Want to age better? You better step on it!
b Building strength For long-term health, a renowned nutritionist and certified personal trainer JJ Virgin He recommends simulating your daily routine at the gym, doing exercises that involve fast-twitch muscles, and prioritizing protein in your diet.
She shared these tips. Sunday hours of “The Intellectual Green Podcast.”
“Aging is a privilege, but aging powerfully is a choice,” says Virgin.
Simulate your daily routine in the gym
“We train in the gym to make life better,” says Virgin.
She emphasizes the importance of a training regimen that helps with your daily activities, such as squats to mimic sitting or standing from a chair. A folded dead lift for practicing moving a heavy box or lifting a child or pet; And weight steps, designed to increase glute strength and mimic walking or stairs.
Virgin, who wrote “Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy,” advises against bicep curls or knee extensions if you’re training for strength or daily strength.
“Unless you’re in marching band, how often do you do bis curls?” She explained her reasons.
Do exercises that involve fast-twitch muscles
Virgin recommends building fast-twitch muscles, which are found throughout the body, particularly the biceps, quadriceps, and pecs.
Fast-twitch muscle fibers are responsible for quick and explosive movements, while slow-twitch muscle fibers are better for endurance movements. Calf muscles are composed mostly of slow-twitch muscle fibers, which are prominent in the back and legs.
Virgin suggests incorporating jump training, sprints, high-intensity interval training, Olympic lifting, high-knees, and other strength-building exercises into your plan, so you can ride a bike or chase your dog or grandchild in the future.
“Whatever you train, it’s going to happen,” Virgin said on the “Mental Green Podcast.”
Prioritize protein
Recommended dietary allowance 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight – or 0.36 grams per pound per day. That’s 54 grams of protein per day for a 150-pound person.
Virgin suggests eating 30 grams of protein per meal to build muscle mass and maintain strength. Experts often recommend Each meal contains 15 to 30 grams of protein.
Women’s health It says 30 grams of protein can be found in 1 cup of cooked ground turkey, 1 2/3 cups of cooked lentils, 1 1/2 cups of Greek yogurt, 3.9 ounces of reduced-fat cheddar cheese and 1 cup of ground beef.
Virgin, meanwhile, likes to get protein from grass-fed, grass-finished beef, wild salmon and chicken breast.
She recommends that people who follow a plant-based diet consume 40 grams of protein per meal.
Women approaching perimenopause or menopause, when muscle mass and strength naturally decrease, should be especially careful with their protein intake.
“I would argue that we should all try to put on as much skeletal muscle as we can,” Virgin said, comparing the effort to an investment. We want to put as much money as we can into a retirement account with a good interest rate, because then we’ll have more to use later.