You’ve probably developed some dependable habits in your training routine over the years-both good and bad. Today I’m going to deal with the absolute worst exercise habits you probably didn’t know to age you faster. Thus, if you recognize any of them in your own regimen, you can throw them away and fix them as soon as possible.
Regardless of your age, you should be doing regular exercise and activities. For graceful aging, strength training is essential for building and maintaining lean muscle, and aerobic exercise improves heart health and conditioning. Living a healthy and active lifestyle enhances your quality of life and prolongs your lifespan, but be aware of the following exercise habits that can be more harmful than good.
Here are three bad habits that are aging you faster and what to do about them. And next, don’t miss the six best exercises for 2022’s strong, toned arms, says the trainer.
You want to work hard and push your body to get the most out of your weight training session, but don’t go outboard! Make sure you are not over-training beyond your recovery capacity. Very many muscle fibers and motor units can be employed in a single session, and more are “junk volumes”. In other words, fatigue is accumulating.
If you train too much, your body will produce more cortisol. This should definitely be avoided. Excessive cortisol = more stress, it can age you faster. If you’re doing strength training on a regular basis, a working set of 3-4 is sufficient for most exercises, and you can include a break of 1-2 days.
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HIIT is a great form of exercise. Compared to regular aerobic exercise, it boosts your metabolism, sweats well, and burns a higher percentage of calories.
The downside of HIIT is that it can be difficult to recover. Especially if you do all your workouts on other days. As with strength training, you want to manage fatigue, and don’t overdo it. Limit your routine HIIT to twice a week so that your body can recover.
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It’s easy to get into the habit of just lifting and exercising HIIT. For many, this can help them build muscle, burn fat, and get into great shape. However, Zone 2 training should not be ignored as part of your fitness routine. Participation in aerobic exercise is important for improving metabolic health, life expectancy, mitochondrial function, and resting heart rate.
Not including Zone 2 training in your routine can miss these important health benefits and speed up the aging process. Incorporate a few sessions of Zone 2 training into your routine and aim for 30-45 minutes in each session.
For mental and physical news, check out the most effective calf exercises to get rid of your ankles, trainer comments, and great beach workouts that don’t feel like work at all, experts say.
Tim Liu, CSCS
CSCS Tim Liu is an online fitness and nutrition coach based in Los Angeles.read more
