It should come as no surprises that resistance (weight) training has been shown to drastically improve the quality of life in our aging population.
Our “Fit Over Fifty YXE” program has been running for over 7 months now with huge success! As the program head I would love to credit for this. However, it certainly “isn’t me!”. When the program began or as we have had new members join the group, I always get a few funny looks when I say we are going to box jumps or burpees. While at face value they may seem simply as “work”, I always follow up on that first time with explaining the “why”. I also ask one simple question; “when was the last time you ‘jumped’ onto something?” Not stepped up. Jumped. In this very simple case of a box jump, the answer most often is “I don’t know” along with a lot of agreeing nods.
Slowly with this group we have introduced back squats, deadlifts, kettlebell swings, and even bench press. Over time we have gone from addressing moving our bodies through space with purpose and retraining our nervous systems to do all the things we were once able to, to adding weight to functional movements. These functional movements that were once thought to be a thing of the past for many of the group, have not only become possible, but have become competent! Even with loading. As a coach, the feedback has been one of the most rewarding things I have heard.
I have “scratched the surface” of anatomy and physiology and pathology as part of my training as a paramedic. I know it is just that; a small scratch. I will never pretend to know anything I don’t and so when it came to writing this blog, I wanted to share those simple examples above. Those are “real world”, every day things that I see in our Fit Over Fifty program every time they are in the gym. I wanted to share more on the benefits our training so I did some research. This should be an encouragement to not only our Fit Over Fifty members, but all members! We are all staying functional and increasing our longevity because of the work we put in each day at 306.
I encourage you to give the following page a quick read. There are all kinds of big words and medical terms on it. If you don’t know what they mean, that’s good! I hope you don’t ever have to learn them. If the words resonate with you, take comfort in knowing that the fitness journey you are on will at worst, slow the progression of them. At best, it will make those words a thing of the past for you. That, my friends, is a very encouraging thought!