10 Reasons Why Strength is Important in Your 50’s and Beyond

Mac from Elite highlights reasons why exercise is important for people who may have left it on the backburner!

 
Keeping your strength up is super important at any age, but it become especially important in your 50s and beyond. If you fail to build up your strength and get into a good exercise regimen, you can run into a number of common problems that elderly people experience. Here are 10 reasons why strength is important in your 50s!

1.       You Will Live Longer

Studies suggest that exercise will help you to live longer. Elderly people who exercised regularly were actually found to reduce their physical age by around 5 years!  

2.       You’ll Be Able To Maintain A Healthy Weight

Maintaining a healthy weight is crucial for older people. It can become more difficult as the metabolism slows, and we actually need to eat less when we get older. If we pile on weight, it can cause all kinds of health problems and put pressure on our joints. Keeping up strength with exercise will maintain a healthier weight.

3.       You’ll Look Younger

Looking younger isn’t the be all and end all, but it can certainly improve your self-esteem and confidence. By strength training, you will keep body fat low, muscle tone high, and reduce the appearance of things like fine lines and wrinkles. As a result, you’ll likely look and feel much younger than your real age!

4.       You’ll Manage Pain Symptoms

If you have pain symptoms now, you can expect them to get worse as you age. That is, unless you begin strength training. Exercise has been proven to reduce the symptoms of chronic pain, although many people falsely believe that it makes it worse! Exercise can actually be more effective than medication for managing pain.

5.       You’ll Fight Off Illness And Disease

Not only does strength training fight off chronic pain, it can also fight off illness and disease in all forms. You will strengthen your immune system, and become less likely to even catch a cold. You’ll also lower your blood pressure in the process!

6.       You’ll Keep Joints And Bones Strong

Keeping up your strength by training properly will allow you to lubricate your joints and strengthen the muscles surrounding them. As a result, this will keep your joints healthy and strong. Not only that, you’ll strengthen your bones, which is crucial when you are getting older! Weak bones can result in easier breaks and difficulty getting around. Don’t let it happen to you.

7.       You’ll Feel Better

You’ll feel better when you decide to build up your strength with exercise. Not just because of all of the benefits here; you’ll increase the ‘feel good’ hormone serotonin, which automatically makes you happier. Plus, you’ll enjoy more endorphins after an exercise session. Exercise, combined with these hormones, helps to fight depression and other mental health problems. Many people find it difficult to talk about mental health, but it is becoming more common in older people due to things like loneliness and isolation. You don’t have to be lonely though; depression can happen to anybody.

8.       You Will Stay Mobile

How do you imagine your later years? Are you walking around just like you are now, using a walking stick, or perhaps in a wheelchair? By keeping your strength up, you’ll stay mobile for much longer! You won’t need to rely on a cane or anybody to push you around.

9.       You Will Be Physically Independent

Mac with a TRX, something
everyone could have in their homes!

Nobody wants to become somebody who is weak and unable to do things for themselves when they get older. Do you want to be able to wash yourself, or have a nurse you barely know do it for you? By keeping up your strength with regular exercise, you can remain physically independent, doing all of the things you do for yourself now.

10.    You Will Be Able To Function Better In Everyday Life

Strength will allow you to function better in everyday life. If you don’t stay strong, then things you take for granted now, may become impossible, as you get older. You will be able to continue carrying shopping, looking after grandchildren, and enjoying your life with ease.  

Who knows? You might just meet some like-minded people in your gym, or find a friend in your personal trainer. Socialising is important as you age, and exercise is a wonderful way to do that.

You no longer have to resign yourself to a life of becoming weak and unable to care for yourself. Inactivity is the reason elderly people often become weak and feeble - it isn’t down to ageing at all! You can age and still remain fit, trim, healthy, and strong. You’ll look and feel all the better for it, too!

Visit www.elitefit.co.uk for more info!