Not Just Exercise - Fitness
Not Just Exercise - FitnessI'm not a doctor. I'm not a fitness expert. I'm just a regular guy trying to do the right things to insure that I can fully enjoy the next stage of my life (I am, how did that happen? 59 years old). Being physically fit is one of my goals. Younger Next Year (a company, a website, and a book) recently sent me an email and it got me thinking about exercise versus fitness (more on that later). First, an excerpt from that email:
"Canadian researchers reported a study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society of 98 women who were randomly assigned to either a strength training group, an agility training group, or a stretching group. After six months of twice-a-week training, the risk of falling dropped by about half in the group who did strength training, slightly less in the group who did agility training, and only 20 percent in the stretching group. A lot of the fall reduction had to do with postural stability, or how steady these women were on their feet. Obviously, both the strength and agility training improved postural stability, so the only thing I would like to see is a study that addresses combining the two! You should note that the women were 75 to 85 years old, all of them had markedly reduced bone mass, and many of them had significant osteoporosis. Remember, get strong and you won't fall down!"
One of the things that Younger Next Year talks about is the importance of strength training (if you want more information, go to their website at www.youngernextyear.com). They believe that strength training is a big part of a healthy fitness regimen. I have been working with a personal trainer for over three years and I thought I was in pretty good shape. Then I read their book, Younger Next Year. I talked with my trainer about my new goals, added an aerobic component to my program, committed to working out six days a week and have done a pretty good job of following the other topics discussed in the book. In a couple of months I have lost 15 pounds, have started running (something that was never in my comfort zone) and will soon have to buy new clothes. I feel great!
I like to think about being physically fit. In my mind, there is a difference between exercise and fitness. Exercise implies an activity... fitness implies a goal; and I know I need goals to fully motivate me. For me, fitness is critical to insure that I can fully enjoy the rest of my life. I'm not going to tell you that this is easy. However, if you want to be an XtremeBoomer, you need to be fit. If you are not fit, there is a very good chance that you won't be healthy. If you don't have your health... well, you know the rest of that phrase.
So, be an XtremeBoomer! Start a fitness program today. Just do it!
You can contact Bill at bsteeb@xtremeboomers.com