People of all ages can benefit from regular exercise, but this becomes a bigger priority as we get older, when health and wellbeing are pushed to the forefront. Exercise can prevent illness and preserve quality of life, two considerations which gain significance in later years. Our bodies change as we get older, but why exactly is fitness so important for seniors?

Well, scientific researches suggests by age 65, the cardiovascular system decreases 30% in cardiac output, as the muscular system undergoes a 40% loss of muscle mass. This affects the metabolism, where older individuals have less energy to exercise as the body allocates energy to focus on metabolic activity and fight illness. Though this can be viewed from a discouraging perspective, especially as you experience increases in body fat percentage and decreases in bone density, it’s important to adopt a different train of thought.

Use your body’s degenerative tendencies as encouragement to exercise more, to stave off attrition and ensure your life has optimum longevity. Age shouldn’t be a restrictive factor, so never give up. Your body will respond well to exercise regardless of how old you are, though it’s important to introduce exercise gradually. You’re probably wondering what to focus on, but don’t worry because you’re in the right place!

Exercise is highly beneficial for physical and mental well-being. No matter what your goals are, you’d be wise to incorporate some form of strength training in your fitness routine. This will not help you get stronger, burn fat, and ultimately become healthier. In conjunction with aerobic exercise, strength training can benefit your cardiovascular system considerably.

There are various strength training options to consider. Most gyms stock a combination of free weights and machines, but what are they?

Well, free weights involve movements executed with dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, and other tools that are not attached to a structural device.

Machine exercises differ, working on a fixed path with a stabilized range of motion where weights can be adjusted accordingly.

There are also cable stations, which are often considered machines, but in reality have much more in common with free weights with regards to pros and cons.

All three have benefits and limitations, which are worth considering on route to implementing an effective workout regime. But what exactly are the pros and cons of free weights and machine exercises? By the end of this article, you’ll be capable of addressing this question, and able to make a well-informed decision on which bests suits your individual needs and requirements.

The Body Mass Index, or BMI is a popular calculation which uses your height and weight to attempt to estimate your percentage of body fat. The result can tell you whether you’re underweight, normal, overweight or obese.

Thanks to its simplicity and speed, it’s a calculation that’s very popular within the medical profession. It’s also a relatively easy way to notice those possible weight issues, and also detect if you’re at an increased risk of suffering certain chronic diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, gallstones, respiratory issues, certain cancers, and metabolic syndrome.

Considering that we have a global population that’s becoming increasingly overweight or obese, calculating your BMI would seem to be a really smart move.

So in this short article, we’re going to give you a rundown of what you need to know about calculating your BMI. We’ll explain how to calculate your own body mass index, we’ll explain what the number actually means, and then we’ll help you make sense of what is happening when the result isn’t quite what you expect.

HOW TO CALCULATE YOUR BMI

Obesity is one of the biggest health problems in recent decades. There is a strong association with obesity and with heart disease, stroke, hypertension, type II diabetes, and cancer. Together, these conditions are considered some of the most threatening to longevity and in many cases, they occur all at the same time. Listed ahead are some details about how obesity can affect and harm your quality of life. In particular, a sedentary lifestyle that contributes to obesity will be examined.

Obesity Defined

There are many ways in which an adult can be considered obese. For starters, body habitus can explain much of your current lifestyle, but in medical terms, there are more concrete ways to measure for obesity. One of the simplest, and most common, ways to define obesity is by using the body mass index (BMI). Your BMI is a calculation of your overall mass compared to your height. There is a plethora of research out there on BMI and its correlation with heart disease, as well as other harmful conditions.

Body Shape and Appearance

In addition to the height and weight measurement, your body shape can tell a lot about how you are personally storing fat throughout your body. Depending on where your body stores fat could have a major implication on your overall health. One area where adults store fat is in the lower part of the body, particularly in the thighs, gluteal muscles, and hips. When fat is more prominent in this area, you are considered pear shaped, or gynoid. In comparison, people who store fat in the upper part of the body, primarily in the abdominal area, are considered apple shaped, or android. People who are more apple shaped are at a greater risk of heart disease when compared to pear shaped, which means decreasing the fat around your abdomen is important for your health.

With the increased awareness of significance of effective training in fat loss in our body, more and more people are involved in regular trainings. In an eagerness to lose fat as fast as possible, sometimes you may end up doing training like weights in a wrong way. This not only harms your general body function, but also can counteract in your fat loss mission as well.

There are some crucial factors you need to be watchful while doing training. Apart from doing regular trainings, it is significant to be active in your daily life by taking walks and climbing stairs along with maintaining a flexible metabolism. Given below are some points to be considered while doing trainings:

• Focus on overall body

While lifting weights it is important to focus on all your muscle joints, rather than concentrating on individual parts. It is advisable to do multi-joint lifts such as presses, chin-ups, squats, pulls and deadlifts to favour various parts of the body.

• Reduce rest time and longer duration under stress

Make your rest periods as short as possible and change the tempo of lifting stages and resting intervals in order to assist your body to adapt. It is best to spend maximum time under stress to burn more carbs and to improve post-training consumption of oxygen. Circuit training with reasonably heavy weights with less rest in between sets can enhance metabolic disturbance.

Researches over many years proved that fish oil is highly beneficial for a healthy body, which also helps to burn fat. Unlike other oils this don’t turn to fat and thus helps making muscles in our body in the healthiest way. It plays an important role in improving the metabolic rates and insulin sensitivity, which are crucial for a healthy body.

It is indeed advisable to increase the intake of fish oil due to its various benefits to the overall well-being of our body. Given below are the prime benefits of consuming fish oil through our daily diet:

• Fish oil accelerates fat loss

Since fish oil is created of omega-3 fatty acids, it provides necessary essential fats to our body, which the body is unable to generate by itself. Secondly fish oil is not converted into fat in your body, instead it is used to make the outer lipid layer that guards body cells. With assistance of fish oil, the cells function excellently and metabolic rate ideal, as it enhances the insulin activity. An enhanced insulin sensitivity is the primary reason for fat loss in our body and fish oil has anti-inflammatory properties as well.

• Fish oil helps build muscles

Everybody is aware of the importance of eating right and wise for a healthy lifestyle. Especially the alarming rise in lifestyle diseases calls for emergency action by making corrective measures in eating habits. Most of us are indulging in unhealthy or junk food even while knowing its hazardous effects.

In order to maintain a healthy lifestyle, it is paramount to take appropriate measures to include essential nutrients in your food while avoiding extra fat and unnecessary flavours. Given below are some practical and easy ways to maintain a healthy diet:

• Include healthy fats, avoid trans-fats

Although fat sounds alarming, smart or good fats are essential for our body, as per researches and studies, which helps to lower body fat and improve androgen levels. However, it is necessary to avoid man-made and trans-fats such as shortening and margarine. It is advisable to use butter or coconut oil for cooking and olive oil or avocado and nuts oils in salads.

• Keep a watch on Omega 6 and include omega 3

While it is good to have fish and pastured milk to enhance omega 3 fat intake, you need to be careful about omega 6 fats which is included in artificially processed vegetable oils like peanut, canola, corn and soy.

The latest fad in the nutrition world is to eliminate completely carbohydrates such as bread, rice and other starchy foods from our diet to lose weight. Many do lose weight thinking that it is the result of eliminating the “devil carbohydrates”, while if we look at the current research and behavioral changes, we can see that reasons in reality are others and that carbohydrates are an essential nutrient for our brain, cell function, physical activity and many important activities within our body. The theory is, because carbohydrates are converted into glucose and cause an insulin spike then we will gain weight however, this is a natural physiological response to their intake. However too much of it can lead to gain weight as too much of anything. Usually people tend to abuse with carbohydrates but not with protein, fats or vegetables. You never hear someone saying “I had 10 entire eggs today” or “I ate an entire stick of butter” but you do hear “I ate too much bread, too much cookies and so on”.

THIS IS WHAT WE CAN OBSERVE WHEN PEOPLE GO ON A LOW CARBOHYDRATES DIET OR ELIMINATE THEM COMPLETELY:

• They eliminate processed foods since most are carbohydrates rich such as pasta, white rice, cookies, cakes, breads and other fast acting ones
• They replace the carbohydrates they were eating with protein which are metabolically active (they help to lose weight) and promote muscle tone
• They eliminate sugary drinks since they contain sugar
• They eat less calories
• They eat more whole foods

To drink or not to drink that is the question? Are you gaining body fat around your mid-section? Do you wake up in the middle of the night or wake up feeling tired? These are questions that you must ask yourself when it comes to alcohol consumption. Many people are trying to be healthy by drinking 1-2 servings of alcohol a day. Doctors are encouraging their patients to have a few glasses of wine with dinner. Some physicians state that research has shown alcohol can improves one‘s health and longevity. I on the other hand have a quite a different view. Not only is alcohol detrimental to your health but it can actually decrease the longevity and quality of your life. It is not just the issue of calories or carbohydrate intake from alcohol but its effect on body fat, hormones, sleep quality, and physical recovery and regeneration.

Many studies indicate that alcohol intake does not affect bodyweight, but there is a common flaw in all of these studies. The method of tracking weight gain or loss is measured in terms of Body Mass Index (BMI). BMI is an individual‘s body weight in kilograms divided by height in meters. BMI is an individual‘s body weight (kg) divided by height (m)². The use of BMI does not take into account the body composition of an individual. For example, if a subject weighs 150 pounds but gains 5 pounds of fat and loses 5 pounds of muscle, their BMI is the same but their body composition is completely different. Not only has that person gained 5 pounds of fat around their midsection which does not appear pleasant but they have also decreased their metabolism by losing 5 pounds of muscle. Remember you never want to lose muscle mass because it is your metabolic engine. The consequence of the extra 5 pounds of belly fat is undesirable and is considered a risk factor for diabetes and obesity. Alcohol also has a significant effect on lipid oxidation in the body. A study by The New England Journal of Medicine has shown that adding alcohol to healthy subjects shows reduced lipid oxidation in a 24 hour period (1). A decrease in lipid oxidation means that the body‘s fat burning abilities has been reduced. Therefore if you are consuming alcohol on a daily basis, you are reducing your body‘s ability to burn body fat and your body becomes a fat storing machine.