{"id":1651,"date":"2009-04-25T23:39:41","date_gmt":"2009-04-25T21:39:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.ultimatefatburner.com\/?p=1651"},"modified":"2015-02-13T08:35:11","modified_gmt":"2015-02-13T13:35:11","slug":"inexpert-advice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/inexpert-advice\/","title":{"rendered":"Inexpert Advice"},"content":{"rendered":"

I happened to read Martica Heaner’s column, “Expert Advice” on MSN.com this morning.\u00a0\u00a0It wasn’t\u00a0bad at all… In fact, I thought her article,\u00a0“Do Exercise and Nutrition Affect How Old You Look?<\/a>“, was a pretty\u00a0decent rundown on the effects of exercise (and secondarily, nutrition)\u00a0on the aging process.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless,\u00a0it reminded me of a line I\u00a0recall from\u00a0Babylon 5: “Unfortunately, while all answers are replies, not all replies are answers.”\u00a0 As usual, Heaner led off\u00a0with a reader’s question..but her reply was definitely NOT an answer.<\/p>\n

Here’s the original\u00a0question:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Q: I’m a baby boomer and have been consistently eating healthfully and exercising\u2014doing cardio and weight training\u2014for almost 20 years. My body still looks good for my age, but not as good as it did 10 years ago. Is it possible for an older body to look hard and lean like a young body? If so, what should I do differently?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In response, Heaner noted\u00a0that\u00a0people who exercise\/eat right\u00a0have longer telomeres, are less likely to be overweight, and feel more energetic.\u00a0 That’s nice – but it’s not what the reader wanted to know!<\/p>\n

Hmmm…Lessee if I can do better. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

Actually, this is two questions rolled into one.\u00a0 So\u00a0I’ll tackle them individually…<\/p>\n

\n

Q1.<\/strong> Is it possible for an older body to look hard and lean like a young body?<\/p>\n

A.<\/strong> Yes.\u00a0 I know plenty of people in their 40s, 50s, and 60s who have lean, muscular bodies and\u00a0could easily\u00a0kick the a**es of people half their ages.\u00a0 But you don’t have to take my word for it…check out Jon Benson’s book, “Fit Over 40”<\/a> to see for yourself.\u00a0 Being lean and hard isn’t about looking young…it’s about looking awesome, which can be done at any age.<\/p>\n

Q2.<\/strong> If so, what should I do differently?<\/p>\n

A.<\/strong>\u00a0This depends on what you’re doing NOW – which is unknown.\u00a0 I’ll hazard a guess, though… I imagine your workout is stuck in time, and you’re doing the exact same things, at the exact same intensity as you’ve always done.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Why do I think this?\u00a0 Well, for one thing, you asked\u00a0Martica Heaner\u00a0for advice!\u00a0 If you really\u00a0knew what you were doing in the gym, you’d be looking for an answer elsewhere.\u00a0 She writes for the broadest possible\u00a0audience:\u00a0you had to know she’d\u00a0provide\u00a0a completely generic\u00a0response.<\/p>\n

And trust me on this one: the woman\u00a0touting this routine<\/a>\u00a0as “The Best” isn’t\u00a0likely to be\u00a0the ideal\u00a0guide\u00a0for getting\u00a0“hard and lean”, either.\u00a0The fact that she never asked you to clarify what you meant by “cardio” and\u00a0“weight training”\u00a0speaks VOLUMES about her expertise (or lack thereof).<\/p>\n

To be frank, the\u00a0fact that you do\u00a0cardio and weight training\u00a0isn’t very illuminating.\u00a0 All\u00a0this tells me is that\u00a0you exercise on a regular basis.\u00a0 Bravo\u00a0to that…discipline counts for a lot.\u00a0 But the devil always lies in the details.<\/p>\n

There’s a big difference between running 400’s,\u00a0vs. casually\u00a0flipping the pages of a magazine while moving your legs on an exercise bike – yet both are “cardio”.\u00a0 Likewise, there’s a big difference between doing weighted dips\u00a0vs. tricep kickbacks – yet both are “weight training”.\u00a0 To say you do “cardio” and “weight training” is like going to the doctor and saying “I feel sick”…more info’s needed\u00a0to make a diagnosis and suggest a course of action.<\/p>\n

Thus, it’s tough to be specific, but\u00a0here’s some general advice:<\/p>\n

1. You have to challenge your body in order for it to grow.\u00a0 This doesn’t necessarily mean spending more time in the gym, but it does mean smarter\u00a0work\u00a0and\u00a0more structured, progressive\u00a0training.\u00a0\u00a0Forget about “toning” workouts, and focus on strength.<\/p>\n

2. You may also need to eat more.\u00a0 Getting “hard” means building muscle, and – if you’re a “fat-phobic” restrained eater – then you need to understand that sufficient food is part of the process.\u00a0 Slashing kcals to the bone while killing yourself in the gym is\u00a0simply burning the candle at both ends. You can’t build something (muscle)\u00a0out of nothing.<\/p>\n

3. In addition, you have to pay attention to age-related changes, such as declining hormones and\u00a0decreases in insulin sensitivity – and alter your diet\/supplementation and\/or medication accordingly.\u00a0 Get some blood work done: it’s the only way to know for sure that there isn’t some deficiency (such as low thyroid, testosterone, etc.)\u00a0holding you back…don’t guess and start binging on supps.<\/p>\n

To make a long story short, it IS possible for an older body to get hard and lean…but as the above implies,\u00a0there’s homework (not to mention leg-work) to be done.<\/p>\n

Here are\u00a0some good,\u00a0available-at-any-bookstore\u00a0resources to begin with:\u00a0 Tom Venuto’s “The Body Fat Solution”; and Lou Schuler’s\/Alwyn Cosgrove’s “The New Rules of Lifting”.\u00a0\u00a0A couple of good e-books are Hugo Rivera’s “Body Re-engineering”<\/a>, or Will Brink’s “Bodybuilding Revealed”<\/a>.\u00a0 Believe me: you’ll learn a lot more from any one of these than you\u00a0ever will\u00a0from Martica Heaner or her pals at MSN.com.<\/p>\n

\n

See?\u00a0 That wasn’t hard to do.\u00a0 But then again, I’m not an “expert” like Martica, so what do I know?\u00a0 \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I happened to read Martica Heaner’s column, “Expert Advice” on MSN.com this morning.\u00a0\u00a0It wasn’t\u00a0bad at all… In fact, I thought her article,\u00a0“Do Exercise and Nutrition Affect How Old […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11,14,19,26,28],"tags":[279,317,1006,1072,1130,1773],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1651"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1651"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8412,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1651\/revisions\/8412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}