As part of my recreational hobby, I enjoy playing adult slow-pitch softball in Napa, California. I see all different types of gentleman participating in the recreational sport of slow pitch softball that we enjoy so much. Being the fitness professional that I am, I notice various levels of fitness among the participants out on the field. There can be young men in their early 20s just getting out of college and zooming around the bases. Weekend warriors who take this time for themselves to exercise once or twice a week. Then we have the older gentleman over the age of 50 who are still in phenomenal shape. I wanted to take the time to write about a teammate of mine named Sal. He uses a few principles of lifetime fitness to maintain his health and wellness. Sal plays in the 50 and older division. He also plays with me on a team of 20 to 30-year-old young men. As the oldest gentleman on the team, Sal has the highest batting average, can catch balls that he dives for in the outfield, and can still hit home runs while competing against young men in their 20’s and 30’s. It’s obvious that he takes care of himself and practices healthy lifestyle habits to maintain this level of performance at his advanced age.
During one of our games, Sal and I spoke about what we did for a living. When he learned that I coached my clients on how to live a healthier and stronger life through the lessons that we teach about lifetime fitness habits, he approached me with a few topics of discussion on how he could still maintain his fitness levels at his advanced age. He mentioned that he had problems maintaining lean muscle mass. He said his diet is pretty clean. He eats a lot of chicken while avoiding beef completely. He also mentioned that he works out with weights 5 times per week, alternating days in which he performs upper body and lower body exercises. It seems like a foolproof method to be able to maintain lean muscle mass. Balanced diet and regular resistance training will elicit beneficial effects in building and maintaining lean muscle. However, a few things struck my attention that made me reach for my creative designer hat to look for constructive ways to help Sal build more lean muscle at his advanced age.
As humans age, things slow down. Circulating anabolic hormones such as testosterone and growth hormone are not as concentrated as we advance in age. With men, bones and connective tissue stop developing around the age of 28 to 30. When we have a halt in our growth response in our body, the production of growth hormone decreases because we don’t necessarily need it as much due to lack of connective tissue attaching to new bone formations. However, this doesn’t mean that growth hormone production and other anabolic hormones will be completely obsolete. A method to ensure that growth hormone production and other anabolic hormones that help synthesize the production of lean muscle mass are present in our bodies is to perform proper resistance training exercises. Something we teach our personal training clients is to perform compound lower body, compound upper pushing, and compound upper body pulling exercises. The term “compound” is defined as an exercise that is performed utilizing more than one muscle group throughout a movement. An example of a compound lower body exercise would be performing a squat movement. Performing squats will utilize the muscles of the glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, and muscles surrounding the lower extremities of the body. During the squat exercise, we put an extreme amount of muscular stress on the lower body. When exercise induced stress occurs from performing a strenuous exercise, small micro tears in the muscle will develop. When these microscopic muscular tears occur, the body senses that the muscles need to be repaired. When muscular repair is necessary, growth hormone is sent throughout the blood and bonds to muscle cells as a chemical messenger. These hormones communicate with the muscle cells to absorb more amino acids from the blood stream to bond onto the micro tears that have been caused by resistance training exercises. This is a common method to refine the architecture of the muscle making them bigger and stronger.
In addition to performing compound exercises, it’s imperative to focus on the muscles that attach to larger bones in the body when performing any type of resistance training. Focusing on muscles that attach to larger bones will lead to the most efficient amount of force production. Force production is equivalent to work. When more work from exercise is produced, there will be a larger exercise induced stress response to the physiology of the body. When there is more stress on the body, there is going to be a greater amount of anabolic hormone sent throughout the body to help the body repair itself and return to equilibrium. When stress is introduced to the body via exercise, the body will learn to adapt to that mode of exercise when performing resistance training techniques. For instance, when coaching our clients to perform pulling exercises, we focus on stressing the muscles that surround the shoulder blade area. The muscles surrounding the shoulder blade area are far bigger than the more popular “gun show” biceps muscles. Putting a priority on exercises that emulate the movement of a pull up or a rowing motion would be the most beneficial to help influence increased muscular damage on this area of the body. When we perform exercises that influence larger muscular stress on the body, the production of anabolic hormones, such as growth hormone and testosterone, are produced to match the imposed demand that strenuous exercise through compound movements offer.
In addition to performing compound movements that encourage a greater anabolic hormonal response to increase lean muscle mass, it’s strongly recommended to emphasize safety during exercise. Most importantly, make sure that you are performing exercises that are both safe and enjoyable. The last thing we want is for exercise to be a deterrent to our lives. Make sure that exercise does not pose the threat of injury. Additionally, performing exercises that are dreadfully boring can discourage a person from wanting to exercise in general. Use your intuition when performing exercises. If there is an exercise that that screams out “No don’t do this,” then don’t do it. During our training sessions, we analyze a client’s form in excruciating detail. We make sure that back posture, foot positioning, knee positioning, and muscles of the core and hips are being utilized properly.
Putting an emphasis on performing exercises that create an anabolic hormone response in the specificity of your resistance training will positively influence the development and maintenance of lean muscle mass. Let’s go back to the example of Sal at the softball field. It’s true that he exercises and maintains incredible physical condition at his advanced age. But one thing that can’t be taught is Sal’s desire to keep learning and reaching out about how he can improve what he may be falling short at. In this case, it was noticing the hardships of maintaining lean muscle mass. Let’s take Sal’s example and learn from his experience. If we want to keep breathing, we must keep moving. A body in motion, will stay in motion. It’s not only important to exercise regularly, but it’s also important to continually assess where you are in your lifetime fitness journey. Take note on what needs to be done to refine your body to live a strong, healthy, and happy life when we get to this advanced stage in our lives.
Sean McCawley, the founder and owner of Napa Tenacious Fitness in Napa, CA, welcomes questions and comments. Reach him at 707-287-2727, napatenacious@gmail.com or visit the website napatenaciousfitness.com.
