""We have a golden retriever, and so I walk her three or four miles a day, and I do a weight training class twice a week," says Brown, 62, of Arlington, Va. She knows muscle mass will decline without regular strength training. "We have a fun group with a personal trainer and we call ourselves the Beastie Girls," she says, describing how her group helps her stick with it. She also plays tennis and golf."
"And here's one way she knows she's different from an Olympic athlete: she would never push through pain or ignore it. She recalls a moment a few years back when she felt a stab of pain during a weight-training step class. "I was like, Oh my God, what happened," she recalls. She struggled to walk out of the gym and knew she needed medical attention."
"Now she's fully recovered, and she does push herself, not to the point of pain, but definitely to the point of fatigue. For example, when she's bench pressing with 20-pound weights in each hand, she says she's giving everything she's got. "It's hard," she says with a sense of determination. Dr. Mock says this is the kind of challenge that people can push through, though it may be a little uncomfortable and leave you feeling sore, which is OK."
A 62-year-old woman walks a golden retriever three to four miles daily, attends a twice-weekly weight-training class, plays tennis and golf, and trains with a personal-trainer group for adherence. Regular strength training is necessary to prevent muscle-mass decline. The body instinctively reacts to pain and protects itself during acute injury, signaling to stop and seek medical attention when needed. A partially torn calf required rehabilitation and time to heal. Pushing during workouts to the point of fatigue is appropriate, but pushing through pain can cause injury. Soreness is normal when starting or increasing activity; pain indicates injury.
Read at www.npr.org
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