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

How you apply your mental focus can have a dramatic impact on your chances for succeeding with any fitness program. What you think about your fitness can literally determine whether you succeed or fail. Let’s look at some of the major ways this happens.

First, if you think the program is not going to work, you are correct. If you believe that your program will fail, then the chances are that you will not do what is necessary to succeed. This is a subtile and sinister factor that can undercut your best intentions. In simplified form, here is how it works.

You start a training program, but deep down you don’t believe that it will give you the results you want. There are some movements that you have to learn, and they are a bit difficult at first. Rather than commit fully to learning how to do them properly, or put out a full effort, your mind says “what’t the point, this won’t work anyway”. As a consequnce, you give a half hearted effort, and never master the movements, or do enough work to produce a result. After a few weeks, you abandon the program because “it does not work” (like you expected it would not work).

A second type of mental subversion comes when you focus on distractions that prevent you from putting your energy and effort into training. This can take many forms, but the most common are looking at other people in the gym and thinking “I’ll never get to level where they are”; wondering if others in the gym are “looking at me” because you are a beginner; and feeling inept because you have not mastered certain parts of training immedately (a lot of training is difficult).

To succeed you need to focus on the tasks that YOU have to perform, and not on what everyone else is doing. You should understand that every person you see in a gym setting who is doing well had to start out as a complete novice. They mastered their craft one step at a time….the same way you will master the craft of being fit. If you feel inept at some point, remember, everyone else felt the same way at one point or another. You need to be persistent and focus on what YOU are doing. That way you will make progress, not get lost worrying about what others think of you.

A third way you can subvert your chances for success is to go into a fitness program is by holding a really negative self image about your fitness. It sounds like the reverse of what should be the case, but if you dwell on your shortcomings and lack of conditoning, you will grind your enthusiasm down with a constant stream of negativism. At the beginning of a program, you may not be in good conditon. However, you need to congratulate yourself on taking the steps to become more fit.

One of the things that sustains a person over a lifetime of fitness is that the “journey is enjoyable” rather than exclusive focus on the end result. If you constantly focus on the negative, you will find that your progress is stunted because eveything seems so frustrating and painful. Thus, at the onset of a new program, remind yourself that you are doing good things for your body, and that you can be proud of doing this.

In a forthcoming post, I’ll discuss one of the biggest reasons I beleive that many people fail at becoming fit. Again, this is counter intuitive, but the attitude known as “perfectionism” can be one of the biggest reasons people sabotage their own best intentions.

Richard

Like a lot of you around the US, I watched the NFL football playoff games this past week end.  In the post game celebrations, the players always seem to say a lot of the same things: how hard they worked, how much they give credit to their team mates, and how grateful they are to win big games.  We hear this so often that it sounds a little like a canned line for TV.  However, if you really look at what they had to do to get where they are, these are NOT platitudes, they are statements about precisely why the individual players are where they are.  What can we learn from this?

If you are “over 60″ and feeling more than a little “out of shape”, the good news is that you can make some dramatic positive changes in the way you feel and look if you follow the NFL players lead about hard work and focus.  Many men and women over 60 have simply accepted the notion that they are stuck with poor physical fitness and health.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

Granted that there are some limits on how much change we can bring about.  However, most people never get within miles of what is possible for them.  The reason?  They simply do not apply themselves to the task with the degree of diligence that is needed.  it is easy to be sucked into the notion that either “there is nothing I can do about my body and health”, or “I can take a pill or train 5 minutes a day and be just fine”.    In real life, neither of these ideas will get you very much.

In a recent book called Talent Is Overrated, Geoff Colvin reviewed the research on what separates world class performers from the rest of the population.  What has been documented in careful research study after study is that the biggest single factor in achieving success in any area of endeavor is doing the work needed to succeed.  That does not mean doing the minimum to pass a test, it means really putting in the time and effort needed to become really good!

When it comes to being a fit person over the age of 50, 60 or 70, the biggest single factor in determining how successful you will be is the quality and quantity of the work you do to get in shape.  Like it or not, the biggest single factor in your ultimate success will be whether you do the work needed to have the physical fitness of a much younger person.

Most of the fitness programs designed for seniors are either sold with the promise of quick results from very little effort, or miraculous transformations because of the properties of some medication.  Neither of these has any merit. If you want exceptional results, you have to do some exceptional work.

What do I mean by exceptional work?  One of the key elements of exceptional work is the idea that you have to do the right things to become fit….not just go through some mindless set of exercises.   In short, you have to work smart, not just work hard.   This involves building your body through a series of progressive movements that allow you to build balanced and comprehensive strength.  You have to eat properly and consistently.  You have to take supplements that are appropriate for the training you are doing.   You need to develop the mental approach to your life that will support all the other things you are doing for your health. 

Most people want effortless solutions to their problems.  If they are out of shape and feeling bad, they want to be able to take a pill and feel great.   The problem is that no matter how earnestly we may want  these things, the fact is that great accomplishments don’t come about without a lot of focused effort.  Everyone want’s a great healthy body, but the only one’s who actually get to have one are those who actually do what is needed to get a great body. 

OK you ask…what do I have to do?   To get you rolling on the right path I have developed a program that covers the physical, mental and nutritional aspects of getting into great condition.  This will help you start the process of literally taking a decade (or more) off your body.  The book A Guide to Getting Younger After 60 is where you start transforming yourself into a much “younger” you. 

The book is available for immediate download from this site.  If you want to see some of what is involved, you can try the”quick start” mini course available for free from this site.  The free course will give you a taste of what you can do to make a major transformation in your physical and mental well being.

You have nothing to lose and a lot to gain.  If you don’t like the course, you can return it for a full refund.  If you do like the course, and do the program, you will be rewarded with a dramatic positive change in your youth and vigor.  There is no time to take action like right now! 

To a Great Future for YOU!

Richard

When you hear the term “anti-aging”, there are probably a lot of images that go through your mind. If you are beginning this program, it will be useful to you to have an idea what you can expect, and what you have to do to achieve the best results.

First of all, your actual age is not going to change. However, many other things can change that will give you a lot “younger” body. The things you should expect from an anti-aging program are the following:
-an increase in functional body strength
-if overweight, reduce your body fat
-strengthen your heart and circulatory system
-correct or diminish some “nagging” problems such as “bad back”, or poor flexibility
-enhance your physical flexibility and overall resilience
-discover the power of your mind to positively impact your overall health and vitality

One of the signs of aging is a gradual loss of muscle and functional strength. A good anti-aging program should reverse this with well designed physical exercise and sound nutrition. Amazing as it may seem, most people over 50 can regain a huge portion of their physical strength with proper training.

Most people over 50 have more body fat than is desirable. Body “weight” may be within the desirable limits, but the percentage of fat may be higher than desirable. To build a younger body, it is essential that the excess fat be eliminated. This is accomplished through proper eating and well designed exercise.

Strengthening the heart and circulatory system is critical for everyone over 50. Lack of conditioning is at the root of many degenerative conditions that lead to heart attack and strokes. To build a younger body, it is essential that a well crafted training program be included to enhance cardiovascular health. Such a program has the added benefit of enhancing the health of the brain, and combating some loss of mental function as people age.

Most people who have reached the age of 50 will have some minor “nagging” condition that begins to limit what they can do. Complaints about “bad back”, sore knees, sore feet, etc. are very common. Many times these conditions are the result of poor habits and unbalanced physical development. In many cases, these situations can be corrected with a careful program designed to build overall body strength, and physical therapy to help restore lost function.

One of the key outcomes of any anti-aging program should be to rebuild or significantly enhance a person’s overall physical (and mental) resilience. Without a proper program, people over 50 can anticipate gradually becoming frailer and subject to injury from everyday events. Without training, older people can expect to eventually have difficulty doing routine tasks such as housework, mild recreational activities, playing with grandchildren, etc. A sound program of exercise can prevent this, or delay it for many decades.

The decline of functionality becomes a vicious circle. The more a person restricts what they do, the more they decline and the more they limit their movement. Eventually, they develop many chronic conditions that are the direct result of sedentary life, and poor habits. The good news is that this problem is very often reversible with a proper program of exercise and sound nutrition.

Finally, one of the most critical areas that should be part of any anti-aging program is cultivation of the mind. An anti-aging strategy that omits emphasis on the huge potential for building a great life rather than merely “surviving” is failing to take advantage of the enormous opportunity for health and happiness that is available to anyone over 50.

From this quick overview, you can see that a worthwhile anti-aging program is much more than a taking a few pills, or some highly expensive injections. It is not just about looking good, you actually have to be healthy, strong and viable. That is the opportunity that you have.

Tomorrow I’ll discuss how you can get started on a quest for a more youthful body, and mind.