STRENGTH TRAINING—GROWING STRONG & LOOKING GOOD I’m certain you know that as us seniors put on the years, we need both aerobic (cardio) activity and strength training. With aerobic exercise you breathe faster and deeper and your heart beats at a higher rate. The better your aerobic fitness, the more efficiently your heart, lungs and blood vessels transport oxygen throughout your body. Aerobic activities include walking, running, jogging, biking, dancing, swimming (and other aqua exercises). It’s recommended we get at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity per week. Strength training is the...
LOWERING YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE—FOODS THAT HELP & FOODS TO AVOID Last week I posted Your Blood Pressure: Where Do You Place in the New Guidelines? I included updated recommendations from the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association giving a new normal blood pressure of under 120/80 whereas before, normal was under 140/90. Thus, if you didn’t previously have high blood pressure, there’s a chance you do now. The post included suggestions on how you can lower blood pressure without medication. This week I’m adding in specific foods that will help you control blood pressure, a few to...
YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE: WHERE DO YOU PLACE IN THE NEW GUIDELINES If you didn’t previously have high blood pressure, there’s a chance you do now. That’s my case—suddenly my blood pressure isn’t “normal” any longer. Six months ago the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association released updated blood pressure guidelines. I thought I was doing pretty good with a blood pressure reading of 127/70, however this is now considered elevated. Here’s info on what’s new from Monique Tello, MD, MPH in the November, 2017 Harvard Medical School article New high blood pressure guidelines: Think your blood pressure...
ORANGETHEORY FITNESS: NOT YOUR ORDINARY GYM I attended my first Orangetheory® Fitness class today. It was an intense—but enjoyable—one hour workout. I had read enough about it online to pretty much know what to expect. Still, it was quicker paced and more challenging than I had anticipated—especially for this older guy. I’d been hearing about Orangetheory for a while as an alternative to a regular gym and regular gym group classes. Doing a bit of research, I found that Orangetheory Fitness is a privately owned fitness franchise based in South Florida. It has grown rapidly since beginning in 2010 to...
GOOD POSTURE: IT WILL IMPROVE YOUR CONFIDENCE & YOUR HEALTH When I was young my mother often told me to stand up straight. Or, when we were out, would point out certain folks who obviously had better posture than me—“Look at that man, he must be in the military, look how straight he stands and walks.” Of course she was right in trying to correct my slouching. Yet, after all these years, my posture still ain’t that great. I think I’ve finally improved my stance in running—neck up, chin down—and I’m trying to carry it over to my everyday sitting,...
HOW SAFE IS YOUR GROCERY STORE? If you’re like me, you don’t think much about germs when visiting your local supermarket. Yet, from the grocery cart to the produce aisle and meat counter to the checkout counter, microbes are lurking. You’re at high risk just reusing your own reusable bag. Here are excerpts from the March 24, 2017 today.com/food article by Karen B. Gibbs The 10 germiest things in the grocery store—and how to stay safe We asked Dr. Charles Gerba, professor of microbiology and environmental sciences at the University of Arizona (his nickname is Dr. Germ), to reveal the...
CROSSFIT—A GREAT FIT FOR ANY AGE I’ve wanted to try out CrossFit, the famous fitness training program, for a couple of years. But I kept hesitating because I thought it would be way beyond my capabilities—especially being 70+ years old. Finally I decided to chance it. I checked out the websites of the 4 CrossFit facilities in Ventura. C Street CrossFit looked the best for me—one, they were the closest to my house, two they had a special $198 deal for a 2-month membership and three, once I signed up I’d get a 2-hour private session covering the essentials. On...
OSTEOPOROSIS & BONE HEALTHY EXERCISE Osteoporosis is “bad to the bone.” It causes bones to become weak and brittle. “Healthy bones continuously break down and rebuild at the cellular level. As you age your bones break down faster. For women, this is especially true after menopause. When bone rebuilding can’t keep pace with breakdown, bones deteriorate and become weaker. This eventually leads to osteoporosis.” (Mayo Clinic Newsletter, May 2018) You have several lifestyle choices for stronger bones. This includes getting enough calcium and vitamin D from food, not smoking and limiting alcohol intake. And—you guessed it—proper exercise. If you have...
THE KETOGENIC DIET: IS IT FOR YOU? Recently, the ketogenic diet has become very popular for folks wanting rapid weight loss—which includes many of us seniors. It involves slashing the carbs you consume and replacing it with fat. This puts your body in a state of ketosis. The ketogenic diet typically contains 75% fat, 20% protein and only 5% carbohydrates. This is more carb restrictive and fat favorable than the Atkins Diet which is 60-70% fat, 20-30% protein and 10% carbohydrates (although it begins with a strict 2-week ketogenic phase). Here’s a more detailed description by Marcelo Campos, MD in...
INJURIES: DEALING WITH OUR EMOTIONS & STRESS A week ago last Tuesday I went for a morning 12-mile run on the bike path near my house in Ventura. About mile 10 I felt my right knee “slip” and then again about mile 11. But I just ran through it and finished my workout without further pain. But later that afternoon, walking down stairs, I began to feel a burning pain in that knee. First I cursed, then I told myself, “I should have stopped running when I first felt my knee give way. Now, I have ‘runner’s knee’.” Over the...
