It is getting close

Well the first of the new year is getting close, so be thinking about the 3-4-20 rule of exercise. But first think about the physical exam I had mentioned in my previous post. Since what I am recommending for the start of this modest exercise program is a real natural thing I believe that even if you don't do what I ask on the physical you will be alright. As you will recall my story of the friend of mine who was going to lose his commission in the Army if he didn't lose some weight, well he ended up running some actual races and really enjoyed the idea of being in some kind of shape. Funny thing is that all I told him to do the first time out(he chose walking/trotting/running for his exercise to stimulate the heart muscle) was to put on his running shoes and make himself go outside for 20 minutes. I told him to just sit on the curb for 20 minutes if he wanted to, but just go out. So, he would go out sit on the curb and then finally started to walk for 20 minutes. Then he would increase the pace and the time out. Bottom line is, he enjoyed the exercise and especially enjoyed losing the weight he had gained.

Remember, anyone can do the program I am suggesting and no one needs to feel intimidated. It is your body, and your health we are talking about here. There is a fitness facility here in our city that caters to people who have had open heart surgery, and other surgeries, and I feel it would be better to prevent this type of damage than to repair it. The re-hab is similar to what I am suggesting in the beginning, so let's think prevention as opposed to repair and re-hab.

For tonight,

Mike Greer

Weekend thoughts

While I know you haven't had the time to get that physical I recommended in the previous post possibly I can give you some pointers for the up coming New Years weekend. While I know it doesn't happen until Monday night at midnight I have the feeling that with it being on Tuesday it may really start this weekend. So, my suggestion would be to take it easy, float in moderation and enjoy the whole 4 days. This would be a case of pacing yourself and not getting too carried away right in the beginning by drinking and eating way too much. Of course I realize you will have the New Years resolution(very wasteful energy in my opinion, unless it really works for you) thing you can pull out of the hat and wave the magic wand and feel good about it. But, really just drink in moderation(if you consume alcohol), eat in moderation(I know you eat), dance in moderation, exercise in moderation, and then take the time to relax. This will put you on the right path for entering the New Year, with a great attitude and feeling about your self.

Remember the 3-4-20 formula that I mentioned in the initial post. Also remember that I am talking to people who have not exercised in a while, not the hard core marathon or triathlon type. I want you to think, 3-4 times per week, 20 minutes, sustaining a 75% of maximum heart rate. What is your maximum heart rate question can be answered in a simple way by taking your age, let's say 55 from 220 would be 165 x .75 for a target heart rate of 124(rounded off). So, to maximize the 20 minutes of exercise you must keep within this zone. See what I meant about how easy this can be if you set your mind to it. Trust me, this is the way all beginners should start out. About 8 years ago I had a young lady contact me wanting to know how to get started in the sport of triathlon. I told her to get a bike(she borrowed one of my old ones), find a pool(not hard for her to do since she was from swimming to start with), and get some good running shoes(the part she dreaded the most). I then told her to do each event 3 times per week, no less than 30 minutes per event. Then I told her that when she got bored with that extend the time to 45 minutes, then when she got bored with that, consult a professional coach since she was probably going past my expertise. Since she was a very natural athlete she took to this sport like fish in water and started doing sprint triathlons. Within 3 years she was doing Ironman trathlons and this past November she won the Ultra-Man triathlon(371 total miles in Kona, HI) plus the Race Across America(RAAM), 3200 miles on the bicycle, solo race. Needless to say this is not typical and I am not even advocating this type of exercise I am just saying do not sell yourself short on this exercise thing. But, I do emphasize the moderation thing and after you get the feel for it do whatever is comfortable.

Have a great weekend, and stay tuned!

Mike Greer

Some initial thoughts on Mature Fitness

While I will still be speaking in generalities at this point I would like to emphasize a few things about getting started in this fitness thing. First, remember the ole saying that Rome was not built in a day(actually I don't have a clue how long it took to build Rome) and your physical condition did not get in its' present form in a day. Depending on your age it could have taken a matter a few short years or maybe it is a long term, up to 15 years, time frame. I do know of collegiate swimmers who come out of doing 10,000 yards of swimming a day to doing nothing and gain 40 pounds in just a few short years after finishing college. I know of many college athletes in all sports who do the same thing. The mistake they make is continuing to take in the huge amount of calories while they don't need this much caloric intake to make it through the day, in addition they don't have a coach pushing them. It has always been my feeling that we should picture in our minds(visualization exercises will be part of my program so be ready to shut your eyes and gaze) our body as a manufacturing plant. We take in the food to provide us with energy and fuel to get us through the day and night. Be thinking, burn baby burn, when you think of caloric input and the proper utilization of this fuel. Second, unless you are still an active athlete or have had a recent physical exam within the last 12 months I want you to take the time to go to your favorite doctor and have a complete exam. Also, I want you to tell him/her that you are planning on embarking on a fitness program and what your goals are for that. If your doctor says, no way should you be doing a fitness program then walk out of the office immediately and find another doctor. Third, after completing your exam with your old doctor or new doctor then continue to read this site, since I will start to go into specifics of what to do to get started. A number of years ago I was ask by a friend of mine who was a fellow officer with me in the US Army Reserves to help him lose some weight. While preparing to finish his PhD in biology he had let himself get way out of shape and over weight. He was so far gone that he was about to lose his officer commission. Of course I accepted his request to help him and the first thing I ask him to do was to go home after we were released from duty that day, strip off his clothes, stand in front of a full length mirror and see if he liked what he saw. If he did then we had a bigger job to do than I had bargained for, if not then we were on our way to success in saving his commission. Thankfully he came back the next day stating that he looked disgusting and what could we do to get him in some kind of shape and lose the extra pounds. I gave him the formula(you will get it later) and within 90 days he had lost 26 pounds and retained his rank and commission in the US Army Reserves. He later retired as a Lt. Colonel and I was really proud of him.

Now, go get that physical and we will talk some specifics in future posts.

Mike Greer

Welcome to Mature Fitness

Since this is, December 26th, 2007, the day after Christmas I thought I would start something new and innovative, so here is some good news concerning a market of fitness that concerns mature adults. Well you ask, what exactly is a mature adult and I can say I have no written definition or magic age group. While I know that society, the government or some other organization has taken it upon themselves to determine this definition, commonly referred to as "Senior" I am going to be so bold as to originate my own definition. Since my age just became 69 on December 16th, 2007, I consider myself somewhat of an authority on the matter of age and aging. While I am not a medical doctor like Dr. Weil who wrote the book, Healthy Aging, I am just as much an authority in my own rights relative to the psychology and physiology of the mature adult fitness idea. Besides I originated this term and it is mine, unless someone claims to have written it before me. Then if it is proven I will simply say, "thanks" and continue to use it anyway.

Since this is just the introduction of the subject I will not go into real deep detail during this writing but I will give some ideas possibly of what is to come. First, I believe that some form of fitness is essential to a healthy and happy life style. But I will be the first to say that I don't think everyone should be a marathoner, an Ironman triathlete or some ultra-endurance person that loses all senses of moderation and becomes obsessed with this thing called "exercise." I believe that the most important muscle to exercise is the ole heart muscle, using aerobic means to exercise it. I also agree with Dr. Cooper who created the word aerobic exercise in the mid 60's, that anyone who runs over 3 miles is doing it for reason other than fitness. The idea is to exercise the heart muscle for 20-30 minutes, 3-4 times per week at a reasonable heart rate, have a varied moderate diet, don't smoke, drink moderately, and have some fun. Of course I realize this is very simply stated and most will say it is more complicated that how I have presented it, but really it can be this simple. Now, what will happen is that you will have the life long natural athlete who does all of this stuff as a matter of lifestyle or you have the person who nearly killed themselves early in life bad habits and no exercise and then reformed to stay alive.These people sometimes come from open heart surgery, strokes, cancer or other diseases that the doctors were able to repair, so now they want to adapt their lifestyle to a more constructive way of living. Then you have the more mature population that has decided late in life to exercise for a change of lifestyle. I am not critical of any of these folks since they have their reasons for how they have lived, but they are more of a challenge. Then I have the small problem of being in the category of being athletic all my life and have stayed in competition condition up to this point in my life and expect to continue to do so until going into the next life. One of my good friends in Florida died a couple of years ago while on a bicycle ride and I think of him quite often. There were no tears shed about his death, he died like he wanted to at age 83 while out with friends riding, talking, sweating and enjoying life. He was one of the legends in the sport of triathlon, but literally died doing what he wanted to do more than anything.

So, gang let's buckle up and get ready for some good stuff and be prepared to feel good about yourself and life in general. Be thinking, 20 minutes, 3-4 times per week!!

Mike Greer