How to Stay Young

Your warm up can be a slow 2-3 minute walk. The same goes for the cool down. After your warm up, stretch the muscles you are about to work. This will cut down on your chance of injury.

Strength Training

This becomes even more important now than it was ten years ago. Weight train a minimum of two days out of six. If you want to cut back on one cardio day to work out with weights, go ahead. Strength training will help prevent osteoporosis. If you already have osteoporosis or have lost bone density, strength training can help your body reverse the effects.

If you’ve never weight trained you will want to either hire a personal trainer to help you learn the proper forms or talk a knowledgeable friend or relative into doing it for free. If you are very weak, I advise you to spend the money on a professional who has worked with mature adults just entering weight training. He or she will know how to help you in a safe, effective manner. Besides, that young relative may inadvertently hurt you—or treat you like a fragile flower when you aren’t! Once you know what you’re doing, try out the body weight moves listed in the ‘fitness at 40’ section of this book.

Balance and Core Moves

The folks in their 40’s were told to work on balance exercises once a week. You will work on balance and core exercises 2-3 three times a week, on the same days you do your weight training. This is going to protect you from all of those nasty falls that break bones and put you out of commission. Start with the balance exercises you will find on page 12. Add in a set of crunches and cobras (see below).

Crunches

Lie on your back. Put your hands behind your head and look up at the ceiling. Continue looking up at the ceiling as you pull your shoulder blades up off the floor. Carefully lower yourself back down. Do as many as you can comfortably fit into 15 seconds. Do not compromise your form. This is one set. Beginners: Start with 1 set. Advanced: Start with 2 sets and work up to three.

Cobras

Lie on your stomach. Your hands should be flat on the floor by your ears. The idea is to lift your upper body up off the ground and hold it for a count of two without using your hands. If you can’t do this yet, then use your hands to help you a little bit. Try to do five, but stop before your head pops off. Remember to breathe. Gradually work your way up to 10. This is one set. Beginners: Start with 1 set. Advanced: Do two sets to start and work your way up to three. When in doubt, start slower and easier than you think you need to. It’s far better to be bored the first week than hurt yourself and never come back. Gradually make the workouts harder. The key is to be consistent.