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Baby Boomers Are Lifting More Weights Than Ever
by: echarter
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Word Count: 520
If you are a Baby Boomer you probably remember the good old days when you could pretty much eat what you wanted and stay reasonably lean and fit. What happened? Most likely aging and poor diet and exercise choices.
If you are a boomer you may remember the aerobic craze started by Dr. Kenneth Cooper. His popular book made running a fashionable exercise. The basic theory is one needs to get their breathing and pulse rate up for an extended period of time in a form of aerobic exercise. It is still very popular.
However as we age many of us find we cannot find the time to run or do other aerobic exercises that take up several hours a week. Also running is very hard on joints and some people have to give it up because of bad knees or bad hips.
What are the alternatives? Recent studies are showing that weight lifting may be one of the best exercises of all times. They are not talking about the kind of weight lifting where people bulk up with huge muscles and take all kinds of protein supplements or drink things with strange names such as muscle milk. They are talking about weight lifting that helps one tone up all over and create a basic muscle tone that may have slipped over the years.
It is well documented that aging Americans tend to lose muscle mass at an increasing rate as they age unless they are doing something to prevent it. This is where weight lifting can prove extremely beneficial. When proper weight lifting techniques are used to rebuild muscle mass to a more balanced ratio of our youth overall health improves. Excess weight disappears as muscle mass burns more calories.
Better defined muscles support our skeleton system which is also key to overall health. People with better muscle balance tend to have fewer back panes, have more energy and become more active.
Proper weight lifting techniques to achieve this improved health are relatively easy. One doesn't really need a lot of weights or a weight lifting bench. One can tone up quite well with dumb bells. The key is to use these weights with proper weight lifting techniques. This means one should lift and lower the weights in a slow and controlled manner. No jerky or bent arm methods should be done.
In fact you can start immediately with a couple of dumb bells. Just get a few basic diagrams of various lifts and make sure you do so in a slow, methodical style and keep your posture rigid as shown in the diagrams. These diagrams often come with new dumb bells or can be readily found on the internet.
You really only need to find a few of these lifting diagrams to start and add more later. Just remember to start slowly, add additional weights along the way and always lift with proper weight lifting techniques.
About the Author
Jerry Cahill - publisher and webmaster, See more of his work at Weight Lifting Techniques
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