Exercise Program

Get a Physical!
If you believe that life-improving exercise is taking a walk to empty the trash or using a golf cart or smooching during the commercial break, this site is not for you. If you think that getting old is inevitable and that you have to give in to the eventual decay of your body, that shows how old school you are. The straight scoop is you can avoid most of the rigors and pains of old age. For instance, is the pain in your hands keeping you from exercise? Have you ever thought that maybe it's the lack of exercise causing the pain? It has been proven over and over that exercise is the golden goose. Tests in Nursing Homes have shown a bedridden patient begins to use a walker after becoming more active, so maybe you can quit complaining and do something about that crappy way you have of climbing stairs. Have you ever looked at the term "physical therapy"? It's another phrase for exercise!
So let's get down to it. You are never too old to benefit greatly from exercise. What you are mixing up with that idea is the fact that your maximum potential reduces with age. Say you ran the 440 in college at your best level of conditioning. If you are now at the maximum conditioning you can be at age 65, your times would be a certain percentage less, that's all. We are not talking maximums, folks. You will never get there, not in a month of Sundays. We are talking about quality of life exercise, not killer exercise. If you are over twenty-five (when the body starts going down hill) and want to do this right, if you desire to enjoy your family to the max, if you want to feel alive, if you don't want to die on the porch, this is the new road west, young man. Buckle up because it's going to change everything.
Starting soon, you are going to begin to tax your body for one hour minimum each and every day for the rest of eternity, at least until you are past ninety friggin' years old. Say 'robust exercise'. Sound awful? How does 'wheelchair' hit you? Or pacemaker, or rigor mortis? Exercise might not be too bad in comparison so it could be a wise idea to see if your body is ready for such a thing. All this time your doctor has been telling you to lose weight and get some exercise. But deep down he knows Ol' Jello Body is not going to do so. Ever wonder why you have not been closer friends? Because you have never consistently followed his advise, that's why. His parting thought each time you visited was:
He is a walking time-bomb. He won't be around much longer. What a waste.
Think how he will react if you tell him you want a check-up to begin an exercise program? Go ahead and make an appointment, mainly to see if your heart, arteries, extremities, etc.. can handle the activity. He will advise you as to the correct pace and heart rate you must set in relation to your condition.
Join a Small or Medium-Sized Gym.
Unless you are the type who just knows he can do this all by himself at home, it sure helps to join a club. We all need structure, and a place to go when it is too hot outside, too cold, or too wet. And not some preppy, dressy, muscle bound joint, either. You want a place where you are comfortable and there is always someone available to show you what to do. A gym is also a great escape from the rest of the world to do some thinking. Most gyms will be happy to put you through a free evaluation: Weight, strength, etc., so they can recommend a program for you. They show you what machines to begin with, how to use them, and how often. They also will offer trainer services. If you can afford it, do it. They don't allow you to slack.
Take a look at your Diet.
We all know what to avoid. We have no excuse. Those Whoppers taste so darn good when you are in a hurry, yes I'll take it with cheese. And greasy fries are a habit hard to break. The cocktails before dinner, maybe they are a bit stiffer than need be. And maybe we shouldn't go out to eat so much, could be those sauces are a little too rich. Most times a gym will have a Dietician or Nutritionist on hand to guide you on the best eating regimen for your proposed exercise level. Too bad they are not allowed to slap us once in awhile. Diet is nearly as important as exercise.
Start off Easy.
You are not looking to qualify for the Olympics in 2012 nor are you going to be asked to join a Forced Recon Unit of the US Marine Corps, so don't train like it. Your desired end result is somewhere near the reality of being able to participate and have fun in any sport or action with friends and family, and have a fairly attractive body doing so. You have to like yourself, after all. If you think you are going to arrive and stay at that point without work, you might as well forget the whole thing. It ain't going to happen.
By the way ladies, maybe you need to hear something straight. You are are not going to like it either.
<Don't compare your bag of bones to other old ladies and say to yourself, 'Not bad compared to Lucy. She pays for two seats to take a plane."> Look at yourself critically. Attractive makes you feel better, but starvation makes you bony. Getting flirts are amazingly good for the spirit. Exercise firms everything up, no matter what age you are, and unshapely bodies are not attractive whatever your gender. If you think making jokes about your weight and sedentary lifestyle is funny, it's not. And if you believe that by killing yourself at the gym your body is going to come back looking like Racquel Welsh in three months, I hate to disappoint. It might take a little longer than that. But the closer you get, you will know it because the men are going to let you know. Teasing, flirting, eyeballing. Men are never too old to eyeball. And women are never too old to blush.
The aging process is constant and will not stop or slow down unless you combat it vigorously without a break. Give up and decay will slowly whittle away until chronic illness or organ failure sets in. Fight it, and you can feel young until you meet your maker. How many times have you heard an advertisement state, "With this machine you only have to work out for ten minutes per day" or "Wrap this electronic magic belt around you and it will do all the work to give you perfect abs."? The models look terrific and we want to believe we can look like them with no effort. It's just advertising. That model got that way from hard work and lucky genes, not the gadget they are peddling.
So begin your body rebirth by doing every exercise taught to you with caution and at a reasonable pace. Raise a sweat, get some burn. But a little bit at a time until you are in better shape. Injury is what you do not want under any circumstance. It will put you way back, making it harder for you to return to your goal regimen. If you are male, you will be impatient and are going to want to overdo it. 50 pounds today, 100 pounds tomorrow. Not good. You want to train and rebuild muscle, not destroy. You want to gain stamina, not gimp around like Chester from Gunsmoke.
That hour per day of exercise, it has to be good exercise. Not two miles per hour on the treadmill while you talk on the phone. You have to get everything in your body stressing, circulating, pumping, huffin' and puffin'. That's what they mean by aerobics. You can barely talk and you sweat! You want to build up to nearly an hour of this. Take a class if you have to, hire a trainer. This is the most important thing to extending your life.
Then there is weight training, the other half of your workout. You didn't know we were going to talk about that. Weights are what is going to give you better balance, better harmony of motion, strength and power. Does that idea turn you off? It's either playing with weights or the fun goes out of life. Your choice. So how do you do both? You rotate days. Aerobics one day, weights the next. Go to more than one hour if you wish. Improved endurance just means you can do things longer, especially the good stuff. I go to Senior competitions. I talk to the people who compete. They have a glow about them, a fast smile. They know they have found something and are really enjoying themselves. I watched this tiny old lady jump two feet in a long jump. She had to be way past eighty. When I went up to her afterwards, she showed me her chart and proudly said she had jumped two feet and six inches. "Got first place in my age group!" Her grin was ear to ear. When I ask folks why they are doing this, each and every time they say, "For my health. It keeps me feeling alive."