Functional fitness to Jill means being able to keep up with her grandsons. That is important to her, so she trains like a 70-year-old athlete who plays with 11-year-old kids in the backyard. That is functional fitness for her. Functional fitness can mean something totally different for someone else.
What are some misconceptions people over 50 have about fitness?
Phil: One misconception is that fitness over 50 is limited to physical fitness. Fitness over 50 is more than just being physically fit. What I mean by that is we need to recognize that there’s a mind, body, and spirit connection. How we feel physically influences how we feel emotionally, and how we perform mentally. On the other hand, our mental fitness and our emotional fitness strongly affect our ability to execute physically.
Just to give you some examples, most people either know or experienced a situation where a missed putt on one hole totally sabotages the entire round of golf. Alternatively, being mentally drained and then trying to perform complex and demanding mental activities for work.
Another example is how good you feel after a great workout where the endorphins have been pumped into your body, and you feel energized. That is one reason why exercise and nutrition have been proven to be as effective in treating depression as most medications.
When we think of our fitness, it should be thought of regarding our physical fitness, our mental fitness, and our emotional fitness. All three are all tied together. One can influence the other. I interviewed several trendsetters who focused on training the brain and mental fitness including Inna Khazan, Ph.D., Marvin Berman, Ph.D., and Lawrence Klein. These are important topics for people over 50 because their two most significant fears are falling and losing their mental faculties.
I interviewed Eric Pepper, Ph.D., who is a professor at San Francisco State University and he helps his clients improve both mental and physical performance using bio-feedback. One of his success stories was Jo Aito, a 47-year-old female weightlifter who was preparing to compete in a world championship. His goal was to use mental training to help her achieve a personal best and world record. Using biofeedback, he worked with Jo on her breathing, muscle relaxation, visualization and mental rehearsal. After six months of training with Eric, Jo did achieve her personal best and set a world record. She did it at the age of 47.
Another example of how training the brain and body are interrelated is an interview I did with Cathi Lamberti, CEO of SMARTfit, Inc. They have a product line that promotes neuroplasticity by incorporating a brand of functional training that uses a variety of activities that can focus on the core/torso, agility, speed, balance, flexibility, power, and strength while simultaneously developing high levels of neuromuscular efficiency. This process of engaging the hands, feet, ears, and eyes develops not only eye-hand but also visual-perceptual motor skills.
SMARTfit training provides this level of stimulation and enables individuals to merge the mental and the physical while continually encouraging higher levels of accomplishment, which in turn pushes demands on the neurological system to rewire itself more efficiently. Regular use improves the level at which the mind and body function competently together.
Their products are being used by high performing athletes as well as baby boomers who want to stay physically and mentally fit.
Are there any other misconceptions that you uncovered?
Phil: I am not sure that this is a misconception or just an important concept that is emerging lately. I am talking about the vital role recovery has in fitness over 50. Many people were led to believe that if you wanted to get better fitness results they had to train longer and harder. This idea is partly right. However, if you train harder and longer and do not allow your body to recover properly between workouts, your results will suffer significantly.
I interviewed several fitness experts like Joel Jamieson and Richard Harvey, Ph.D., who discussed the importance of heart rate variability (HRV) and its role in our body’s ability to recover from physical, mental and emotional stress.
Unlike basic heart rate (HR) that counts the number of heartbeats per minute, HRV looks much closer at the specific changes in time between successive heartbeats. Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is an accurate, non-invasive measure of the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) – which responds to everything your body experiences including how you exercise, recover, eat, sleep and perceive stress.
The Sympathetic Nervous System controls your body’s “fight or flight” reactions in response to internal or external stressors. It stimulates the production of blood glucose (to fuel your muscles), pupil dilation (to see danger better), slows digestion (to focus energy on the present threat), and increases heart rate (to ensure adequate blood circulation to run or fight). The SNS is designed to overcome short-term stress situations such as running from a bear (literally or figuratively). However, this same response also occurs when you work out, are challenged mentally, get into an argument, or even when you find yourself in new activities. This acute response can become chronic when we are always confronted with stress from modern daily life such as work, family issues, financial concerns, as well as, dietary and physical lifestyle choices. Chronically accumulated stress from multiple sources can contribute to drastically reduced health and performance over the long term.
