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Maggie Rappaport
Personal Training for People in Their 40s, 50s...and Beyond
Tucson, AZ
Use Interval Training to Slow Aging
Want to look and feel younger?
While everyone will age, regular aerobic exercise can decrease your biological age
by 10 years or more (Shephard 2008).
Interval training is an
effective way to exercise at a high enough intensity to significantly increase
oxygen demands and ultimately slow aging (Wright & Perricelli 2008).
Interval training consists of short bursts of going all out followed by brief
periods of active recovery. It allows you to exercise briefly at a high
intensity in order to force the body to adapt in ways that slow aging. How can
you safely interval train? Get suggestions below from author and consultant Amy
Ashmore, PhD, who holds a doctorate in kinesiology from the University of Texas
at Austin.
The best way to
interval train is to keep it simple by changing one variable at a time; for
example, increasing resistance on the elliptical trainer and maintaining speed,
or increasing incline on the treadmill and maintaining speed. It makes no
difference to the body which variable changes. All that matters is that the
muscles work harder, oxygen demand increases, the heart rate goes up and
thereby aging slows.
Here are some
variables to consider when creating interval workouts:
Speed. Increasing speed is an
obvious way to boost intensity. However, speed can cause injury and should be
used to increase exercise intensity only if you are conditioned and free from
musculoskeletal injuries.
Incline. Adding incline, along
with resistance, is an alternative way to increase intensity on most
cardiovascular equipment. A change in incline changes the mechanics of movement
by incorporating additional muscles or increasing output, both of which
increase how hard the heart works and what the maximal oxygen consumption is.
Resistance. The greater the
resistance, the harder the muscles work to move the bones. This variable can be
manipulated by increasing resistance on cardiovascular machines or by
incorporating added weight.
Relationship
to Gravity. One of the most effective ways to train is to use body weight against
gravity; for instance, by incorporating jump push-ups or squats into a workout.
Impact. Impact is most commonly
associated with sustained, high-impact activities like jogging, but plyometrics
(explosive movements such as hopping and jumping) are effective for adding
impact moves in a nonsustained manner. Including a plyometrics component can
increase the intensity of almost any exercise, but plyometrics calls for the
same care that is needed when speeding up an exercise.
Lower
Alternating With Upper. A simple way to increase intensity and then recover is
to alternate a lower-body exercise like a lunge with an upper-body exercise
like a dumbbell shoulder press. This strategy is particularly effective if you
are out of shape. The lower-body exercise increases the heart rate, while the
upper-body work allows a brief recovery.
All-out efforts
cannot be maintained for long; how long each all-out interval can be maintained
depends on intensity and heart rate. The goal should be to sustain
high-intensity exercise for 30 seconds to 1 minute. “High-intensity” is
anything that makes the heart work at 85% of maximum or higher. However, 85%
may not be feasible for everyone, and you may need to modify your intensity
level. The recovery time is proportional to the intensity and the length of the
all-out phase. For example, 1 minute at 85% should require 2–3 minutes of
recovery. Sticking to the exact time increments is not nearly as important as
simply incorporating short bursts of high-intensity exercise in training
sessions.
This handout
is a service of IDEA, the leading international membership association in the
health and fitness industry, www.ideafit.com.
References
Wright, V.J., & Perricelli, B.C. 2008. Age-related rates of decline in
performance among elite senior athletes. American Journal of Sports
Medicine, 36 (3), 443–50.