How To Get In Shape After 40

Have you ever heard the popular opinion that your life is over when you turn 30? Whether you hear it on a popular television show like “How I Met Your Mother” or simply notice it in the way people act as they age, you’ve probably noticed a distinct shift in lifestyle choices once people reach this age. While it’s true that most people do experience major physical and mental changes as they progress through their 20s and 30s, it’s your 40s that will have the greatest impact on your health.

Most people believe there is not anything they can do about the many changes and difficulties that come with aging, and this is true to a certain degree. But with the right lifestyle and health choices, we can certainly do our part to slow the process down.

Unfortunately, the fabled fountain of youth has not yet been discovered, and slowing the aging process isn’t as easy as drinking a refreshing cup of magical spring water. It requires a lot of hard work and effort to stay younger for longer, and most of that means exercise. The right exercise regimen can go a long way in creating health benefits for yourself after your turn 40.

Certain activities can reduce the speed of muscle deterioration, increase cognitive function, and even activate a process by which cells increase their individual mitochondrial mass and copy number known as mitochondrial biogenesis.

5 Step Plan To Get Back Into Shape After 40

While you dedicate yourself to increasing your workouts and slowing down aging, you have to keep in mind that whether you like it or not, your body is no longer as strong and powerful as it once was. This means you have to be careful. Doing super strenuous activities for a long period of time is no longer a safe type of exercise for you. You will need to take a different approach.

Flexibility

According to a wide variety of studies, your body’s flexibility has a direct relationship with your hearts health. This means that losing flexibility in your joints will increase your chance of strokes and heart-related issues. Furthermore, ensuring that your body is flexible will help you to prevent injuries from occurring and strengthen your muscles.

If you are looking for a type of exercise that can increase your flexibility, Yoga is definitely a great choice. This practice helps you maintain proper breathing and hold certain positions for optimal relaxation and health maintenance. There is also a spiritual aspect which you can choose to embrace or leave out, that part is entirely up to you.

There are many levels of difficulty, so you don’t have to jump into the unknown without a clue as to what should be done. There are plenty of classes out there or even home lesson you can follow which will guide you through the more subtle and beginner’s side of Yoga.

 No More Long Hours of Cardio

You are better off not running the marathons anymore. Why? Well, while high cardio workouts are an excellent way to stay in shape, they are also extremely dangerous to your heart, especially for those who are over the age of 40.

Running for an extended amount can stiffen your heart muscles and arteries, cause inflammation of joints and muscles, and lead to micro-tears in your muscle tissue. Overall, there are too many issues that can occur due to extended hours of cardio workouts.

The number of potential problems and lack of benefits lead us to believe that any cardio workout lasting more than 45 minutes is not a good idea after 40. Besides, if you optimize your exercise routine you should spend much less time working out and get much more benefit from your regime then you could expect to receive from extended cardio stress.

High-Intensity Workouts in Moderation

When we say “High-Intensity workout”, we don’t mean going crazy at the gym for two hours straight without rest. We are talking about four minutes of intense exercise about four times a week. Doing this increases your physical capabilities by a significant amount (about 30 percent), but it also is not nearly as dangerous as doing it for an extended amount of time.

There are many major benefits to doing high-intensity interval workouts, ranging from increased oxygen levels to an increased production of human growth hormone, which helps decrease muscle loss and atrophy often related to aging. It is definitely a good idea to undertake high-intensity workouts as a part of your quest to slow down aging.

10,000 Step Plan

You would be surprised what simple walking can do for your body. With all the different step counters out there on the market, your daily 10,000 steps can easily be tracked even by the most inexpensive step counters.

Besides being one of the best workouts for you, it also carries the added benefit of accomplishment or possibly even the fun of a friendly competition between you and your best friend or loved one. The possibilities are endless, but no matter which way you spin it in the end having a daily step goal can only bring benefits to you and everyone involved.

Try to accomplish your goal either in one extended amount of time or break it up into two portions. Adding ten different 1,000 step bursts throughout the day doesn’t have the same effect on your body as one 10,000 step session does.

Recovery

As we mentioned earlier, you are not in your 20s or even 30s anymore. You need to be very attentive to your body and take care of it far better than you used to when you were younger.

If you are investing time into high-intensity workouts then you must know that there is a proportional relationship between how intense your workout is and how much resting you will need to do. The harder and more intense your workout the more time you will need to give your body to recover. You can’t afford to skip recovery anymore, it won’t work and you will end up hurting yourself.

In conclusion, be aware of your body and what it is going through. Stay safe and remove unnecessary risks to avoid hurting yourself or causing irreparable damage. Stick with it, and you can create your own fountain of youth at your local gym or in your living room.