Flexing Your Muscles
Girls, no matter what your age, but especially if you are 50 plus, you need to think about how important your muscles are! Not only are your muscles the outer support for your skeleton and internal organs, but your muscles are actually vitally, crucially and absolutely important for healthy ageing.
As we get older, our muscle mass drops through declining hormones, activity, time availability to exercise, and a whole lot of reasons. The flow on effect from this is a nasty circle of cascading problems.
The reason your muscles are SO important for you is that they are the engine room of your hormones. We have this wonderful complex bio-machinery inside us – in particular our endocrine system, which without muscles simply can’t deliver the hormones you need to feel and look great.
Just think of your thyroid gland, to name just one, being like a knob on a radio – then you get a sense of how your thyroid functions. Your thyroid gland turns up and down emitting more or less of its specialist hormone (in this case thyroid stimulating hormone) as it responds to your needs. But if you don’t have a speakers in the radio, the ‘emissions’ won’t be amplified enough to be heard. Your muscles are your speakers. They help convert the nutrients in your body into the hormones you need in response to the signal being received from the thyroid via the thyroid stimulating hormones.
The bottom line is muscles make you feel better! You will have more energy, sleep better, ward off osteoporosis and maintain a better endocrine system if you lift weights (that means growing younger). There are several strategies for maintaining healthy muscle mass and you might want to think about acquiring an exercise band to keep your muscles toned (easy to use, travels in your hand bag, use any time).
However, to build muscle (which over 50 you will probably need to do) think about lifting up to 80% of maximum capability. That is how you build muscle.
That means you need weights. You don’t need to go to a gym or have a personal trainer. Do it on the cheap if you need to. Every discount store has weights these days, and look in second hand bookshops for some body building books (that’s right you are becoming a 50+ body builder so get with it) to show you how the correct techniques, muscle groups and more. It is that simple. Get some girlfriends together for some group power lifting, and have a super meal afterwards with plenty of protein. This can get to be seri ous fun.
And if you need to lose fat (not muscle – remember muscle weighs more than fat, but has a slimmer profile) then get your heart rate over 120 beats for 20 minutes each day. Watch the kilos come off. An exercise bike, a heart monitor and a TV to watch will make this painless.
So lots of good tips here, but first of all have a check up with your doctor and make sure everything is ‘good to go’. Here is a great post work out recipe that is easy to prepare, delicious to eat, and will give you a balanced protein to carbohydrate ratio.
SESAME TUNA WITH FRESH, CRISP SALAD
Tuna
Tuna piece should be about the size of your palm.
Lightly season and pat sesame seeds on to the tuna, and sear each side. Don’t overcook the tuna – as it will dry out. Cook to taste.
Salad
Fine shred purple cabbage, raddichio and lettuce.
Toss through walnuts, and a cut up pear.
Crumble goats cheese on top .
Dressing
Mix olive oil and balsamic vinegar to taste, add a dash of mustard and crushed garlic.
So weights up, banish nanna arms, flabby thighs and feel better, younger, fitter, sexier and happier (yes you also release a whole lot of endorphins which will put a smile on your face).
About the author
Rikki McDonald Grinberg (B. Soc Sc, Psychology; Grad Dip Criminology) owns and runs the Laughing Buddha Health Retreat and Ballina Beach Village. She specialises in mind, body and spirit, and works with hundreds of women looking to improve their health and fitness.
