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| Cycling in France |
In truth, many generalisations and claims are made to cover the many different levels of fitness and abilities. Some of the claims have foundation but often are designed to sell a product which could be very important for the professional athlete but may really have little or no benefit to the weekend athlete.
It is true however, that before you embark on a new exercise regime you should be checked out by a doctor / practice nurse and then a personal trainer can assess your individual fitness level and advise on safe programme, tailored to your specific needs.
Warming up and warming down
Warming up & down must always be a part of a good exercise regime. If the muscles are cold and stiff without good blood flow and then pushed into explosive exercise this will greatly increase risk of injury.
Too often this critical part of exercise is is missed and the results often end up in clinic with torn or ruptured muscles & tendons. Warming down also assists in removing lactic acid in the muscles and helps to avoid cramps and muscle pain.
Stretching before and after exercise
There has been some debate about the benefits of stretching pre exercise. However there seems to be no doubt about the benefits of stretching off post exercise. Stretching will lengthen the muscle and return the muscle resting length to normal plus it will align the colegen fibres and assist in the removal of lactic acid preventing cramps and pain.
If a muscle is allowed to shorten and remain in that shortened position it will be less effective and need more effort to perform the same contraction, thus the athlete becomes more fatigued quicker.
Muscle shortening will also adversely affect the joint associated with it and cause the joint to wear (osteoarthritis).
Sports massage
Many over 50s have niggles and some muscle or postural issues from general wear and tear. The benefits of sports & remedial massage are well documented on my website, a good therapist whilst assisting in keeping the athlete in optimum condition will also pick up any postural deviation caused by over tonic muscles. They will be able to offer good stretching advise for post exersise to prevent that shortened muscle memory becoming a real problem.
High or low impact sports
For those over 50 it should be carefully considered those sports which involve sports high impact or high wear on the joints are apporpriate. Recovery time from injury takes longer as we age and encouraging the early onset of osteoarthritis should be avoided. Osteoporosis is another consideration however low impact and low stressing of the bones will encourage the body to create stronger bones.
Cycling, Swimming are fantastic sports for the over 50s, the picture as above on this post shows several cyclists in there 70s fit and well and still acheiving over the 80miles in a day!
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