The decade of your 40s is the most crucial opportunity to reinvent yourself and make your body leaner, stronger, and fitter for life.
Thanks to breakthroughs in medicine, health, exercise, and nutrition, a forty something today has a chance to live longer, stronger, and leaner--to remake his body into a sleeker, fitter, stronger version of its younger self.
Exercise physiologists, nutritionists, and gerontologists now agree that during the decade of your 40s, men still have enormous potential for remaking their bodies, improving energy level and brain function, and transforming decades of bad habits into a healthier lifestyle that will prime them for smooth sailing the rest of their lives.
You believe it, too, otherwise you wouldn't be interested in taking control of your health. There could be any number of reasons why you suddenly decided that you want to get back into shape. Perhaps you signed up to coach your daughter's soccer team and quickly got winded when you took a lap with the team. Or perhaps you felt a tightness in your hamstring reaching down to tie your shoes and realized--smartly--that this was your body's first warning signal for a bit of needed change. Or maybe, like Joe Maroon, MD, you were performing brain surgery one day, and filling 18-wheel tractor-trailers and flipping hamburgers at a truck stop in Wheeling, West Virginia, the next.
Thanks to breakthroughs in medicine, health, exercise, and nutrition, a forty something today has a chance to live longer, stronger, and leaner--to remake his body into a sleeker, fitter, stronger version of its younger self.
Exercise physiologists, nutritionists, and gerontologists now agree that during the decade of your 40s, men still have enormous potential for remaking their bodies, improving energy level and brain function, and transforming decades of bad habits into a healthier lifestyle that will prime them for smooth sailing the rest of their lives.
You believe it, too, otherwise you wouldn't be interested in taking control of your health. There could be any number of reasons why you suddenly decided that you want to get back into shape. Perhaps you signed up to coach your daughter's soccer team and quickly got winded when you took a lap with the team. Or perhaps you felt a tightness in your hamstring reaching down to tie your shoes and realized--smartly--that this was your body's first warning signal for a bit of needed change. Or maybe, like Joe Maroon, MD, you were performing brain surgery one day, and filling 18-wheel tractor-trailers and flipping hamburgers at a truck stop in Wheeling, West Virginia, the next.
Maroon was in his early 40s, with a promising career as a professor of neurological surgery. He had spent his entire life striving to do everything better and faster than everyone else. And he had succeeded. But his preoccupation with career and success began taking its toll on his health and his family. Then disaster struck: Within one week, he lost his father to a heart attack and his wife and family to a divorce. He was forced to temporarily abandon his surgical practice and his teaching to help his mother run the family business--a truck stop.
"I sank into a pathological depression," says Dr. Maroon. "It was the lowest point in my life. Then I picked up an old book I had gotten for high school graduation: I Dare You! by William Danforth, the founder of the Ralston Purina Company." In the book Danforth challenges the reader to lead a life of balance represented by a box with four equal sides.
"Danforth's instructions called for drawing a square and labeling the sides with the four major components of our life: 'work,' 'family/social,' 'physical,' and 'spirituality,'" says Maroon. "But when I plotted my life, it wasn't a square--it was a flat-line EKG. I saw that my weight gain, depression, and emotional distress were due to the lopsided imbalance in me….My work had become my escape from facing what was going on in my life."
In his book, The Longevity Factor, Maroon describes how that revelation and a return to fitness eventually brought him to a life of balance and health. "I received a phone call from an old friend who asked me to join him for a run. Although I had never enjoyed running, we talked and jogged for four laps around a high school football field, a whole mile, something I hadn't done since college. That evening, for the first time in months, I slept through the night."
"Danforth's instructions called for drawing a square and labeling the sides with the four major components of our life: 'work,' 'family/social,' 'physical,' and 'spirituality,'" says Maroon. "But when I plotted my life, it wasn't a square--it was a flat-line EKG. I saw that my weight gain, depression, and emotional distress were due to the lopsided imbalance in me….My work had become my escape from facing what was going on in my life."
In his book, The Longevity Factor, Maroon describes how that revelation and a return to fitness eventually brought him to a life of balance and health. "I received a phone call from an old friend who asked me to join him for a run. Although I had never enjoyed running, we talked and jogged for four laps around a high school football field, a whole mile, something I hadn't done since college. That evening, for the first time in months, I slept through the night."
The next day Maroon ran a mile and a half, then two miles the following day. Eventually, he competed in his first 10K race. While training, the weight started to come off, his mood improved, and his clarity of thought and brain function returned to their former levels. After a year of trying to save his family's business, he was able to return to neurosurgery and repair the spiritual and family/social sides of his life. The balanced-life approach brought new excitement to his medical career, which flourished as a result. For more than 20 years, Dr. Maroon has served as team neurosurgeon for the National Football League's Pittsburgh Steelers, and he is currently vice chairman and professor of neurological surgery at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center as well as a senior vice president of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine. Joe Maroon kept up his exercising, too, adding biking and cycling and, eventually, triathlon competitions. Now 67 (he looks more like 55), he has completed more than 60 triathlons, including the Hawaiian Ironman event (swim 2.4 miles, cycle 112 miles, and run 26.2 miles) and six other Ironman-distance triathlons.
"I've noticed over the years that when one of the four areas--physical, work, family/social, spiritual--is off, I can still function well," he says, "but if two are deficient, my emotional life becomes filled with anxiety and frustration--and I start overeating!" Fortunately, says Maroon, you can regain your balance simply through your deliberate thoughts and actions. "I believe that by consciously focusing on altering the sides of our square, we can actually change our brain anatomy and function."
In what shape is the physical side of your Danforth box? No matter what your reason is for getting back in shape, no matter if you haven't done much more than open the refrigerator door or you are already active and athletic, when you are in your 40s you need to work on three important parts of overall fitness:
1. Flexibility. Muscles shorten and tighten from lack of use, making you susceptible to injury and triggering symptoms in other parts of the body such as lower back pain. The stretching exercises in Your Best Body at 40+ will become your warm-up for the workouts detailed in the book.
2. Cardiovascular capacity. Whether it's through the strength-building circuits or aerobic exercise like walking, running, biking, and swimming, you’ll improve your lung function and capacity as well as your heart's ability to pump efficiently. Research published recently in the Journal of Physiology suggests that VO2 max, one of the best indicators of aerobic fitness, decreases by about 10 percent per decade starting around age 30. (VO2 max, or maximal oxygen uptake, refers to the maximum amount of oxygen that an individual can use during 1 minute of intense exercise. It is measured as milliliters of oxygen used in one minute per kilogram of bodyweight.) But when the researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Colorado at Boulder tried to find out what causes VO2 max decline, they were surprised to learn in their study that it was due to reductions in training intensity, not because of any physiological mechanism. What that suggests is that you may be able to maintain your cardiovascular fitness beyond 40 through training. And this book's cardio program will help you to do that.
"I've noticed over the years that when one of the four areas--physical, work, family/social, spiritual--is off, I can still function well," he says, "but if two are deficient, my emotional life becomes filled with anxiety and frustration--and I start overeating!" Fortunately, says Maroon, you can regain your balance simply through your deliberate thoughts and actions. "I believe that by consciously focusing on altering the sides of our square, we can actually change our brain anatomy and function."
In what shape is the physical side of your Danforth box? No matter what your reason is for getting back in shape, no matter if you haven't done much more than open the refrigerator door or you are already active and athletic, when you are in your 40s you need to work on three important parts of overall fitness:
1. Flexibility. Muscles shorten and tighten from lack of use, making you susceptible to injury and triggering symptoms in other parts of the body such as lower back pain. The stretching exercises in Your Best Body at 40+ will become your warm-up for the workouts detailed in the book.
2. Cardiovascular capacity. Whether it's through the strength-building circuits or aerobic exercise like walking, running, biking, and swimming, you’ll improve your lung function and capacity as well as your heart's ability to pump efficiently. Research published recently in the Journal of Physiology suggests that VO2 max, one of the best indicators of aerobic fitness, decreases by about 10 percent per decade starting around age 30. (VO2 max, or maximal oxygen uptake, refers to the maximum amount of oxygen that an individual can use during 1 minute of intense exercise. It is measured as milliliters of oxygen used in one minute per kilogram of bodyweight.) But when the researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Colorado at Boulder tried to find out what causes VO2 max decline, they were surprised to learn in their study that it was due to reductions in training intensity, not because of any physiological mechanism. What that suggests is that you may be able to maintain your cardiovascular fitness beyond 40 through training. And this book's cardio program will help you to do that.
3. Strength. By doing resistance exercises, you'll raise your metabolism, burn more fat, and prevent age-related muscle loss (sarcopenia). You'll also build power by increasing your fast-twitch muscle fibers, and develop a stronger core, which will support your spine and prevent back problems.
THE TOTAL-BODY PROGRAM: What to Expect
We're going to assume you're in the 40 years-and-above demographic or getting pretty near it. That means that we know you have a busy life, a career, maybe a family, and a dozen-and-a-half things tugging at you for your time. So, we've chosen the exercises with all of that in mind.
The workouts are short. You can do them in 20 to 35 minutes. But they are intense--that's why you can do them in about a half hour! The strength-building moves focus on working the large muscle groups of the chest, back and legs. That way you'll exercise and build your biggest "landmass," getting the most calorie-burning benefit for your time exercising.
You can exercise at home. Workout #1 is a fast-paced circuit using minimal equipment so it can be done in your basement, garage or any small room. You won't have to waste time commuting to a gym or health club to get in a workout if you don't want to. Workout #2 is a more-advanced gym workout, since it includes some exercises that you may not have equipment for at home. However, even this workout features many moves you can do at home with minimal gear. And, of course, the aerobic and interval workouts can be done just about anywhere.
Here's what we have planned for you:
1. Strength Workout #1. A total-body, at-home circuit of 10 strength-building moves that should take you about 20 minutes to complete. Do this workout twice a week.
2. Strength Workout #2. A total-body gym-based routinethat is performed more slowly using heavier resistance. Do this 35-minute workout once a week.
3. Aerobic workouts to build cardiovascular fitness. They includes brisk walking, so it's perfect even if you've been sedentary for a long while, plus more advanced interval training workouts for running, biking, and swimming. You will do an aerobic workout 2 to 3 days a week: 1 day for light cardiovascular exercise such as walking or cycling; 1 day for a high-intensity interval workout; and an optional cross-training/fun day for biking with your family, volleyball, softball, swimming, skating, canoeing, martial arts, yoga--you name it.
We're going to assume you're in the 40 years-and-above demographic or getting pretty near it. That means that we know you have a busy life, a career, maybe a family, and a dozen-and-a-half things tugging at you for your time. So, we've chosen the exercises with all of that in mind.
The workouts are short. You can do them in 20 to 35 minutes. But they are intense--that's why you can do them in about a half hour! The strength-building moves focus on working the large muscle groups of the chest, back and legs. That way you'll exercise and build your biggest "landmass," getting the most calorie-burning benefit for your time exercising.
You can exercise at home. Workout #1 is a fast-paced circuit using minimal equipment so it can be done in your basement, garage or any small room. You won't have to waste time commuting to a gym or health club to get in a workout if you don't want to. Workout #2 is a more-advanced gym workout, since it includes some exercises that you may not have equipment for at home. However, even this workout features many moves you can do at home with minimal gear. And, of course, the aerobic and interval workouts can be done just about anywhere.
Here's what we have planned for you:
1. Strength Workout #1. A total-body, at-home circuit of 10 strength-building moves that should take you about 20 minutes to complete. Do this workout twice a week.
2. Strength Workout #2. A total-body gym-based routinethat is performed more slowly using heavier resistance. Do this 35-minute workout once a week.
3. Aerobic workouts to build cardiovascular fitness. They includes brisk walking, so it's perfect even if you've been sedentary for a long while, plus more advanced interval training workouts for running, biking, and swimming. You will do an aerobic workout 2 to 3 days a week: 1 day for light cardiovascular exercise such as walking or cycling; 1 day for a high-intensity interval workout; and an optional cross-training/fun day for biking with your family, volleyball, softball, swimming, skating, canoeing, martial arts, yoga--you name it.
4. A core workout that will shore up your midsection and prevent back problems down the road. No crunches! That's right, this core workout involves no crunches for your abs, but that doesn't mean they'll be a snap. They focus on more important stability muscles than the for-show rectus abdominus! You'll do a core workout two days a week, attached to any of the strength or light-cardio workouts.
Are you ready to take charge of your most crucial decade? Whether you spend the next 10 or 20 years looking and feeling your best, or take the slow downhill ride, is now your choice. You don't have a long time to decide. So make your play: Stay with those who believe that aging and physical decline are inseparable and hobble off to middle age, or buck that foolish notion and embrace youth, health, and sexual vitality.
Are you ready to take charge of your most crucial decade? Whether you spend the next 10 or 20 years looking and feeling your best, or take the slow downhill ride, is now your choice. You don't have a long time to decide. So make your play: Stay with those who believe that aging and physical decline are inseparable and hobble off to middle age, or buck that foolish notion and embrace youth, health, and sexual vitality.
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