We naturally lose muscle mass as we become old. This process starts across the age of 36, and by the point we’re 80 we’ve lost about 50% of our muscle mass. Long periods of inactivity may cause us to lose a greater amount of muscle mass than we would normally. This has been the case through the COVID-19 pandemicas lots of us were less capable of exercise as much as we use to do.
While most young people will give you the chance to bounce back and regain their muscle mass easily, it will not be as easy for older people. This is because it could be harder to achieve muscle mass as we age as a result of the changes in muscle structure, and doing an excessive amount of too quickly can lead to serious injuries. This is why older people must get the balance right when easing back into exercise again.
Maintaining muscle mass
Maintaining muscle is essential for a lot of reasons. As we age, frailty could make it harder for us to be independent and do the things we’d like to do every day – from going shopping to meeting our friends. Being energetic maintains a healthy musculoskeletal system whilst also protecting us from some diseasescorresponding to type 2 diabetes. Research also shows that strong energetic muscles may also help prevent falls and lower injury risk.
But while it might be tempting to hit the gym and begin lifting weights now that many COVID-19 restrictions have eased within the UK, if it’s been some time because you last exercised recurrently, it’s vital to ease back into things. Weak and de-conditioned muscles take time to construct strength and doing an excessive amount of vigorous, repetitive exercise can overload muscles and joints that haven’t been trainedresulting in injury.
Here are a couple of ways to get moving again without injuring yourself:
1. Progress slowly.
It’s best to progressively return to activity so that you don’t overdo things or injure yourself. A staged approach, where you slowly introduce different exercises, will allow your muscles to recuperate between each session. Beginning with basic exercises across the house is an excellent place to begin.
Then increasing the number and style of exercises you do may make it easier to from getting fatigued and losing form – that are prime conditions for an injury to occur. For example, starting with a brief walk that then gets longer and progresses to a hill or rougher terrain allows for slow and protracted challenges to your body to develop into accustomed to while still helping you stay eager about exercising.
2. Reduce the time you spend sitting.
Long periods of sitting, if you’ve needed to isolate or when you are working from home, significantly reduces muscle activity – and due to this fact muscle mass. So when you haven’t kept exercising through the pandemic, you possibly can’t expect to select up where you left off.
Take frequent breaks between meetings and introduce a walk at lunch. Stretching and moving around after long periods of sitting prevents fatigue and shortening of muscles – which might improve posture and balance, too.
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3. Shake up the exercises you do.
Intense repetition of the identical movement or activity may cause wear and tear, sometimes called repetitive strain. This is why it’s vital to do different exercises, as an alternative of the identical thing daily. Alongside cardio workouts, which have advantages for our heart, lung, and circulatory system, try strength training.
Challenging our muscles as we become old with weight lifting and resistance training not only improves neuromuscular function – the communication between the brain and muscles – but improves balance and mobility too. Taking part in exercises that work your cardiovascular system in addition to strengthen muscles improves overall wellbeing.
4. Work on the small things.
It’s vital to work on our big prime muscles – corresponding to our glutes or quads – with walking, running and gym exercises. But it’s just as vital to work on our small postural muscles too.
For example, the small intrinsic muscles in our feet play a crucial role in improving strength and balance. Gripping a soft ball between your toes is a simple option to improve these small foot muscles.
Having stability inside the joints of your body from postural muscles also allows for these big muscle groups to do their job when walking, running or on the gym. Paying attention to those core postural muscles with activation and control exercises will help prevent injury.
If you’re trying to get back to a daily exercise routine after many months off, it’s vital to be certain that you’re taking things slow and alter up your routine often. Developing a healthy balance of cardiovascular, strength and resistance training in addition to core stability work will improve your musculoskeletal health in addition to helping your overall health whilst stopping injury.