Natural Way Health Blog

Biomarker 2 – Strength

Here’s the problem:

As we age, we lose whole motor units (a measurement of muscle). In cross-sectional studies, it’s been estimated that over the 40-year span between age 30 and 70, people experience a 20 percent decrease in the number of motor units in their thigh, for example. Similar decreases are sustained in both large and small muscle groups all over our body.

Gradual muscle loss is the catalyst for a number of other age-related changes in your body. These adverse changes are . . .

• a slowdown in your metabolism
• a steady increase in body fat
• a declining aerobic capacity
• a reduced blood-sugar tolerance
• a continuing loss in bone density

So how do we prevent or reduce the loss of muscle.

• We exercise what we have – use it or lose it
• we give the body the nutrition it deserves and requires – protein, fats and oils, carbohydrates, Vitamins and Minerals
  • we either get these elements from our diets (good quality natural food) and supplement where necessary with concentrated food source supplements
• we take regular and frequent light exercise
  • walking,
  • breathing – deep cyclical breathing is hugely important and beneficial
  • mobility – exercise the joints and muscles through their full range of movement
  • control exercises – practice manual and physical tasks that require fine muscle control – knitting,
• make exercise a priority – 10 minutes walking twice a day is enough for most people to improve their health

Muscles will only strengthen if the exercise adds:

• Resistance e.g. adding more weight
• Number of repetitions with a particular weight
• Number of sets of the exercise

Again the saying Use it or lose it is just about where it is at.

Enough is Good – Some is OK

Imagine if exercising 10 minutes a day were enough to improve your health, cheer you up, and help you maintain a steady weight. Well, it is, even though most experts stubbornly insist that you need 30 to 60 minutes daily to see results. The case for shorter sessions has been building for some time, but earlier this year results from a watershed study made the point loud and clear.

Researchers at Pennington Biomedical Research Centre in Baton Rouge , Louisiana , reported findings from a study involving 464 women who weren’t exercisers. After six months, a group who walked an average of 72 minutes a week at two to three mph that’s about 10 minutes of mall-pace striding a day had significantly improved heart strength and general fitness, nearly matching the efforts of women exercising almost twice as long.

“Your body responds very positively, very quickly to even small amounts of exercise,” says lead study author Tim Church, MD, PhD. “If you’re sedentary, you’ll see a lot of your greatest gains going from zero to 10 minutes a day.”

More exercise is definitely better, but based on Church’s findings and the studies below, there’s evidence you can take your time easing into those longer workouts.

Why 10 Minutes is Better Than None

Build Muscle
A seven-week study of 22 couch potatoes found that those who did just one set of 10 repetitions of seven strength-training moves (about 10 minutes of lifting) three days a week gained as much strength as those who did a 30-minute, three-set routine.

Boost your mood
In a recent study of 48 men and women, spinning on a bike for 10 minutes led to a mood lift and drop in depression and fatigue similar to what they’d get riding three times as long.

Protect your joints
After tracking nearly 4,000 women in their 70s for three years, researchers found that those who reported of having arthritis pain needed only 75 minutes a week of moderate exercise like brisk walking to reduce the frequency of symptoms by nearly 30 percent.

Manage your weight
Both Church’s study and a larger study of 13,711 men and women reveal that just 70 to 75 minutes of brisk walking or about 40 minutes of jogging a week is enough to begin shrinking your waistline. And targeting the waist is important because belly fat is directly tied to heart disease, diabetes, and early death.

Quell stress
“We’ve seen significant changes in the autonomic nervous system fewer incidences of the fight-or-flight stress reflex being triggered with even 70 to 75 minutes a week of exercise,” says Church. “A little exercise can do much more than people think, so there’s no excuse for not getting up and just doing something.”