I’ve met a lot of people struggling with health issues since starting this personal training business.
After literally thousands of consultations with prospective clients, I’ve come to understand certain trends of health deterioration and how they come about.
Perhaps one of the most devastating changes that people face as they get older is the loss of strength.
Strength is something most people take for granted.
Only when it’s gone does one realize how much their daily enjoyment was predicated upon the ability to move with intention and capability.
As you age, you naturally lose muscle mass — this is called Sarcopenia.
As people age, their natural production of human growth hormone (HGH) begins to decline, along with other important hormones.
The only counter to Sarcopenia is living a highly active life where you lift heavy things frequently, or if you take up something like weight lifting or personal training.
One of the great benefits of weight lifting is that it can bolster your natural production of HGH.
HGH has been called “the fountain of youth”. Many clients of ours who have re-gained strength after seeing it robbed by sarcopenia know this well.
HGH will only be increased in your body after doing “maximal movements,“ where your body is recruiting a great number of muscles in order to move an object.
At SmartFit, one of our pillars is to always engage in maximal movements, or compound lifts, to ensure a steady steam of HGH throughout the session. An exercise example of a maximal movement would be a back-loaded squat, or a classic deadlift.
Not only does this counteract Sarcopenia, but our younger clients also achieve dramatic body recomposition.
Maximal movements are the answer to preventing strength loss as you age, but they should be done with supervision.
You can, however, start your journey right away by doing 3 sets of 10 squats every morning.
For most people in the grasp of Sarcopenia, this will be challenging — but it’s a great way to start. Make daily squats a part of your wake-up routine and start on the path of maintaining your strength into your golden years.
As always, we’re here to provide you with the expertise for that extra push — book a consultation today to see what we’re all about!
– Travis