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Fitness After 50 - 6 Important Exercise Suggestions for Baby Boomers
April 02, 2007

If Not Now, When?

Fitness-After-50 - Thomas D. Manfredi, Publisher
tom@fitness-after-50.com
www.fitness-after-50.com
April 2, 2007; Vol. 3, Issue 4
Published the first Monday of every month

THIS ISSUE: Six Important Exercise Suggestions for Baby Boomers
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Table of Contents:

1) Editor's Note
2) Food for Thought
3) Feature Article: Six Important Exercise Suggestions for Baby Boomers
4) Teleclasses
4) Question & Answer
5) Our Services

Editor's Note

Hi,


March was a relatively quiet month for me. I did get out to North Carolina on business and had the opportunity to visit with my good friends Pat and Angelo. We went to dinner two nights in a row, which gave us lots of time to catch up. The first night we went to a pizza place the serves authentic Chicago style pizza (being from Chicago, that's my favorite, and it's very hard to find outside the windy city). The next night we went to a Thai restaurant, which is another of my favorites.

I put the finishing touches on a special report I've been working on. It's called "Tips and Tactics to Improve Your Quality of Life with Exercise". If you'd like a free copy, let me know and I'll put you on the list to receive it as soon as I get it up loaded.

I am now moving on to writing my eBook. It will cover lots of great information on the whats, whys, and hows around sensible exercise for mature adults (primarily baby boomers). My special report covers similar topics, but in much less detail – it's just a teaser for the eBook. I'm also shaping up my on line coaching site. On it I will be offering individual, customized guidance on putting together your initial exercise plan and helping you with motivation, focus, and incremental progress ideas for ongoing exercise success. You, will be the first to learn when this service is up and running.

I want to mention that part of the reason I picked the subject I did for my main article in this month's ezine is because of an experience I had this past weekend. As most of you who have been reading this publication for at least a few months know, I had knee surgery back in January. Well, this past Saturday I decided to go hiking in the desert with a good friend of mine. And guess what? I paid for it the rest of the weekend. Even though my physical therapy is going well, I pushed myself sooner and further than what I was ready for. My point? As you'll see in my article, we need to take it slow and easy. Don't try to take on more than you can handle before you're ready.

Good luck, and keep exercising.

Best Wishes,

Tom Manfredi


Send any comments you may have to tom@fitness-after-50.com

My site fitness-after-50.com

Food for Thought

If you think education is expensive, wait until you see what ignorance costs you.

Feature Article - Six Important Exercise Suggestions for Baby Boomers
by Thomas D. Manfredi, MS

Let's start with some interesting notes about the baby boomer generation:

  • The oldest of us will be 61 this year.

  • The average age of today's grandparent is 48 (my wife and I fit these statistics perfectly since our oldest grandson will be 13 this summer).

  • We are the first generation that expects to be grandparents for 40 years or more (personally I'm pushing for 50+ as a minimum). This statistic should create the largest ever generation of great-grandparents.

  • There are more boomers than ever before participating in all kinds of recreational and organized team sports. The numbers are so high that they stun statisticians.

  • Baby boomer sports injuries jumped 33 percent during the 1990's. The largest increase in injuries is among boomers doing general exercise and running.

    One of the things we should be getting from these statistics is the fact that we need to be more careful and calculated in our approach to exercise so that we can live our expected, extended lives with better quality of life. As they say, "We ain't as young as we use to be." Unfortunately, there is a disconnect between the brain and our bodies, which often leads to injury. In our minds we are still young and we think we can still run and jump just like we did in our youth.

    The truth is, as we age, both our bones and soft tissues (muscles, tendons, and ligaments), lose their strength and become less elastic. This makes us more vulnerable to a variety of injuries. And, when we do get injured, it takes us longer to get back to where we were. Additionally, our heart becomes less efficient and the body's metabolism slows.

    Does this mean that we shouldn't exercise and participate in sports as we get older? To the contrary, physical exercise is a necessity to help us keep our bodies as healthy as possible and give us a better quality of life.

    Being in shape and being in condition plays a big role in minimizing our risk of injury. What we need to remember is that we have to train and condition ourselves at an age appropriate level. Keep in mind that realizing your basketball league starts next week so you jump into a quick conditioning program is going to almost guarantee you some early injuries and problems. You need at least two to three months of training and conditioning to get ready for most sports activities. If you're starting a new fitness program, you need to work your way into it slowly.

    Here are some suggestions to help us boomers get back into a sports activity, or start a new exercise program:

  • Make sure you warm up and stretch before any physical exercise or activity. A good way to do this is to do three or four minutes of aerobic exercise to warm you up and then stretch gently with a special emphasis on the muscles you will be using for your exercise routine or specific sports activity.

  • Listen to your body. "No pain no gain" is a stupid adage at any age, but it is particularly dangerous for us more mature exercisers. If it hurts too much, you probably shouldn't continue to do it. Remember that it is important to adjust you physical activity to both your age and your fitness level.

  • Take lessons and/or get some expert guidance before you start something new. Make sure the person you're learning from knows what they're talking about. If you're going to start a new exercise program, hiring a coach to help you get started is a worthwhile investment. And they can help keep you on track and motivated.

  • Don't try to get all your exercise on the weekend. Being a "weekend warrior" can be dangerous. Try to get 30 minutes of exercise every day.

  • Make sure your fitness program is balanced. It should include aerobic exercise (3 to 5 times per week), strength training (at least twice a week), and flexibility exercises (at least 4 to 5 times per week). And, believe it or not, all of that exercise can be done in less than 40 minutes per day.

  • Remember to use the 10 percent rule when increasing your activity level. Increase your activity in increments of no more than 10 percent per week. As an example; let's assume you're walking 2 miles per day at 15 minutes per mile, 5 times a week for a total of 10 miles. You should only increase your total mileage for the week by 1 mile, or increase your pace to 13.5 minutes per mile. Don't do both at the same time.

    As we age, it is very important that we continue to do physical exercise or start a program if we haven't been doing anything. For most of us, the benefits of remaining physically active far out weigh the minor inconvenience of fitting a little exercise into our daily routine. But, remember to be careful and sensible.


    (c)2005 - 2007 Thomas D. Manfredi, MS

    Teleclasses

    I will be announcing upcoming teleclasses in this section in the future.

    If you have a topic that you would be interested in hearing about in a teleclass, send an e-mail to teleclasses@fitness-after-50.com

    Questions and Answers

    Question – Is It Really Hard to Get "Six Pack Abs"?

    Answer - The simple answer is, no. But let's take a look at why I say that in a little more depth.

    Actually, most people who do even a moderate amount of exercise that includes crunches and other standard ab work have six pack abs. The abdominal muscles on most of us have that wash board look. The problem is that no one can see them because of the layer of fat over the abdomen of most people. In order for people to see your "six pack abs", you don't necessarily have to do more exercise, you need to get rid of the fat covering your abdominal muscles. Since spot reduction for just one part of the body doesn't work, that means we have to lose the fat all over our bodies. This is the bigger challenge.

    So, if you want to be able to show off your "six pack abs", don't do more crunches, reduce your calorie intake and get rid of the flab over them.


    To get more information on various fitness and health issues, please go to my site – www.fitness-after-50.com


    -------------------
    If you have a fitness or nutrition question you would like me to consider answering here in the newsletter, just send your question, along with your first name and city, in an e-mail to quesandansw@fitness-after-50.com

    Obviously, I can't answer every question submitted. I will choose one question each month to answer here.

    About Our Services

    Online fitness coach Tom Manfredi is the creator of the site "fitness-after-50". This site is designed with the mature adult in mind. There is a lot of information available on the site for anyone looking to start or restart a sensible exercise program. Learn more by going to www.fitness-after-50.com



    Tom Manfredi, 1218 Easy St., Ste 101, Wickenburg, AZ 85390

    Other Services and Information

    Identity Theft

    I don’t know about you, but with all the news coverage lately about identity theft and all the problems it can cause for people, my wife and I have become somewhat paranoid about shredding any mail we get with any kind of identifying info in it, and she freaks out any time I order something on the internet and give out info there.

    Well, a woman I know here in Arizona recently sent me some info about a company that offers $1,000,000 coverage to help take care of the problem if someone steals your identity. The company is called LifeLock. You can get to their site by clicking on the banner below if it's visble, or by copying the following code into your browser –

    They charge a very reasonable monthly fee and offer a number of included services (they also give discounts for paying annually). Go take a look and see what you think. I signed up. I think my peace of mind is worth that kind of money.

    Your feedback is always welcome and appreciated! Write me at tom@fitness-after-50.com.

    "Fitness-After-50" respects your privacy and does not give out or sell our subscribers' names and/or e-mail addresses.

    Copyright (c) 2005 - 2007 Thomas D. Manfredi, MS. All rights reserved.

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