Month #3 - Week #9 - February

Month #3 Week #9

Our Monthly Attribute for February is: Cardiovascular Endurance

Welcome to February! This month we'll finally be delving into the arena of Cardiovascular Endurance. I do hope our previous months emphasis on Strength left you with an appreciation for, and a continued commitment to strength training in general.

I'd first like to repeat a programming specific that I'd touched on these last three months... I only include the attributes of Strength, Flexibility and Cardio-respiratory Endurance as monthly attributes at the beginning of our two year cycle. These attributes are particularly important and are in one form or another included in every workout we do. These initial metrics are extremely valuable and will be regularly utilized throughout the course of the program.

Next to strength training, I believe Cardiovascular Endurance to be of supreme importance. In my opinion, we seriously need to include them both when we consider any serious program aimed at longevity.

An extremely important factor regarding Cardiovascular Endurance is that it produces significant improvements in two totally different, but equally important realms. We are all cognizant of the tremendous benefit that cardiovascular exercise has on heart health. The latest research however, is revealing some absolutely stunning evidence that it is equally effective regarding improvements in cognitive & emotional health as well! 

For many of us who are 65+ years of age, the specter of Alzheimers & similar cognitive diseases are our biggest concern.

As I write this, the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) actually recommended doctors prescribe aerobic exercise INSTEAD of pharmacological medication for patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to improve their memory and thinking. In terms of longevity, I don't believe the importance of cardiovascular exercise for both heart health and cognitive/emotional health can be overstated.

Before I tackle specifics regarding this programs utilization of Cardiovascular Exercise, let me first lay a foundation regarding our generally recommended "dose" of Cardiovascular Endurance. The Centers for Disease Control recommends the following for older adults 65 years of age and older:

• 2 hours and 30 minutes (150 minutes) of moderate-intensity aerobic activity every week.

                And / Or

• 1 hour and 15 minutes (75 minutes) of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity (i.e., jogging or running) every week.

I am extremely happy that they then add recommended suggestions for "Even Greater Health Benefits". We'll be able to utilize these further recommendations as you'll soon see. Those extended recommendations are as following:

For greater health benefits, older adults should increase their activity to:

• 5 hours (300 minutes) each week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity

               And / Or

• 2 hours and 30 minutes (150 minutes) each week of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity

There is much to say about the above recommendations. The first thing to note here is that it would be impossible, due to time constraints, for me to satisfy these requirements in a class that only meets three times per week. We will, without question, achieve an increased heart rate in each of our classes but, to meet these requirements will require some "homework", as it were, on the days that you are off from our class. I will, however, gladly coach our participants to help them find a suitable and appropriate means of meeting these recommendations (but the work must be done by you!).

Now, let me touch on the utilization of the "Greater Health Benefit" category; For those who are familiar with this programs documentation, you will recall that I consider longevity to be driven by the science of epigenetics where lifestyle choices might alter a persons DNA expression. These factors have lead scientists to conclude that longevity is 75% lifestyle and only 25% genetics. That said, for longevity's sake, if you have a genetic disposition towards heart disease or dementia (as evidenced by family history), it would only be sensible to work towards those "Greater Benefit" recommendations.

I am a huge proponent of heart rate training & would include teaching how to utilize a heart rate percentage method of measuring your intensity.

As far as metrics are concerned, for those that are frail or severely deconditioned, I will utilize the standard Senior Fitness Test  "6 minute" walk test or the "2 minute step test". For those who are beyond a basic ambulatory condition, a simple timed mile walk, walk/run or run test is sufficient. As I've said for a number of other metrics, the absolute value is not nearly as important as it is to set a baseline with which to measure progress or regress. 

Our Weekly Attribute for Week #9 is: Speed 

Since we are finally starting to recycle our weekly attributes, I'll refer to a copy of week #2:

Sometimes, as we age, we'll ever so slowly, usually at an imperceptible rate, lose our ability to move quickly. We will touch upon that today and emphasize movements and drills that challenge our overall speed.  We'll work with bouncing balls, the simplest of agility drills to focus on speed and we'll include some lateral shuffle/agility drills to work on thinking of moving faster. We may even visit the "8 Foot Up-and-Go" test which will be one of the metrics we record during our month of Speed. 

Your "Lifestyle Application" of Agility

You can easily include activities that challenge your sense of speed throughout this coming week. Some simple suggestions would include:

• A game of Ping Pong.
• Basketball - No matter if it's a pick up game with friends or some practice of a cross court dribble and casual shooting, it'll all require speed.
• Tennis Anyone?
• Soccer drills in an open field or against a brick wall!
• Handball or Racquetball

While often times we'll just need an awareness of speed to see improvements (I often find myself moving exceptionally slow while I'm walking or climbing steps). I'm sure there are many more ways to work on maintaining our speed and I'd LOVE to hear your additional recommendations.

Our Three Daily Attributes This Week

On Monday (day 1), we are going to focus on our Metric Monday attribute of Cardiovascular Endurance. We'll look at determining our Heart Rate Max and how to utilize a heart rate monitor during our workouts.

On Wednesday (day 2), our daily attribute is that of Agility. 
Expect both Agility Ladder routines as well as some longer than usual shuttle runs... Both for time!

On Friday (day 3)  Power. 
We will most certainly be working with box or step jumps and a variation of everyone's favorite, The Burpee