Fear of Growing Old
As we get older we gain more wisdom and experience that gives us better insight and perspective on life. Aging also comes with another downside; we simply hate looking or feeling old.
Growing older can bring feelings of insecurity, doubt, worry, or greater concern for the world that‘s quickly changing faster than we can adapt to, which is completely rational in the era we’re currently living in.
However, the chronological age we reach doesn’t have to determine how we look or feel on a day to day basis, and aging can be slowed down with a better understanding of what really ages us the fastest.
One of the biggest factors for aging faster than we should is being inactive in fitness and not get the proper amount of rest and nutrition required to keep you looking young and healthy.
Our resistance training, or lack thereof, causes us to lose lean muscle mass faster than we should, a condition called sarcopenia, which causes early muscle atrophy in men over the age 40.
So, can weightlifting help us age slower and help us feel positive about how we look and feel in our later years?
How Bodybuilding Can Help You Look Younger
The rate that we age is generally determined by our genetic makeup and some environmental factors that may or may not be within our control.
Someone that has more of a youthful appearance most likely benefited from a genetic lottery from their birth parents. However, as this study proved, the genes in our DNA responsible for aging can be slowed down and even reversed at the genetic level.
This means that resistance training may have more of a positive effect on the rate we age and can make us look younger as we persist with consistent exercise.
The benefits of regular exercise have been preached to death, but resistance exercise is one of the best ways to prevent sarcopenia, or the loss of lean muscle mass, from occurring as quickly as it does in middle-aged males.
Loss of lean muscle isn’t the only factor that ages us faster than normal, our natural environments can also make us look older.
Free radicals are unstable molecules in the atmosphere that attach themselves to cells to make them more balanced. These free radicals change the cells they attach to into radicals, which can destroy the molecules including artwork, metals, and eventually your skin cells.
Resistance training can prevent oxidation from free radicals by forcing your body to produce antioxidants that can slow this aging process after exercise.
The Wrap Up
Regular weight training can help restore confidence in middle-aged males by preventing gradual muscle loss and free radicals from damaging our body’s cells. Aging is truly a state of mind and should be associated with how active our lifestyles are, not a chronological number determined by society.
