It’s Never Too Late

People often tell me that they are too old to exercise, but that is simply not true. Provided you are in good general health, there is no reason whatsoever that you cannot begin a gentle exercise program and reap the same benefits as someone younger. There is little or no difference between the improvements gained by elderly people starting exercise programs and those achieved by people in their 20s.

In a recent study, scientific researchers wanted to test this theory. They went to their local residential care center and asked for some volunteers to start an exercise program. They were met initially with cries of horror from the staff, but once they’d persuaded them that it was all perfectly safe and that the participants would be very well supervised, they did manage to get a few residents to join in. These residents felt that they had nothing better to do since they were only sitting around anyway. The program began very gently with some mobility work in a chair and, over the course of a few months, progressed to include some strength work to try to regain some of the muscle tissue lost due to years of inactivity. At the same time, similar exercise programs were carried out with college students. The workouts were adapted to their increased level of fitness, and both groups worked at approximately 80 percent of their maximum potential.

When the results were compared at the end of the program, it was noted that the residents had dramatically improved their quality of life. They were more active during the day; they were more likely to play table tennis and go for walks rather than just sit around all day; and their medication requirements had gone down—in some cases, quite drastically. In addition to this, the results of the original test—which was to see whether or not they could gain the same improvements in muscle tissue as the younger students—showed clearly that they could. The replacement of lost muscle tissue was far more significant to the residents than it was to the younger group because it literally changed their lives. When the researchers completed their study, they were persuaded to stay and design a much larger program for the other residents, who had seen the changes in those who had taken part and wanted the same benefits themselves. The oldest resident who took part in the study was in his 90s.