Meet Jude Gedroiz. 71 and she’s getting her life back!
Wow! I am completed stoked about how far Jude has come. Less than one year and down three sizes, 14 pounds, 8% body fat and packing on 7 pounds of muscle, her gait has improved and she is also in much less pain, if any at all!
Initially, she had a very hard time getting up and down off the floor. After her assessment, I had no clue what we would do to help her get stronger, let alone lose weight. She had pain in both hips, and low back pain. She also had poor mobility throughout her thoracic spine, shoulders, hips and ankles.
To help with mobility, Jude used a foam roller and lacrosse ball on the wall. A large box placed next to her to assisted with getting up and down off the ground. Initially, the focus was improving her mobility and getting her core stronger.
Most of the exercises were done on the floor. Jude used a sandbag to create lots of tension from her lats (part of the shoulder musculature) through her abs to her hips. Exercises like bird dog drags, dead bugs, bridges, ½ kneeling presses, tall kneeling around the worlds. While lying on the floor, she would chest press dumbbells to help with upper body strength. And yes, sometimes bicep curls and tricep extensions were included!
The suspension trainer assisted with balance during squats and also body weight rows. Pushups progressed from a high elevation off the ground from her feet to the floor using an much lower box and from the knees. Jude also progressed from bridges to deadlifting a sandbag.
A monumental moment captured on video was her 1 minute plank! Most recently, she was able to do a plank knee tuck using gliding discs on her feet! Her squats progressed from the TRX to sandbag pressout squats and goblet squats with a kettlebell.
While nutrition has not been a huge focus to date, in the beginning Jude kept a food journal for a few days and we talked about the things to change to lose weight and also feel a little bit better.
Jude is always open to being challenged. She arrives with a smile on her face, crazy socks and ready to work! She just recently joined our Rock Your Jeans challenge and had to go buy new pants that she couldn’t fit in!
So how do you approach beginning a training program for strength and weight loss in your 70’s?
- Work on mobility in your ankles, hips, mid back and shoulders.
- Build up your core strength and stability first.
- As far as nutrition goes, cut out as many processed foods that you can and stick to the perimeter of the grocery store. You would be surprised at how much sugar is in processed foods and how sugar affects your joint health.
Mostly, try not to use age as an excuse. It’s very easy to pull the age card. You don’t have to do crazy explosive powerful movements to get strong. Stick to the basics. Find something you enjoy and have fun with your workouts!!