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Articles
Muscle Building is Not Just for the Young
By Gabe
Mirkin, M.D.
Older men and women can enlarge and strengthen muscles in the same
way that younger people do.
The stimulus to make muscles stronger is to exercise them against
increasing resistance. When you push against great resistance, you feel a
burning that is a sign of muscle damage. When the muscle heals from that
damage, it is stronger than before. You feel sore on the next day and should
not exercise that muscle against heavy resistance until the soreness goes away.
Most young people can lift very heavy weights and continue to lift
through the soreness, but older people should stop lifting as soon as they
feel the soreness during a workout. Younger people recover faster so they can
lift heavy weights every second or third days, but older people take longer
for the soreness to go away, so they may be able to lift heavy only once every
week or two.
A study from Washington University in St. Louis showed that a supervised
weightlifting and continuous exercise program can improve function in older
people who have difficulty walking and taking care of themselves. Supervised
exercise improved older people's ability to feed themselves, take care of
bowel habits, and perform their activities better than a low-intensity home
exercise program. Exercising vigorously in later life gives older people a far
better quality of life, and allows them to be more independent and do most of
the things that they could do when they were much younger. It's never too late
to get started.
Journal references on this article can be found in the Fitness section
of my website, listed below.
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Dr. Gabe Mirkin has been a radio talk show host for 25 years and
practicing physician for more than 40 years; he is board certified in four
specialties, including sports medicine. Read or listen to hundreds of his
fitness and health reports at http://www.DrMirkin.com.
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gabe_Mirkin,_M.D.
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