The Training You’re Missing That Prevents Age-Related Decline

Quick: What’s the leading cause of injury and death among Americans over age 65? Heart attack? Stroke?

It’s actually falling—and specifically, the adverse health consequences that can follow a fall.

There are 14 million falls a year among Americans over age 65, including 3 million hospitalizations. And disturbingly, somewhere around one-quarter to one-third of those who fall and break a hip are dead within a year. In this episode, I explain the physical attribute that can make the difference between catching yourself during a fall and suffering a life-altering injury: explosive muscle power, which is almost completely ignored in mainstream fitness programming.

You’ll learn why being strong isn’t necessarily the same as being powerful, why dynopenia (the age-related loss of muscle power and explosiveness) may be even more dangerous than sarcopenia (the loss of muscle mass), and why traditional endurance training and even many HIIT workouts aren’t developing the fast-twitch muscle fibers we need.

I explain the benefits of true sprint training: brief, all-out efforts followed by extensive recovery, and how you can get started with low-impact options like stationary bike sprints, rowing, and even simple exercises like standing up from a chair as fast as you can. As I explain, nobody accidentally trains a high rate of force development when they’re walking to the mailbox, but you can accidentally train your aerobic system every single day. Ultimately, we need to become good sprinters as well as good endurance creatures. 

 

TIMESTAMPS:

Falling is the number one cause of injury and death among Americans over age 65. [01:01]

Mainstream fitness programs are mostly about aerobic endurance conditioning rather than balance and fall prevention. [02:08]

Sarcopenia is age-related loss of muscle mass. It is the most prominent and obvious predictor of one's disease risk and longevity potential. [05:40]

If you are ignoring the anaerobic fast twitch muscle training and development, you are going to have a very steep decline. [07:57]

Sprinting should be powerful explosive short efforts and then extensive recovery time. [09:00]

 

LINKS:

• Brad Kearns.com
• BradNutrition.com
• B.rad Whey Protein Superfuel - The Best Protein on The Planet!
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• Brad’s Shopping Page
• BornToWalkBook.com
• B.rad Podcast – All Episodes
• Peluva Five-Toe Minimalist Shoes

 

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