What kind of exercise is better after entering middle age? Exercise your "white muscles"!

How old are you this year? For people, 40 is a special number. They may face a mid-life crisis in their careers, and it may also be the beginning of health collapse. Strengthening health and exercising muscles are very important, but most people don’t know that muscles are actually divided into red and white. If you want to exercise muscles more efficiently, you must choose the right method!

See how important muscle is to health!

Muscles can protect bones and joints, prevent injuries and various aches and pains, help blood circulation, prevent aging, maintain vitality and youthful body. They can also improve obesity, metabolic syndrome and the three high diseases. They are one of the heavyweights in maintaining a healthy life. Unfortunately, not only do muscles gradually decrease and become smaller as we age, but the muscles themselves are also quite lazy. If the body is not active, they will degenerate into depravity, resulting in a decrease in muscle mass and weakening of muscle strength.

"Red muscle" or "white muscle", which one should you pay the most attention to after 40?

To live you have to move! Modern medicine believes that muscle building is a habit that should be developed by all age groups. However, the physical fitness and health status of middle-aged and elderly people are not as good as when they were young. How can they exercise their muscles more effectively to promote health? Let’s first understand the characteristics of muscles!

Muscles are composed of many hair-like, long, fibrous cells called "myofibers." Muscle fibers are divided into "red muscle" and "white muscle". As people age, their white muscle begins to decrease and they gradually lose the ability to exert explosive power. Their movement speed also becomes slower and their mobility is poor. Naturally, people age faster and are more susceptible to illness. Therefore, you should start exercising regularly from middle age and try not to lose your white muscle.

Taking running as an example, marathon runners who need endurance have more red muscles, while sprint runners who need to exert explosive power have more white muscles.

Red muscle vs white muscle

What is the difference between "red muscle" and "white muscle"? Japanese holistic therapist Zheng Xinyi mentioned in his book "The Miraculous Waist Lifting Technique to Stay Away from Long-term Care" that red muscle is also known as "slow muscle", which is suitable for continuous exercise; white muscle is also known as "fast muscle", which is suitable for exercise that requires explosive power. Taking running as an example, marathon runners who need endurance have more red muscles, while sprint runners who need to exert explosive power have more white muscles.

Using fish types as an analogy, red fish that constantly migrate in the ocean, such as tuna, bonito and other ocean-going fish, need endurance, and therefore have more slow-contracting slow muscles (red muscles); while white fish that live in waters close to the coastline, such as sea bream, flounder and other near-shore fish, usually live on the seabed, but need to exert explosive power when chasing bait or escaping from external enemies, and therefore have more fast-contracting fast muscles (white muscles).

If you want to exercise white muscle, anaerobic exercise is the most suitable

As for how to exercise white muscles? Zheng Xinyi believes that anaerobic exercise is the best way to exercise. In addition to sprinting, representative muscle training such as weightlifting and squats are also anaerobic exercises, which can cultivate explosive power to exert energy. As for aerobic exercises such as marathons, jogging and walking, they are all exercises that develop endurance and stamina, and are therefore suitable for training red muscles.

(Photo source: "Miraculous Waist Lifting Surgery for a Life Away from Long-term Care")