It is the hope of Fit65 to demystify and simplify exercise. Also, we aim to diminish or remove any barriers that might prevent someone from starting and doing exercise – exercise that can promote a continued higher quality of functional living and help you to engage the aging process.

And we hope to impart some basic science about the body because it can be fun to know and it could help you make a more thorough connection between exercise and your life.

The best exercise is the one that you do!

That said, a typical first step involves asking oneself: What do I hope to accomplish through exercise? Many traditional goals are weight management, sports performance, improved body composition (i.e. bathing suit season) enhanced self esteem, maintaining a youthful appearance, etc.

Generally speaking, older adults wish to maintain functional abilities that tend to diminish with age. An exercise routine that promotes muscular strength and endurance, skeletal (joint) flexibility, cardiovascular health, and balance will enable your body to function better than it could without regular exercise. There are also myriad physiological benefits associated with regular exercise.

And, a powerful benefit and motivator is the near universal reality that exercise simply makes you feel better.

Let’s start with muscular strength and endurance.

Beginning sometime in our early 30’s, the body’s muscle mass begins to diminish and for sedentary individuals (most of us), we can expect to have about 25% less muscle mass by the time we are in our 60’s (and then another 25% by age 90!). That occurrence can present a serious diminishment in our physical abilities – certainly in strength, functional movement, balance, and the physiological benefits performed by muscle such as improved metabolic activity.

The good news is we can replenish lost strength and muscle mass and regain these benefits at virtually any age. And while its never too late to start, the earlier you begin the sooner you’ll feel better – and potentially for a longer period of time.

So, let’s first take a look at the major muscles of the upper body. The largest chest muscle is pectoralis major. The largest back muscle is latissimus dorsi. Shoulder muscles are the deltoids. The biceps (front) and triceps (back) round out the upper arms.

Next we identify the major lower body muscles. The largest muscle in the human body is gluteus maximus (known to many as buttocks, tuchis, or rear end). On the front of the thighs we find quadriceps and on the back of the thighs are the hamstrings. Calf muscles are behind the leg below the knee.

Important muscles of the midsection are rectus abdominus or stomach muscles (abs) and erector spinae, that run from the bottom of the back at the hip girdle up to the back of the head. These two midsection groups are critical to promoting good posture.

Second, let’s take a look at the Beginner Workout routine. Don’t be fooled by this name. The Beginner Workout is safe, thorough, and in most cases it is all that is needed for an otherwise healthy individual to achieve the above mentioned goals of functional ability.

The Beginner Workout routine normally is a total body routine (involving all the muscles we just looked at) and is done 2 – 3 times per week (with at least one day of rest between for the muscles worked). Generally, it contains from 8 to 12 or more exercise sets comprising 10 – 15 reps per set.*

Finally, let’s take a look at the exercises themselves that will build strength and endurance of the muscles. At the risk of mortifying all fitness professionals who have come before, but in the fervent hope of encouraging all the uninitiated or intimidated to give it a try, we assert that no more than three different types of exercises are required to achieve greater total body muscle strength and endurance – hence, continued higher functional ability.

One is called a Push exercise (for the chest, triceps and deltoids) one is called a Pull exercise (for the back, biceps and deltoids), and one, the King of Exercise, is called a Squat (for the legs). With good form, the midsection, or core muscles, will strengthen through performance of these three exercises.

So, to summarize, if you perform three sets of Push Exercise, three sets of Pull Exercise, and three sets of squats – twice a week, you will be well on your way to achieving continued increased strength and endurance of all the major muscle groups of your body. And you will enhance the contribution these muscles make to your continued functional abilities.