I was asked recently and frequently, “What kind of exercise would you recommend?” Without sounding cliché “it depends.” However, that’s true.
I will preface this with a complete focus on the mature adult. Not a young individual who is looking to compete in a sport, recreational competitive event as in marathon or heavily specialized goal as in body building. This is for adults looking to enhance their fitness level, age with strength and pay attention to overall fitness.
Definition
Let’s start with a unifying definition of physical fitness. I will use the words exercise and physical fitness interchangeably. There are many definitions to choose from but Human Kinetics (see below) is very succinct. Perfect as a longevity enhancing strategy.
“Physical fitness refers to the ability of your body systems to work together efficiently to allow you to be healthy and perform activities of daily living.”
In other words, the types of movement modalities you do should enhance everything else in life. All the body systems need to be enhanced. I have talked at length about the importance of good metabolic health as a cornerstone of a healthy body, here and here but our focus now is exercise.
5 Criteria for Getting Started
OK, back to what kind of physical fitness and it depends. Below are 5 criteria to evaluate your regime. This is not an exhaustive list but a launching pad.
- What are your goals and level of fitness?
- What do you enjoy and look forward to doing?
- Do you have any injuries or limitations?
- What do you have access to, as in outdoor space, gym, home equipment?
- What are you willing to commit to?
In broad strokes I think a well-rounded fitness routine should include the major pillars of strength, stretch, mobility, endurance, balance and coordination. Thus, from that list one already has in mind a variety of movement types. I explore each of those pillars in Exercise and Aging Insights.
Extra Word on Strength
I think without a doubt the most important aging fitness component is strength building. I explore that in depth in Resistance Training 101. Speaking of strength, grip strength is being connected to life span in various studies and as the Stanford University Center on Longevity says:
“As it pertains to grip strength, the three age-acceleration clocks looked at in the study found significant associations to suggest that greater grip strength can help one protect their body from physically aging faster.” (bold mine)
Goals and Fitness Level
One can assess your goals simply by, I need to improve my balance. Or you can set some distinct quantitative guidelines for achievement. Such as lift X amount of weight, be able to do a X sets of dead lifts without hurting my back and or other metric such as body composition change. An example such as, would like to increase my muscle mass by X amount and lower my body fat by X percentage.
Understanding you cannot exercise your way out of poor diet. Visceral fat reduction demands a deeper dive into your body’s level of insulin sensitivity and or insulin resistance of which a lower carb, ketogenic and or carnivore lifestyle has been shown to enhance.
How you embark on a fitness plan should take into great consideration your current (realistic) overall fitness level. If starting from scratch this will obviously need a slow ramping up period and possibly working with a coach or trainer to help guide your program and progress safely.
If your starting point is zero, meaning have not been active in exercise at all for some time, begin with walking. This gets you up and out the door, so winning on both ends, outdoor time and increased activity. You can slowly build this up in numerous ways, a few minutes every day to slowly taking longer walks.
Some individuals find having a walking buddy and or pet a great way to increase the number of steps. However, don’t depend on that buddy for your commitment, often people will cancel if the weather is bad and or not be as committed as you are. Take the lead and enjoy the company if they are there but also be willing to go it alone.
Assessing your injuries and limitations
In dealing with an injury the usual first step, post just time off to begin the healing, is physical therapy. Once you’ve completed your therapy sessions you might start slower with a training that continues to build mobility and core strength but not completely at your previous training level.
Coming from the professional dance world many performers have a short “mobility” and or protocol of 5 to 6 exercises which includes physical therapy recommendations and others they’ve explored themselves for an ankle, hip or back. These routines need to be a regular part now of your ongoing journey not just when injured. One also must focus on a good warming up and equal important cool down post exercise religiously. If wanting to look more closely at coming back post injury, here To Move or Not To Move.
The famous line amongst fitness trainers when asked what is the best exercise? Answer: The one you will do! The easier as in travel time and location the more you will go. For many (including myself) virtual training is a great option. Additionally, we have the X3 Training System in our house, and it has a super small footprint with time efficient workouts, a real boon when working full time.
What might a good mix look like?
Let’s say in the ideal world you’re in control of your schedule and fit workouts in various times throughout the week. A couple options are below. If you don’t have control over your schedule, put down what you can realistically do. That might be 2 short strength training, interspersed with walking (even sometimes maybe only 10 minutes) and some core strength routine you can do at home. Voila a good week!
Food for Thought on a Weekly Plan
- 2 to 3 times 30-minute Strength Training a week. (If needing shorter workouts check out Dr. Ben’s 15 minutes to Fitness.) Or X3 as mentioned.
- Moderate exercise 2 to 3 times a week. Swimming, Pilates, Walking, Hiking, Row-Machine, Elliptical or other modality with a moderate heart rate level. CDC recommends 150-minutes a week. Do whatever you can and think creatively on time, some days you might only have 10 or 15 minutes, go for it.
- Mobility and Flexibility routines 2 to 3 times a week. These can be really short in duration either at the back end of a workout for 5 minutes and or like I do as a sort of relaxation and de-stress option on days I’m not working out and just to move. Some individuals enjoy yoga as a flexibility enhancer and relaxation training.
- Balance and Coordination. If working with a trainer this should be inherent in the training. If doing your own workouts, just start challenging yourself to weave in balance/coordination movements like multi-planar exercises.
Final Thought
Life happens you get pulled off your routine, so is it. Recently I had a week of traveling from the West Coast to the East Coast. But here is what I managed that week.
Took my walking shoes with me and did several casual walks during breaks. I have a short body weight routine that is easy to do in the confines of a hotel room and managed two sessions that week. So sure, it was not my usual workouts with my favorite equipment or trainer, but after each one I felt energized, accomplished and better than before I started.
“If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little, and not too much, we would have found the safest way to health.”
Hippocrates
