Is Age a Barrier to Exercise?
A lot of people use age as a barrier to exercise and keep fit. They feel that exercise is for the young ones. Well it’s acceptable to think like that if you are over 50 years of age but surprisingly, even those in their 40s are using age as an excuse!
There is no age barrier to exercise! If you have not exercised before, start slow. But its no reason to avoid exercise altogether!
For those of you who use age as an excuse, watch the video below, and shame on you!
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29/01/2010
People should realize that age is a state of mind more than it is a number or label. I’ve been exercising going on 31 years. The only time I “feel my age” is if I go too long without working out regularly. In my opinion there’s nothing better to combat the aging process than regular exercise.
29/01/2010
I think that showing a video of a 72 yeard old man has absolutely no meaning. Sure, we know that there are these people. What would be nice is to show a video of several women (normal, average, women) in their 60s who exercise daily…and what they do. Who cares about this man? And why do you have to make this a “shame on you.” That’s just what overweight people need, to be shamed!
29/01/2010
Thank you Joan for taking the time to comment. You are right in the sense that some people may not be able to relate to someone in their 70s and in great shape. This video is nothing more than an example that exercise does not stop with age. In fact exercise should never be limited by age. More so weigh training. Weight training helps both men and women alike in strengthening bones at a time when strong bones are crucial. We will take your suggestion and look for inspirational videos of average women in their 60s, exercising. Also my apologies if the “shame on you” statement came on the wrong way. Its not meant to mock someone who is overweight. Its just to show that age should never be used as an excuse to avoid exercise. Thank you for your feedback.
29/01/2010
Thanks for your feedback Aaron. Can’t agree with you more on the beneficial effects of exercise to slow the negative effects of aging. That is the point of this video. Age should not be used as an excuse not to exercise. In fact as one ages, there should be more passion to exercise to look and feel younger.
29/01/2010
How is the inspiration of someone that has been around for 72 years and has the discipline to make time to exercise for one hour a day meaningless? If you read and understood the post is about being capable of exercising at any age, and that being “too old” is no excuse to not start exercising. I don’t understand how you got any perception that this post was to shame anyone. I can’t speak for Paramjit but the message I got was that it’s never too late to start and no one needs to stop exercising because of the date they were born. What difference is it if it is a man or woman, or if the example is 60, 70, 80, or 90? The message is still the same. You can go to any local senior center or major health club in any big city (or small town probably too) and find dozens of 60+ year olds exercising regularly.
29/01/2010
Thanks Aaron for your comments. You are right about the intent of the post. Age should never be a barrier to exercise. In fact it should be a motivation as it helps slow down the negative effects of aging. If this guy in the vide can do it at his age, any man and woman can do it if they want to. Thanks for the valuable feedback.
29/01/2010
I was just trying to give you the point of view of a person who is 64 years old and struggling with losing weight, yet again! It isn’t helpful to see a 72 year old man in that kind of shape, it isn’t inspirational. There is absolutely no way to relate to it. It would be far more inspirational to see a regular person who is not a body builder doing regular exercises and showing that…yes, you can do it, it isn’t as difficult as it seems. The condscending attitude toward people who are growing older gets to be a little much. We are people, we have been doing this for a very long time. We feel bad that we still have to do it. We do need encouragement, but personally, I do not find this encouraging. I didn’t mean to be rude to you, I just was giving you another viewpoint.
31/01/2010
Hi Joan thank you for your comment. Not everyone relates to the same experience. Sometimes a different view point helps. Your point on taking an average person doing exercise is noted. I hope to have something like that in the immediate future. meanwhile, I hope that you find some inspiration from other areas of the blog. Thank you for your feedback.
16/01/2011
Thank you for allowing me to leave a comment on your site. You have some very useful information here. If you visit my site and leave a comment I will approve it thereby providing a link back to your site.
I am a nationally registered and state of Florida licensed dietitian. At the moment I am under contract with a local hospital providing diet recommendations to people who are over weight or have other health problems. I am also charged by hospital with educating local practitioners about the benefits of a proper diet. Doctors are not dietitians and they treat the affect not the cause(s). They really have not as yet come online with good diet recommendation(s)
01/04/2011
I don’t think most of us feel we shouldn’t exercise as we age but rather that the exercise industry makes us feel too old. Have you ever seen an ad for a gym that showed what people in the gym really look like? Everyone in the ads has muscles galore! Check out the youtube videos for exercise. Same thing. Even your video shows a guy who has fantastic muscles. I’m a real person with a real body. No, I’m not fat – I just want to learn how to exercise like a normal person. My body doesn’t look like theirs. You think you’re showing me what I could look like but you’re just showing me that I don’t look like they do. I don’t feel shamed. Just completely discouraged.
I just came home from the gym in tears. I’ve spent 5 hours and lots of money with a trainer and I still can’t exercise alone. So far I’ve gotten an introduction to every exercise I can do on every piece of equipment in the gym and ya know what? I still don’t know how to use one piece of equipment to exercise! And I was with a trainer the day before yesterday! Teach me how to do enough exercise to fill one hour. Let me do the same exercises every day for a few months until I know EXACTLY what I’m doing. Then I’ll be ready to add a few more pieces of equipment. Teaching me how to use everything just leads me down the path to frustration AND injury.