Everyone knows that exercise is good for you — it helps manage weight, improves muscle and bone strength, increases your energy level and your mood. Exercise can keep you younger—both in terms of the energy you have and your physical ability to keep doing the things you love.
According to research published in 2012 in the American Journal of Physiology, the best way to stay young is to start exercise training. The training triggers mitochondrial biogenesis, a decline of which is common in aging. This reverses significant age-associated declines in mitochondrial mass, and in effect, stops aging in its tracks. This is not the first time researchers have linked exercise to mitochondrial changes. A 2011 review in Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism points out that exercise induces changes in mitochondrial enzyme content and activity, which can increase your cellular energy production and in so doing decrease your risk of chronic disease.
Aside from impacting your skeletal muscle and fat tissue, researchers noted that exercise induces mitochondrial changes that may also benefit your liver, brain and kidneys. The mitochondria is the “power plant” of your cells, responsible for generating the energy that drives all metabolic functions.
At least two additional 2012 studies, one in the Journal of Applied Physiology3 and the other in Neuroscience, also showed that exercise induces mitochondrial biogenesis (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3384482/) in the brain, with potential benefits such as reduction or reversal of age-associated declines in cognitive function, such as dementia, Alzheimer’s and helping to repair brain damage following a stroke.
“It doesn’t require being an Olympic athlete to get these anti-aging and health benefits. You don’t have to go to a gym and break a huge sweat. You don’t have to lift massive amounts of weight. You don’t have to run a marathon,” according to Neil Resnick, MD, chief of the division of geriatrics and associate director of the University of Pittsburgh Institute on Aging. points out, a. “If you walk 30 minutes a day, five days a week, you’re getting that benefit.” For optimal heart health and anti-aging benefits opt for a bit more.
A little exercise goes a long way
A little exercise can go a long way when it comes to slowing down the biological clock and extending life . One study found that just 15 minutes a day of moderate-intensity activity extended people’s lives by three years. “Exercising at very light levels reduced deaths from any cause by 14 percent,” says study senior author Xifeng Wu, MD, professor and chair of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center's department of epidemiology.
So what is the BEST way to exercise to prevent aging and extend your life?
Here are my exercise tips to move better, protect yourself from injury, and give you the best bang for your buck when trying to slow down the aging clock
1.. Hit the Weight Room
Research shows that in only 26 weeks, resistance training can reverse the aging process at the genetic level. Resistance training also preserves muscle mass that we typically lose as we age ( a process called sarcopenia, -typically pounds per decade, on average. This loss of muscles causes a slower metabolism and a rise in fat (an average of 10 pounds of fat per decade).
2. Do not skip the cardio
While U.S. guidelines call for 150 minutes of cardio per week, you should aim for 35 top 45 minutes of cardio a day for optimal heart health and to keep your metabolism from slowing (cardio activity improves mitochondrial function; the work of energy-producing organelles in cells, which typically decreases with age). If you don’t have much time, high intensity interval training (HIIT) is an efficient ways to exercise at high enough levels to improve aerobic fitness. High-intensity interval-type training boosts your body's natural production of human growth hormone (HGH), a synergistic, foundational biochemical that addresses the serious muscle loss and atrophy that typically occurs with aging. The higher your levels of growth hormone, the healthier and stronger you will look and feel. This decline of HGH is part of what drives your aging process, so maintaining your HGH levels gets increasingly important with age.
Aim for 15-10 minutes 3 of your 7 sessions using HIIT in your exercise program.
Remember MORE is not always better
Overdoing exercise, including cardio, can actually damage your mitochondria and should be avoided. This why I highly recommend efficient exercising, like incorporating HIIT every other exercise session.
3. Get your Squat Right
This applies not just when you are in the gym, but when you are picking up groceries, the grand kids or when you pick anything off the floor. For men squat with toes forward causing your knees to track over your ankles instead of caving in. The result: a stronger knee joint and less chance of knee pain. Women have different hip structure, so for the ladies: keep your slips slightly wider than your hips and turn your toes out slightly, which allows your femur to line up properly in the hip joint, causing your knees to track over your ankles instead of caving in. The result: a stronger knee joint and less chance of knee pain.
4. Embrace high-impact activity
A lot of older people are afraid to jump and participate in high impact activities because it’ll hurt the knees or hips. You need to jump in everyday life, and you need impact to build bone density, so do NOT eliminate high impact exercises. Think of forceful stepping any time you lunge, squat, or march.
6. Cross those Limbs!
When you are exercising include some moves where you cross your arms and legs over the midline of your body. Why? The connection between the left and right hemispheres of your brain tends to deteriorate as you age, which causes brain delays as the hemispheres have trouble communicating with one another. Crossing limbs forces the two sides of your brain to talk to one another, strengthening the mental; and neural connection between hemispheres. (How cool is that?)
7. Track
The average American walks only 2,000 steps per day, but experts recommend 10,000. To help track your goals and improve your performance get a cheap pedometer or get with the times and get a fitness tracker like a Fitbit. Fitness studies show that merely tracking your steps doubles how many you take.
References:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3384482/
About the Author Jeff Behar 
Jeff Behar, MS, MBA, is a well-known health, fitness, wellness author and anti aging, champion natural bodybuilder (2014 Masters Grand Prix Champion, 2015 California State Masters Champion), and a recognized health, fitness and nutrition expert with over 30 years of experience in the health, fitness, disease prevention, nutrition, and anti-aging fields.
As a recognized health, fitness and nutrition expert, Jeff Behar's has been featured on several radio shows, TV, and in several popular bodybuilding publications such as Flex, Ironman and in several highly regarded peer reviewed scientific journals. Jeff Behar is also the CEO and founder www.MuscleMagFitness.com and www.MyBesthealthPortal.com and a Medical Commentator on exercise for The American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, the worlds largest medical academy for anti-aging and regenerative medicine, provides medical professionals with the latest Anti-Aging, regenerative, functional and metabolic medicine.
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— Last Edited by Jeff Behar, MS, MBA, CIH at 2015-08-25 18:54:11 —
