When you think of anti-aging, the immediate thing that comes to mind is wrinkles and looking younger, but the fact is that anti-aging covers everything from physiological changes like loss of memory and libido to health issues like weight gain and age-related diseases like heart attack.
So let’s take a look at diet and exercise and see what you can do to help slow down the anti-aging process.
Exercise
When it comes to exercise, there are a few areas you want to pay attention to:
- Testosterone Optimization
- Build Muscle to Combat Age-Related Muscle Loss
- Train your Heart
- Flexibility to Add Life to your Body
- Balancing Exercises to Increase Stability
- Stretching and Relaxation Techniques to Improve Mental Stress
Testosterone Optimization (yes, even the ladies need this)
First of all, if you’re not exercising regularly yet, then you need to start right away. When you do train, make it count. Training with intensity can significantly raise your testosterone levels, especially when you include compound exercises like squats and push-ups. With increased testosterone, you increase your chances of gaining muscle, which is very important for keeping an aging body strong and physically able.
You can increase your testosterone by using a T-booster. When taken before your workout, these supplements can enhance your testosterone and help you build lean muscle tissue. Not to mention the added benefits of an increased libido.
Build Muscle to Combat Age-Related Muscle Loss
Sarcopenia is the loss of muscle due to age. It happens to everybody. As we age, we lose muscle and gain fat and need to exercise more than at any other time in our lives. With loss of muscle comes loss of strength and before you know it, you’re calling your son to unscrew the pickle jar. Don’t let it happen to you. Include two to three weight training sessions into your workout regime every week and you’ll be amazed at how much better you feel and how stronger and more muscular you become.
Train your Heart
Cardiovascular exercise is a must to help keep your lungs and heart strong. As we age, our lungs lose their ability to process oxygen and our V02 Max becomes compromised. The best way to improve this is to make sure you’re working that heart at least 5 times a week for 30 minutes. Intense training also works the heart, so when it comes to cardio, it doesn’t have to be pounding it out on the treadmill. You have options. The important things is to exercise regularly and don’t cheat yourself out of the many benefits exercise can offer.
Flexibility to Add Life to your Body
Flexibility is crucial to ensure that your body can weather the aches and pains and stiffness of aging. Take the time to have a good stretch after you exercise. Your body will thank you.
Balancing Exercises to Increase Stability
Taking Yoga and incorporating balancing exercises into your workout program can help with stability. Some 23,000 people die each year due to a fall, which could have been avoided had they been more steady on their feet. Hiking has also been shown to help strengthen a person’s gait, which is enhanced from hill climbing and uneven terrain.
Stretching and Relaxation Techniques to Improve Mental Stress
Stretching, relaxation, flexibility and balancing all fall under the same umbrella and can all be achieved through Yoga and taking a couple of sessions a week. Yoga also helps to improve breathing and induce relaxation to relieve stress, which can help with mental faculty.
Diet
When it comes to diet, the most important things you need are antioxidants and Omega-3.
Antioxidants
Antioxidants contain powerful substances called phytonutrients that help longevity as they gobble up free radicals – oxygen molecules that play a role in the onset of illnesses such as heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis, and Alzheimer’s.
As we age, we become more susceptible to the long-term effects of oxidative stress and inflammation at the cellular level. Supplementing with an antioxidant like R-ALA after working out can help oxidative damage caused by intense training. Also make sure to include lot of antioxidants in your diet like blueberries, sweet potatoes, cherries and green tea.
Omega-3
Omega-3 is necessary all-round health but targets the brain and heart to maintain optimum functioning. Omega-3 also has anti-inflammatory effects in the body and this can help alleviate inflammation, pain and disease associated with aging.
There are many things you can do to improve your health and increase longevity. It all starts with a healthy diet and exercising regularly. Improving your quality of life so you can age gracefully will open up all kinds of opportunities so you can enjoy your old age.
Protein
Supplementing your diet with a high quality whey protein isolate powder is a must to combat sarcopenia and increase lean muscle, which translates into added strength and a younger physique.
Originally published @ FITLODE.COM
Both these types of training come with all kinds of health benefits and are becoming very popular because you can train in far less time than banging it out on the treadmill for 45 minutes or more.
