Many evenings on weekdays we find our families playing basketball in our driveways – parents vs children.
What I began to notice earlier this year was that I headed straight to my head towards my 14-year-old son Gus, and I was significantly less resilient as he became more explosive with the movements of the exercise.
He turned on the dime and cut it quickly into the basket, allowing him to jump comfortably for rebound, but I found myself relying on my big body to slowly put the muscles in place for the shot.
I was definitely much stronger than Gas – I couldn’t get that strength to take effect as quickly as he could. I felt like I had lost my gear.
I’ll talk a lot about strength and muscle benefits here at AOM. If you’re looking to be big and strong, you can find many articles on these topics.
However, the area of fitness we overlook is becoming increasingly grateful as we move into middle age. force.
What I was experiencing in my basketball matchup with Gas was this reduction in ability.
The researchers gave names to age-related loss of muscle strength. PowerPenia. And growing studies show that they are important predictors of whether you can pick up your grandchildren, climb flights of stairs, or wind key stars out of the toilet when you are 70 years old.
Here’s what you need to know about PowerPenia and how to resist it:
Muscle loss triple: sarcopenia, dynapenia, power penia
You’ve probably heard of it Sarcopenia – Loss of muscle mass at age. It usually starts around the age of 40 and accelerates after the age of 60. Muscle mass usually decreases by .5-1% per year after age 40. Sarcopenia becomes frail in old age.
Then there Dynapenia – Loss of muscle strength. Sarcopenia contributes to dynapenia, but other events have also occurred that lead to age-related declines in muscle strength. Most of the time, it comes down to the less efficient our neuromuscular system in muscle activation. Muscle strength decreases along a similar trajectory to muscle mass, with losses of 0.5-1% per year at age 40.
It can reduce both sarcopenia and dynapenia and even reverse it with regular strength training. That’s why we are huge fans of weightlifting.
2024, Researcher Introducing a third area of concern: PowerPenia – Loss of muscle strength.
Muscle strength is the ability to quickly display strength. It is explosive. Examples of muscle strength in motion include rebound jumps, sprints and punches. However, muscle strength is not convenient even in sports. Muscle power also forgives you:
- Sprint to catch your child running down the street
- Objects don’t get in the way of hitting you
- I’ll lift something up right away
- Tie two stairs at once
- Catch yourself while you’re falling
Powerpenia may be a new age-related muscle concern for blocking, but it appears to be the most influential factor in maintaining our physical vitality. in fact, Recent research Power, not strength, was found to be the best predictor of whether older people can successfully navigate the activities of daily life.
The interesting thing about muscle strength is that it actually drops faster than muscle size and strength – 2-4% per year after 40 years. So, in the ’60s or ’70s, it looked pretty solid and sometimes even tested properly with strength tests, but it lost the explosiveness needed to stay agile and independent.
Why is it a rapid decline? Three major reasons:
First, there is the rapid loss of muscle fiber. Fast twitch fibers are responsible for producing quick bursts of strength and speed, which atrophy naturally slower than twitch fibers when we aged and not calling for them.
Second, there is a change in the tendon due to inactivity. Without regular activities that require rapid display of strength, the tendons will become stiff in energy storage and release, making them less efficient and difficult to carry out explosive movements. Deteriorating tendon health from non-use explains why many middle-aged men hurt themselves when they decide to play pick-up basketball for the first time in a decade. When I decided to train for a sprint a few years ago after not sprinting for years, this is why I got a bad case of hamstring tendonitis a few years ago.
Finally, the brain and nervous system are less efficient instructing the muscles to contract quickly, so that we do not call for fast muscle muscles due to aging and explosive activity.
How to fight Powerpenia
His performance in a basketball game against Gus was inactive and after reading Powerpenia’s research, I decided that I needed to do something to counter the decline in muscle strength that comes with middle-aged life.
Fortunately, it’s not that difficult.
To dodge PowerPenia, here are some of the things I’ve started to incorporate into my physical training.
Primetrics
Plyometric exercises develop explosive forces by training and responding quickly to the muscles and nervous system.
There is no need to dedicate the entire training to the Prios. You can add one or two plyometric exercises to your regular strength training routine. Here’s what I do:
Before my first lower body workout this week, I will do my next plyometric exercise.
- Power skip. Perform regular skips, but jump and lift your knees as high as possible. I do this for 15 yards, three times.
- Box jump. Stand in front of a box or other suitable platform. Try finding a box that is at least 18 inches from the ground. Jump to the box. To avoid injury, take steps rather than jumping out of the box. Run 3 sets of five jumps.
Before this second lower body workout this week, I will do the next Plyos.
- Wide jump. Stand your feet slowly shoulder-width, swing your arms back, bend your knees, then use your arms to jump forward explosively to propel you. Bend your knees slightly to absorb impact and land softly to maintain balance. Run 3 sets of five jumps.
- Pogohop. Stand your legs together and start jumping as high as possible. Once you land, start the next jump as soon as possible. Run 3 sets of 10 hops.
Before my first upper body workout this week, I will do the following plyometric exercise.
- Plyometric push-ups. Assume a normal push-up position. Lower yourself to the floor. With explosive force, push the floor out with enough force to allow your hands to leave the ground. Perform three sets of five pushups.
Before this week’s second upper body workout, do the next plyometric exercise.
- Overhead medicine ball slam. Raise the medicine ball over your head and slam it as hard as possible. Run 3 sets of 10 slams.
Continuing on with these preoes will probably rotate some of them and replace some of the plyometric exercises I wrote about here with my routine.
Hill Sprint
The Hill Sprint is one of the most powerful weapons against power loss. They better attract twitch fibers faster than flat surface sprints, reducing the impact on muscles and tendons, and reduce the chance of injury. In addition to power training, Hill Sprint is an amazing HIIT exercise.
Find a hill that is 20-30 yards. After warm-up, sprint through 4-6 efforts with 80-90% effort. Walk slowly to recover. Rest for 1-2 minutes between sprints. You need to do this once a week.
For more tips on how to generally make a safe and effective sprint, see our Adult Sprint Guide.
If you’re looking for another Powerpenia-Fighting Cardio/Hiit exercise, the jump rope is great. There is also a complete guide to that.
If you’ve been doing the explosive exercises like the ones mentioned above, you might be worried about getting injured if you try them. Certainly start slowly and gently. Like jumping out of the box and sprinting uphill and then getting off the box can help reduce the risk of injury. And you can do things like wide jumps and hill sprints on soft grassy surfaces.
However, these movements need to be steadily eased. You need to avoid things like Catch 22. Avoid plyometric movements from the fear of injury, increasing the risk of injury when life actually demands sudden explosive movements.
The only way to safely rebuild this ability is to train it consistently and gradually. And once you get it back, don’t stop. Continue to train these movements in old age.
This is a powerful aging
I’ve been doing these power exercises for about a month and have already noticed the difference.
I’m not as explosive as my teenage son yet when I face off in a courtroom in a driveway, I can be better off transferring myself into that gear.
And training for power is a real victory to know that as I get older, not only in my game, but also in life, I will keep me strong and abilities strong.
