We all age, our hearts beat more slowly with less blood being pumped, our oxygen consumption is less, and age related musculoskeletal changes start to occur. Good news, recent research shows that aerobic exercise can turn back your biological clock by 10 years. By increasing our aerobic fitness we increase our mitochondrial function. Mitochondria are little organelles located in our cells; their job is to transform energy into a form that our cells can use to produce even more energy. Activity level correlates with mitochondrial function. The harder we work the better our mitochondria produce energy reducing our biological age.
High intensity “all out efforts” efforts are needed to increase oxygen demands in order to slow the aging process. Most people can not tolerate an all out effort for long periods of time. Interval training where a short all out effort is followed by a brief recovery period allows the body to adapt in order to slow the aging process.
Incorporating interval training into your exercise program can be done manipulating some variables that fitness professional use every day.
- Speed- The most obvious way to increase intensity. Speed can cause injury and should only be used with conditioned athletes that are free of musculoskeletal injuries.
- Incline- Adding a incline along with resistance on a piece of cardiovascular equipment is a safe way to increase intensity.
- Resistance- The greater the resistance the harder the muscles must work. This can be manipulated by increasing the resistance on cardiovascular equipment or performing strength training exercises with a load. An example is performing a squat or lunge while holding dumbbells.
- Use gravity- Body weight exercises are safe and effective ways to increase intensity and with modification can be used with most fitness levels.
- Range of motion- Performing exercises through the full range of motion is much more difficult to perform because they involve more muscle and forces the heart to work harder.
- Alternating lower body with upper body-Performing alternating upper body muscle groups with lower body muscle groups allows for an increase in heart rate while muscle groups are recovering. This is helpful with deconditioned exercisers as it allows for modest increases in heart rate while still performing strength training exercises, creating active rest.
