Workout and Diet Advice for Women over 45

I wish I had thought of this, the Pyramid, it makes so much sense.  Conditioning gurus view athletic training as a pyramid.  They use it for football players, surfers, runners, cyclists (I’ll bet Lance knows all about this) to make sure the athletes get to and stay at the top of their game.  The pyramid works like this:

·         at the bottom are the fundamental, functional movements,
·         above that is the power,
·         and above that, the skill.

If you are not able to do the basic movements – maybe you are too stiff in the shoulders or hips; or perhaps too weak in your core, (despite having a sixpack) – all the power and skill in the world won’t help you reach your potential.  Or you may get injured on your way to that Olympic Gold.  The above is paraphrased from the July issue of Outside magazine, which offers “The Outside Challenge” to help you identify your fitness flaws and become a better athlete.  The Challenge tests a variety of basic abilities – Functional Flexibility; Core Stability; Strength; and finally Recovery & Nutrition.

I found the article interesting on a number of levels.  It of course all makes sense – function and form before power and skill.  I read the article and looked over the test exercises and became even more intrigued.  My mind was churning over faster than usual.  And I quickly realized other reasons I found the article interesting: For one thing it was aimed at the athlete who uses weight training as part of strength training for their sport (skiing, sprinting, swimming etc.), whereas weight training isour sport.  For another it was all about the guys – nary a woman to be seen in all the pages related to the article. And whilst I know women who could pass the strength test, I don’t think many in our Sixpackatsixty family can do 15 pull-ups, particularly using an overhand grip.  Despite many years at this I have not been able to master pull-ups – my reasoning being that with all my muscle I am just too darn heavy to pull myself up to the bar.  That is my story and I am sticking to it.

That said, as a researcher I needed to take the test.  And like the article itself the results were interesting.  I had no problem with the two functional flexibility exercises, which involved squats and lunges with an added challenge for stability testing.  I found the core stability a challenge but managed to pass the 3 test exercises (the challenge included holding the side plank for two minutes and a stability push-up – the description of which didn’t quite match the drawing).  I didn’t take the strength exercises, because I know I no longer choose to bench-press 85% of my body weight or squat 100% of my body weight.  That has simply been my choice over the past couple of years as the workout has evolved to form and function over amount of weight.  And the pull-ups we have already discussed.

The last part of the challenge was a Recovery and Nutrition quiz.   It was divided into three parts – Active Recovery, Nutrition and Rest & Relaxation. While I scored good points on the Active Recovery and Nutrition sections, my work schedule right now resulted in a low score on Rest & Relaxation and put me overall into the “you cannot keep this up forever” category.  I did not need a magazine quiz to tell me this, thank you.  I think I had figured it out myself a while ago but the economic recovery is at odds with my personal recovery.  And all that too will improve.

So where did this research leave me.  I know we need a pyramid for body building and I will look to share that variation in future blogs.  We also need something that in fact I have been working on and am really excited about.  Something I have been developing and been sharing with Sixpackatsixty family and friends and it has been well received.  The Outside Challenge just confirmed that we need a challenge that is specifically designed for a) females, b) boomers and c) bodybuilders    – i.e. women who train with weights as their sport not to enhance a different sport.  It is in progress – watch this space for details.

In the meantime if you have a little time and enjoy a challenge take a look at Outside July 2009.