Future proof your Body
There tends to be a ‘grass is greener’ thinking around age – if only you could lose or add a decade – but what might happen if you worked with your age, rather than against it?
Health looks and feels different for us all, but some changes take place for pretty much all women, often around the same age. 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…
The state of play
Science says you’re likely in peak physical condition 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 – research in International Journal Of Fertility revealed that most cycles settle into a predictable rhythm six years after beginning menstruation. “You may still experience PMS or fluctuations across a cycle,” explains sports and exercise medicine consultant Dr Amal Hassan. “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 energy-producing 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,” Hassan says. “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.”
Habit to SWERVE…
/01/ Winging Exercise
Pay as much attention to your technique as
