The other day we looked at how age affects body composition, correcting it even if there are no weight changes, and sport is the best preventive and therapeutic agent present in diseases such as osteoporosis. I was talking about it. Today we will talk about what older people can do in the gym to improve their health and quality of life.

If you don’t already know Fitenium is a free, mobile and video-based social network for users who train strength and/or body weight exercises. At Fitenium users can find free personalized routines, follow their performance, compete and get discounts at nutrition stores and sports equipment. Download it here.

What is the third age?

In general, we understand people over 65 years of age at three years, but some authors distinguish between two non-aging periods at this stage of life.

The third age begins almost when the person leaves work and ends when social dependency arises. The fourth age begins at the end of the previous stage and lasts until death.

What kind of physical activity should older people do?

One of the great evils that plagues our society today is the sedentary lifestyle. This is a risk factor that extends from childhood to the elderly.

This is because the loss of age and capacity tends to increase the sedentary and meditative lifestyles of older people, especially if this person has never been physically active before. It is an even greater risk factor.

Assessing a person’s health is a reliable indicator of health and life expectancy. Therefore, prescribing a training plan for older people that focuses on the development of strength, aerobic capacity and flexibility is a very important tool to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death. Of factors and all causes, without considering health savings.

Therefore, these individuals should focus on strength and aerobic training to improve or minimize flexibility.

What is the ideal dose for each type of exercise?

According to the American Sports College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association, the following are recommended:

At least 5 days a week, 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise, or at least 3 20-minute days of vigorous-intensity days.

Two days a week of programmed and sequenced strength training, including 8-10 exercises with 10-15 iterations on a scale of 5-8 Perceived Exercise (RPE).

Hold the pose for 10-30 seconds for at least 2 days and focus on improving joint mobility through active or passive flexible exercise. Yoga is a very good option.

What kind of exercise can seniors do in the gym?

Any of the exercises is prescribed according to the physical condition of the particular person. As a general rule, there are no contraindications, but the lack of mobility and coordination may require the use of adaptations or variations in basic exercises. We want to improve the quality of life and functional independence for these people, so if you can do goblet squats or goblet box squats, you don’t need to do back squats.

Ideally, choose a free-weight jointed exercise that mobilizes your major muscle groups. As mentioned above, designing a training program for exercise patterns is a great option, so here are the main exercises and some alternatives that these people can perform.

Horizontal pushing movement such as dumbbell press. For complex cases, you can choose a horizontal press machine.

Upright pushing movement like a dumbbell shoulder press. Some machines perform this movement pattern.

Horizontal pull movements such as rowing a barbell or winding a rope.

Vertical traction movements such as chest pull.

Knee dominant exercises like squats and leg presses.

Waist-dominant movements such as the Romanian bar and dumbbell deadlifts.

If you don’t already know Fitenium is a free, mobile, video-based social network for athletes who train strength or bodyweight exercises. At Fitenium users can follow their performance, compete and get discounts in nutrition and sports equipment stores. Download it here.

Doing sports on a regular basis is extremely healthy for both our body and our mental health. Going for a run, without going any further, helps improve the state of our memory.

However, in some cases runners are accused of causing certain “addictions” that can affect them. It is almost believed that some runners can be considered addicted to running which can affect your personal and professional life and is already called runnorexia.

The first thing to remember is that there is no clinical manual for which runnorexia is classified or present as an addiction. In this sense, it is similar to what is known as addiction to work or addiction to shopping. They do not follow the same mechanism as drug addiction -it does not affect them at the same level- but they can affect our well-being and our quality of life.

As for the practice of “addiction”, very little research has been done on this point at this point, and what does exist refers not only to the practice but also to addiction to sport in general. These studies indicate that around 18% of people who regularly practice sports have a particular addiction to sport, especially in the case of aerobic exercise.

The factors associated with this situation refer to physical and environmental variables. In the case of physical variables, the joy produced by the release of endorphins can affect the improvement. In the case of environmental variables, the social and personal image of the athlete influences the mechanism that leads to addiction.

Some have an athlete role, play a particularly important role in refining an individual’s identity, and have a certain level of anxiety. These people may feel that their value as athletes also determines their value as humans and as humans. If they fail as an athlete or runner, they also feel like they are failing as a person.

This can, above all, lead you to the feeling that you need to go for a run or play sports, not feel guilty or follow an obsessive-compulsive behavior that is not enough. There is. These same mechanisms can affect people who are absorbed in other things, such as work. As a result, it affects your social life, your work, and your mental health.

The recommendations in these cases are for those who see normal life affected and obstructed by obsessive-compulsive sport to manage the processes that are affecting the discomfort and the use of sport. It means that you can ask for help from a mental health professional to provide you with the right tools.