Editor’s Note: Seek advice from your health care provider before starting any workout program.
CNN
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If you’re a man or woman approaching 50, look down in the middle of yourself. It’s the dreaded midriff bulge – the enlargement of your waistline that often creeps up on you as you age, like a receding hairline or extra wrinkles.
It’s hard to fight, but it’s part of the cycle of life and seems like a rite of passage, right? was found to have a negative impact on physical performance later in life.
A study that followed 4,509 people over the age of 45 Over 20 years in Norway, participants with high or moderately high waist circumferences at the start of the study were found to be 57% more likely to be “frail” than those with normal waistlines.
But frailty is not like crouching with a cane that the ‘tottering’ elderly imagines. Frailty includes poor grip strength, slow walking speed, general fatigue, unintended weight loss, and reduced physical activity.
According to the published study, people who were obese at the start of the study, defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher, were 2.5 more likely to be frail than those with a normal BMI (18.5 to 24.9). rice field. On January 23, 2023, in the journal BMJ Open.
There are several possible reasons, according to the study authors. Obesity can lead to increased inflammation in fat cells, which can damage muscle fibers, “resulting in decreased muscle strength and function,” said study co-authors of the University of Oslo in Tromso, Norway. Her Shreeshti Uchai, a postdoctoral fellow in nutritional epidemiology, she said. written by her colleague.
The results highlight the need to broaden the definition of frailty by capturing both overall weight gain and waist circumference gain.
“In a context of rapidly aging populations and an increasing prevalence of obesity, there is evidence to recognize a subgroup of older adults who are ‘fat and frail’, as opposed to simply viewing frailty as a debilitating disorder. increasing,” they wrote.
Exercise helps counteract the increased frailty that comes with aging. An adult should get at least 2 hours and 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week, plus muscle-strengthening exercise that includes all major muscle groups, on at least two days per week. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Physical Activity Guidelines For Americans.
Reducing body fat and building lean muscle can help improve balance and posture, says Nieka Goldberg, medical director of Atria New York City and associate professor of clinical medicine at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine. Dr. previously told CNN.
Do both cardio and strength training to stay strong and healthy.
They “seem to work together and help each other move toward better results,” he said. Dr. William RobertsProfessor of Family Medicine and Community Health, University of Minnesota School of Medicine. “A balanced program of strength and aerobic exercise is probably best, and will more closely mimic the ancestral activity that helped determine our current gene set.”
To get started with strength training, CNN fitness contributor and professional sports mind-body coach Dana Santas said: Suggest mastering body weight movements first before moving to free weights.
Try this 10 minute bodyweight workout
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