Lift for muscle. Jump for bone density. Sprint for metabolic health. Things we hear a lot about these days. Things I’ve been emphasizing on this platform and in my work for over 4 decades. Doing those things is nothing new. It’s just the way we’ve been thinking about it lately which may have experienced a slight focus shift.
Lifting weights, along with other forms of resistance exercise, is known to develop and maintain muscle mass, strength, and connective tissue durability. Jumping, as well as hopping, bounding, skipping, and especially landing…is a great stimulus for bone mineralization, neuromuscular coordination, and musculoskeletal integrity. And sprinting, primarily in locomotion but also including other modes and rapid movements, strongly affects hormonal balance, metabolic regulation, and explosive output capacities. We can all appreciate these facts.
As Lifetime Athletes – actually as human animals – we benefit immensely from having those qualities. But are we doing those exercises to target the aforementioned physiologic adaptations? Or, are we training (perhaps thinking on a higher level) for comprehensive athleticism and across-life performance ability with those properties being (primary) side effects or requirements for that endeavor? Boiling it down, everybody generally wants to look, feel, and perform great. As long as we are doing comprehensive training, it probably doesn’t matter why we’re doing it. Or does it?
It comes down to the sometimes subtle distinction between fitness and athleticism. Similar but not same. And that depends on how you look at it. Sure, you can be relatively fit but not very athletic. Or you could be quite athletic but not in very good shape. But when we move away in our thinking from contrasting those qualities and begin to view them as not only complementary but as part of a continuum of functional excellence – well – we’ve got something there.
Anti-aging is a unique term, and it’s not really that accurate. Aging is inevitable and unavoidable. With maturation, there is an eventual decline in cellular function across all systems. It’s well accepted that we can’t eliminate the aging process. But the term anti-aging suggests that we can reduce or even minimize the effects of aging with our lifestyle practices. Sleep and nutrition are big players in that game, but so is exercise and that’s what we’re talking about today.
Having adequate muscle mass, strength, bone density, and metabolic health are some of the major underpinnings of longevity. And those characteristics are enhanced by resistance (weight, etc.), jump (plyometric), and speed (sprint) training. If we’re serious about longevity, we should be doing this type of training. Incorporating these elements, gradually and safely, into your program is excellent. But my message today is consistent with the conversation that is ubiquitous on this platform. There is potentially an even better way to go about it. Instead of merely exercising for a biological status, we can train for a truly life-enhancing outcome.
In the context of maximized life participation, enjoyment, and success…being fit gets us most of the way there. But when we become (and remain) peak-performing, well-rounded athletes…few would disagree that represents the icing on the cake. Instead of just looking at a lab result, we’re playing, competing, and achieving all those targets plus excelling in every task and activity that makes up our lives. Focusing on the bigger picture and resting assured that all the associated components are already in place. It’s what athletes have done forever and athletes are what fitness enthusiasts should strive to become. And while there are some gender-related differences in training, this concept applies equally whether you are a man or a woman.
This is where I see the disconnect in most of the exercise-related information present in the media today. Thought leaders and influencers are talking about exercising to improve lab results so you can live longer or better. I’m sure this communication goes back and forth. The influencers produce this content because market analysis shows that’s what the public wants. The latest hot keyword. Then the general population buys in, jumps on the bandwagon, and chases down the trail of the latest, greatest methodology. Almost a vicious circle.
Don’t get me wrong here. I don’t want my message to be misconstrued that exercise for health is anything but outstanding. It’s just that training for lifetime athleticism incorporates all that and takes your habits to the next level. The ultimate level. That’s what I want for everyone because that’s what we deserve. The athletic avenue into ultimate wellness.
Let’s move this discussion into talking about resistance training for maturing humans. There is a ton of information in The Lifetime Athlete App on this subject. In fact, there is a massive volume of data and content on this very subject that can be found, literally, across every media platform. You just have to sift through some of it to find the presentation that speaks to your level and your interests. By this I mean the right fit. A lot of the training information is targeting younger, or middle-aged enthusiasts, tends to cite research done primarily on college-aged individuals, and takes a very aesthetic, or bodybuilding, approach. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, and it might work fine for most older trainees. But to be fair, the aging body often needs more careful programming around accumulated orthopedic conditions and slightly diminished recovery abilities. And we need to save room for the jump and speed training within our workload window.
Practically everyone embraces the value of resistance training and we recognize it as being the essential foundation of a fitness for life program. Aerobic fitness and mobility are perhaps equally important, but let’s not worry about that right now. Those entities have experienced earlier adoption and acceptance in fitness culture. Think spin and yoga classes and build your list out from there. Our emphasis today is on high “bang for your buck” resistance training. I won’t go too deep into the details because we have a plethora of resources in The Lifetime Athlete App on this topic.
But in designing, or choosing – your program – you want to periodically ask yourself a few questions. Does my training need to focus more on strength development or muscle mass increase? What is the ideal frequency of workouts for my current conditioning status? How should I apply or split up my weekly training sessions (full body, upper/lower, etc.)? Do I have special needs, goals, or issues that I need to consider? What are my schedule and budget parameters? How do I manage workload and recovery? Can I utilize a reliable method to assess progress, evaluate program effectiveness, and make ongoing adjustments? What’s really the best way to do all this given my age, gender, training experience, and long-term goals?
Moving onto jump training, this is definitely an area of athletic movement that is unique. Jumping ability is necessary in much of sport, and it is widely recognized as being inherent in the youthful, athletic human. But you don’t see older people jumping much. I’ve been working diligently to change that for decades. The eternal questions are “Do older people avoid jumping because they can’t (or just believe they can’t) do it?” and/or “Are older humans incapable of jumping because they discontinued the regular practice of gravitational defiance many decades ago?” The answers to both of these questions is of course, YES!
One of the many beautiful traits of the human organism is that the central nervous system has unique trainability and plasticity. Think of motor skills and muscle memory. Everybody has jumped in their life. It’s just that this property may have atrophied from disuse. It can be retrained. But this must, MUST, be done safely and cautiously. You should never jump crazily into any training arena, and that’s especially true of jump training. And the pun is totally intended. I think jump training is pure gold for every Lifetime Athlete. And not just for bone density. Tendon strength and elastic movement qualities are improved incredibly with properly applied jumping. But the dose makes the poison. Keep your jump training relatively brief. Warm up well. Start with some quick tempo partial lifts. Explore snap-downs or extensive plyos like pogo jumps, etc. Work up to box and depth jumps, change of direction combinations, and graceful landings. Just do this over months and years, not days and weeks.
All that strength and jump work helps to prepare your body for sprint training. Recruiting fast-twitch fibers, moving explosively, and enjoying the exhilaration of maximum effort through anaerobic metabolism is a magical experience. We have a lot of resources in The Lifetime Athlete App regarding speed training, including specific blocks in our Training Tribe programming as well as our Speed course. But for the sake of this conversation, let’s concentrate on maximum velocity running, or behaviors thereabout. This isn’t always an option for some of us because of orthopedic issues, and the same could be said about jumping, but let’s assume that most people can safely approach this form of training.
Moving fast is awesome. It’s fun, gives us an invaluable tool in our athletic toolbox, and it has so many amazing benefits. You see a lot of old dudes walking. Quite a few jogging and running. But not many doing sprints. Almost none. Let’s change that. As a Lifetime Athlete in my 60’s, when I go to the track, or field, or turf to perform sprint training, I’m almost always engaged by people who are interested in what I’m doing. And great conversations usually ensue. I’m not a blazing rocket but I can still move fast at my age because I have continued to train this capacity. I like to think of myself as an ambassador for sprint training. Speed is relative. What’s fast for you or someone else may be different and that’s OK. Speed at TLA is an inclusive, not exclusive, community.
Similar to jump training, but perhaps even more importantly with sprinting, we need to perform significant amounts of preparatory work in the quest for rapid movement. Months of gradual buildup and tissue preparation. Lengthy warmups. High states of readiness and activation. And then the training itself should actually involve a low number of brief reps with lengthy rest intervals. This usually requires a mindset shift for most fitness enthusiasts. Maybe less so for experienced athletes. You have to get used to summoning a max effort. Producing the intense but short duration output. And then calmly waiting until your body is capable of doing this again. Kinda like releasing your inner panther. Attack and kill. Lay up and rest. Rinse. Repeat. A few times. Then walk away. You must resist the urge to use a conditioning model and just sweat and vibrate yourself into exhaustion. That’s popular in lots of workout and gym programs but that’s not sprint training. Has a place, as all things do, but it won’t give you the true speed, and hormonal benefits, of sprinting.
Maybe you were already doing resistance, jump, and sprint training. Or you’ve seen a lot of the recent data on its anti-aging effects and were very interested. Or you’ve made it this far with me and your curiosity is peaking. I encourage you to carry on, go further, and integrate these items into your year-round training system. There are lots of ways to accomplish this task. But if you are a maturing athlete who wants to take the guesswork out of lifting, jumping, and sprinting safely and successfully…look no further than The Lifetime Athlete App. Our T2 workout system uses lifting, jumping, and sprinting, along with other essential elements of lifetime fitness and athleticism, to help you come and remain Hard to Kill. That’s anti-aging exercise at its finest.