Only an idiot would claim to love every form of exercise. At 61, I believe it’s the only way to delay the body’s slow crumble, but ugh, so much of it is unpleasant, or dull, or just not for me. I don’t think I will ever not hate Bulgarian split squats. I’m bored to tears by the static bike. Football, rugby, tennis, cricket? Been there, done that, burned the T-shirt.
But that’s OK, because there’s a lot that I adore. Running. Lake swims. Yoga. Skiing, snowshoeing, anything snow-related. Just bloody walking! And above all, calisthenics – dangling from gymnastics rings, standing on my hands, trying to hoist and fold and balance myself in ways that demand far more strength and control than I can usually muster. I will never be cool, but “cali” is.
I’m rubbish at most of this stuff, but that doesn’t stop me putting in the hours. I will practise handstands in the hall when the rest of the family are slumped in front of the TV, or get up before dawn to run through pitch-black woods – not because I have to, but because I want to. I’m hoping to be doing this for at least another 39 years.
Fun is the key, as far as I’m concerned. Sooner or later, you will stumble across some kind of movement that makes you happy, whether it’s powerlifting, ping-pong or pole dancing. To stay as fit as you can, for as long as you can, you need to grab it and hold it close.
“For me, fun is the No 1 thing,” agrees Kelly Cho, whose tough but beginner-friendly calisthenics classes pack out the Waking Dreams studio in east London. I’m such a fan that I’m reluctant to mention them in case I never get a place again. “Motivation is not going to be there all the time,” Cho says. “The only thing that’s going to carry you through is the love.”
“Leaning into what you enjoy is super important,” says Lucy Joslin, another inspirational instructor, who teaches cali at Mission a few miles away. “When it gets hard, when it’s cold outside or raining, or you’ve got to get up at six in the morning to do it, it has to be something you enjoy. It has to bring you some kind of joy – otherwise what on earth is it all for?” On top of teaching, Joslin works out six days a week. “I’d be really happy if I had three hours a day just to go to the gym.”
“Life is full of shoulds,” says Tiffany Soi, a yoga movement coach and former competitive rock climber. “There’s all this stuff we have to do. You can tell yourself that something is good for you, but if it becomes a kind of grinding routine, it’s very easy to lose that sense of engagement and motivation – and you stop doing it. But people want to play.”
Now 38, Soi has been climbing since she was 20. “And I’m planning on doing it till I’m at least 100.”
“Fun matters” shouldn’t be a radical idea, but a lot of the fitness industry doesn’t seem to get it. All too often what you get from a personal trainer is what they know how to teach rather than what you might stick with. You’d better hope that what makes you happy is three or four sessions in the gym every week.
“I hear so many horror stories of how people were first introduced to exercise,” says Michael Ulloa, an Edinburgh-based personal trainer. “People can be won over by different forms of exercise if they are shown a healthy and enjoyable way to undertake them, but I would treat that as an add-on once you’re consistent with exercise. Get your body moving regularly, see how it feels doing it for a while, and then you can worry about any extras that might further improve your health.”
That said, there’s a point where those “extras” become compulsory. Whatever your passion, in the long term you’ll need to do something on top to support it and look after the stuff it neglects. This might be your bone and muscle, your heart and lungs, your mobility or your balance. Even the funnest activity can’t cover all the bases.
If you’re into football, say, then off the pitch you should be doing everything you can to prevent knee injuries, and to strengthen your upper body. If cali’s your thing, your upper body is taken care of, but your legs may need resistance work, in the form of weighted squats, perhaps, or one-legged squats. And let’s not forget the cardio …
“Things go wrong when the thing we love to do becomes the only thing we do,” warns Laura Williams, the owner of Mat Pilates ATX in Austin, Texas. “Whether it’s pickleball or ballroom dance, the activities we love will create asymmetrical movement habits and strength imbalances that might lead to acute or overuse injuries.”
Williams, 54, is talking from experience: dancing has been her passion since 2008, when she took her first “Broadway jazz” class. “But dancing began creating a lot of pain for me in my early 40s,” she says. “I went to physical therapy, did my exercises, and got stronger and the pain was managed. When I asked my physiotherapist if I had to do these ‘boring exercises’ for the rest of my life, she said, ‘Yes, if you want to keep dancing as much as you do – or you could do pilates.’” Williams enjoyed that so much that she now teaches it as well as practising it. “And I am still dancing.”
Worried that all these extras will dilute the fun? They don’t have to, says Joslin. “Take my friend, who’s 50-odd. She was like, ‘Ugh, I hate going to the gym. I hate it.’ And I said, ‘Well, what did you do when you were younger?’ She used to love netball. ‘OK, so why don’t you go and find a netball club?’ So now she’s playing netball, and with the games and the drills to prepare for them it’s pretty much covering all her bases.”
If all else fails, a friendly face can make all the difference. “Even if it’s a grim exercise you don’t like, maybe you can do it with people that you do like. I hate jumping exercises, for instance, but if I do them with a mate, then I’ll be looking forward to hanging out with her – and it will work.”
Five activities you just might love – and how you should be supplementing them
Climbing
What’s it good for? “Climbing is a great full-body exercise, head to toe,” says Tiffany Soi, a former competitive rock climber. “You engage many of the smaller muscles that perhaps you wouldn’t in a regular weight-training session, and train your core a lot if you’re playing on steeper angles. It’s also amazing for problem-solving, coordination and proprioception.”
What’s it less good for? “There’s a lot of upper body intensity in climbing, and it can be hard on your shoulders, elbows and fingers. You can make quite rapid progress when you start, but your tendons and ligaments don’t necessarily adapt quickly enough. And when you begin to do more difficult things, there’s a tendency to get a little overeager with some of the smaller holds and it can be easy to sprain a finger. It’s also easy to neglect your lower body, although the more you use your legs and hips, the better your climbing gets.”
So what else should you be doing? “Yoga is great, ideally a dynamic style with a focus on strength. This is excellent ‘antagonistic’ training that balances all of climbing’s pulling. You want to work your core muscles, but also your legs, because it is very easy to focus too much on your upper body. Pilates is also a lovely complement to climbing – both mat and reformer. Resistance training becomes more important as you get older – either through the reformer or with free weights.”
Weight training
What’s it good for? “The benefits of weightlifting are vast,” says personal trainer Michael Ulloa. “Building muscle mass, improving bone density, reducing risk of injury, reducing your risk of chronic diseases …”
What’s it less good for? “It will have less of an impact on heart and lung health than traditional cardiovascular exercise (running, swimming, cycling, etc). This does depend on how you train, though, as more circuit-based weight training can provide good benefits for both.” As far as injuries go, these mostly affect knees, the lower back and shoulders.
So what else should you be doing? “If you want to really bulletproof your health as you age, couple this with a form of cardio,” says Ulloa. “My advice is simple: get walking. Walking is an excellent low-intensity, low-injury-risk, easily accessible form of exercise that we can all benefit from.”
Cycling
What’s it good for? Cycling is not just superb cardiovascular exercise. “There is also a high resistance element for the legs, and it will build strength and muscle mass,” says Georgia Vaines, an Exeter-based triathlete and pilates teacher. “Off-road cycling can be more physical for the upper body, too.”
What’s it less good for? “There is little impact in comparison with other sports, particularly in road riding, so cross-training in something with impact is necessary for healthy bone density, particularly in older women.” The most common cycling injuries include “shoulder dysfunction caused by all that time hunched over the bars, lower back and knee pain, weak back extensors, tight hip flexors … If you cycle without any form of cross-training, you are likely to get injured. It’s just too much of a repetitive movement pattern in a very limited plane of motion – certain muscle groups get very overactive and you lose mobility in your joints.”
So what else should you be doing? “Work on your stability. Pilates is a fantastic tool for cyclists because you are going to strengthen the core stabilisers of the pelvis and spine, mobilise your hips and your thoracic spine, and restore elasticity to muscles such as the hip flexors. This is also going to help you carry your groceries to the door without shoulder pain and swing your grandkids without herniating a disc.”
What’s it good for? “Football is great for heart and lung health, while also improving your agility and coordination,” says Ulloa. “Although not to the extent that direct weight training will, it will still help to boost bone mineral density (or at least help to limit the loss of it as we get older). In addition, the social element of playing a team sport can drastically improve mental health.”
What’s it less good for? “Although football is a full-body activity, engaging every muscle in our body, it does not provide the best stimulus for increasing muscle mass. It lacks that strength element.” It’s also a major source of anterior cruciate ligament (knee) injuries.
So what else should you be doing? “Learning good running mechanics can reduce the risk of injury, along with strength training to build your body’s resilience and to iron out any muscular imbalances.” Strength training will pay off later, too: “If you’re regularly picking a heavy barbell off the ground, you will make light work of picking up the grandkids. Carrying those heavy dumbbells will replicate walking with heavy shopping bags. If you can squat down holding some weight, then getting off that toilet seat with just your body weight will be a breeze.”
Running
What’s it good for? Cardiovascular fitness, above all. “Beyond the heart health benefits, it also works your lungs, and improves cognition and mood,” says Amanda Katz, a New York-based personal trainer and running coach.
What’s it less good for? “It’s not a bone-building activity in the way that lifting weights and plyometrics are.” Running-related injuries include IT band syndrome, plantar fasciitis and issues with the achilles tendon.
So what should you be doing? “I encourage everyone, runner or not, to engage in strength training – specifically, lifting heavy. The main areas for strength development are squat, hinge, press and pull variations.”
Fit For Ever: An Evening With Phil Daoust, Chris van Tulleken and Nahid de Belgeonne Join Phil Daoust, physician and author Chris van Tulleken, and movement coach Nahid de Belgeonne on 12 February, 7.30pm, Conway Hall, London, as they talk about how to live a strong, happy and long life. Book tickets at theguardian.live.com
This article was originally published by a www.theguardian.com . Read the Original article here. .