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Have you ever noticed how people who do no exercise at all still
have a look of fullness in their arms, legs and chests for example, when they
are less than 30 years old? Have you also noticed that this look of fullness
starts to slowly become a look of droopiness and sagginess when they are over
30? Our body is at its peak at between 25 and 30 years of age. After this point,
our body starts to slowly go into a decline and we tend to put on weight a
little faster than before.
Part of the reason for this is, after 30, we
begin to lose muscle to what is known as atrophy (muscle shrinkage due to
disuse). We also begin to lose bone density leading very slowly to eventual
osteoporosis. Muscle is active tissue and therefore burns calories. When we
start to lose muscle to atrophy, our metabolism begins to slow down as a result
leading to more fat storage and weight gain, and over 50% of this is due to
inactivity. Is there anything you can do to help reverse this process? The
answer is yes you can.
We’ve all seen it, there are two women standing
together, one is around 35 years old while the other is around 50, yet the older
women looks more firm and vigorous than the younger women. You might ask
yourself; how does she do it? The answer is she exercises. Period! You, at
almost any age can stay in great shape as well, but you have to exercise. You
have to make exercise a regular part of your day.
A good exercise
program would be one that contains both aerobic and resistance exercise with
some stretching added also. Many prefer to do aerobics and resistance exercises
separately, but a lot of people find that the best workout for them is circuit
training since it utilizes all three of these types of exercise in one, and is
very effective and time saving.
A lot of people seem to think that
aerobic exercise is the best way to lose and maintain weight, but, since 75% of
the calories you burn are at rest, this is not the case. Aerobic exercise only
burns calories during the activity, and then within two hours after you are
finished, you burn no more calories than before.
Resistance exercise on
the other hand builds and maintains muscle, and since muscle is active tissue,
you burn more calories than before, even at rest. One pound of fat burns around
4 calories per day while one pound of muscle burns around 50 calories per day.
After 30 years of age, an inactive person will lose ½ to 1 pound of muscle every
year. That means that ten years of muscle loss due to inactivity equates to a
metabolism slow down of around 450 calories per day!
If you want to lose
fat and gain muscle tone, then you must include exercise into your day and that
means including resistance training into your exercise routine. Men and women
who include resistance training to their exercise routines lose around 44% more
fat than those who don’t. Adding resistance training to a regular exercise
routine will also slow down many of the effects of aging. People even in their
80s and 90s have seen as much as a 200% improvement in their strength levels
within 3-4 weeks of starting to exercise.
You can stay fit and trim
after 40, but the message is clear, exercise with resistance included is an
absolute must if you want to stay in peak condition and feel young and alive,
and you can do it, even well past 40.
Article
Source: http://www.articledashboard.com
Jim O'Neill gives you tons of valuable information on the
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