Midlife Exercising Builds a Stronger You

Your knees may creak and your back may ache, but you still want to exercise. You know it’s good for your health, but your body just doesn’t respond the way it used to.

But exercising after you hit the big 5-0 is even more important than you might think. Regular exercise boosts your energy and can even reverse some signs of aging. It’s good for your mood, mind and memory.

Regular exercise also helps reduce heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer, high blood pressure and obesity. For those over 50, it also increases mobility, flexibility and balance.

With regular exercise benefitting basically every aspect of your health, there are special considerations if you can claim you’re a member of the baby boom generation. All you need to do is opt out of the extremes and exercise in a smarter way. And have fun doing it.

Here are 10 forms of exercise perfect for those who were born before the Beatles came to the USA.

Yoga – Yoga increases flexibility, balance, strength and mindfulness. With its postures and poses ranging from gentle to intense, you have better control over your workout. To get a more in-depth look, read our previous article featuring yoga.

Stretching – While stretching is important before any exercise, it’s a valuable activity on its own. Stretching can help relieve back pain, while boosting energy, and promoting flexibility and overall health.

Biking – Whether you’re taking in a scenic view outdoors or riding a stationery bike, biking is an all-around beneficial workout. Biking is a great low-impact cardiovascular exercise that also helps maintain muscle mass and bone strength.

Walking – Just going for a simple walk has a load of benefits. It elevates mood and builds a stronger heart. Simple ways to walk more – park farther away from your destination or stroll around the mall. For more reasons why walking is good, read our recent article featuring walking.

Pilates – This is another great low-impact, strength-building exercise that’s perfect for those in their middle years. Although similar to yoga, pilates focuses on the core muscles of the abdomen and lower back. Here’s a link to our recent article about the benefits of pilates.

Tennis – The all-around classic sport is not only fun, it’s great for your body and your mind. It helps keep you agile and alert while you quickly respond to the position of the tennis ball. It’s enjoyable to play indoors or out, on teams or with a friend.

Swimming – Swimming boasts countless benefits – from being low impact, to boosting your mood, to offering a great cardio workout. Water’s natural buoyancy allows you to target every major muscle group – back, shoulders, abdominals, legs, hips and glutes. Discover more benefits of swimming by reading our recent article.

Dance – Hard to believe that something so fun can actually be considered a workout. No matter if you like country or disco, salsa or hip hop, dancing is an enjoyable exercise that offers great aerobic benefits, along with elevating your mood.

Elliptical – Although it’s similar to running, an elliptical machine is a wonderful cross-training exercise that’s much lower impact than a treadmill. Most gyms have rows of them or consider investing in your own to use at home.

Strength Training – This is one of the most versatile ways to stay in shape. You can either use small free weights or barbells to perform a variety of lifts. Plus, small weights that can either be held or worn during any of these other activities helps build even stronger muscles.

No matter what you like doing to stay in shape, remember that any type of low-impact exercise that you enjoy will keep you staying healthy and happy for many years to come.

Source

http://www.helpguide.org/life/senior_fitness_sports.htm

A Massage is More Than a Luxury

If you’ve ever had a massage, you know how glorious it feels to have your aches and pains rubbed away by a massage therapist. That hauntingly mysterious music softly fills the room and lulls you into a cocoon where your physical and emotional problems just seem to melt away.

Besides the wonderful sensations that whisk your cares away like you’re floating on a cloud, massage has countless physical and emotional benefits you might not even realize.

Here are 10 advantages of massage that you might not be aware of:

• Increases flexibility and mobility
• Increases joint range of motion
• Removes toxins
• Removes metabolic waste
• Assists delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the cells
• Stretches and broadens muscles
• Relieves muscle spasms, cramps and pain
• Reduces stress and anxiety associated with respiratory problems
• Increases T cytotoxic cells, which decrease anxiety and increase relaxation
• Increases blood flow to the skin, which improves its health and condition

And the person performing all of these wonderful feats isn’t just haphazardly rubbing your shoulders and plastering you with exotic oils. Massage therapists go through stringent anatomical training and testing to understand all of the muscles, bones and nerves of the body and how they are connected as a whole system.

Professional programs can take up to two years of rigorous education supervised by seasoned professionals. After being certified as a massage therapist, many continue on to specialize in one particular technique or even receive advanced certification as a holistic health practitioner.

And it’s not just one style – or ‘technique’ as massage therapists call it ­– that’s right for every physical or emotional need. They also might be integrating several techniques to fit your personal situation or to help you with something you’re going through.

Here are 5 techniques that a massage therapist may be using in your time together:

Circulatory Massage – more commonly called Swedish Massage, this is a therapeutic form of bodywork that addresses the whole body using a series of hand and finger strokes with oil to reduce friction.

Deep Tissue Sculpting – a form of deep tissue massage characterized by firm, constant compressions and strokes applied parallel to the muscle fibers.

Sensory Repatterning – explores the natural rhythm and graceful motion that is inherent in every living being.

Thai Massage – involves deep pressing and stretching techniques that facilitate the smooth and constant flow of bioenergy throughout the body and mind, and has specific effects on the muscles and the structure of the body.

Neuromuscular Therapy – a science of understanding the mechanisms of soft tissue pain and the art of relieving that pain to regain balanced functioning by using trigger points and cross-fiber techniques.

Now that you understand what’s happening to you while a massage therapist performs their magic, book an appointment to cleanse away the holiday stress and start off 2014 feeling fresh and revived.

Sources

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/massage/SA00082

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/08/massage-benefits-health_n_1261178.html

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/top-ten-massage-techniques.html

Working Out With Pilates

Originally called ‘contrology’ by German founder Joseph Pilates, this so-called ‘trendy’ exercise of twisting and balancing has actually been around for nearly 100 years. To stay in shape, Pilates had modified his gymnastics training to a small mat while held in an interment camp in England during WWI.

His unfortunate time of detainment turned into a positive as he helped others there maintain their strength and positive attitude. His methods inspired people to stay in shape then, and nearly a century later, they still do.

Pilates is a little bit like yoga, but concentrates more on building your core muscles – abdomen, obliques, lower back, ‘glutes’ and thighs. Besides building strength, Pilates also helps develop flexibility, endurance, coordination and balance.

Sounds like it’s an all around awesome exercise. In fact, it is.

One of the greatest things about Pilates – each move engages your entire body. And each move has a dual purpose, as well. While strengthening one muscle, you are always stretching an opposing one.

And with its many levels, once you think you’ve mastered a particular Pilates move, there’s always a more difficult way to do it. So you never get bored.

Here are 5 benefits of doing Pilates:

Long & lean muscles – You don’t have to hoist heavy weights and bulk up to be strong. Pilates moves actually accentuate the length of your muscles, making bulky biceps look long and lean.

Better posture – With Pilates, you can bet your posture will improve. Centering on muscles that build a strong core, you will look more statuesque when you stand and even sit.

Stronger back – By strengthening abdominals and glutes, you’ll also be building a stronger back. Besides strength, you’ll also be stretching tight back muscles and learning to properly align your spine – alleviating back pain.

Awesome abs – Pilates is a wonderful way to have a flatter stomach. With the basic concept of pulling your navel to your spine, your abs will be tighter when standing and walking.

Flexibility – With a combination of stretching and strengthening your muscles, Pilates helps increase your range of motion and flexibility. By learning how to carefully stretch and build muscles, you will discover your movements are more controlled and fluid.

One of the most important things to remember about Pilates is that in any class there are people of all levels. You never have to feel intimidated that as a beginner or novice, others in the class will stare at you and wonder why you’re there.

Pilates is not a competition to see who can perform the best. It’s about working at your own pace and getting your own best personal results. Look into where you can take a Pilates class and book one as a New Year’s resolution. Your body will thank you.

Sources

http://pilates.about.com/od/pilatesmat/ss/Plank.htm

http://pilates.about.com/od/pilatesexercises/tp/First-10-Classic-Exercises.htm