Dr. Dan Ritchie shares his excitement in training the boomer and senior clients and why you should too. Two clients share their stories about some some pretty awesome fitness goals that they wanted to accomplish while working with their trainers. One climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and another wanted to go to Patagonia and hike glaciers. Listen to the video to hear more about their adventures. For more information about training this exciting population, check out the Functional Aging Institute Certifications tab above.
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The Best Balance Advice I Ever Heard
Cody Sipe shares our holistic approach to balance training that we also use in our Functional Aging Institute Certification. He points out that the simplest advice is often the best. He shares a story about a collegue that had a client that needed work on his balance. He said that he had fallen many times over the past year and that he was afraid of becoming injured in the future. Cody’s collegue gave him advice to help prevent a fall from happening and later what happened when he did later trip and prevent his fall from happening. In addition, Cody also shares some other helpful suggestions you can recommend to reduce falls.
Too Much Strength and Too Little….Everything Else!
I am still surprised, confused and frustrated at the errant recommendations for training older adults that are being dished out by professors, researchers and trainers at conferences, in journal articles and in online certification programs. It makes me realize how vital it is that we spread the Functional Aging Training Model as quickly and as widely as possible. There are 10,000 adults turning 65 each and every day and they need, no they deserve, to be trained effectively and safely.
As I state over and over again…muscle strength is an important component of physical function but it is NOT the only piece. Therefore we need to stop focusing on getting stronger and focus instead on getting more functional. The two are NOT synonymous as the research clearly indicates.
An adequate amount of strength is important for the execution of daily tasks, recreational activities and occupational duties. But the key word there is adequate. If someone is woefully lacking in muscle strength so that they cannot even stand up from a seated position without the use of their arms then YES muscle strength should be a priority (although I would argue that muscle power should be the real focus since power is more highly correlated with function compared to strength AND power training studies typically get better functional improvements compared to strength training).
However, for many functional activities those that have adequate amounts of strength really don’t need to get a lot stronger. They need to be able to perform movements more effectively and efficiently. How do they do this? By training the other components of function that have declined over the years – motor control/coordination, proprioception, movement speed/power, somatosensation, 3 dimensional postural stability, mobility/agility…and the list goes on.
Functional movement is a complicated animal so it is no wonder why so many studies show that even very large improvements in strength (for older adults) typically only lead to small to moderate improvements in function. The research is a little behind so we can’t definitively point to a huge body of evidence that overwhelmingly supports that functionally based training is vastly superior to standard PRT (progressive resistance training) BUT the evidence is certainly pointing in that direction…and so we follow the evidence.
If you don’t do anything else at least get your older clients off of the selectorized machines and up on their feet performing resistance training movements in a multitude of standing and kneeling positions so that they can begin working on improving their function and not just their muscles.
Join the Functional Aging Movement by becoming a Functional Aging Specialist and start training your older clients more effectively!
Cody Sipe, PhD
Why For Boomers and Seniors Price Is Not An Issue
Dan talks about why price is less of a concern for boomers and seniors and what is of more value to them than the price itself. They are more concerned with you being able to train them for the results they are after with the services you provide. The client over 50 years old often has a much higher net worth and have more financial resources at their allocation. If you are intersted in learning how to train this population, please check out the Certifcations tab above to get started today!
How To Use Energy Values To Get More Mature Clients
Cody explains what energy values are and how they impact the client. He explains how exercise and energy go hand in hand. Energy values for the mature client have a variety of different meanings and implications depending on the clients daily activities. If you want to begin training the mature client, check out the Functional Aging Institute Certifications at the Certifications tab above.
The Age Performance Blog: Standing Bat Wings
Spend a lot of time driving? Hunched over at work, typing at a desk? You need to do the bat wing exercise. No, you don’t have to be in a cave to do so. Just find a wall, and push your elbows into the wall, squeezing your shoulder blades together and really opening your chest. Unbelievable for posture, core stability, and strength. Below, we demonstrate with a helpful video:
