I went to Asheville, NC a few weeks ago and picked up some training in functional aging and different mindset approaches for dealing with senior adults. The in-person training was awesome. My main takeaways are below. Hope you can apply this to your own training sessions—specifically with aging adults!
Why do we care about functional aging?
“There have never, in human history, been more adults over the age of 55 as there are today. The global population of mature adults has grown exponentially over the past several years and will continue to do so for the next 20-30 years. According to population data, the number of adults over the age of 65 in the US is expected to grow 147% from 35 million in 2000 to 87 million in the year 2030. The population growth of adults over the age of 85 will increase by almost 400 percent during that time. There has never been more of a need and opportunity for fitness professionals to specialize with this population.” High-Performance Aging—Zach Comer and Cody Sipe —Functional Aging Institute
4 Foundational Movements for seniors to promote neurological benefits (Becky Farley PWR Moves)
- Extension of the shoulders and ‘global extension.’
- Stepping/transitions over steps and other surfaces
- Twisting
- Rocking/Momentum
Wellness Continuum
Goal: Delay decrepitude as long as possible—push the chart up and to the right
-Primal vs. Chronological aging: Age with dignity (ex: a lion still hunts until a month before death) versus only occupying space.
-Traditional approaches to strength training do not maximize your functional capacity, i.e., bench press and bicep curls
-It is never too late to begin a fitness program and reap its benefits
A great way to improve your fitness level is to follow along with our Daily PT programs. Sometimes they are tough, but you can always scale them.