By Debbie Gardner
dgardner@thereminder.com
Personal trainer Walton Lamar Moore said he has an important question when he starts working with a new client of any age – “What do they want to be able to do now?”
For Moore, who became a personal trainer at mid-life in 2008 after a heart attack in his late 40s – and the advice of his doctor – made him rethink his high-pressure job in financial services, the answer is simple.
“I want to be able, at 90, to put 15 to 25 pounds in the overhead compartment [of an airplane], get off the ground without using my hands and I want to be able to do a three-to four-mile hike at a good pace,” Moore shared. To do this, he said he knows how much weight he should be lifting now, in his 60s, and “how fast I should be moving” when he’s walking.
In his goals, Moore was talking not just about lifespan, but health span, one of today’s hot topics in geriatric medicine and aging.
It’s also the focus of the training he does with the older clients he works with, both in his job as a personal trainer at HealthTrax in East Longmeadow, the balance class he teaches at the Pleasant View Senior Center in East Longmeadow, and the private clients who engage him as a concierge personal trainer to help them regain their mobility and fitness.
The basics of health-span
Prime sat down with Moore on his 62nd birthday to talk about healthy aging and the importance of staying active.
“Here’s the thing, if there are three factors that are the biggest predictors for a long health span, [they] are endurance, relative strength and walking speed,” Moore said. “All of those can be improved with balance training. Once you are strong enough in your legs to start keeping your balance, then you can start walking and then, a lot of stuff can start happening.”
Balance, Moore stressed, is more connected to overall health than many people understand. Balance “works on your brain health, it works as an example of your muscles communicating with your brain as you move around; the chemicals in your brain due to exercise help with memory formation, which helps with better mental health and stress reduction,” he shared.
But balance – and a comprehensive assessment to determine functionality – isn’t the only fitness aspect Moore looks at with a new client. He’ll also ask about the health concerns of parents and grandparents with an eye to prevention as part of an overall fitness plan.
“We do everything we can to prevent [those health concerns] from happening,” Moore said.
Age, too, is a factor in how to approach health span fitness goals, Moore shared. For example, from the age of 40 to 50 he noted that “the goal should be to maximize strength, cardiovascular endurance and participate in more than one athletic activity to encourage mobility and flexibility.” At that age it’s still relatively easy to grow muscle, he added.
As individuals move through their 50s, Moore said workout goals should shift to optimize “physical function and preparation to extend health span” – those areas of endurance, strength and walking speed. Fitness activities should emphasize “injury-free” activities “as recovery from injury gets longer and can result in irretrievable muscle mass loss as we age. For example, a 10-day down time for injury or surgical recovery can result in as much as a three-pound decrease in skeletal muscle,” even at age 50, Moore noted.
Maintaining skeletal muscle as we age is important, Moore said, not just because it helps maintain balance and strength, but because muscle is important for maintaining what he referred to as metabolic health – helping to maintain a healthy weight by burning calories we consume and regulating insulin sensitivity, an important factor in type 2 diabetes. Muscle also provides a reservoir for important amino acids that can aid in recovery from an illness or injury.
Working to maintain muscle mass and strength after age 60 is also important to combat Sarcopenia, the age-related, progressive loss of muscle mass and strength, Moore explained. Recognized as a reportable condition by the Centers for Disease Control in 2016, the loss of muscle mass can be as much as 1% per year, resulting in a decrease in from 3 to 8 percent in muscle strength and power annually.
“Muscle is the currency of longevity,” Moore stated. “With loss of muscle comes not only impacted mobility, but an overall decrease in metabolic and mental health.”
In essence, Moore said “You are going to waste away if you don’t move!”
Getting up to speed
Is it ever too late to make progress on your health span? Moore gave an example of a client he’s recently worked with, a man in his 80s, who was struggling with balance and walking, and the progress he was able to make.
“He said after training with me he’d gotten over his fear of walking to the point that when he and his wife went back to Florida, they are going to start walking. That’s a quality of life [goal], if you’re afraid to walk, you’re afraid to do a lot of things,” Moore said.
For those who might be considering starting to work on their own health span in the new year, Moore shared these tips.
Up your protein intake. “Unless otherwise advised by a physician, your first meal of the day should have at least 30 grams of protein of your choice. This gets you toward the minimum needed to avoid any deficiency conditions, satiates your hunger more than carbohydrates alone, and provides the building blocks for any muscle building,” he said.
The minimum protein intake for a day should be 50 grams to prevent deficiencies, Moore added. There are many good products, such as protein powders you can add to milk or beverages, which can help people achieve the 30 morning grams, Moore shared.
Pump a little iron. “Get some weights and find some videos to work with,” Moore said. “There’s so much free [training videos] available now” that it’s easy to find a workout to fit your time and schedule.
Resistance training, he noted, is key to building and maintaining muscle mass and strength.
Walk! “Get your walking in, at a good clip,” Moore said. The goal is to get to where you can “walk fast enough so you don’t feel like talking.” This step will help build your endurance.
Keep your balance. If you can find a class – or a video – that helps you to work on any balance issues, that is a plus to any fitness program as you age, Moore added.
“Muscles and balance are the two things you can train and [improve],” even as you age, Moore stressed.
Individuals interested in learning more about Moore’s concierge training consultations can reach him at 413-221-7500 or MooreFitNow@gmail.com
