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Why Fitness Matters

Writer's picture: Jason QuinnJason Quinn

What difference does it make if you're in shape? Why even bother?


Before you set out on a mission to get in better shape you better have a good reason why. Your why is what's going to drive you to keep showing up for your workouts and maintain healthy eating habits.


Vanity is probably high on your list. There's no shame in that. It's high on mine, too. Who doesn't want to look great naked?


Being strong is fun. And it comes in handy when it's time to get the lid off the pickle jar.


You want to do stuff. Maybe you want to run a marathon. Maybe you just want to walk up a flight of stairs without it feeling like you just scaled Mt. Everest.


If you'll let me suggest one reason you might not have on your list yet: you're going to be old.


If you're lucky, you'll live to a ripe old age.


What you do now and how you treat your body is going to have a huge impact on your golden years. It's easy to push that thought to the side 'cause that's decades from now, but don't do it.


How do you want your later years to be?


You can give in to the notion that getting older means you're just less capable. Little by little you get weaker and weaker. Every day tasks like carrying your groceries or even getting up from a chair become more and more difficult. Ultimately, you lose the ability to live independently.


Or you can spend a few hours a week strength training. You will lose some strength as you get old, but it doesn't have to be much. Focusing on maintaining your strength will allow you to keep up with not just your kids, but their kids. Maybe even their kids' kids.


A lot of the things we think of as inevitable parts of getting old are myths.


Metabolism


"When you get old your metabolism screeches to a stop". Have you heard that one? It's true that on average, after age 25 your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) drops about 2-4% each decade. Your RMR is basically the number of calories per day your body burns just keeping you alive. If you just lay in bed all day long doing nothing your body would still be burning energy.


As your RMR dips, your appetite doesn't. What happens next? If you're burning fewer calories but eating the same amount that means you're going to gain weight. Specifically, you're going to gain fat. This is why you see people getting paunchy as they approach middle age.


Strength training is your secret weapon to fight this. One of the cool things about muscle is that it requires energy to keep it. It doesn't take your body much energy to keep fat on you. If you have more muscle your RMR will increase. That means you'll be able to eat more food and stay lean.


I don't want to overstate it and make it sound like you put on 5 lbs. of muscle and you get to eat a birthday cake every day and stay ripped.


Adding some muscle does mean your body will need more calories to keep it. Getting older doesn't mean your metabolism has to slow down dramatically. Working out keeps your metabolism revved.


Does cardio have the same effect on metabolism? Cardio does burn calories but it won't keep your metabolism up. You burn the calories when you work out but once you're done, it's not like your body keeps the calorie-burning furnace going. At least not the way that just having muscle on your body does.


Frail and fragile


Getting old means you decline into frailty, right? On average we lose about 5 lbs. of lean mass per decade between 25-65. You just wither away until you're too weak to get out of a chair on your own. The stories you hear about an old person falling and breaking a hip are cliche, but true. We might think about it as kind of a joke, but a broken hip is really serious for an old person (probably not much fun for a young person either). Again, it doesn't have to be this way.


Strength training not only builds strong muscles but stronger bones and tendons. If you fall you'll be far less likely to fracture that hip. In fact, being stronger means you'll be able to get your hands out to catch and brace yourself when you start to fall.


Speaking of fracturing your hips...


Sex


You might not want to think about old people having sex (or who knows, maybe you do?) until you consider that one day you'll be one of those old people.


I won't get too graphic here but... let's just say that some of the things you enjoy now require a certain amount of strength. If you want to keep doing those things, you're going to want to keep that strength.


Your heart, of course, is a muscle. Lifting weights will keep your heart strong, too. Think about the last time you did a set of heavy squats or deadlifts. When you finished that set your heart was pounding in your chest, wasn't it? Your lungs were on fire, too, weren't they?


A strong heart and healthy lungs will make sure your body is able to pump oxygen and nutrients in the blood throughout your whole body. Including the places where you really want that blood to be pumped.


It's too late to start


This myth is total bullshit. There's no age that's too old to start strength training. That doesn't mean you should wait. The sooner you start, the better.


As we age we produce less of the anabolic hormones (i.e., testosterone and growth hormone) that help us build lean mass. Strength training signals the body to increase the hormone production. You won't have the same levels at 40 that you did at 18 but you can still build muscle. Your body produces most of these hormones while you're asleep so it's important to get your rest. Sleep quality tends to decline as we age. Guess one activity that helps you sleep better? Yes, that does, too. But I meant strength training.


Whether you're 20 or 80, proper training can make you stronger. I won't lie and say there's no difference between being 20 or 80. I've only been one of those (I'll let you know in another 37 years what 80's like). I wouldn't train an 80 year old with the same exact workout that I'd program for a 20 year old. But the principle of working to get stronger remains the same regardless of your age.


This isn't to scare you, my hope is to empower you.


I hope you live many, many, many more happy and healthy years. If you spend just a few hours per week training for strength, you can maintain a really high quality of life for decades.


If you're a total beginner, that's cool. Try 3 strength training sessions per week. Take a few minutes to warm up. Jumping rope or using a cardio machine is a good way. Then pick one exercise for your legs (squats, leg presses, deadlifts, etc.) and do 3-5 sets of 8-12 repetitions. Rest 2-3 minutes between each set. Then pick one upper body pushing exercise (bench press, push-ups, shoulder press, etc.). Do 2-3 sets of 8-12 reps with 1-2 minutes to recover in between. After that, choose one upper body pulling exercise (chin-ups, rows, curls, etc.) and do 2-3 sets of 8-12 reps with 1-2 minutes between sets. You can be done in under an hour. Stretch to cool down and go on with your day.


Over time you gradually increase the weights you lift. Voila, that's how you get stronger.


Strength training may not cure everything but if you want to look better naked, keep your heart healthy, and avoid living in an old folk's home, it's the answer.

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