27
Fitness Psych – Total Gym Adds Healthy Life-Years
If you work out in a gym take a look around. You’ll probably notice that about 1 in 4 people are in the baby boomer generation, born between 1946 and 1964. There are 78 million baby boomers in America. Within less than 10 years, the 65+ population will increase by about 40% to 55 million adults. And of those 65+, 7 million will be 85+. Nearly 11 million of us boomers belong to gyms.
These people aren’t your grandparents. No, these are actively aging, healthy folks pushing off any age-related disability as late into life as they –ok, WE—can … if not forever.
This generation is looking at every anti-aging solution available, from specific nutritional recommendations to support mitochondrial energy production, to therapeutic levels of vitamin and mineral supplements, to smart drugs for preserving and enhancing oxygen supply and neural function in the brain, adding therapeutic doses of hormones, decreasing cortisol and enzymes like MAO, and heavy doses of “clean living.” This is the generation that is avoiding toxins, pesticides, pollution, using chelation to remove heavy metals from their bodies and avoiding radiation (good luck!).
Why? Are we just trying to live forever? No. We want to increase our “healthy life-years.” But there is a simpler, well-proven and ultimately healthier and frankly more enjoyable way to add life to our years and years to our lives. It involves movement, activity, exercise.
Inactivity doubles the risk of mobility limitations and propels cognitive decline. The amount of data demonstrating the effect of exercise in slowing the aging process is simply staggering.
We are looking for gentler, kinder “fitness” workouts like low-impact, comfort and diminished risk of injury, but that still leave us feeling like we got vigorous exercise. We know we need to incorporate training in posture, strength, endurance, flexibility and balance to promote the kind of activity-related benefits that favorably impact our hearts, weight, blood pressure, sexuality, blood chemistry, state of mind, physique and social abilities.
That’s where I believe the Total Gym comes in. At home or at the gym, the Top 5 Total Gym Exercises for boomers today are all a central part of the hundreds of exercises available on this fitness marvel.
- Cardio – easy enough to use your full-body to get your heart pumping to the max in five minutes, kicking and pushing off the glideboard at an intensity level that you can increase as your fitness level improves.
- Strength training – we lose 30% of our muscle strength between the ages of 50 and 70 years. Normally, adults who are sedentary beyond age 50 can expect muscle loss of up to 0.4 pounds a year. This reduction in muscle strength leads to impairment in carrying out the ADLs, “activities of daily living.” Resistance training for each of the muscle groups, head to toe, is straightforward on the Total Gym. Bicep curls, chin-ups, chest presses, chest fly (incline, decline and lateral), shoulder presses, upright rows, front and lateral deltoid raises, pull-ups, kneeling rows, leg curls, squats, and many more are easy and efficient on the Total Gym.
- Flexibility training—here’s where stretching and range of motion exercises become important to connective tissue, so regular stretching is an important part of the Total Gym ROM workout.
- Balance training – musculoskeletal injuries are the number one reason people seek medical help and are among the leading causes of death for the 65+ population. Balance training as you work your core muscles on the Total Gym, is built into nearly every exercise.
- Core training – boomers can easily forget they have abs. The abdominal exercises available on the Total Gym, including crunches, reverse curls, sit-ups and side planks, will quickly reintroduce you to your six pack.
Find these and more Total Gym exercises at www.TotalGym.com/exercises.
Michael R. Mantell earned his Ph.D. degree at the University of Pennsylvania after completing his M.S. degree in clinical psychology at the Hahnemann Medical College, where he wrote his thesis on the psychology of obesity. He has served as Chief Psychologist of Children’s Hospital and Health Center of San Diego, and created and led the nationally recognized Psychological Services and Employee Assistance/Wellness program for the San Diego Police Department. He is a member of the Sports Medicine Team at The Sporting Club in La Jolla, California, maintains a private clinical practice in La Mesa, California, and writes and speaks for the American Council on Exercise.
