Post by Chelle Belle on Jun 1, 2004 18:16:14 GMT -5
Miriam E. Nelson, PhD is an associate professor of nutrition and director of the Center for Physical Fitness at the School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. Dr. Nelson has scientifically proven what many of us in the field of fitness intuiively knew...that people are never too old to grow new muscle and bone.
Her research on elderly patients between the ages of 87 and 96 had astonishing results, including a doubling of muscle strength in just 6 weeks using a simple strength training program.
Strength training builds muscle, bone and connective tissues. The reason elderly people fall so much is not because they are old, but because their muscles have atrophied, or in other words, shrunken and weakened. Walter Bortz, M.D. of the Stanford University School Of Medicine wrote in AARP Bulletin "If your legs are noodles, just a little shove will tip you over".
After the age of thirty, both males and females lose 7% of their muscle mass every decade. That means the average 70 year old has lost more than one fourth of her total muscle mass, contributing directly to loss of balance and falls.
Even more chilling, after menopause women begin to lose bone density at an alarming rate, undermining the very skeletal structure that the muscle is attached to.
Men have a social advantage over women in that the size and shape of male muscle has always been admired and glorified, accepted and encouraged. From ancient Greece to the present day, the male ideal remains virtually unchanged.
The same ancient Greek statuary that idealizes men idealizes women as well. Even though, according to master paintings, women of the plumper variety seemed to be more sought-after in the 16th and 17th centuries, the female images frozen in Greek art are very close to what is considered the female ideal by the females of today, boob jobs notwithstanding.
However, nobody speaks about muscle when they talk about the ideal female body. People have overlooked the obvious -- that a woman with a pretty body only has a pretty body because of the size, shape and proportion of her muscle. Strength training allows both women and men to significantly remodel their bodies. Amazing differences can occur in the shape of one's body by sculpting individual muscles into a desired size and shape.
Beautiful female arms and legs my be shaped differently than those of males, but the fact remains that a beautiful body, male or female, is only as beautiful as the size, shape and proportion of the muscle.
Some women claim to be repulsed at the idea of adding muscle to their frames, a few as they sit there nonplused about displaying fifty lbs. of fat. Yet when it come to fashion, women gravitate toward blouses and jackets with built-in shoulder pads to make them appear larger and stronger than they really are. They wear high heels which flex the leg muscles, making them appear shaplier. and under garments that smooth out the lumps and bulges that are located in the wrong places. Women try to achieve a look artificially that could be theirs for real.
Not only have women long been cheated out of the same advantage men have always enjoyed --the choice of changing the entire shape of their bodies via programmed exercise-- but they have proven more frail than men in their later years due to both muscle and bone loss.
Perhaps the most crucial benefit strength training is that the strength of our immune system is directly tied to the amount of muscle mass we have accumulated and maintained.
Her research on elderly patients between the ages of 87 and 96 had astonishing results, including a doubling of muscle strength in just 6 weeks using a simple strength training program.
Strength training builds muscle, bone and connective tissues. The reason elderly people fall so much is not because they are old, but because their muscles have atrophied, or in other words, shrunken and weakened. Walter Bortz, M.D. of the Stanford University School Of Medicine wrote in AARP Bulletin "If your legs are noodles, just a little shove will tip you over".
After the age of thirty, both males and females lose 7% of their muscle mass every decade. That means the average 70 year old has lost more than one fourth of her total muscle mass, contributing directly to loss of balance and falls.
Even more chilling, after menopause women begin to lose bone density at an alarming rate, undermining the very skeletal structure that the muscle is attached to.
Men have a social advantage over women in that the size and shape of male muscle has always been admired and glorified, accepted and encouraged. From ancient Greece to the present day, the male ideal remains virtually unchanged.
The same ancient Greek statuary that idealizes men idealizes women as well. Even though, according to master paintings, women of the plumper variety seemed to be more sought-after in the 16th and 17th centuries, the female images frozen in Greek art are very close to what is considered the female ideal by the females of today, boob jobs notwithstanding.
However, nobody speaks about muscle when they talk about the ideal female body. People have overlooked the obvious -- that a woman with a pretty body only has a pretty body because of the size, shape and proportion of her muscle. Strength training allows both women and men to significantly remodel their bodies. Amazing differences can occur in the shape of one's body by sculpting individual muscles into a desired size and shape.
Beautiful female arms and legs my be shaped differently than those of males, but the fact remains that a beautiful body, male or female, is only as beautiful as the size, shape and proportion of the muscle.
Some women claim to be repulsed at the idea of adding muscle to their frames, a few as they sit there nonplused about displaying fifty lbs. of fat. Yet when it come to fashion, women gravitate toward blouses and jackets with built-in shoulder pads to make them appear larger and stronger than they really are. They wear high heels which flex the leg muscles, making them appear shaplier. and under garments that smooth out the lumps and bulges that are located in the wrong places. Women try to achieve a look artificially that could be theirs for real.
Not only have women long been cheated out of the same advantage men have always enjoyed --the choice of changing the entire shape of their bodies via programmed exercise-- but they have proven more frail than men in their later years due to both muscle and bone loss.
Perhaps the most crucial benefit strength training is that the strength of our immune system is directly tied to the amount of muscle mass we have accumulated and maintained.