A guide to age-appropriate fitness, according to health experts
Age isn’t a barrier to remaining agile, especially if you follow these top tips on staying the fitness course. Photo / Getty Images
A Guide To Age-appropriate Fitness, According To Health Experts
As we mark a few birthday milestones, we naturally start to slow down.
A Guide To Age-appropriate Fitness, According To Health Experts
But it is possible to stay on the wellness path with a focus on age-appropriate fitness.
A Guide To Age-appropriate Fitness, According To Health Experts
Exercise scientist Van Marinos says our levels of fitness and abilities change over the decades.
A Guide To Age-appropriate Fitness, According To Health Experts
“There is a natural age-related decline in muscle mass and strength of about three to eight per cent per decade after our 20s, along with accelerating declines in the performance and capacity of our cardio-respiratory system,” says Marinos, founder of Community Moves Health & Fitness.
A Guide To Age-appropriate Fitness, According To Health Experts
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A Guide To Age-appropriate Fitness, According To Health Experts
Which means that what came easily to us in our 20s might not be quite as achievable as we enter our 40s, and we should make some changes to stay on the right fitness path.
A Guide To Age-appropriate Fitness, According To Health Experts
A simple test of an able-bodied person’s cardio fitness is the time taken to run 2.4km. The expected standard varies slightly between men and women.
“For women in their 20s, a time of 14 minutes is good,” Marinos says. “For each decade, simply add another minute, so in your 30s it’s 15 minutes, 40s is 16 minutes.”
Fitness and self-care can often be some of the first things to disappear when people become parents. Photo / Getty Images
Time-poor parents
However, fitness and self-care can often be some of the first things to disappear when people become parents.
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The This Girl Can campaign in the UK found 60 per cent of English mums felt guilty taking time out to exercise rather than spending time with their family.
The House of Wellness TV co-host Jacqui Felgate says she has felt guilty in the past about taking time away from her two daughters to exercise.
“I love running,” Felgate says.
“It’s my favourite sport and one I used to do six days a week. Nowadays, though, I’m just so busy and tired, I’m lucky if I run once a week. My goal this year is to get back into running and leave the guilt behind.”
She believes to truly thrive and feel “well” within her body and mind, she has to exercise.