It's Never Too Late To Begin a Workout Regimen

May 20 2014

It's Never Too Late To Begin a Workout Regimen

Some people assume they are too old to begin a physical fitness regimen once they hit the 40 mark. After all, there's a reason why it's called "over the hill."

But a new study performed by researchers at the University of Rennes in France found that 40 years of age is not too old to begin endurance training. In fact, it offers the same benefits to people 40 years of age and older as it does for younger people between the ages of 30-39.

During the study, researchers closely monitored 40 men of whom were split into various groups based on their physical activity levels and age at which they began exercising. This resulted in the following three groups:

1. Participants who've exercised no more than 2 hours per week during their lifetime.
2. Participants who've exercised a minimum of 7 hours per week over a 5-year period, starting before they were 30 years old.
3. Participants who exercised a minimum of 7 hours per week, starting when they were 40 years of age or older.

Researchers were surprised to discover the resting heart rate among participants who exercised regularly were about the same, regardless of when they began exercising. More specifically, participants who began exercising before the age of 30 had a resting heart rate of 56.8 beats per minute (BPM), whereas participants who exercised after the age of 40 had a 58.1 BPM. The group of participants who did exercise had a much higher resting heart rate of 69.1 BPM.

Researchers took this study one step further by analyzing participants' hearts through echocardiography. They discovered that participants who exercised regularly -- regardless of when they started -- had wider, more prominent ventricle and atrias in the heart. Of course, this should lower participants' risk of heart attack, stroke and other forms of heart disease since there's greater room for blood to pass.

"Despite biological changes with age, the heart still seems - even at the age of 40 - amenable to modification by endurance training. Starting at the age of 40 does not seem to impair the cardiac benefits. However, endurance training is also beneficial for bone density, for muscle mass, for oxidative stress. And these benefits are known to be greater if training was started early in life," said  David Matelot of the University of Rennes in France.

Marathon running photo courtesy of srgpicker via Flickr Creative Commons.