The Forties
The Forties
| Peak Points * Devote more time to aerobic exercise to improve cardiovascular health and keep fat from padding your midsection. * Pay stricter attention to a properly balanced diet to avoid undermining exercise. * Continue working out with weights, but schedule at least one day of circuit training into your program. * Do more abdominal exercises to keep your belly looking lean. |
In some ways, being in your forties is as much a state of mind as a state of body. Decade boundaries are like borders on a map: Just as land and water don''t care where the lines are drawn, your body doesn''t care that you''ve crossed an arbitrary demarcation into your fifth decade. For a while at least, it''s just the thirties, continued, and the same concerns remain pertinent: keeping active to stave off aging, approaching activity with prudent caution so as not to exceed your body''s abilities, and religiously maintaining flexibility even at times when the rest of your formal exercise plan falls temporarily by the wayside (a basic stretching regimen takes only five minutes, after all).
But the declines that shave 1 percent off your physical function per year have now had some time to aggregate. Age is sneaking up on you, incrementally. The idea of physical decline, which was largely abstract and theoretical in your thirties, gradually is becoming a tangible reality. This means that contributing to your fitness reserve is no longer a luxury with deferred benefits; it''s a necessary investment you will increasingly depend upon to maintain your quality of life.
The Injustices of Middle Age
The tangible effects of aging in your forties fall into two broad areas, the first of which is the toll that genetics and a less-than-optimal lifestyle can take on cardiovascular performance. It''s time to start paying attention (if you haven''t already) to heart-related factoids—for example, that 88 percent of heart attacks in men occur after age 44.
But let''s not be alarmist. "A lot of men worry about heart disease more than they need to," says Paul D. Thompson, M.D., director of the Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Center at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He describes how men often visit his office after they turn 40, assuming heart disease is automatically an issue for them. It''s not. The likelihood of heart disease being a problem depends on a number of risk factors, one of which is your fitness level. The men Dr. Thompson worries about are the ones who don''t worry about heart disease enough.
You probably won''t fall into that category if you''ve been active up to this point. But if you haven''t, or if your exercise routine has focused primarily on weight training, now''s the time to work more aerobic exercise into your life, according to Dr. Thompson. As we pointed out in Aerobic Exercise on page 27, aerobically active men between the ages of 35 and 74 have a 64 percent lower risk of suffering a first heart attack than their more sedentary peers. Aerobic exercise defends against heart problems across a wide front, reducing risks from (among other things) blood pressure and cholesterol. Exercise may also play a role in fending off diabetes and cancer.
The other major way age now makes itself obvious is the birth of middle girth. You find yourself standing before the mirror, gathering and tugging the folds of flab just above your belt line and wondering, "Where is this coming from?" The problem, however, isn''t about coming, it''s about lack of going. What''s happening is that your body is losing fat-burning efficiency, says Dr. Thompson. The jets of your fuel-burning metabolism—one of those declining physical functions we''ve talked about—have been turned down a notch or two. You''ve also lost a certain amount of lean muscle mass, which means your body needs fewer calories, yet you''re probably eating the same amount of food. And your diet (despite your best intentions) is probably too high in fat, which in men gets stored primarily in the bulkhead of the belly.
If you feel all of this is patently unfair because you''re not doing anything differently than you ever did, you''re right. But not doing anything differently has now become part of the problem. You have to make some changes. Fortunately, both primary problems of the fortysomething man can be confronted with the same countermeasures and the same workout plan. "Weight control and cardiovascular health go together," says Benjamin Gelfand, P.T., supervisor at the Nicholas Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma in New York City. "If you address one, you address the other." Before getting the workout specifics, take to heart the following points of action.
Dividing Your Time While many of the general recommendations for the forties workout are similar to those of the thirties workout, your individual needs and abilities are becoming more of an issue. Be sure to get a checkup with your doctor, especially if you''ve laid off exercise for an extended period of time, says Carol Espel, program director for The Sports Center at Chelsea Piers in New York City. If you feel pain, or if old injuries begin to act up, lay off activities that cause discomfort, substituting or rotating less stressful alternatives. For example, if running makes your ankles hurt, walk more. If the sheer off-the-saddle physicality of mountain biking bothers your knees, ride more level grades or take to a road bike. With that in mind, consider the following guidelines, says Espel. Monday and Friday * 25 minutes of aerobic exercise at a comfortable pace of 60 to 70 percent of your maximal heart rate * 20 minutes of strength training using the Core Routine (two sets) on page 121 * 5 to 10 minutes of stretches Wednesday * 45 minutes of circuit training using the stations of the Core Routine. Do three sets. If you have time left over, do an aerobic exercise like rowing or stationary cycling, using the last five minutes for an easy-paced cooldown. Tuesday and Thursday * Light activity such as stretches and/or 30 minutes of brisk walking |
Get a checkup. Doctors and trainers alike start getting nervous when men over age forty exercise without having had a physical. Sure, there''s nothing to worry about, but it''s a peace-of-mind thing. Get the checkup, says Dr. Thompson. Find out your blood pressure and cholesterol levels. You''re a winner no matter what the outcome: If there''s some unforeseen problem you should be cautious about, you''ll be glad for being wiser. And if the doctor pronounces you a fine specimen—well, there''s no better news than that.
Be diligent about diet. Now, more than ever, what you eat makes a difference. "All the data says that you need both exercise and diet to keep weight off," says Dr. Thompson. Stick to the classic proportions you''ve already learned: 60 percent carbohydrate (beans, cereals, breads, pasta, corn, potatoes), 10 to 15 percent protein (lean meat, fish, dairy products) and 25 to 30 percent fat.
Don''t abandon your weight workout. Aerobic exercise is crucial, but it''s not the whole story. Keeping muscles strong and firm elevates the body''s calorie requirements and helps protect against injury, says Carol Espel, program director for The Sports Center at Chelsea Piers in New York City.
Include circuit training. Typically, weight training doesn''t burn many calories while you do it—unless you modify the typical program. With circuit training, you lighten the resistance for each exercise and increase the repetitions, usually to 15 to 20. Instead of doing multiple sets, you proceed immediately to the next station, resting only about 15 seconds in between exercises. In one study, circuit training boosted heart rates to aerobic territory— 72 percent of maximal heart rate for men, on average. That''s the equivalent of slow jogging, playing basketball or fitness hiking in hilly terrain.
Firm up your abdomen. It''s an old guys'' tale that doing sit-ups and crunches will burn fat from the belly. Burning fat is a whole-body metabolic deal that can''t be done on a spot-specific basis. Still, crunches really can make you look better because they firm up the muscles underneath whatever fat is girding your gut. "Think of what you do if you want to instantly look better in a swimsuit," says Espel. "You suck in your stomach." If the muscles there are firmly toned, it''s like a permanent gut-suck effect. Except you''re not faking it. "Good abs account for half of good posture," Espel adds.
The Heart Disease Risk Checklist The reason exercise and nutrition make a difference in heart disease is that both can influence a wide range of risk factors—or offset risk factors that can''t be controlled. Here are the primary markers of potential cardio-problems. * Family history. A lot of factors leading to heart disease run in families, but when counting the heart attacks among parents, take age into account. Research suggests that if neither of your parents had a heart attack by age 70, your own chances of having one by that age are cut in half. If either parent had a heart attack before age 70, look first at controllable circumstances that may have played a role, such as some of the factors that follow. * Smoking. Habitual smoking narrows blood vessels and makes blood more prone to clotting. If you don''t smoke, you''ve cut your chances of a fatal heart attack by at least 50 percent. * Obesity. Having a potbelly is a risk factor all its own. If you measure your waist between your ribs and your hip bone, and your hips at their widest point, then divide the waist size by the hip size, you get your waist-to-hip ratio. If it''s .95 or less, you can cross this risk factor off your list of worries. * Cholesterol. The blood test you get during your physical will provide two numbers: your total cholesterol and your HDL cholesterol. Divide the total by the HDL. If the number you get is under three, you probably don''t have to worry about this risk factor. * Blood pressure. Having hypertension makes you six times more likely to have a heart attack. Don''t believe the first number you hear, though: It''s best to take two readings and average the results. Numbers of 120/80 or lower put you in good shape. Risk increases as the numbers rise, but you don''t need to worry until you cross the borderline hypertension line, which is 140/90. * Diabetes. Chances are you don''t have it, but if you do, your heart disease risk increases two to four times. Be alert for symptoms like slow-healing bruises, recurrent infections and tingling or numbness in your hands or feet. * Too much alcohol. A nip here and there won''t hurt and may even help. But try to keep it to one drink a day: A 12-year study of 1,455 men found that blood pressure readings began rising steadily if they drank more than six beers a week. * Social support. Men without close friends or confidants are more susceptible to heart disease than men with no social web. But you don''t have to wear a funny hat and learn secret handshakes to be social: Just having one good friend—your wife counts—makes a big difference. |
The Forties Workout
The exercises you should do in your forties are not substantially different from those of your thirties or twenties. Follow the Core Routine on page 121: Even when you''re doing circuit training, the stations you use are the same as for standard strength training. Continue with the regular stretches from the Flexibility chapter on page 32 or the workout in The Thirties chapter on page 244. The major addition is a battery of abdominal exercises. If you can, do each of the following exercises ten times, proceeding to the next one after resting no more than 15 seconds, says Espel. If your abdominals fatigue before you can finish them all, just take them in order and work toward doing more.
Reverse Curls
In this version of the curl, you start with your thighs raised perpendicular to the floor and your feet off the ground, hanging loosely by your butt. Lift your shoulders as you would in an ordinary crunch, but also bring your knees toward your chest. "This is my favorite abdominal exercise, especially if you only have a few minutes. It engages the abdominal wall in a very intense way," says Espel. If you can only do one ab exercise, this is it, she says.
Crossed-Ankle Reverse Curls
Do another set of reverse curls, but add a level of difficulty by making one change: Cross your ankles so that your knees are one to two feet apart.
Crossed-Ankle Oblique Curls
For an advanced, difficult variation on the curl that also works the important oblique muscles at the sides of the torso, assume the crossed-ankle starting position of the crossed-ankle reverse curl. But instead of raising your chest and knees toward each other, perform the following move.
With your hands kept behind your head, elbows pointing out to the sides and knees in a fixed position, raise your left shoulder (not elbow—that would put stress on your neck) toward your right knee.
Lower your torso to the starting position, then raise your right shoulder toward your left knee.
