UNDERSTANDING FITNESS
What is fitness?
When the word fitness is used people usually think of younger people, sometimes in lycra or leotards, or as athletes. Fitness is obviously very important to these groups, but fitness is relevant at every age and actually becomes more important and more relevant the longer you live.
In terms of understanding fitness the usual meaning is that a person who is fitter can achieve better performance, for example when saying that people who are fitter can run faster, walk faster, lift heavier weights, bend more, and balance better It is true that one way of measuring fitness is to measure the maximum performance level and that is what people aim for in sport. The fitter people are the less are they are disturbed when they have to do something like run a mile A fit person usually has a lower pulse rate when resting and the pulse rate goes up less and returns to the resting rate faster after exercise. It is sometimes said that they have greater reserve.
Thus fitness has two key components.
These are also the two key features of ageing which is why fitness and ageing are so often confused. What happens is that as we live longer the fitness gap opens up between the best possible rate of ability and the actual rate of ability. For most of us however the fitness gap starts to open up from the day we get our sitting job or the day we buy our first car and often these two go together, with live focused on the computer screen
Why is fitness important?
Fitness is important not just for athletes but for everyone because by increasing activity you can close the fitness gap, at any age and no matter how many long term conditions you have. By closing the fitness gap you can increase your level of ability whatever your age
You will also increase your reserve, a bit like putting some more money in your deposit account, and this will make you more resilient. If you have greater reserve you will respond better to challenges including the challenge of to a period of forced inactivity, like the lockdown or a chest infection like the flu.
The importance of fitness is that its effects are very similar to the effects of ageing which is the process we cannot influence. The downside of this is that this is one reason why the two are often confused, the upside is that you can do something about fitness and therefore you can do something about the changes that many people regard as the inevitable effects of the ageing process namely loss of ability and loss of reserve or the ability to respond to challenges. For this reason increasing fitness is of vital importance in preventing not only diseases such as heart disease and stroke but also in preventing disability, dementia and frailty.
What can you do?
Encouragingly the evidence about the benefits of exercise is much simpler than the evidence about diet and focuses on the ability to increase four aspects of physical fitness all beginning with the letter S
Who is there to help?
regular attendance at a gym or fitness centre will obviously help you focus but so too will programmes like the programme run by AgeUK called Generation Games.
The important point to emphasise however is that it is what you do for yourself every day that is really important and that is where personal trainers are helpful is not only because they can advise on the best types of exercise, but they can help you stay motivated.
Try a gym or fitness centre nearby. They are trying really hard to provide services for people over 55 and change their image and their focus which has up to now been on people under forty . also ask around to find an inspirational teacher of
If you have some health condition which limits exercise then you may want to consult a physiotherapist but they like all other well informed heath professionals are now clear –
LISTEN TO OUR PODCAST
REGAINING AND INCREASING FITNESS
The Oxford Longevity Project review of science provides a clear picture. The first podcast in our series on How to Live Longer Better described current thinking about the relative unimportance of ageing, the normal biological process of ageing until the nineties. The science is clear that ageing by itself is not a major cause of problems until the late nineties but the problems that do occur more frequently are due to three other processes – loss of fitness, disease and social pressures.
The term fitness conjures up images of young people in leotards or sports kit but fitness is not only a great importance after the age of sixty, it becomes more important every year.
Firstly, we have to define what is meant by fitness and there are two ways in which it can be measured. One is to measure the maximum level of ability for example how long it takes a person to climb three flights of stairs, or indeed climb three flights of stairs at home. The second is the rate of recovery or resilience following a challenge namely how quickly does the person’s pulse return to normal after climbing three flights of stairs. These two characteristics, the maximum level of ability and resilience and of course the same characteristics as the normal biological effects of ageing which is why ageing and loss of fitness have been confused until recent years.
It is now clear that many of the changes that are taking place as we live longer are due to loss of fitness and not to ageing.
Furthermore, there is also strong evidence that fitness can be increased at any age and for most people there is scope for doing this because the fitness gap opens up in the early twenties, the age of which people get their first job and their first car. For most people now a job means a chair, and from the early twenties they can look forward to forty years of sitting at work which has a huge impact on their level of fitness and their ability to live longer better.
Fortunately, it is clear that there is no upper age limit for improving fitness and indeed because the normal biological process of ageing reduces the resilience, it is sensible to increase the amount of exercise that one takes to live longer. For example, thirty minutes of brisk walking is recommended for all ages, but it makes sense to aim for thirty-one minutes daily in your sixties, thirty-two minutes for your seventies, and thirty-three minutes in your eighties.
In discussing fitness in more detail, we will use the simple mnemonic developed by the NHS and the Live Longer Better Programme – the four Ss of fitness – Strength, Stamina, Suppleness and Skill.
This podcast is an introduction as to what is meant by fitness and its relevance to living longer better. There will be a linked set of podcasts on fitness describing in more detail different aspects of fitness both physical, mental and what an individual can do, preferably with others in their community to regain lost fitness and get fitter which will also reduce the risk of disease which will be the topic of the third podcast.
Points for Reflection after listening and reading; if you are working through these podcasts with a group ask people to turn to their neighbour and discuss thesepoints or allocate them to a Zoom room if you are online
Decide which of the four S’s will be your priority, bearing in mind that more detail will be explained in the four podcasts on Strength, Stamina, Skill and Suppleness
What is fitness?
- Key messages
It is almost always a decline in fitness that starts the decline in ability not ageing
fitness has four dimensions – strength, stamina, suppleness and skill
increasing fitness becomes more important every year and with every diagnosis
When the word fitness is used people usually think of younger people, sometimes in lycra or leotards, or as athletes. Fitness is obviously very important to these groups, but fitness is relevant at every age and actually becomes more important and more relevant the longer you live.
In terms of understanding fitness the usual meaning is that a person who is fitter can achieve better performance, for example when saying that people who are fitter can run faster, walk faster, lift heavier weights, bend more, and balance better It is true that one way of measuring fitness is to measure the maximum performance level and that is what people aim for in sport. The fitter people are the less are they are disturbed when they have to do something like run a mile A fit person usually has a lower pulse rate when resting and the pulse rate goes up less and returns to the resting rate faster after exercise. It is sometimes said that they have greater reserve.
Thus fitness has two key components.
- The first is to increase the top level of performance
- The second to provide the person with greater reserve so that they can cope better with a challenge.
These are also the two key features of ageing which is why fitness and ageing are so often confused. What happens is that as we live longer the fitness gap opens up between the best possible rate of ability and the actual rate of ability. For most of us however the fitness gap starts to open up from the day we get our sitting job or the day we buy our first car and often these two go together, with live focused on the computer screen
Why is fitness important?
Fitness is important not just for athletes but for everyone because by increasing activity you can close the fitness gap, at any age and no matter how many long term conditions you have. By closing the fitness gap you can increase your level of ability whatever your age
You will also increase your reserve, a bit like putting some more money in your deposit account, and this will make you more resilient. If you have greater reserve you will respond better to challenges including the challenge of to a period of forced inactivity, like the lockdown or a chest infection like the flu.
The importance of fitness is that its effects are very similar to the effects of ageing which is the process we cannot influence. The downside of this is that this is one reason why the two are often confused, the upside is that you can do something about fitness and therefore you can do something about the changes that many people regard as the inevitable effects of the ageing process namely loss of ability and loss of reserve or the ability to respond to challenges. For this reason increasing fitness is of vital importance in preventing not only diseases such as heart disease and stroke but also in preventing disability, dementia and frailty.
What can you do?
Encouragingly the evidence about the benefits of exercise is much simpler than the evidence about diet and focuses on the ability to increase four aspects of physical fitness all beginning with the letter S
- Strength and power, where power is the ability to use strength quickly
- Suppleness
- Skill
- Stamina
- help people feel better and
- improve brain or cognitive fitness and cognitive reserve not only by the beneficial effects that becoming fitter has on your heart and blood vessels, and therefore on the supply of oxygen to the brain, but also it is now known that physical activity has a direct beneficial effect on brain tissue.
Who is there to help?
regular attendance at a gym or fitness centre will obviously help you focus but so too will programmes like the programme run by AgeUK called Generation Games.
The important point to emphasise however is that it is what you do for yourself every day that is really important and that is where personal trainers are helpful is not only because they can advise on the best types of exercise, but they can help you stay motivated.
Try a gym or fitness centre nearby. They are trying really hard to provide services for people over 55 and change their image and their focus which has up to now been on people under forty . also ask around to find an inspirational teacher of
- Yoga or
- Pilates or
- Tai chi or
- The Alexander technique
If you have some health condition which limits exercise then you may want to consult a physiotherapist but they like all other well informed heath professionals are now clear –
- use it or lose it and
- Use it more and regain it
LISTEN TO OUR PODCAST
REGAINING AND INCREASING FITNESS
The Oxford Longevity Project review of science provides a clear picture. The first podcast in our series on How to Live Longer Better described current thinking about the relative unimportance of ageing, the normal biological process of ageing until the nineties. The science is clear that ageing by itself is not a major cause of problems until the late nineties but the problems that do occur more frequently are due to three other processes – loss of fitness, disease and social pressures.
The term fitness conjures up images of young people in leotards or sports kit but fitness is not only a great importance after the age of sixty, it becomes more important every year.
Firstly, we have to define what is meant by fitness and there are two ways in which it can be measured. One is to measure the maximum level of ability for example how long it takes a person to climb three flights of stairs, or indeed climb three flights of stairs at home. The second is the rate of recovery or resilience following a challenge namely how quickly does the person’s pulse return to normal after climbing three flights of stairs. These two characteristics, the maximum level of ability and resilience and of course the same characteristics as the normal biological effects of ageing which is why ageing and loss of fitness have been confused until recent years.
It is now clear that many of the changes that are taking place as we live longer are due to loss of fitness and not to ageing.
Furthermore, there is also strong evidence that fitness can be increased at any age and for most people there is scope for doing this because the fitness gap opens up in the early twenties, the age of which people get their first job and their first car. For most people now a job means a chair, and from the early twenties they can look forward to forty years of sitting at work which has a huge impact on their level of fitness and their ability to live longer better.
Fortunately, it is clear that there is no upper age limit for improving fitness and indeed because the normal biological process of ageing reduces the resilience, it is sensible to increase the amount of exercise that one takes to live longer. For example, thirty minutes of brisk walking is recommended for all ages, but it makes sense to aim for thirty-one minutes daily in your sixties, thirty-two minutes for your seventies, and thirty-three minutes in your eighties.
In discussing fitness in more detail, we will use the simple mnemonic developed by the NHS and the Live Longer Better Programme – the four Ss of fitness – Strength, Stamina, Suppleness and Skill.
This podcast is an introduction as to what is meant by fitness and its relevance to living longer better. There will be a linked set of podcasts on fitness describing in more detail different aspects of fitness both physical, mental and what an individual can do, preferably with others in their community to regain lost fitness and get fitter which will also reduce the risk of disease which will be the topic of the third podcast.
Points for Reflection after listening and reading; if you are working through these podcasts with a group ask people to turn to their neighbour and discuss thesepoints or allocate them to a Zoom room if you are online
- How fit would you say you were compared with other people your age?
- Which of the four S’s will be your priority?
- What could you ask your family to give you to increase your fitness for your next birthday present, for example a session with a trainer or a set of weights or gym membership ?
Decide which of the four S’s will be your priority, bearing in mind that more detail will be explained in the four podcasts on Strength, Stamina, Skill and Suppleness