> Health and Disease > Aging

Age-Defying Exercise
by author Cory Holly

I’m amazed by the number of people who blame genetics for developing disease and disability or for premature death. It’s as if it doesn’t matter whether we drink water or alcohol, smoke cigarettes or breathe clean air, manage our weight, eat whole foods and take vitamins or live on sugar and white flour.

It’s as if these things don’t really help us achieve and maintain excellent physical condition or allow us to deteriorate. I know for certain they do.

Blaming genetics as the sole cause of morbidity and mortality is passé. It’s inconsistent with medical science and violates the very essence of preventive, complementary and biological medicine. Besides, this thinking not only robs everyone of personal accountability and responsibility (removing the necessity of discipline), it also fosters a mental and emotional state of self-denial, futility and helplessness.

Our genotype (genetic constitution) is relatively fixed. Our phenotype–how genes express themselves–is pliable and affected by fitness, nutrition, environment and lifestyle. You do have control of how you feel, how you look and how well you can perform. Age is no excuse to stop trying. When you stop trying you start dying.

Chronic disease is multifactorial, a culmination of variables of which genetics is but one. Research on identical twins shows that risk of obesity, hypertension, type II diabetes and chronic inflammation is influenced more by lifestyle than genetics. Lifestyle plays an enormous role in how we age. The clock is always ticking and we’re all aging equally by the calendar. Biological or vital age, however, has more to do with how we age and what effect our lifestyle has had on us.

Ideally, vital age should be less than chronological age. If there’s a lot of damage you have to make some changes. By knowing how the body functions and what to expect, based on science, you can prevent most of the damage and injury. That’s why you should be motivated to take care of your human frame.

In the nature versus nurture argument, genetics is always pitted against environment. Why does it have to be one or the other? It’s a combination of both. Science, experience and my faith in the natural food and fitness movement lead me to believe that both my present state and final outcome in life are primarily directed by what I think, say and do!

The Aging Body

Most people tend to lose nerve and muscle connections as they age. Beginning at about age 25, this accounts for reduced oxygen consumption and a significant loss of functional capacity.

As much as 35 to 50 percent of muscle mass can disappear between the ages of 20 and 90. By age 70, some muscles may have lost 50 percent of motor units and 75 percent of fibre. Decreased muscle means less heat and fat burning potential, fatigue problems, immune weakness and a susceptibility to injury. By age 30, a decrease in thigh width is apparent, coupled with less muscle density and an increase in intra-muscular fat.

Such aging is partly the result of exposure to the natural forces that break down and decay everything on the planet over time through oxidation. This electron loss is a natural degradation of high-energy to low-energy molecules resulting from continuous exposure to oxygen, radiation and light. Such highly catabolic forces tend to erode and waste everything they come into contact with, including you and me.

The good news is–there’s something we can do about it. Take action!

Exercise: the Fountain of Youth

Men and women of any age can prevent the premature wasting of functional lean mass and even gain it back. We can have greater quality of life, less weakness, more strength and maintain an independent state for a much longer period of time. We’ll still die in the end but we’ll increase our health span!

The remedy is called "progressive resistance training." It’s the only safe method to create and maintain a desireable and natural anabolic flux within the body–and produce lots of natural age-defying human growth hormone (hGH). Injecting synthetic hGH or testosterone is very dangerous.

Low-intensity recreation provides no stimulation of hGH. Strenuous physical activity like weight-training, performed after a thorough warm-up, is by far the safest and most effective means of boosting this important hormone.

Workout Supplements

Supplements that oppose the degradation of lean mass, improve response to exercise and support muscle function, growth and development are:

• Whey protein isolate
• Mixed antioxidants
• Creatine monohydrate
• Phosphatidylserine
• L-glutamine
• Vitamins: B-complex, C and E
• HMB (beta-hydroxy beta-methylbutyrate)
• Ginkgo biloba
• Grape seed extract
• Ribose
• Essential fatty acids
• Carb/electrolyte drinks
• Calcium/magnesium malate

Cory’s Pre-Workout Shake

2 scoops (50 g) whey protein isolate
1 cup (250 ml) freshly squeezed organic grapefruit juice
1 Tbsp (15 ml) organic flax seed oil
1 tsp (5 g) calcium ascorbate powder (non-acidic vitamin C)

Cory’s Post-Workout Shake

2 scoops (50 g) whey protein isolate
1 cup (250 ml) clean, filtered water
1 Tbsp (15 ml) organic mixed-blend oil
1 cup (250 ml) frozen organic blueberries or fresh berries in season
1 cup (250 ml) organic papaya, peaches, banana, kiwi or pineapple
1 tsp (5 g) creatine monohydrate powder
1 tsp (5 g) L-glutamine powder
1 tsp (5 g) calcium ascorbate powder (non-acidic vitamin C)
1 Tbsp (15 g) fresh, raw bee pollen
1 Tbsp (15 g) green mix (like chlorella, spirulina, barley)

All of our children were raised on my shakes and sports! (Ruby’s nine, Michael’s 16 and Daisy’s 18.)

Cory Holly specializes in clinical sports nutrition, product formulation and lectures across Canada on health and human performance. Visit coryholly.com.

Source: alive #224, June 2001