Health span & Crossfit
I stumbled upon Crossfit and being 42 at the time, looking back, YAY that I did.
I was always afraid of 2 things :-
1) bulking up too much
2) injuring myself.
2023 and 4 years on, a tad bulkier, it’s probably not just helping me be a fit 46 year old, but paving the way to being a fit 80/90 year old.
99.9 % of the people in my box, coaches included, are quite a bit younger than myself. I hadn’t appreciated how this type training might be enhancing not just my lifespan but also my health span because the others, a decade younger on average, are mostly at different stage in their lives. When we talk, we rarely talk touch on subjects like longevity and health span. It’s not really something they traditionally would think about at that age. We talk about different “less serious” things.
Perception of “the becoming of old age” can be pretty scary but the good news is, we actually can do plenty to create a reserve for this new quality of long life we intend on having.
I went into Crossfit with some non negotiables. To move well was first and foremost. If it meant starting something from scratch, I did. Being injured was not an option. If I was mindful of this throughout, I knew I would be limiting my own risk as much as possible. I also got a coach for the first time in my life at a gym. We all could do with having one.
Here in Crossfit, we train all the different energy systems.
Zone 2 “cardio” is where you keep a steady pace on a cardio machine of your choice, maintaining your heart rate at a certain percentage of your maximum. You can figure out yours yourself with the help of google I have no doubt. This is a nice easy form of training that anyone can start with, Crossfit or not. This training helps our cells burn energy more efficiently, increasing the performance and the number of the mitochondria, that normally decrease when when we age. Mitochondria can be compared to the battery of your cells responsible for producing the energy.
And now those more painful, short HITT intervals, yes those, they actually help improve the VO2 max, also proven to be associated with improved longevity. The VO2 max is described as the maximum amount of oxygen a person can use during exercise. Of course the more the better, right?
Weight training and resistance training helps our bone density , muscle mass & much more. There is a whole science around strength training, and it actually isn’t as easy as you think becoming bulky.
Whilst I still have my hormones i.e. I am not menopausal yet, I know I am doing better than many others at my age, but this menopause is linked to what can feel like a rapid decline. I am doing ok at 46 but that’s not genetics as people often elude to, my father died at 59, let’s not forget. It’s the consistency I have had over the last couple of decades. We all need to (pre) stock up on as much of this as we can. That’s being “proactive”.
FYI I’m not so anti BIG muscles now. They are going to help not only with my bone health but also my stability. If I fall (fracture rates increase as we age), I need to ensure my bones stay strong keeping me safe. As we get older, we lose balance, power, strength and then the muscle itself. Again, I better stock up on all of them now! My husband would be happy to know, I still envision myself forever weightlifting to able to carry in my own shopping bags!
Gymnastics and strongman training as you might already realise gets your grip pretty bad. This grip training is also correlated with better longevity. Learning new skills (also endless in CF) helps with the brain health, cognition and memory reserve. I learnt how to climb a rope at 42 years of age, do doubleunders (a form of skipping) at the age of 43 and am still trying to do toes to bar today! This brain health reserve is also improved by theZone2 CV training increasing the better blood flow while working on the lymphatics, flushing away any toxin build up.
Crossfit is a win win situation for me.
To everyone who thinks I have joined a Crossfit cult, I hope I am still there a decade from now!
ReplyForward