When we age, we notice that several different things seem to “happen” as the years go by. When you think about how you can lead the best life possible for you, it is important that you are able to deal with each of these aspects of aging in the most constructive manner possible. It helps to understand what you can do to deal with each of these conditions, and what the implications are for your overall good health.

First of all, you calendar age will always be whatever it is. We all age one day every day, and one year every year, etc. This is the reality of all living things. However, by being physically healthy and vibrant, we can enjoy our lives to the fullest as we go through our lives. “Anti-aging” means keeping your body and mind in the best condition possible for as long as you can.

There are four major dimensions of aging that impact all of us. They are:
• Basic Health: bodily functions, heart and circulation, structural integrity, etc.
• Physical appearance: skin, shape, hair, etc.
• Physical viability: strength, agility, physical reserve, flexibility, balance, etc.
• Mindset: living vs existing, depression, creative life vs survival

These dimensions of your well being are all interrelated. If you maintain good general health, your appearance will be better, your mindset will be better and your overall viability will be adequate. If you are in very poor physical health, the chances are that you won’t look very good, and your mindset and physical viability will be poor.

Let’s take a look at how each of these dimensions are impacted as you age, and what you can do to enhance your chances for optimizing each of them.

There is nothing that will reverse aging. But, there are things that can be done in each of the areas where aging occurs. The object should be to build as sound and healthy a body as possible. A good strategy for building a body that is both functional and attractive is to work on all the different aspects of health to get the best result. Relying on one or two approaches to countering age related effects will yield modest or minimal results. Working on all four areas will produce the maximum benefit possible.

Basic Physical Health

Most people equate being “healthy” with having no major physical problems. As long as they can “get around” and do what they habitually do, that seems to be good enough. The problem is that in the physical world, bodies deteriorate unless they are properly maintained. Many people are simply not motivated to do the most elementary forms of proper maintenance. Thus, they are overweight, have high blood pressure, limited cardiovascular function, little physical strength and many chronic limitations.

One response is to use prescription drugs to manage the symptoms of deterioration. Medication can mask chronic pain, help lower blood pressure and/or cholesterol, stimulate heart function, etc. Unfortunately, the use of drugs to counter the effects of deteriorated basic physical health allows the person to continue living, but does not restore the lost function to the level it was before deteriorating.

It is inevitable that as we age, we are likely to need more visits to the doctor than we did as teen agers. However, many people age far more rapidly than they need to because they pay so little attention to properly caring for their basic physical health. The doctor can help you when you are sick or injured, but doctors can’t perform miracles with bodies that are totally degenerated by lack of proper care.

If you want to have a long and active “senior adult” life, it is imperative that you keep your body fat at a proper level (low), eat properly (caloric intake and nutrients), and maintain yourself through regular exercise. If you don’t do those things, the doctor can’t do much to slow the degeneration process.

Physical Appearance

As we age, our skin, hair and physical shape may change dramatically. The most common response to these changes is to buy products that will regenerate the skin, or use cosmetics to cover outward blemishes. Cosmetic surgery is often used to alter the appearance of both the face and body.

Relying exclusively on make-up and plastic surgery is a strategy that will slow degeneration, but will be relatively ineffective if used as an exclusive tactic. There are clearly a few (very few) products that can help regenerate aging skin. Cosmetic surgery can remove unwanted tissue, but do nothing to build an attractive body underneath the skin.

The greatest impact on physical appearance comes from shedding unwanted fat, and getting into good physical condition. Cosmetics can dramatically improve how you may look (until they wash off), but you don’t want to have “great skin” and a “train wreck” body. As noted, there are some cosmetic products that can help restore skin and hair, but to get the most out of them, it is essential to build the body to go with the face.

Physical Viability

One of the biggest problems in getting older is the loss of the ability to do a full range of physical activities. People become restricted in what they can lift, how far they can walk, how hard it is to breathe, climbing stairs, their overall energy levels, and so forth. Muscles become atrophied, bone structures become distorted, and life can become a constant struggle to deal with chronic pain, get from place to place, and carry on routine daily activities.

If there is one place where the doctor cannot do anything to help slow down the effects of aging, it is in the area of physical viability. Despite what many people appear to hope (believe), taking pills or supplements will do nothing to impact the essential components of physical viability:
• Physical strength
• Cardiovascular capacity
• Balance and coordination
• Flexibility
These capabilities can only be achieved through a structured program of regular exercise. Doctors can offer temporary relief from pain, but cannot provide medications that will turn someone from a physical blob to a superman.

Combined with proper diet, a regular exercise program will dramatically impact an individual’s basic physical health, as well as their appearance, and their overall physical viability. The synergistic effect of “getting in shape” cannot be over emphasized.

Mindset

The mind and the body are intimately connected. The impact of a person’s mental outlook on how rapidly they age cannot be understated. The literature on the positive and negative impacts of mindset is vast. Mental outlook is absolutely critical to having the best life you can possibly lead. This discussion alone is worth several books, but here are a few high points.

First of all, a positive mindset can have a huge impact on overall health, physical appearance, and the capacity to build physical viability. Being positive need not mean being unrealistic, but it does provide a strong support for doing the things that are good for a person’s health, and avoiding the things that are bad.

Conversely, a negative mindset can be very corrosive when it comes to building a healthy body. Negativity can prevent people from taking the steps needed to build their health. It can also lead to depression, despair and social isolation. All of these things have a big negative effect on building a physically viable body.

The positive synergy between a “can do” mindset building a more viable and attractive body is huge. I’m not talking about false beliefs about possible outcomes. The key is that a positive mindset promotes enthusiasm, focus and discipline. All of these are essential to succeed in doing something that requires work and determination. A positive mindset is also essential to seeing life as an opportunity to grow and thrive, not merely survive.

There are literally reams of material that can help you transform your mindset so that it supports a joy of living rather than merely surviving. Keeping a positive attitude is one of the biggest single things that will help you make the most of your senior years. I have several resources listed on this site. You can click on the tab and check them out.

Conclusion

From the very brief discussion of the four aspects of aging, it should be evident that if you are serious about developing a program to maximize your chances of thriving during your adult senior years, you need to focus attention on all four areas discussed above. Most people tend to focus on one or two at most, usually appearance or medications for basic physical health. You will obtain the greatest effect if you recognize that all four are critical to your long term success.

If you take good care of all aspects of your body’s health and you will be rewarded many times over. As singer Jody Messina says “you only get one ride around the sun”. Let’s make the most of it.

Get Going

You can get rolling on having a better life, and beginning the practices that will help you be the very best you can be by checking out the book A Guide to Getting Younger After 60. In that volume, you will find a treasure trove of information you need to get yourself going in the right direction. Check the tab on this page, and find out more about how you can create a great body and the life that goes with it.

Enjoy the Journey!

Richard

As I write this, it is early morning on New Years Day. A lot of you are still asleep, and some are just waking up and getting started on 2012. Millions of people will make resolutions to do things this year that are both good for them….and very hard to stay with. I’m going to make a few resolutions that can help you do the right thing, AND stay with your good habits.

One of the most important things I’m going to do is level with you about what it takes to build a strong healthy body that will be fun to live in for many more years. If you waste your time and money on things that will do little or nothing for you, all you will accomplish in 2012 is to get another year older.

Building a stronger and more healthy body really come about ONLY through proper eating and exercise. You have heard this before….but millions of people continue to believe that they can take a few pills (or a lot of pills) and some injections, and poof…they will drop years off their body. This is strictly pixy dust….

There are a huge number of scams out there that do a good job of selling you a day dream. The problem is that we all want to believe that a significant transformation can be achieved with little work….so that we can go on about our lives with none of our routines interrupted. We also want magic transformatons to occur without any pain. That is why pills and potions are so attractive.

With almost 80 million of us in the “boomer” generation, there is a huge market for almost anything that promises to help us regain some of our physical vitality. Unfortunately, an old saying applies here: “if it is too good to be true, it is too good to be true…”

There are a few things that can make a major difference in your life, but they don’t come without effort, and are not always easy to stick with. But…the good news is that these practices will actually do good things for you….not just raise your hopes, take your money, and leave you worse off than you were before.

My resolution for you is that if you follow this blog, I’ll tell you about a lot of things that can really improve your life without sticking it to your wallet. You can take decades off your body….but it will take resolve, focus, and discipline to do. I’ll tell you how to spot fake products, how to assess things that might actually be good for you, and tell you about things I have tried and researched. In short, I’ll do my best to help you make the right choices for you.

I’ll have things for sale on this site. If you buy them….great. If you don’t buy them but use the free advice to help you build a better life for you that is fantastic! Like singer Jodee Messina says, we all just get one “ride around the sun”. Let’s all make the most of it. I’ll do my best to help you make the most of your ride.

Richard
7:45 AM on New Years Day

Perhaps you have seen fitenss programs that are based on “interval training” principles. That is, you will do some exercise very intensely for a specified period of time, or distance, then reduce effort so that you can recover before doing the next burst of high intensity. You may have wondered whether this approach was “revolutionary” or a “the next great thing”.

Actually, interval training is an old idea that still has great value. It has been around since the 1930’s and is a tried, tested and effective system for developing speed, endurance and overall athletic performance. Today it is widely used in training athletes at all skill levels and many different sports.

Interval training was invented by the German Olympic track team coaches to train their athletes for the 1936 Olympic Games. The basic approach was to run a certain distance at a specific level of effort (or time), and then immediately slow down and run another distance at a very slow pace to recover. This would be followed by another burst of training at high intensity, followed by a recovery. These “intervals” of high exertion followed by specified periods of recovery were quickly adopted by other track coaches.

The appeal of interval training was that it gave a clear structure to a workout, and could easily be carried out by a person training on their own. It also helps athletes quickly get to a decent level of conditioning. In the 1950’s a book called Track and Field Athletics by Bresnahan and Tuttle became the bible for coaching track and field. Intervals for each track event were carefully detailed. In the 1960’s significant refinements were made for sprints and distance runners. Bill Bowerman used intervals to train great distance runners. Peyton Jordan devised training tables for sprinters to enhance their speed. Today practially every track coach in the US and Europe teaches some form interval training. Since the early 1960’s coaches in other sports have been using interval training methods as well.

Fitness program for the general public that are based on interval training techniques have a particular appeal in that beginners can initially do short relatively intense training sessions, and see some immediate benefits. People in better conditon also can benefit from interval training because it can help them move beyond their present plateaus. In short, interval training can be of great benefit for anyone who wants to get fit or improve their performance.

The main disadvantage of interval training is that it is easy to train excessively, and even the experienced athlete can break down. For beginners, the periods of intense exertion can be overdone, and injuries come as a result. For most people, this is not a significant problem. However, the chance of injury or overtaining is something that everyone should keep in the back of their mind. Your best defense is to use good sense about how hard and how fast you can train.

I emphasize using various forms of interval training in all my cardio programs. There are a huge number of variations that can produce significant benefit for people at all levels of fitness. The approach I use involves having each individual work at a subjective level of effort. For example, I’ll tell you to run at “70% effort for 10 seconds”. Each person will define “70% effort” according to their own standard. This allows people at very different fitness levels to benefit from the same guidance. Expending this effort for a specific time means that no one has to worry about the distance they actually run (or swim, etc.).

The cool thing about self paced intervals is that they can be used by seniors as well as people in their 20’s. You put out “70%” based on your own capacity. The training effect is that you continue to build up your capcity, and regardless of age, make improvements in your health and fitness.

There are a huge number of variations that can be applied to interval training and all of them can benefit your fitness. I have used interval training ideas in the weight room, in the pool, when cycling, and literally in any type of effort where you can alternate bursts of effort with short periods of recovery. Interval training was developed 75 years ago, but continues to benefit people training today.

Richard

There is a serious debate going on in the research community about the impact that vitamin supplements can have on our health. A few things are generally accepted, the most prominent being that vitamins are essential to our overall health. It is also generally accepted that getting vitamins through our food is more effective than through the use of supplements. None the less, a huge proportion of the US population takes at least one vitamin supplement each day.

A July 2011 article in the Harvard Health Letter may help us understand the problems of gaining a clear answer to the claims being made about the impact of vitamin supplements. Citing an opinon article by Martha Clare Morris and Christine Tangney at the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago published in the Journal of the American Medical Association argued that major clinical trials show poor or inconsitent positive health benefits for supplements. The authors argued that vitamins may show little or no effect in randomized clinical trials in part because many of the participants in the study may already have optimal levels of vitamins in their bodies when the study begins. If that is the case, there is little chance that taking additional supplements will show any effect. The authors argue that people who have very low levels of vitamins may benefit from taking supplements, while those who already have adequate levels of vitamins in their system may not show any effect from taking supplements.

It is not known what portion of the population may have vitamin deficiencies. However, if you are a person who wants to be fit and healthy, I offer the following suggestions based on my many years of training and study in this area.

First of all, it is essential that you eat a diet with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. You should be certain that you obtain your vitamins and minerals from your food. Pills are not a substitute for proper eating. Recommended vegetables are the ones that are the darkest color. Vegetables that are “deep fried” or processed are not really going to do you any good. My advice is eat fresh food!

Second: I always recommend taking a high quality multiple vitamin as insurance. You should use supplements only as a back up to your basic eating program.

Third: Until proven otherwise, assume that mega doses of vitamins are relatively useless, and may be harmful. If you are eating properly, there is no need to “over supplement”.

In conclusion, it is probably useful to think of vitamins having a “housekeeping” function in your body. That is, if you have adequate levels, your system will function properly. If you have a deficiency, then things go poorly. However, taking more than the base requirement will not give you an added boost.

Richard

There are a lot of great options for people who want to build their fitness.  Unfortunately, there are also a lot of products offered for sale that are basically useless.  This article is a quick primer on how to identify “junk” fitness products.

First of all, a product that promises “great results in only five minutes three times a week” should be looked at with great skepticism.  There are some five minute training drills that only a handful of supremely conditioned athletes can do.  For example, the the RKC kettlebell test involves snatching a 53 pound kettlebell overhead 100 times in five minutes.  Vanishingly few people have the strength and endurance to do this.  For the vast majority of people just starting training, you will get little value from “five minute” training.   Beginners simply do not have the physical capacity to do the high intensity workouts that will tax even the best conditioned athletes. 

On the flip side of this point, five minutes of training is better than nothing…..but not a lot.  You should expect to spend 30 minutes (minimum) and 60 minutes (maximum) in a training session that will produce strength development and improved cardiovascular capacity. 

A second indicator of a “junk” product is that it can only be used for one exercise.  Most of us have seen “infomercials” for abdominal machines that put you through the same movement with different degrees of difficulty.  The main problem with these devices is that most people quickly outgrow them.  When this happens, the “one trick” device winds up in the garage, or at a yard sale. 

In direct contrast to the “one trick” devices are things like kettlebells or dumbbells that can be used in an almost infinite variety of movements.  Even light weights can be used in a wide variety of training that will continue to give the user a challenge for many years.  Free weights are the polar opposite of “one trick” devices.  There are a vast number of ways you can use them for many years….and they are simple and don’t suffer mechanical failures.

A third way to evaluate a potential purchase is whether the device will actually do what you need done.  If you are beginning a fitness program, you need something that will give your entire body a good training session.  As noted, many of the devices offered for sale will work one part of your body, and leave the other parts untested.  This can actually be a problem in that you will develop muscle imbalances, and the pains that go with them. 

There are very few machines on the market that will give you a good all around training session.  The ones that can do this are extremely expensive.  Free weights (barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells) are clearly superior to almost any machine in terms of versatility and giving good value for the dollar.  Another option that is growing in popularity are exercise sandbags.  Like free weights, sandbags allow you to do a huge variety of movements and train the entire body. 

Finally, you have to evaluate what benefit you will get from the fitness “gadget” as opposed to the value of paying a monthly membership at a gym.  The gym will give you a huge range of equipment and other training options.  For example, if you have to pay $100 for a product, you should consider what you would get if you spent the same $100 on a gym membership.  You might get up to three months of access to lots of different equipment in the gym.  You might even find that the product you considered buying was available at the gym for you to try out.  

Lastly, you might be initially attracted to a piece of equipment because it promised some type of result you wanted.  If you take the time to think how best to accomplish your goals, you may decide that a totally different strategy is better suited to accomplish the goals you want to attain.  In the end, you may decide to buy something totally different. 

I hope this helps you make good choices when considering how to invest your time and money in fitness equipment.  Here’s hoping that you are able to get great value for your money.   

Richard

There are a lot of myths about senior fitness that are generally accepted without question.  As you will find out, some of the most important of these are just plain wrong.  Chief among the incorrect ideas is that if you are over 60, you can’t become fit and strong. 

At the moment I’m 70 years old.  I have been involved with training people of all ages since I was in high school.  What continues to surprise me is that there is a “general consensus” that people who are past 40 will decline dramatically, and over 60 you can forget ever being physically fit again.  This line of thinking seems to be that there is little or nothing that a person can do to improve their conditioning (and their quality of life) after they reach middle age.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

Reality is that almost any of us who are over the age of 60 can make dramatic positive changes in our physical conditioning and overall health.  The main thing in our way is not the inevitable “march of time”, but the fact that many of us believe there is nothing we can do to change our situation.  Because we believe we can do nothing to improve our physical health and fitness, that is exactly what we do…..nothing!  And guess what?  When we do nothing, we indeed fall prey to the “march of time”.

None of us will live forever.  What we can do is take steps to insure that the time we have left is spent in the best health possible for each of us.  This does NOT mean that we take ever larger quantities of prescription drugs.  To achieve the best health we can have there are three essentials…that most people already know:

• Regular exercise
• Proper eating and diet
• Being mentally active

The regular exercise part is where most of us over 60 seem willing to accept a pretty low standard.  If we work out at all, the general approach is to do a few modestly challengin exercises, or some “5 minutes to fitness” program and stop there.  Granted, training for 5 minutes is better than nothing….but not much.  The first big myth that we seem to have accepted is that we should accept really low levels of fitness as all we can achieve.  I submit to you that this is completely wrong.  There are plenty of older folks, myself included, who work out at levels of performance and intensity that would put most high school kids to shame. 

The reality is that there are some limitations that come as a consequence of aging.  However, these limits are not nearly as significant as are generally believed.  Most men and women over age 60 can train themselves to a level that would astonish many 30 year olds.  The key is that you have to do this training gradually and build up your strength and endurance over time. 

In short, you can reach some very high levels of fitness regardless of your age.  However, you have to build up gradually, and consistently increase the challenges in your training.  If you accept the “5 minute fitness” program idea, that is all the further you will ever progress.

To give you an idea of what is possible for you, I have prepared a “Quick Start” course you can check out for FREE.  It will be sent to you by e-mail and will give you a taste of what you can accomplish.   The course can by yours by simply signing up in the boxes at the right of this article. 

Once you see what is involved, I’m convinced you will be motivated to build the best body you can.  The whole idea is to be strong and fit so that you can have a great life in your 60’s, 70’s and beyond.  The quality of your life in these years should not be limited by weakness, chronic conditions, or self inflicted physical problems such as obesity, Type II Diabetes, hypertension and similar health issues.  You have the power to prevent most of these conditions, and to build yourself into a strong, healthy person.

To your great health,

Richard Schuller