Build the Body You’ll Want Later: Ageing With Resilience
When you’re 25, being 65 feels an extraordinarily long way away.
You probably aren’t thinking about whether you’ll be able to get up from the floor easily, carry your own suitcase, maintain strong bones or confidently walk for miles on holiday.
But perhaps we should think about these things a little earlier.
One of the most useful ways to approach ageing is to stop seeing it as something we deal with once we’re old. The foundations of a strong, capable older body can begin decades earlier.
In Your 20s: Build
Your twenties are a wonderful time to build physical capacity.
This doesn’t mean you need to spend your twenties living in the gym. It means giving your body plenty of opportunities to become strong.
Lift things. Walk. Run if you enjoy it. Dance. Play sport. Climb hills. Learn how to squat, hinge, push, pull and carry weight.
Strength training is particularly valuable because you’re not simply building muscles for how you look now. You’re building a reserve for later… hands up if you want to continue living in your own home when you’re older? ME!
The same applies to your bones. Bone strength reaches its highest level at around the age of 30, after which it gradually reduces. Weight bearing activity and resistance exercise help support bone density, which makes those younger decades a brilliant opportunity to invest in your skeleton as well as your muscles.
In Your 30s: Maintain and Progress
Your thirties can be ridiculously busy.
Careers develop, families grow, responsibilities multiply and suddenly exercise becomes something you’re trying to squeeze into the gaps.
This is where consistency becomes more valuable than perfection.
You don’t need hours every day. A couple of proper strength sessions each week, regular walking and something that gets your heart and lungs working can create an excellent foundation. NHS guidelines recommend adults include muscle strengthening activity on at least two days each week.
Your thirties are also a good time to stop treating exercise purely as a way of changing your appearance.
Train because you want strong legs. Train your back. Build your grip. Look after your cardiovascular fitness. Practise moving through a good range of motion.
Start thinking about what your body can do.
In Your 40s: Protect What You’ve Built
By our forties, many of us begin noticing that our bodies aren’t quite as forgiving as they once were.
Recovery matters more. Old injuries occasionally introduce themselves again. For some women, perimenopause enters the picture too.
This isn’t the point to retreat from exercise.
It’s the point to become smarter about it.
Strength training, walking, cardiovascular exercise, mobility, balance, adequate nutrition and proper recovery all start earning their place in your week.
You may need longer between hard sessions. You may need to warm up properly rather than launching enthusiastically into something because you could get away with it 20 years ago.
That’s not failure.
That’s learning how to work with your body.
And if you’re reading this in your 50s, 60s or 70s thinking, Well, I wish I’d done all that, please don’t.
You haven’t missed your opportunity.
Exercise continues to matter as we get older. Strength work can support muscle and bone strength, while balance work can help us remain steady and reduce the risk of falls.
The best time to build those foundations may have been years ago.
The next best time is now.
At Astral Fitness, I love people to stop seeing exercise as punishment for what they ate or something they have to do to make themselves smaller.
Think bigger than that.
The squat you practise at 30 might help you rise easily from a chair at 80. The weights you lift at 40 might help you carry your own shopping decades later. The walks you take now might help keep you exploring the world for years to come.
You’re not just training today’s body.
You’re investing in every version of yourself still to come.
I offer Personal Training tailored to exactly where you are now, and if you feel there is a bigger issue at play that needs resolution before you embark on a regular exercise regime, then why not book in for a massage instead? Head over to www.astralfitness.co.uk to book a massage, or email me [email protected] to enquire about Personal Training.
Thank you for reading this weeks blog, Build the Body You’ll Want Later.
Thanks for reading,
Chloe