If there is a secret to long, healthy life and virility...even if you did not choose the right parents, it is regular exercise: aerobic, graded, and integrated into one's life-style. 

But what is that concept?  Well, after getting medical clearance from your physician if you are over 50 or if you have long been a couch potatoe at any age, the important exercise is endurance-building rather than muscle-building: brisk walking, stair-climbing, bicycling, rowing, etc. For example, a 72 year old man, 6 ft. tall, 205 lbs, in fairly good condition and fairly active generally, does a 1 mile brisk walk at 4 miles per hour in fifteen minutes, with a two minute warmup and two mnute cool-down, during which time his pulse (monitored constantly by a Polar Pacer, very important) goes from 65/minute to 100 - 120, depending on the exercise, with a return below 90 within two minutes.  He then does 8 flights of stairs at 3 flights per minute.  He then rows (at maximum machine tension) 500 meters at 35 strokes per minute.  He does that two or three times per week.  It takes about 30-40 minutes...and it feels great.  

"Try it.  You'll like it".

GS

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Excercise...Issue 0601-01

January 7, 2006

As part of any diet and weight loss regimen, exercise is key.  But you don't have to break into a sweat in order to derive real benefits.  Vigorous, aerobic exercise is good, but a lot less is still effective, according to recently reported research.  The following is taken from a Health Journal article in the Wall Street Journal, Tuesday  3, 2006, by Tara Parker-Pope, Personal Journal, pD1.
  • "55 flights of stairs a week..............................33% lower death rate;
  • One hour of gardening a week.......................66%lower risk of sudden cardiac death;
  • Walking one hour a week...............................51% lower risk of coronary artery disease;
  • Regular, demanding household cleaning.......Lowered heart-attack risk by 54% in men and 84% in women;
  • Exercising 30 minutes just six days a month...43% lower mortality rate."
You can do this.  And why bother?  Because you're "paying it forward" to the account of a life expectancy that you may not expect, but which is in the cards for you, and in the actuarial tables.  Consider the following:
  • "A person who reaches 65 has a life expectancy of 85.  What are the odds he/she will live beyond 85?.........................................50%
  • Consider a 65-year-old-couple.  What's the likelihood that one or both will live to age 97?...............................................................25%"
Source: MetLife.
 
So, your only choice is regarding how much of that time you want to spend active and vibrant, versus languishing in a nursing home.   That's why!
 
GS

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