The reason most people go to the doctor is to find relief for a symptom. Most times the doctor will only give you what you need for that symptom. Going to the gym has the potential to fix most of the problems that you are experiencing. Exercising is the most natural, sustainable, efficient, and longest lasting medicine with no side effects.

I do respect doctors and you should go to them

I may talk quite a bit of smack about doctors but I do respect them and their opinions. They do possess far more knowledge and have been through the trenches compared to me. They are helpful in diagnosing an issue and pointing you in the right direction in terms of medications to solve your problem.

Your doctor is your most valuable resource to see exactly how healthy you are. You should have regular physicals and blood tests, because these are the most important numbers to judge your health. Getting that firm sexy body that you want can be a plus, but your blood work really tells you how healthy you are.

Tests like this can help you reach your goals faster too! Sometimes we have an underlying condition that is causing us to react differently than we should. If we have a condition that is preventing us from consuming certain foods or just not digesting properly then you will run into some issues. If you don’t have issues then your progress may be just a little slower than normal.

Where I think doctors fall short

Doctors fall short with the experience of working with the general population to lose weight by exercising and dieting. Everyone knows that eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly is good for them and they should do this regularly. However, there are so many questions around dieting and exercise that no one knows how to start.

Can you define a healthy diet?

Can you describe what exercises you should be doing?

With so much conflicting information on the internet now it is impossible to determine the right path for yourself. Not to mention, you have habits that have been cemented into you around diet that will be difficult to break. Creating that behavior change is a difficult process and takes a nutrition coach to really recognize those patterns and help you create those wins.

This is how you create sustainable change that can heavily impact your health. Medications will offer short term relief, and after prolonged use they will require you to increase the dosage over time. Sometimes there are also side effects that force you to take more medications to deal with those side effects. It becomes a vicious cycle.

I think that all doctors should have a background in personal training, nutrition, and behavior change. This way they can at least make some recommendations in terms of bettering someone’s health. If they don’t desire to do anything of the sort then they should have professionals in the field that they can refer them to. This way there can be real lasting change and the patient can live a more normal life.

How exercise shines

Exercise is going to be your all natural medication without any side effects. Exercise will promote a healthier weight which takes an enormous amount of stress off the body. Studies will show that being a healthier weight drastically lowers your chances of diseases. This includes issues like heart disease, strokes, diabetes, and many other problems. Instead of being chained by medications you can put in the some work now that will decrease your time waiting in your doctors lobby.

Cardio

Cardiovascular exercise will promote a stronger heart, lungs, and circulatory system. You can only imagine what this does for your health, especially if you are at risk for heart disease. A stronger heart and circulatory system you will have better nutrient delivery throughout your body. The only way for some things like hormones to travel throughout your body is through your arteries and capillaries. So if your circulation is good your body will recover faster and more efficiently.

Cardio doesn’t have to be intense running. If you can start with 10-30 minutes 2-5 days a week of walking you stepping your way to better health. (sorry for the corny pun)

Resistance

Resistance training will manually pump those vessels to create more blood flow as well. However, resistance training will strengthen your joints and this means every joint in your spine as well. A stronger body will keep your body aligned and allow you to move more efficiently and pain free. If you keep strength in your body, especially in your end range of motion, then you won’t have to rely on pain medication just to get your through the day.

This doesn’t have to be intense either. One to three sets that work the major muscle groups is enough to get your started.

Exercise will have the longest effect

If you consider small doses of exercise like your prescription then you will have much longer effects. Some meds have to be taken multiple times a day up to once a week. Let’s be honest, if you worked out twice a day you would most likely be in phenomenal shape and your chances of requiring meds would be slim. Even if you worked out once a week you would still make progress. Become healthier with movement not meds.

Think about exercise like a prescription

Let’s dive a little deeper into how to implement exercise into your daily life. I’m sure you have been very diligent about your medications, am I right? You have stayed diligent with the time of day, how many times a day, with or without food, and whatever other crazy parameters you have to follow. If you consider exercise like your medication then this can be an easier process.

Start with a schedule

What days of the week are preferable for you to exercise? As human beings we work better on a routine. Find some days and times that are best for you to workout. For resistance training it is preferable for you to do twice a week. So maybe 10am on Tuesday and Thursday is best for you. Maybe afternoons work better for you because you aren’t an early riser. The point is to find a schedule that allows you to be the most consistent.

Find the “prescription” that works best for you. Here are some samples in order from most difficult to least.

1. Resistance training 2X per week and cardio 3X
2. Resistance training once and cardio 3X
3. 4 days of cardio 30-60min
4. 5-7 days of walking 10-30 minutes

If one doesn’t work that is ok. Reevaluate and try again. Don’t force something just because you heard that it’s the best. You can never fit a square block into a circle hole.

Don’t depend on the doctor to determine your health

There is no magic pill and even diet and exercise has its limitations. However, actively pursuing a healthy lifestyle will give you the greatest chance of warding off lots of illnesses. You can’t depend on a pill or shot to constantly save you, this is only putting a band aid on the problem. You are in control of yourself so you have to do the things that make you feel better. Yes, it is hard work and there will be a lot of times that you don’t want to do it. But, if you get started now I promise that yourself 10 years from now will thank you.

The post Stop Going to Your Doctor and Start Exercising appeared first on The Super Senior.

Protein is the building blocks of your body. When your body goes through the stress of exercise protein is there to rebuild your muscles and make them stronger. It’s unfortunate that protein has been categorized as the nutrient you need if you are going into body building or power lifting. These competitors do need to consume vastly more protein than the average individual, but even older adults that are 60+ should put more focus on consuming more protein. Someone that is active with any sort of training should consume close to their body weight in grams of protein. Protein also makes you feel full and helps you to stay feeling full. In other words, your meals will likely be smaller and you will be less likely to snack before your next meal. We’re going to learn what we can about protein so that we can easily work it into our regular meals.

Benefits for weight loss

Carbohydrates have been demonized as the weight gain macronutrient. When someone says they want to lose weight most people suggest stop eating carbs. But what about everything else? Fortunately increasing your protein will likely decrease the amount of carbs you’re eating. I’m not promoting the Atkins diet, but consuming more protein will most likely help with losing weight.

I already mentioned the satiety effect that eating more protein has on our bodies. Have you ever tried to eat just a giant steak? It’s tough, and carbs in comparison tend to go down much easier. Also digesting and breaking down the protein into amino acids to be used to rebuild what has been broken down has been shown to take a good amount of energy as well. Meaning, you will be burning some of the Calories that you just took in to break down the protein into pieces that your body can actually use.

Benefits for Strength gains

Have you ever worked out for a long period of time and stopped seeing results? Your weight has stopped dropping and the work outs have felt the same time and time again. You kind of expect those dumbbells to start to feel a little lighter but you are still struggling to finish your sets. Protein is likely one of the solutions to this problem. Without enough protein your body doesn’t have the building blocks to help it adapt to your training.

The human body does an amazing job at adapting. The more physical stress that we put on it the stronger that it becomes. But if we don’t provide it with the right nutrients then it will not develop. Remember our body only wants to survive and it will do what it takes to survive. If you train hard and eat lots of food, then your body understands that food is plentiful and it doesn’t need to worry about calories coming in. If you train hard and don’t eat enough food, then your body thinks that food is scarce and it won’t build stronger muscles. Stronger bigger muscles take more calories to maintain so your body will naturally avoid creating a deficit that isn’t needed.

Have you ever finished a workout and you haven’t fully recovered from that workout until days later? Everyone gets a little of the muscle soreness especially after your very first day of strength training. However, I’m talking more about how you feel a little lethargic, maybe some slight muscles soreness, and maybe you jumped into another workout just a little too early and you’re quickly fatigued. Everyone recovers at different rates, but a little more protein can help with recovery. Your body needs a minimal amount just to survive and fix what needs to be fixed. But, your body is going to need a little extra protein in order to build more muscle and maintain it too. With a faster recovery you will be able to hit the “get back to training” feeling the same or better than before.

So how do you get more protein?

Honestly, figuring out how to get more protein into your diet is slightly difficult at first. To start, understand how much protein you are already consuming. To do this I suggest tracking your food intake for just a few days. There are some great user-friendly apps out there like Myfitnesspal that allow you to input all this data with ease. These apps may seem overwhelming at first, but once you get the hang of it everything becomes much easier.

If you have a scale I would recommend weighing some of the food just to get started. Once you understand how much one chicken thigh weighs or your normal steak then you can start to estimate your weights from there. But you need to first gain and understanding of how much protein you are already consuming. This will allow you to see where the holes are in your diet, and where you can possibly squeeze in a little more protein. Feel free to weigh the other components of your meal as well just to see how many carbs and fats you are consuming as well.

Dosage

So how much protein should you eat? The number that I’ve seen float around is 50 grams. If you are purely sedentary, or just have an extremely difficult time getting any sort of activity in then yes that number may work. However, for the individual that is active and especially doing any sort of resistance exercises then this is wrong. The studies have shown that consuming close to your body weight in grams per pound is the optimal consumption for muscle growth.

The recommended intake of 50 g is extremely low for many people and doesn’t take into account the person’s weight or training protocol they are doing. I would recommend that you take a look at how you train and evaluate how much protein you need to consume. If majority of your workout consists of walking or cardio type exercise then you don’t need to consume as much protein. If you are doing a good amount of resistance exercise or strength training then I would recommend that you consume closer to your body weight in grams of protein. If you are overweight then I wouldn’t recommend that you consume 400 grams of protein, but I would still aim for something above 100 grams. Check out the chart I made at the end of this article for a breakdown of the protein content of different foods.

The best way for you to consume your protein is through whole minimally processed foods. In other words you typically want to consume your meats at home as opposed to eating out. If you are vegan then diligently consuming your beans, legumes, and other plant based protein sources. The plant-based meats like Beyond Meat can be ok but keep in mind that it is a processed food. Just because it is vegan doesn’t mean that it is healthy. Processed vegan food is still unhealthy.

I understand that sometimes eating this much protein can be a chore. When you actually see and try to eat that much food it can be overwhelming. This is where supplements can come into play. I only recommend supplements when you can’t get your nutrients through food. A protein shake is a great way to help you reach your targeted protein goal. Trust me these shakes have come a long way and some of them are freaking delicious! There are vegan or plant-based protein shakes as well out there, and I would highly recommend a protein shake for vegans. You can get enough protein from natural sources, but the digestive distress that comes with consuming foods that are so dense in fiber and nutrients is difficult to deal with.

Go Eat!

I hope I didn’t overwhelm you with information on protein. I understand that this can be a difficult concept for anyone to understand. This can be equally as difficult to incorporate into your daily life. Take it slow and keep it simple. Since protein can help with weight loss and building strength the addition of protein is likely aligned with your goals. Don’t forget that this is something I would recommend for you seniors to do. As soon as you are able to master this concept it will have massive benefits for your health. Don’t get discouraged if you can’t hit your protein goal in the first week. Keep trying, and even a little more protein can take you a long way. Once you start to feel the difference you won’t be able to stop.

The post How More Protein Can Have Huge Benefits for Seniors appeared first on The Super Senior.

Don’t get me wrong, our bodies need some sort of stress in order to adapt. However, too much at one time and too frequently then our bodies will compensate by inhibiting other processes to survive. Doing too much at once is something you need to watch for especially as an active older adult. So what can we possibly be doing that is setting you back? There are a few crucial variables that are inhibiting your progress. Your sleep/recovery, diet, overtraining, and programming are likely the culprits to why you are stuck in a plateau.

Sleep/recovery

The body can typically take the stress that we place upon it, but it needs time to recover. If you aren’t getting good sleep, or enough, then your body doesn’t have the chance to rebuild and become stronger. Sleep will be most of your recovery from the last workout which means a lot of the inflammation will be worked out of your body as well. Now if you are retired then you may be thinking that there’s no way that you aren’t getting enough sleep. Don’t forget that you might not be getting good quality sleep too. Going to sleep, and staying asleep, can be a difficult process if you don’t approach it correctly.

Sleep is easily the most important factor to pay attention to. I have run into too many people that say they workout 1-3 hours every day. More is not always better. You cannot exercise your hardest every single day. It is not sustainable and your body is going to struggle to figure out how to change itself to survive all this stress. You can’t sit there and do absolutely nothing either.

Active recovery days are highly recommended, especially if you are the type to HAVE to do something every day. These are the days that you take it easy and you focus on other aspects of your health instead of just training as hard as you can. Some examples are light cardio, stretching, meditation, yoga, and mobility. Spending a day to help recover your body will also help to prep it for the next workout, therefore letting you hit the weights in a more optimal state.

How can you improve your ability to sleep? Start with trying to go to sleep about the same time every day. Your body will naturally adjust and get used to the timing of when it is time to start winding down for bed. This will naturally help your circadian rhythm which is our body’s natural response to waking up when the sun comes up, and going to sleep when the sun goes down. Don’t worry about the time you sleep, just ensure that you stay consistent. Lowering artificial light exposure will also help with your circadian rhythm. Inside lights and screens can tell your body that it is still daytime and to stay awake, so limiting this exposure close to bedtime will help your body wind down. Finally, have a good hygiene routine to get started for bed. The action of getting cleaned up alone will tell your body it is time to sleep, but feeling clean and comfortable will also help to fall asleep and stay asleep.

Diet

Diet is probably one of the most misunderstood aspects of your fitness. I most recently helped a lady in her 60’s to figure out how she picked up so much weight and why it won’t come off. Her diet consisted of a smoothie for breakfast and one meal for dinner. Her meal was a tiny piece of steak, a quarter of a sweet potato, and some broccoli. She also claimed that she exercised about 3 hours every day. She didn’t believe me when I said she is eating far too little for how active she is. She started eating a little more every day and she started to lose weight. Amazing how you can lose weight by eating more food!

Protein is the main thing that I told her that she needs to increase. I could go on and on about the benefits of eating protein (it will probably get its own article) but let us stick to the basics. Your muscles need that protein in order to repair and grow. Without consuming enough protein your body won’t have what it needs to repair the damage from a workout, which means it will take longer to recover.

Most people vastly under-consume protein. I suggest taking the time to track your meals for a little while to get a good grasp of how much you’re actually consuming. If you are strength training and are really trying to make some gains then you should be aiming for about 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. This is how you make strength gains and possibly lose body fat as well (depending on your training age). If eating more is difficult for you then try protein shakes between meals. For the record, there are vegan options for shakes as well.

Overtraining

I already mentioned earlier that more is not always better. A lot of people expect that the more they workout the faster progress they will make. Sorry to say that there is a point where the more you do actually stops your progress and will even reverse it. Overtraining is a real concept and can do a great deal of damage to your body.

How do you know if you are in a state of overtraining? The most noticeable aspects of overtraining are disrupted sleep (we’ve come full circle haven’t we), feeling weak, and lethargic. There are other less noticeable symptoms such as brittle bones. Remember that your body wants to survive so it will do what it takes in order to survive. So we need to listen to our bodies sometimes in order to understand exactly what it needs. If you are feeling weak and lethargic it probably needs the rest and recovery.

What can you do to determine whether or not you have been overtraining? Take a week off. If you feel a need to work out go outside and go for a nice brisk walk. After a week of relaxation and doing anything that you want that brings you happiness come back to your training and pay attention to how you feel. Does your workout feel easier? Can you suddenly push more weight easier than before? There’s a good chance that you were in a state of overtraining. This leads us into my last point.

Programming

Proper programming can play a big role in how your body adapts to the exercise. Too much can overwhelm your body, and too little will mean your body doesn’t adapt at all. The bigger thing you need to really hone in on is your priorities and goals. The workout program that you follow to become an Olympic body builder, and the one you follow to have a functional body are completely different. Take a good look at your goals and what exactly you want out of the workout to determine what you need to do. There’s a solid chance that you don’t have to push yourself nearly as hard as you might think.

For example, a workout program that makes you considerably healthier, gives you longevity, and allows you to play with grandkids without getting too tired would consist of equal parts of cardio and strength. Your cardio would range anywhere from a brisk walk to light runs. Your strength training would be a basic squat, bridge, push up, and row in order to hit each muscle of the body. Adding a little resistance to this exercises makes them even more functional. You don’t need to squat 300 lbs.6, a thousand burpees, or do some sprint training on a max inclined treadmill in order to be functional. A free standing full depth squat with a 45lb bar would likely make a very functional body. The person that can do this squat for 10 reps for 3 sets, and has done this for a decade would be exceptionally strong.  You would have an incredibly functional body compared to the person that hasn’t touched a weight.

It’s all connected

You see how bad programming, can cause overtraining, which can disrupt your ability to sleep. Overtraining can cause lethargy which will likely lower your motivation to workout. Your diet can mean that you don’t recover well from workouts, which means that forcing yourself will likely lead to overtraining. Everything comes full circle which means these are all things you need to watch out for to keep your training progressing. So how do you help correct all these variables?

Take the one thing you feel that you can do the most easily and make a healthy change there. Work on only one aspect at a time. Everything at once is always too much for anyone to handle. So find that one change in your journey for a healthy lifestyle and make that small adjustment. Throw a little more protein into your meals, take a protein shake between meals, change your workout, or maybe perfect your hygiene routine before bed. Any baby step will lead to more baby steps, and before you know it you will be running.

The post Avoid the Frustrations of Plateaus and Keep Progressing appeared first on The Super Senior.

Better posture to alleviate your pain

I am not a doctor nor do I have x-ray vision, but a lot of times our chronic pain comes from weak muscles and muscle imbalances. Without muscles our body wouldn’t be able to move, we would simply be a skeleton that lays on the ground doing nothing. We often forget that the muscles are involved with the simplest tasks such as standing or sitting on the ground. Many of our muscles are used just to stabilize our bodies and keep us sitting with no support or standing with good posture. So if our back muscles become too weak from sitting or lying down then we won’t be able to maintain these positions with good posture. The cliche saying “if you don’t use it you lose it” is definitely applicable to muscles. If you have ever been in a cast after a broken arm you can easily see the difference in muscle size to the arm that wasn’t in a cast.

Posture is a big term that gets thrown around quite often. As you have probably seen, our muscles play a major role in how we maintain our posture. The combination of weak muscles and imbalanced muscles can lead to our bones and joints getting pulled into inefficient positions. For example, someone that has a very strong chest and weak back muscles can lead to a posture deviation called “forward shoulder”. Forward shoulder can lead to all other types of problems such as, shoulder impingement, decreased shoulder mobility, and shoulder instability. This is all because the strong chest muscles are pulling the shoulder into a sub-optimal position. You can feel this with a simple test. Hunch your shoulders forward, keep your arm straight and try to raise it up as high as possible. Now bring yourself into good posture with your shoulders back and down (imagine putting them into your back pocket) and repeat the test. You should feel a difference in your shoulder’s range of motion (ROM).

So developing a balance of strength throughout your entire body will alleviate pain, because your body won’t be compensating for weak muscles by using inefficient movement patterns. Stronger muscles keep your back erect with less effort. They help your joints by creating more stability within the joint. Finally, allowing your body to use the right muscles at the right time allows it to run much more efficiently with less effort. This is guaranteed to help alleviate pain that has no specific source.

Bigger stronger muscles need more energy to maintain

We always hear that in order to lose weight we need to burn more calories and consume less. In the case of losing body fat this is indeed the formula that will lead to a reduction in body fat. However, let’s take a look at this from a different perspective.

Let’s say for example that the amount of calories that your body needs just to stay alive is 2000 calories. This is also called your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). What if we increased your BMR to burn more calories throughout the day? Resistance training does not only make you much stronger, but it also increases your metabolism. This makes losing body fat a much easier process, and makes maintaining your physic so much easier. Stay with me now there may be a little math involved with this concept.

Continuing with the example of the person that has a BMR of 2000 Calories. Let’s say this person is a female that is 150 pounds and about 30% body fat and has an initial goal of losing 30 pounds. After 6 solid months of resistance training she has gotten significantly stronger. She would have lost possibly 10-15 pounds and 5% in the process, but her lean body mass has increased dramatically. Her new BMR is 2500 Calories. This new higher metabolism makes losing the rest of the weight easier because she can consume 2000 calories and still lose 1 pound of body fat a week instead of consuming 1500. Of course she could stick with the 1500 Calories to drop weight faster, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Doing so for too long would reverse all the work that she put in for the last 6 months. Also when she loses the weight and hits her goal, then the act of maintaining becomes that much easier because she can eat 2500 Calories to keep her weight.

The most obvious reason BE STRONGER!

There is definitely nothing wrong with being stronger. Being stronger just makes EVERYTHING EASIER. Difficult tasks like moving around furniture, gardening, and lots of groceries become so much easier since it all becomes lighter. Everyday tasks become easier too such as cooking, cleaning, and most importantly playing with grandchildren. Sometimes these tasks can take up 50% or more of your strength. So if some of these tasks can take up only 10-20 percent of your strength wouldn’t you have a lot more energy to spare? Studies have shown that the ability to do daily tasks has a direct link to your happiness. There is a great deal of frustration that we feel when we can’t do tasks that we could easily do before. This is due to a loss of independence. When something that used to cause you pain and discomfort becomes effortless you will feel empowered to do more.

You will start to lose strength (atrophy) after 3 days of not using muscles. However, muscles still take much more time to atrophy in comparison to cardiovascular abilities. Cardio is great and should be incorporated as well into your menu of healthy activities. However, cardio takes a long time and can be sooo boring. There have been studies that showed that even the most intense chronic aerobic athletes will lose strength every year they don’t do strength training. So strength will give you the biggest bang for your buck.

Let’s hit the weights!

There are a plethora of benefits when it comes to strength training. Far more than I could possibly list here. It’s even great for other chronic conditions such as diabetes, sarcopenia, and joint afflictions. Your body will thank you as you turn back the clock on your body and feel decades younger again.

YOU’RE NOT TOO OLD!! You absolutely have the ability to lifts weights and build a stronger body. There is no such thing as being too old. You absolutely have the ability to work on your body and build your strength to keep your independence. Feel better with better posture and a bullet proof body (not literally please don’t test this) that can withstand the tests of life. With that being said don’t jump into weights blind. Get with a personal trainer to learn proper technique and lifts that fit your weight training experience.

The post Why Strength Training is the Best Modality for Seniors appeared first on The Super Senior.