Injury and healing for Seniors

The older we get, the slower we heal. At the same time, we become more prone to injury. What then is the best strategy to enjoy fitness without long term damage? Well, for me, I don’t do activities that are by their nature dangerous. I don’t play football, basketball or sports in general, nor skiing, tennis, mountain biking, mountain climbing, etc. For the most part, I avoid situations where either an opponent or the universe is deliberately out to prove their superiority over me. That is because I have learned the hard way that whenever I get interested in a physically competitive activity or a Frank against the elements thing, sooner or later I get hurt badly! Now the Gym is a different story, and has been a consistent ally for 33 years.

I think the word consistent is the key to avoiding injury. Most sports injuries, outside of the professional ranks, happen to weekend athletes performing seasonal activities. Last year, month, or weekend they were indestructible, but this time they expect more of the same and oops – gotcha! It’s that too sudden move or that rock you didn’t see; always the unexpected.

Consistent training in a gym three days a week, subjecting your bones, ligaments, tendons, muscles and nerves to controlled yet significant stresses goes a long way toward making you a semi- superman for the weekend games. Or better yet, forget the games. The endorphins obtained from a near-limit set of squats keeps me very positive for all my other activities. That brings me to the point of my article: unless you are very gifted genetically, you can’t push your self to near-limit levels and avoid injury without nutritional support well beyond the normal average diet.

The essence of advancing age is that digestion, absorption, assimilation and utilization of nutrients decrease, and our repair mechanisms slow down and are less effective. On top of that, our anabolic hormones are falling and the catabolic hormones are rising. What can we do about it? We can do the same things that bodybuilders do to get big and very strong. We won’t get as big and we won’t get as strong, but we will get stronger and leaner and more mobile. There are some big exceptions; for one, anabolic steroids are out! Any hormone augmentation should be under a doctor’s care and should be human-identical hormones only.

So what works and causes no harm? What are the main movers among the bodybuilders today?

• Creatine – preferably the new creatine-ethyl-ester-malate. Boosts strength amazingly, builds muscle size.
• Nitric Oxide boosters – dilates the vascular system, increases blood flow, lowers blood pressure, gets nutrients into the cells.
• HGH Secretagogues – increases growth hormone production, increases anabolic hormones, aids fat burning.
• Testosterone boosters – increases your own production, makes all the difference in the world.
• Whey Protein – use it for the in-between meal meal. You need to eat five to six small meals a day, never eating to fullness. I use whey protein and a little olive oil to make that in-between shake, and eat it with a hand full of nuts.

These supplements help make you stronger, build muscle, and help you heal and recover from exercise a whole lot faster. I’ve been using BSNs Products Nitrix, Cell Mass and NO-Explode with great results for the last several months.

For boosting anabolic hormones, I have been using 17-alpha oxo nolonoe by Iron-Tek with likewise great results. It is also an aromatase blocker, so prevents the conversion of testosterone to estrogen; a good thing for men.

On the subject of getting and staying anabolic, I saw a very good article on the things to avoid that negate what you accomplish in the gym. Click here for the article.

Good living, Frank