Staying Young

I love this story. Five years ago, a Wall Street Journal staffer did something way out of her comfort zone. Anne Marie Chaker, age 45, two years after picking up her first barbell, competed in a women’s bodybuilding contest. There she stood, onstage in a hotel ballroom, in four-inch heels and wearing a rhinestone bikini, which she described as, “small enough to fit into a zip-lock bag.”

Some six years after a series of personal misfortunes, the mother of two got into bodybuilding after a chance meeting with a woman bodybuilder at a hotel gym. And Ms. Chaker herself decided to give it a try. As the weeks went by, she loved seeing what was happening to her body. Bodybuilding was transforming her, giving her confidence, and teaching her to value strength over skinniness. Getting ready for the competition, she began performing nearly two-hour daily weight-based workouts with exercises she had long associated with football players. Squats, dead lifts, bench presses.

She wrote about her odyssey in the Wall Street Journal, and the reader responses poured in.

Are barbells truly the fountain of youth? To a large degree, yes, they are. And when I say “barbells” I am of course including dumbbells, kettlebells and resistance bands. In other words, resistance work by any means.

We are all going to age, get old. We know that. But training with weights can forestall many of aging’s gradual debilitations. Resistance work allows us to retain, or even reclaim, many assets of youth.

Inactive men and women over age 30 slowly lose muscle tissue every year. At about age 50 this loss of muscle (and strength and endurance) starts happening faster. And after age 65, it accelerates even more. Scientists call it “sarcopenia.” It is from the Greek, meaning “poverty of flesh.” It is what we see in frail, elderly people who are bent over from a combination of osteoporosis and sarcopenia, the wasting away of muscle tissue.

The miracle of weight training is that it slows muscle tissue loss associated with aging. In fact, it is even possible to regain muscle that has been lost. Cardiovascular training and stretching certainly have their place in a balanced fitness plan. But it is progressive resistance exercise that builds muscle, allowing us to stay young, active and independent for as long as possible. Nothing else comes close to being as effective.

Three cheers for Anne Marie Chaker!

Stay healthy. Stay fit.

Logan

Senior Exercise Central

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Sincerely,

Logan Franklin
The Gray Iron Fitness Newsletter
www.senior-exercise-central.com