Doing proper sport “Quality of life for free?”
Most people share these desires:
- Eat whatever you want and not gain an ounce.
- Sparkle with creativity, burst with vitality, be balanced and have more time than ever before.
- Perfect health.
And you don’t have to do that much: just 20 minutes of exercise 3 times a week is a very good start.
Strength training generally prevents a negative balance in bone structure, which becomes more and more important with increasing age, especially with regard to the prevention of bone fractures.
Note that endurance sports in the anaerobic area (with entering into an oxygen debt) are rather unfavorable, as oxygen radicals are produced and released. Therefore, you should exercise aerobically in the previously determined heart rate range.
| Health Parameters | Normal persons (trained) | Normal persons (untrained) |
|---|---|---|
| Resting heart rate (beats / min.) | 40-60 | 60-80 |
| Blood pressure (mmHg) | 120/65 | 135/78 |
| Vital capacity (l) | 6.2 | 5.8 |
| Blood volume (in men) | 6.0 – 7.4 | 4.7-5.6 |
| Muscle capillary density (mm2) | 300-500 | 200-300 |
Avoid extremes
As in many other areas, when it comes to physical activity, extremes should be avoided. Extreme sporting activity, the ambitious pursuit of top sporting performance, is just as unsuitable as a men’s health program as is motionless physical activity, e.g. B. in front of the TV.
Any sports program that is well designed will have positive effects in terms of conditioning and coordination skills after just two to three months .
To avoid risks from overload:
- Do not hesitate, because the sooner you support your body through physical activity, the longer you can benefit from it.
- Only increase your training volume slowly, as the body’s ability to adapt to new, higher conditions is only gradually established. You can see recommendations for moderate exercise in the table below.
| frequency | 3 – 5 times a week |
| distribution | 60% endurance training, 30% strength training, 10% gymnastics (flexibility training) |
| intensity | 60 – 80% of the maximum heart rate |
| Duration | 20 – 60 minutes |
Training for the whole body
A proper health and fitness program must involve the whole body. If you only focus on one problem area, it cannot work.
Suppose you have weak abdominal muscles and do everything you can to specifically train this region of the body; this quickly creates a disproportion between the abdominal muscles and the other muscles, ie: any one-sided training is inexpedient.
A good fitness program must take into account the internal and external needs of the body equally by combining proper nutrition and a health-conscious lifestyle with workouts that train the heart and lungs as well as muscles, flexibility, and coordination.
Flexibility, coordination, and speed – the 3 pillars of fitness
Those who train in mobility, coordination, and speed give their body the optimal training to stay strong and healthy for a long time.
Mobility: “Stay nice and flexible!”
Many everyday tasks are easier for those who are mobile. Apart from that, you prevent bad posture, which can cause pain in your back, shoulders, and neck. In the case of untrained people, flexibility decreases from the age of 25, and in the case of trained people from the fifth decade of life. The progression of age-related stiffness can be mitigated by regular daily exercise.
There is more to being mobile than sitting on the floor and (maybe) touching your toes with your legs straight. To be flexible means to have a wide range of motion in all joints as well as a high degree of general mobility and to have good posture. If the sport requires an extended range of motion, especially stretch the muscle groups that are being used.
But please, always very gently! – Do not overdo it, because that will definitely not improve mobility. While the muscles lengthen, you should remain completely relaxed in the stretch. Try to reserve 5-10 minutes a day for stretching exercises.
The older you get, the more important it is to maintain your flexibility. Work on it now so that you do not have to regret later that you did not take care of it in time.
Coordination: the key to success
An arbitrary sequence of movements is carried out in the interaction of the central nervous system and skeletal muscles, which is known as coordination.
Up to the age of 20, the quality of coordination improves even for movements that have not been specially trained. The coordination as well as other activities that determine motor skills, e.g. B. the ability to balance, the ability to perceive and react deteriorate with increasing age. At the age of 40, all of the abilities mentioned begin to decline, although the reduction in coordination can be slowed down through targeted training into old age.
Musicians can be cited as convincing examples of this. This professional group can easily cope with even the finest coordination requirements (e.g. playing the piano) through daily training into old age.
Speed: poison for men over 35
A distinction is made between basic speed and speed endurance. Basic speed stands for the maximum achievable speed within a movement sequence. Speed endurance is the submaximal exertion that can be sustained over a period of time. Both types of speed have in common the mainly anaerobic (without oxygen) energy delivery. This fact causes high lactic acid production and a relatively high load on the cardiovascular system.
Taking into account the increased risk of injury to muscles, tendons, ligaments, joints, and bones in older people, such stresses should be avoided from a medical point of view for men aged 35 and over who have not had long experience with this form of stress.