In the Media
2007-02-26, The Edmonton Journal
Hold Back Aging's Toll
Chris Zdeb, The Edmonton Journal
Body shows wear and tear by the 50s
EDMONTON - Aches, pains, weight gain, diagnoses of Type 2 diabetes, the end of menopause. You start feeling your age in your 50s and sometimes you may think it's all downhill from here. But it doesn't have to be.
Yes, the body starts showing wear and tear. People who played a lot of contact sports such as football, hockey, even runners have more problem with joints and back this decade, says Dr. Elizabeth Vetsch, a family physician with an interest in sports medicine.
"You're slower and you're not as powerful as you once were and it can all be a little bit frustrating," says Vetsch. "But you can reverse some of the damage or at the very least, lower silent health problems such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, wacky blood sugar to prevent them from causing a heart attack or stroke."
SQUAT WITH TRANSVERSE TRUNK ROTATION: This is a great exercise for strengthening legs, shoulders, back, arms. It also trains deeper core muscles to contract, develops rotational strength and preserves range of motion in the shoulders and improves co-ordination and motor control. Trainer Alexandra Senkow has client Judy Sills start by holding a medicine ball in front of her. As she starts to squat she inhales, bringing the medicine ball to the outside of the lower leg, keeping her back straight. Sills exhales as she pushes up from the squat and rotates her torso while lifting the medicine ball overhead.
- Candace Elliott, The Journal
An active lifestyle and healthy eating are key.
Start slowly and work up, don't jump back into exercises that you could easily do 20 or 30 years ago because you're probably not there physically anymore, Vetsch says. She suggests taking classes designed for fiftysomethings offered by places such as the YMCA. Or touch base with a personal trainer to set up a program appropriate for you that takes into consideration your osteoporosis, chronic back pain or if you've had a heart attack in the past.
"You're more likely to stay with something you can do," Vetsch says, and choose something you like doing.
You don't even have to take a class or go to a gym, just start walking, which can burn a lot of calories, at least more than sitting on the couch will, she says.
Many people in their 50s find that if they retire early and their children have left the nest, they finally have time to focus on their own health and fitness, says Alexandra Senkow, fitness director at Defining Eve personal fitness studios.
However, she notices a difference in the way men and women approach fitness in this decade.
Women, who in most cases were never encouraged to be active in the 1960s when they were growing up, often don't know where or how to start, Senkow says. Men, on the other hand, who were most likely active in their youth, tend to forget their age and start working out or playing sports with the intensity they used to, succumbing to the aches and pain of boomeritis.
With too-busy-to-exercise no longer an excuse for not exercising, some start to use their sore knee or arthritis as a new excuse. The truth is, exercise can in most cases reduce aches and pains or symptoms of health problems, Senkow says.
"Many people in that demographic think exercise is something associated with athleticism and I can't say enough about the benefits of regular and consistent physical activity particularly now," says Senkow, who offers up three exercises that can help fiftysomethings with whatever ails them.
- - -
FITNESS THROUGH THE AGES: Your body at 14 is different than at 40 or 70. Your exercises should be, too. Over the coming weeks a doctor and a fitness expert share the dos and don'ts of working out at every decade.
