You can slow and even reverse the aging process with just these two research-based trends
By Cheryl Coppa
🎶 “If I can turn back time ~ if I can find a way!” ~Cher
As in any industry or area of study, we continually get new information with ongoing studies on the best ways to train for different goals. Rest assured that all our classes and programs are based on the latest studies to offer you updated techniques so you always get the most out of your time.
Today, I want to share with you the latest and greatest on how to slow the aging process and even reverse it, all fitness-related, of course.
Maybe these fitness styles are something you are NOT doing because you are simply unaware of the powerful benefits, or maybe the information you do have is outdated. I’m going to share with you 2 fitness styles you are going to want to add to your routine.
New Research Reveals the Incredible Benefits of HIIT as an Anti-Aging Workout
In recent years strength training has been pushed for women to start. Yes, this is still true and we offer mostly strength training classes. Strength training will burn fat, build lean muscles, and increase bone density, all of which we want and need as women over 40! Strength training is going to ensure independence as we age.
But, what I want to highlight today, which is research-based, is the incredible results you get from HIIT (High Intense Interval Training). All it means is you are doing a variety of exercises for short bursts of time followed by a short rest and repeated.
“Cardio isn’t the best option for women over 40 as it does nothing to address building lean muscle. However, when you do HIIT training, you get strength, endurance, balance, and mobility”
This is very different from what one might think of when they think of cardio. Cardio has a bad reputation for women over 40. Cardio isn’t the best option for women over 40 as it does nothing to address building lean muscle. For example, if you go for a run or on a stationary bike or a rower machine, you often spend much time doing this one motion repetitively to burn calories. Sure you are burning calories, but you are not building muscle. Having muscle in your body is going to help you burn calories all day, not just during your workout... I also find when you are in one position for a long time, you are more susceptible to injury.
If you are running in a poor form/posture over and over again, this will lead to injury most often in the knees and hips. If you are biking on a stationary bike, this is not so great for your core and pelvic floor. Just think, you are in a hunched forward position which can irritate the lower back, create bulging in the core, and put extra pressure on the pelvic floor. Now, if you love those types of fitness this is ok, just be mindful of your form! If you love it, this is helping you on a different level with your stress and feel-good hormones. But, if you are doing those things just for the fact that you think it is the better option and it will help you lose weight, you can take off that burden and try something new which also happens to be more fun, and takes less time!
The great thing about HIIT is that it requires little time, little space, and little to no equipment! You can even train this way with nothing. In our HIIT classes at Ola Ka Ola, we have one that is done with no equipment and another that is done with very light weights. When we train this way we can hit so much. We do get cardio, strength, endurance, balance, and mobility! How productive is that?
👉 When you add HIIT to your workout routine, you will notice it will help you in all your other fitness training as well!
👉 HIIT increases your overall endurance and stamina in your fitness training and life!
👉 HIIT is also amazing for your cardiovascular health.
“When we do HIIT at Ola Ka Ola, the exercises are chosen for what our age group needs. You will have exercises that are low impact, and we incorporate balance and strength in there as well. It is not going to be burpees or crazy jumps.”
Again, HIIT is simply a series of exercises done at an intense pace, or your best pace followed by rest and repeated. For example, it could be 30 seconds of an exercise followed by a 15-second rest and repeated. When we do HIIT at Ola Ka Ola, the exercises are chosen for what our age group needs. You will have exercises that are low impact and we incorporate balance and strength in there as well. It is not going to be burpees or crazy jumps.
An example of what a HIIT routine might look like here at Ola Ka Ola:
“According to this study, while we can’t change our actual age, we can change the way we age, and we can reverse the age of our heart.”
Let’s take a look at the research.
While we can’t change our actual age, we can change the way we age and we can reverse the age of our heart, according to this study.
I have shared this study a few times before, but it is so great and so powerful.
Heart disease kills one American every 33 seconds and is the number one cause of death in women over 40. This study shows how you can reverse the aging of the heart! As we age, our heart becomes stiff and it loses its ability to pump blood efficiently. This particular study took middle-aged adults and successfully reversed the age of the heart. This means the hearts of these individuals went from 50-something-year-old hearts to operating like 30-something hearts. This study didn’t take place overnight, it took place over 2 years. It takes time, but it is worth it! This is another reason WHY it is so important to have a support system and a guide to KEEP YOU GOING, it could save your life and for sure improve the quality of your life and add LIFE to your years!
What was the exact protocol of this study?
4-5 days of week exercise, totaling 150-180 minutes of work (this is 30 minutes a workout). One of those workouts each week was a HIIT session.
Break this down even on the high end. Let’s say you work out 180 minutes a week, this comes down to 2.67% of your week and only 2% of your day. If you do just one HIIT session per week, this is only 0.2% of your total week! That little investment of your time to turn back the clock on your heart for 20 years! I find this to be just incredible!
There are also continued research studies about HIIT & Strength training, and how it can alter your biological age. Biological age is determined using different health indicators and biomarkers. Things such as blood glucose, inflammation, and immune cell function. This partial STUDY took place over just 4 weeks and showed an impressive 4-year reduction in biological age. The participants did HIIT exercise for a total of 275 minutes in that month. Which was performed 3x a week for a total of 23 minutes per session.
You do have so much more control than you think. I like to remind ladies in class, that regardless of whatever is going on in your life, you have control of THIS! You have control of your efforts and getting your workouts in. Especially, with the support and the options we have here Ola Ka Ola. A LIVE schedule to fit many schedules and an on-demand library to fill in the gaps if needed or if you prefer to train this way on your schedule.
Another Hot Topic in the US: Low-Pressure Fitness
The second form of fitness that is new here in the US is Low-Pressure Fitness, also known as Hypopressives.
Main Objectives of Low-Pressure Fitness:
Tone deep abdominals and pelvic floor muscles.
Enhance posture.
To prevent all types of herniation ( disc, vaginal, etc.).
Regulate /improve respiratory systems.
Improve lumbopelvic stabilization.
Enhance quality of life and well-being.
Your body is similar to a chain, everything is connected. When it comes to your core and pelvic floor, just about everything you do involves these muscles. If they are not being used properly, then you will notice pain in many other areas such as your lower back, knees, and even shoulders! Your core and pelvic floor are a powerful unit. Learning how to use, strengthen, and preserve is a game changer, not just in your fitness routine but in your everyday life.
“As moms or women over 40, our core and pelvic floor health is usually suffering. Could be just from the modern lifestyle, we have our bodies in positions (sitting), or that your core and pelvic floor have never recovered from childbearing.”
We are only as strong as our weakest link, and for women in particular, especially as moms or women over 40, our core and pelvic floor health is usually suffering. Could be just from the modern lifestyle, we have our bodies in positions (sitting) that are weakening our core and pelvic floor. It could be that your core and pelvic floor have never recovered from childbearing. Once you are postpartum you are postpartum forever, and you need to be more mindful of how you properly use your core. Even just age in general, our muscles are deteriorating, even our pelvic floor because they are muscles. You can greatly improve the quality of your life by addressing core and pelvic floor health and any age.
Low-Pressure Fitness (Hypopressive) is a No-Sweat Technique
It’s a series of postures combined with breath work and breath holds. You can do this by standing up, sitting, or lying down in different postures.
👉 This form of fitness is used to narrow the waistline
👉 flatten the abdominals
👉and used to treat and prevent the umbrella of pelvic floor dysfunctions such as:
Back pain
Leaking
Prolapse
painful sex
Take a peak at what this looks like:
During this Hypopressive exercise, you create a “suction effect” in the abdominals and the pelvic area due to the diaphragm inhalation. The drawing up in the abdomen the pelvic floor and the pelvic organs.
This technique has been around for thousands of years, It has only recently had more studies and still ongoing studies about the benefits of improving abdominal tone and the improvement of pelvic floor health. If you were to Google it, you can find ultrasound videos of this technique being performed, and you can see the drawing up of a pelvic organ prolapse.
There is a shift in the way we are learning to effectively train our core and it all comes down to managing pressure. We have an entire program that shows you this way, the Hypopressive is just one of these tools, and I like to call it the POWER TOOL as its benefits are so powerful and the technique is simple. You don’t need any equipment and you don’t sweat. This is something we learn in the later stages of our Core and Pelvic Floor Restore Program. I do 3, 10-minute sessions a week and I consider this my Core and Pelvic Floor training. I no longer do traditional core training such as sit-ups and crunches. As research shows, there is a more efficient and safer way to train and preserve the core. The Low Pressure Technique (Hypopressives) is just one of those ways.
So! It is not too late! You can indeed turn back time, and slow the aging process with even just these minimal fitness deposits. There is no drug, no injection that can do this for you. There are so many interesting and exciting studies ongoing on this subject and also in relation to cognitive and mental health as well.
Ola Ka Ola is currently offering a 14-day free trial, you have an opportunity to experience this for yourself!
In minutes, it's complete and victory is sweet!
I look forward to seeing you in class.
About Cheryl Coppa
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