⭑ Power training heads strength training for your healthspan ✔ Both are good All strength to Ukraine 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦 Hello,Still above ground. I'm entered to run a 10-mile road race in two weeks, but my low-grade glute/hamstring injury is very slow to improve. When you're a "runner" who can't run, you feel sorry for yourself—a kind of gloom and doom. But then I always think of Pit Bull and ♬ "Time of My Life" ♬ where he sings "...every day above ground is a good day", making me smile. I was comforted to find out that waking at 3 am and going around in circles until falling back to sleep is common—see item #2. Power training and strength training have tremendous benefits for us as we age. Research is consistent that power training edges out strength training when measured one against the other for our health span—see item #1. // 01 Power Training Develops Better Functionality I was surprised to find consistent research suggesting that power training yields greater healthspan benefits for our age group than strength training. As we age, our muscle strength and power decline, significantly impacting daily activities and our overall quality of life. Research has highlighted a pivotal distinction in training modalities, suggesting that power training may offer superior functional benefits compared to traditional strength training. What does this actually mean? Firstly, we must understand "muscle power": the ability to quickly generate force. It is the product of strength and speed, involving fast-twitch muscle fibres that allow for rapid and explosive movements, such as squat jumps. Muscle power declines faster than muscle strength as we age, with this trend being more pronounced in men than in women. For example, power declines about 10% more than strength in men, starting around age 40. Functional performance refers to the ability to perform everyday activities that require a combination of strength, balance, coordination, and agility. Training for muscle power, which focuses on rapid force production, yields better functional performance outcomes than strength training. ⇒ This is because many everyday activities require not just the ability to exert force, but to do so quickly and efficiently, which is more effectively developed through power training. What this means for you: By integrating power-focused exercises into your fitness routine, you can improve your overall functional performance, maintain independence, and reduce your risk of falling as you age. In other words, improve your healthspan. Three steps to better muscle power:
⇒ The key is consistency. Check this useful video: Strength vs. power training│Dr Brad Schoenfeld Related: Even Very Active Runners Lose Leg Strength Without Resistance Training // 02 Worrying at 3 AM? I Do, Apparently, There's a Reason This topic caught my attention because it happens to me! Why do we wake up at 3 am and find ourselves caught up in a cascade of niggling worries until we finally drop off to sleep again? I've noticed it happening a little earlier, around 2:30 am. I think the time is related to a certain number of sleep cycles after going to sleep Apparently, it is not uncommon, and there is a physiological reason. ⇒ Research indicates that our body's neurobiology reaches a turning point around 3 AM, with rising cortisol levels and decreasing sleep drive, which can trigger these distressing thoughts. It's described as “barbed-wire thinking,” where we get caught in a loop of distressing and punitive self-reflection. What this means for you: Waking at 3 am can lead to a cascade of negative thoughts, but understanding the underlying biological processes and employing effective strategies can mitigate their impact. Here are techniques recommended by experts:
Related: How To Sleep Better And Recover Like Elite Soccer Players @Medium - Follow me on Medium ↗, covering ⭑food, ⭑brain, ⭑body, ⭑life // 03 Boosting Your Food Intake Quickly Is Never A Good Option If you’re fit, active, and healthy, you might think that a short period of overeating will have less impact on your metabolic health than someone who is not active and healthy. A hot-off-the-press study looked at how overeating affects fat storage in the abdomen and insulin sensitivity in people who exercise regularly compared to those who do not. Participants ate about 30% more than their daily energy needs for one week.
⇒ It turns out that a brief episode of overeating can reduce insulin sensitivity and increase the activity of genes regulating fat storage, regardless of exercise habits. Reduced insulin sensitivity is never good. It causes fatigue, increases the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, may lead to increased fat accumulation around your abdomen, contributes to hypertension, accelerates the loss of muscle mass, and is associated with an increased risk of neurodegenerative diseases. What this means for you: Try not to suddenly increase your food intake, even if you are fit and healthy, because a reduction in insulin sensitivity ⇒ Instead of sudden overeating, gradually increasing calorie intake might help your body adapt better, say, when you are on holiday - take it a little at a time. Related: Drink This Many Cups Of Coffee Daily For Better Health // 04 Develop and Test Your Power With This Simple Exercise Our exercise of the week is... the sit-stand exercise. The sit-stand is a power development exercise (meaning that you should stand explosively) and also a measure of your power (by the number of repetitions you can do explosively). This simple exercise will build your leg power and strength, improve your body mechanics, such as your posterior chain, and improve the condition of many major muscles, such as your quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and calves. ⇒ Meaning you'll be more agile and more steady on your feet. What this means for you: Do your preferred variation of the sit-to-stand daily, perhaps during a TV ad break. Check these three short videos: Sit-to-Stand Balance Exercise Seniors: Sit-to-stand exercise to improve your strength! Sit-to-stand squat exercise progressions for older adults ⇒ To increase your power development, progressively add weights, see the last video above. Related: All Exercise Improves Your Mood - Five Theories Why And Six Steps To Get Started Thanks for reading! P.S. If you are not yet subscribed to my free exercise app, try now ↓↓↓ Free forever. Opt-out any time. Opt-in by CLICKING HERE PLEASE SEND ME THE EXERCISES. NOTE: YOU ONLY NEED TO SUBSCRIBE ONE TIME. >> My Latest Blog Post: Energise Your Golden Years: Boosting Your Desire to Exercise with Gut-Healthy Foods About the newsletter: Do you think it can be improved? Have a story idea? Want to share about the time you met Chris Hemsworth, or your questions about how to live longer better? Send those thoughts and more to me at walter@bodyagebuster.com '4 Most Valuable' is a weekly newsletter from Walter Adamson. If you like it, please forward to a like-minded soul. Someone forward this to you? You can subscribe from this page. Each of these weekly emails has 4MV in the subject line to help you filter them and search for previous ones. |
"I empower mid-life men and women to make the choice to live as actively and as independently as they can, for as long as they can", Walter Adamson Get access to my weekly research that I don’t share elsewhere. “My wife and I both read your articles each week, and I have to say there is so much confusing data out there, but yours is a great source, well researched, scientific and always relevant.” — Steve Ridgway, subscriber.
⭑ Research - your first COVID experience shapes your future ones ✔⭑ Healthier gut lining ✔ Is Aloe Vera juice the key?⭑ Dietary collagen is incorporated into our body ✔ What's the best source?⭑ The YTW exercise will relieve neck pain and strengthen your shoulders ✔ All strength to Ukraine 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦 Hello, Daylight saving. Yes, folks, here down under, summertime strikes on the East Coast this weekend, and the curtains are about to fade more for the next six months, or so we are led to...
⭑ How AI will make medicines more affordable for everyone ✔⭑ Awake? ✔ Here's a practical example of managing your restlessness⭑ The protein claim had me sceptical ✔ Greek yoghurt - benefits⭑ This resistance band Bird Dog has fantastic benefits ✔ All strength to Ukraine 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦 Hello, Hamster wheel. Keeping up with AI is partially like being on a hamster wheel, with the difference that it's not doing the same unrewarding and repetitive tasks over and over again, rather, it's the...
⭑ Calculated your sleep cycle? ✔ Knowing it will help you get better sleep⭑ Ozempic ✔ Why, after 50, we might end up taking it like statins⭑ Hearing loss accelerates dementia ✔ Yet men resist hearing aids; what to do⭑ This easy at-home exercise will improve your strength and balance ✔ All strength to Ukraine 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦 Hello, I'm back from sunny Queensland. The views were as promised last week - where I worked while my daughter was at her soccer camp. She had a great time and improved...