Fitness: Use it or Lose it

by Doug Jackson, M.Ed.,CSCS

(Quick note: I am now accepting personal training clients in Weston, Florida. Limited spots available. Email me at doug@personalfitnessadvantage.com for details.)

If there is one eternal truth to your fitness level it is this: use it or lose it.

Flexibility. Strength. Cardiovascular endurance. They all follow the same principle, use it or lose it. Let's break it down a little further to some of their subcomponents. Dynamic flexibility, static flexibility, power, maximal strength, muscular endurance, sprinting, long distance walking or jogging, agility, and balance. Use them or lose them.

The human body was built to move and stay active. When we don't stay active, our health and fitness declines. We lose our strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular capabilities.

Some researchers have even connected increased physical activity with increased mental health and learning ability. While this is bit of a side note, I must include a quote by General George Patton: "An active mind cannot exist in an inactive body." Amen.

I was hired last week to personal train an older gentleman. His son initially contacted me and told me his father's story. His father is now eighty-six years old and has physically deconditioned to a great extent over the last five years due to doctors' recommendations.

The father has a pacemaker and two reconstructed knees. Due to these barriers, doctors recommended that he minimize physical activity. While I understand their hesitation to recommend a vigorous program of activity to him, I disagree with the recommendation to minimize activity.

After the five years and substantial decline in his quality of life, the doctors changed their minds. They saw that he had lost almost all of his strength. He could barely get out of a chair. They wrote him a script for physical therapy, which helped substantially.

I've now been hired to continue advancing the progress that the therapist made. While I'm looking forward to working with him, I think it's sad that he had to suffer the significant decline in quality of life in the first place. Use it or lose it. We'll work on getting it back.

I'll compare that with the success of one of my other older clients, Bob Heidler. I've worked with Bob for almost a year. To be honest, Bob needed quite a bit of work with fitness improvement when he began with me.

Now Bob is doing squats, pushups, situps, planks, and agility drills, among other things. His current fitness routine is similar to the routine he followed when he was in the military almost fifty years ago. We've significantly increased his strength and functional quality of life.

More importantly, we have reversed the age-related decline in physical functioning and he can maintain his current level of strength for as long as he continues to be active and healthy. He lost it, regained it, is using it, and will keep it.

The progression of aging, while improved substantially with exercise, is still common and "natural" when one is in their seventies or eighties. What scares me even more are the people that I am seeing in their forties that are starting to head down that road at way too young of an age. With desk jobs and modern conveniences abounding, the current generation of working professionals are facing the most widespread crises of human inactivity that has ever been witnessed. This is leading to loss of flexibility, heart health, and muscular strength, as well as the increasing obesity epidemic.

Unfortunately, today's children are at an even great disadvantage and danger. In 2002, the United States Department of Health and Human Services found that there has been a 300% increase in overweight children, aged 12-19, in the last two decades. This type of increase, my friends, is due to inactivity and poor diet, not genetics.

However, there is a bright side. Today’s fitness programming and opportunities for all ages is greater than it has ever been. You just have to take action. We now know an amazing amount about how to condition people of all ages in the most effective and safe means possible.

My clients are constantly advancing in their specific fitness goals and improving their quality of life based on the scientific programs we create. However, you don't need the Mercedes Benz of exercise programs to gain benefit.

Make a commitment to yourself to exercise at least 3-5 times per week for around thirty minutes to improve your fitness and maintain your current weight. Bump that duration up to sixty minutes if you are actively trying to lose weight. Do a combination of cardiovascular, strengthening, and stretching to improve your fitness.

Each of these components of fitness is crucial to your long-term health. Many of my clients incorporate several different styles of fitness training into their program. They walk, jog, or ride the exercise bike. They include the strength training exercises that I specialize in. They might even do some yoga or pilates, which I think are excellent additions to make a complete exercise program.

Step #1: Just get moving.

Step #2: Try to incorporate exercises that specifically address strength, heart health, and flexibility.

Step #3: Invest in the services of a qualified fitness professional that can maximize the effectivenss of your program, while minimizing the chance for failure and injury.

Lastly, always remember: Use it or lose it.

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