to practice bodybuilding. This is because it is not related to the age group, but to the pathological factor. “If the elderly person is healthy, he has no constraints and can do the same exercises as a young person. The beauty is that, over the years, sedentary elderly people, above all, end up developing pathologies, and if there are any, some kind of limitation , it is necessary that the training is adapted. For example, if the elderly have inflammation of the patella, they must avoid impacts, such as jumping and running”, clarifies the specialist.

Caio also explains that there are different types of physical exercises, but those that really promote improvements in health and in the aesthetic result are the strength training. “That is, exercises that are done repeatedly, with intensity, and preferably accompanied by a professional, who will plan all the training with the adaptations and modifications necessary to stimulate the body,” she concludes.

Source: Terra

Ben

Ben Stock is a lifestyle journalist and author at Gossipify. He writes about topics such as health, wellness, travel, food and home decor. He provides practical advice and inspiration to improve well-being, keeps readers up to date with latest lifestyle news and trends, known for his engaging writing style, in-depth analysis and unique perspectives.