The mature body, part 2

I received an earful (or e-mailful) on my last week's column on the "mature body."

Even the term seemed to create some comment. One correspondent sarcastically claimed I was being unnecessarily "PC" by calling our aging bodies "mature." I suppose we could avoid the now-suspect PC language and just call them "gasbags."

Boyd, who is 78, thought the term was altogether ridiculous. He pointed out that his body reached its maturity when he was a "magnificent" 35-year-old. "This body is no longer 'mature', it's 'ripe.'"

An interesting voicemail from one female reader questioned me for even dealing with the subject. Her implication was that I had given into a sexist bias.

"After all," she chided, "When you talk about the mature body, aren't you really only talking about the obsessions women increasingly have for ignoring nature's lovely plan that allows our aging bodies to settle into its own comfortable space? We do this to keep our men interested,of course, but they don't seem all that interested in keeping their own bodies up to snuff."

I am certain she has a defensible point. Yet many older men I know aren't just sitting around scratching their big bellies and feeling smug. But before I turn this into an unnecessary war of the aging sexes, let me bring in an expert on the mature body to lend some objective perspective.

Jason Baker has worked with some of our most famous mature bodies as a personalized in-home fitness trainer. Recently, I put the brave question to him: What's up with us old folks when it comes to the care and preservation of the mature body? And is it different for men and women?

"There is really only one significant difference," Jason said. "Women tend to carry extra weight around the upper thigh and lower stomach areas, men carry extra weight around love handles and middle stomach."

Other than the "comfortable spaces" our gender-specific bodies tend to settle into, we are pretty much alike, according to Baker. Man or woman, we are all subject to the basic laws of thermodynamics.

"Every decade we naturally increase 10 pounds -- that's a pound a year for both men and women. Also normal is a decrease in our metabolism, up to three percent a decade after 30."

The result of this unfortunate combination is a decrease in muscle mass and an inevitable gain in fat.

"Remember, muscle uses up two to four times the calories than fat. The less muscle, the more our consumed calories will cause us to gain weight."

Resistance training is especially important. Menopause decreases bone density, which in turn causes a decrease in muscle mass. Less muscle mass, less stability and more weight gain. He also reminds us that osteoporosis is not just a female problem; mature men are also subject to bone thinning.

A big problem with mature bodies is that they tend to become more sedentary.

Baker uses a unique approach to deal with this reality. He gets his clients out of the often boring and intimidating gym environment and into nature: pullups on tree branches, pushups on rocks, power walks around the park.

He also points out that we as we age we are too intent upon looking for convenience and comfort, which robs us of many fitness opportunities.

Baker's final word? "Find any and all opportunities to exercise and make sure they are enjoyable. This way you will keep at it. Remember, the mature body regresses faster once you stop."

Dr. Michael O.L. Seabaugh is a Cape Girardeau native who is a licensed clinical psychologist in Santa Barbara and Santa Monica, Calif. Contact him at mseabaugh@semissourian.com.