At 64 years old, Lyn Tse stands tall.
That's unlike her mother, Alice Johnson, who developed a hunch when she was 50 and was eventually diagnosed with osteoporosis, a disease that weakens the bones of about two million Canadians, most of them over the age of 50. Women are especially prone to the disease as their estrogen levels decrease following menopause and one in three of them will end up breaking a bone because it’s been weakened by osteoporosis.
Tse didn’t want that same fate to afflict her. She has led an active life as a runner and when she signed up for the 2016 Mudderalla obstacle course race in Whistler, she knew she had to kick her training up a notch.
Tse wanted to work on her upper body strength so she could pull herself up and over climbing walls and rope ladders. She hooked up with Liz Naccarato, a certified fitness instructor and holistic nutrition coach whose Port Coquitlam fitness studio specializes in strength training and conditioning programs for people 50 and older.
Naccarato said while most fitness programs for seniors focus on cardio exercise like walking or cycling to strengthen the heart muscle, it’s equally important to hone the rest of the body’s muscles, which support its bones to help prevent the onset of diseases like osteoporosis.
Her Young Nacc program, targeted at women 50 and older, is a six- to eight-week introduction to lifting weights that aims to strike a balance between cardio fitness and strength training. Each hour-long workout combines exercises like jumping jacks and skipping rope with core strengthening and sessions with the barbells doing deadlifts, shoulder presses and back squats.
It all seemed a little intimidating at first, said Barb Goddard, 55, who runs half marathons but wants to be able to remain healthy and strong for the rest of her life.
“I know the importance of bone health,” she said.
Naccarato said the clang of heavy weights can be overwhelming, so she works with small groups and focuses on technique — lifting properly is more important than lifting a lot.
But as her senior clients become more comfortable in the gym, Naccarato said she’s not afraid to push them.
“To understand what they’re capable of, I have to push them to their limit,” she said. “I never say no.”
Tse said before she started her strength training program, she couldn’t skip rope more than 15 times; now, she can do as many as 300 jumps. Goddard couldn’t do a sit-up and now she screams off 150 in a row.
“I do have more confidence,” Tse said. “I am strong.”
“I never envisioned myself as someone who would lift weights,” Goddard said. “It’s good for us to go outside our comfort zone.”
• November is Osteoporosis Month in Canada. To find out more about the disease, go to www.osteoporosis.ca. To learn more about Liz Naccarato’s strength conditioning programs for seniors, go to www.liznaccarato.ca.
