Get rid of middle-aged obesity! 3 reasons to exercise your lower body after 40

As people age, their body functions rapidly deteriorate after they reach 40 years old. Not only are they prone to middle-aged obesity, but the risk of suffering from the three high diseases and heart disease also increases significantly. Therefore, in recent years, the World Health Organization has continuously encouraged middle-aged people to exercise more to enhance vitality and promote health. However, there are hundreds of types of sports, which one should I choose? Japanese experts believe that "exercising the lower body" is absolutely necessary!

For professional athletes, 30 is almost an age to consider retirement, but Noriaki Kasai, a famous Japanese skier who is already in his 40s, not only set a record of participating in the Winter Olympics eight times, but also always maintained top results, and was hailed as a "Winter Olympics legend."

Age-appropriate exercise ~ You must train your leg strength more after middle age

How can one maintain abundant physical strength and a youthful body into middle age like Noriaki Kasai? The book "From 40, Stay in Top Shape: Build a Body That Never Gets Tired and a Heart That Never Gives Up" reveals the exercise secrets of Noriaki Kasai. He believes that the choice of exercise should be appropriate for age, and that after the age of 40, you must exercise your lower body well. There are three main reasons:

1. About 70% of the body's muscles are concentrated in the lower body. Many people try hard to train their upper body muscles because they hate their bulging bellies or think that an inverted triangle body shape is cool. However, this can only strengthen 30% of the body's muscles. On the contrary, if you strengthen your lower body instead, you can exercise 70% of your body's muscles.

2. Exercising the lower body can promote "metabolism". If you want to get rid of middle-aged obesity and build an "ageless body", you need to increase muscle mass to improve "metabolism". By investing the time you spend exercising the upper body in the lower body, you can build lower body muscles and improve metabolism, and naturally you can get a "fat-free body" faster.

3. Lower body muscles deteriorate faster than upper body muscles. As the saying goes, "Aging starts from the feet." If you neglect the exercise of your lower body, your waist and knees will not be able to bear the pressure of the upper body for a long time, and the risk of failure will also increase. In addition, if your usual exercises are focused on the upper body and excessively increasing the muscle strength of the upper body will actually create a greater burden on the lower body.

20 minutes a week, 3 easy ways to train lower body muscles

Now that you understand why you need to exercise your lower body muscles, the next step is the more important "execution"! At this time, many people may start to make excuses and be lazy, such as "no time", "home is too far from the gym", "it's raining and I don't want to go out for exercise", etc. In this regard, I will share 3 tricks. It only takes about 20 minutes to complete them all. You can do it at home or in a small space. It doesn’t cost any money and you can easily continue it.

What makes lazy people even happier is that Noriaki Kasai recommends setting the training frequency to "once a week, at most twice a week." Break down muscles through micro-training, and then rest to turn them into strong muscles. Training every day can have the opposite effect.

[Move 1: Ski Jumping Squat]

• Action: Hold your head with your hands, stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, and your toes and knees facing forward. Take 10 seconds to squat down slowly, keeping your knees below your toes and being careful not to hunch your back. When your hips are lower than your knees, take 10 seconds to slowly stand up and return to the original position.

• Description: This exercise can exercise the quadriceps and gluteus maximus. 5 reps constitute a set. It is recommended to do 3 sets each time. When exercising, you must pay attention to "slow speed" and "correct posture" to avoid pain in your waist and knees.

[Move 2/Forward and backward lunge squat]

• Action: Stand with your feet in a lunge position, hands on your waist, maintain balance, and bend your knees for 5 seconds. Bring your knees as close to the ground as possible without touching it, stay there for 5 seconds, and then take 10 seconds to slowly return to the original position.

• Description: This movement can exercise the quadriceps, gluteus maximus and abdominal muscles. One set consists of 5 reps alternating between the left and right sides. It is recommended to do 3 sets each time.

[Step 3 / Step up and down the platform]

• Action: Prepare a platform about 10 to 30 cm high. Start with your right foot, step right foot onto the platform → step left foot onto the platform → step left foot onto the platform → step right foot off the platform. Then switch left and right, and the exercise should take 5 minutes.

• Description: This movement can exercise the entire lower body muscles. The higher the platform, the better the muscle training effect. However, it should be noted that there should be a certain rhythm and regularity when going up and down the platform, and attention should be paid to the posture, with the face facing forward and the back straight.

To prevent sports injuries, stretching beforehand is essential

It is worth noting that after the age of 40, muscles tend to become stiff. In order to prevent injuries during exercise, we remind you to stretch your muscles first every time you do the above muscle training!

[Kasai-style lower body stretching training]

★ Gluteus maximus (buttocks) stretch: Sit and put one foot up, use your hands to maintain balance, place the left ankle on the right knee, hold for 60 seconds, then repeat on the other side. While doing this exercise, you need to be aware of stretching your hip muscles while continuing to breathe slowly without holding your breath.

★ Calf muscle stretch: In a four-limb push-up position, stretch your elbows and knees, raise your hips, and while maintaining balance, bend your right knee and move forward. Be careful not to lift your left heel, hold for 60 seconds, then repeat on the other side.