From your twenties to your sixties and beyond, consider this a catalogue of fitness fundamentals worth knowing to live strong, healthy and happy
Do you remember pleading as a kid to stay up a little later, or to do your own food shopping? Anything to feel more like an adult. And now, in adulthood, you find yourself wishing you were a responsibilityfree child again. The lesson? There tends to be a ‘grass is always greener’ thinking around age – if only you could lose or add a decade – but consider this: what might happen if you worked with your age, rather than against it? Health looks and feels different for everyone, yes, but there are some changes that take place for pretty much all women, which tend to happen around the same age for everyone. Knowing what they are – and moving, eating, sleeping and caring for yourself in line with them – can act as an insurance policy for your future body. Here’s what you need to know…
20s
The state of play
Science says you’re likely in peak physical stead right now.
An Encyclopaedia Of Sports Medicine And Science study found energy levels are at their highest in this decade as you reach your VO₂ max (level of oxygen you’re able to convert into energy during exercise), while muscles are at their strongest at age 25.
Your menstrual cycle has probably also fallen into a regular(ish) rotation that means symptoms are more manageable – an International Journal Of Fertility study found that most cycles settle into a predictable rhythm six years after beginning menstruation.
‘You may still experience PMS or fluctuations across a cycle,’ Amal Hassan, a sports and exercise medicine consultant, explains. ‘But this won’t have as significant an impact on your fitness as it may when you’re older, because you can utilise more oxygen (which equals more energy), and protein synthesis – the process by which muscles regenerate – is most efficient, as your energyproducing mitochondria are working at their peak.’
Your musculoskeletal system is also laying some serious strength foundations – reaching its pinnacle during this decade.
‘You build bone mineral until your late twenties, through ossification,’ Dr Hassan explains. ‘This is when cellular tissue is replaced with calcium deposits that form as bone, and it continues until you’re around the age of 25.’
HABITS TO SWERVE
01 Winging it
Pay as much attention to your technique as you do your pension? That’s got to change. ‘Neglecting form and technique in everything from HIIT to weightlifting and spin classes can increase the risk of long-term injuries such as tendinitis (when the tendon becomes inflamed or irritated) and muscle strains, because you risk putting certain muscles under too much pressure and starting to wear down connective tissue,�
