The Come Alive Project

Category: Senior Fitness

  • Energy Bite 379 – Fitness & Flow, A New Program

    Energy and Enthusiasm. Put these two elements together in the mind of a newly minted Senior (or even a “Seasoned Senior) and he or she has a great start on the path to a long and healthy Senior life. ADD TO THAT ACCOUNTABILITY and PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY and you have a FORMULA for a positive relationship between “Body and Being, Fitness and Flow” for Seniors.

    But all too often we find ourselves in the rut of newly found “Seniorhood” without either one of those cornerstones to our own Fountain of Youth. Did we lose them somewhere in the transition from middle age to becoming a Senior? Or did we ever have them in the first place?

    We find ourselves soon bored, our body starting to dissipate, and we find ourselves fearing the possibilities of chronic disease, losing our independence and even worse.

    “The people who live in fear of disease are the people who get it. Anxiety quickly demoralizes the whole body, and lays it open to the entrance of disease …” — James Allen, As A Man Thinketh

    Energy is the “Body” part of the Formula and Enthusiasm [an enthusiastic mindset] makes up much of the “Being” part. Our Body and our Mindset (Thoughts) work together to take us through the transition into and through our senior years. With good health, a fit body, the Energy of Strength and the Enthusiasm of Youth, we can make that transition easy and maintain that feeling of energy and enthusiasm throughout our Senior years.

    To have both as we age, we must have a SOUND BODY together with a SOUND MIND. We get them through physical effort and focused thinking.

    Which leads me to this: In several months I will be doing a BETA test of a new online program for Seniors, new and seasoned. I would like for my readers to participate for FREE, but with the purpose of helping me work out kinks, as well as providing me with honest testimonials that I can put into marketing materials and on the webpage for the program.

    It’s for Seniors who are reeling from their own foray into “seniorhood” and the the positive as well as the other thoughts that go into the aging process, how to overcome them and maintain the energy and enthusiasm of youth. I’ll keep you posted on the progress and the dates.

    The working title of the program is The SeniorFlow Experience, Building Fitness and Flow Into Your Senior Years. That working title is subject to change.

    It’s about the interrelationships between Body and Being, between Fitness and Flow and how to stay strong and healthy as you get older.

    “Strong, pure, and happy thoughts build up the body in vigor and grace.” —  James Allen, As  A Man Thinketh

    “If you would perfect your body, guard your mind. If you would renew your body, beautify your mind.” — James Allen.

    If you are interested in participating in the free BETA test, let me know by return email at bob@thecomealiveproject.com. Just say interested or not-interested. No commitment necessary now.

    Any feedback you can give me in the preparation of the program would be greatly appreciated. Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions are welcome.

    I will provide more details as I get further into it.

    Thank you for your help, and thank you for reading.

  • Energy Bite 378 – One Size Doesn’t Fit All

    There are many sources and resources for reliable Health and Fitness information (although there are relatively few good sources for seniors). These include our libraries, bookstores, magazine articles, newspaper articles, and, of course, online.

    Most of these sources and resources assume a couple of things:

    1. That we all want bikini or swimsuit bodies.
    2. That we are all totally dissatisfied with who and where we are now.
    3. We all want the same thing – BUT, in reality, all our goals are different.
    4. There is only one way to get to where you want to go – their way. If you don’t do it their way, you are doomed to failure.

    I believe that, as Seniors, there are many common goals that most of us share. Some of these are

    1. Happiness (as only you can define it)
    2. Vibrant health
    3. More personal energy.
    4. Freedom from long term chronic illness
    5. Ideal weight, look good, feel good.
    6. To be fully functional . . . Physically and mentally able to do those things we want to do.

    The above terms and phrases can have different meanings for different people and our goals and meanings can be different at different ages. They will often depend on our outlook or attitude toward life in general.

    That’s why it’s so important to find out what works for you. One size does not fit all.

    For example everybody needs upper body strength to be able to lift, carry, push and pull. Let’s use the biceps muscles as an example. These are the muscles that form the front part of your arms. The biceps extend and contract a certain way. But there are numerous ways to cause this extension and contraction. The simplest is to raise a dumbbell from your side to your shoulder with your palms facing forward.. That will strengthen your bicep muscle.

    But there are many other ways to contract the bicep. You can do dumbbell or barbell curls. You can do pull-ups. You can do a variety of pulling exercises. You can use free weights, resistance bands, or you can use a machine. You can even use soup cans and do the exercise in your kitchen. Each person will do the exercise in their own way.

    It doesn’t matter which method you use, but you need to do something to strengthen the muscles in the front of your arms so you can lift, pick up and carry things in your arms, like groceries or your infant grandchild.

    The same goes for all the other muscles of your body. If you really want to be fully functional, that is being physically capable of doing the things you want to do, there are many different ways to get there. Each of us must decide for ourselves what works best for us.

    We all have different preferences for moving our bodies, strengthening our limbs, lubricating our joints. Some prefer swimming or water aerobics. Some prefer weightlifting at the gym. Some prefer running (you need some resistance training too). Try them all and then pick something that suits you. It doesn’t matter what your friends or neighbors do, they have their preferences and you have yours.

    One size fits all is usually slanted to the lowest common denominator. That’s not you.

    We Seniors are a stubborn lot overall. But we still have to make our choices daily and do what is right for us. Most of us know what we should be doing to reach the real goals we want for our senior years. Some of us do them; others don’t. It’s hard. We live in a culture where healthy people are outnumbered by unhealthy people and the marketers aim for where the money is.

    It’s still our own personal choice and responsibility to take care of ourselves. One size will never fit all as long as there are at least two people living on earth. Listen to your own body. Set your own goals and make your own choices.

    Be one of the few, the proud and the healthy.

    Thank you for reading.

  • Energy Bite 377 – Random Thoughts About Your Body

    I have written a lot about fitness and the importance of being fit as you get older. I haven’t written about specific routines because I’m more interested in the value of being a fit person rather making this a blog about how to exercise.

    There is also a difference between training your body and simple exercise. As a senior, I am in favor of training your body to do specific things and adapt them to your age, vs exercise for the sake of exercise, even though the latter is important if that’s your reason.

    Below are some random thoughts I have come up with over the years that are simply relevant by themselves. I give them to you here in hopes that one or two might strike a chord with those of you who don’t train your bodies, to start taking action to do it. There is no particular order, they are just randomly written. Maybe a few of them can be expanded into future articles.

    • Your body is a tool. It provides you with the physical energy you need to be able to do the things you want to do as a senior. It’s important to keep that tool in good working order as you get older. Any tool continues to work well when it is well taken care of. That’s the main purpose of training your body.
    • Everything you do in life is affected by the strength and endurance in your body. When you do something, bring your energy to it. You have to be fit to be able to function well.
    • Here’s an important question you must ask in your relationship with your body. Does your body help you get stuff done, or is it an anchor that holds you back?
    • As Seniors, here’s something that we should all think about as we get older and start to notice the effects of aging. PEOPLE WILL LOOK AT YOU DIFFERENTLY WHEN YOU ARE FIT. They see you as a leader. They see you as active and alive with energy. They see you as a doer who keeps your own house (body) in order. They are more likely to follow you as a leader if you are fit than if you are starting the physical slide that accompanies age for so many seniors. People gravitate to active, fit, energetic people and tend to  shy away from those who are starting to falter on the road to a long life. Sad, but true. Some see that as “AGEISM”.
    • There is a lot of talk lately about AGEISM. It can happen to you only if you let it. But people will defer thoughts of ageism when they see an energetic, fit and posture perfect senior. It’s up to you not to let the old person in and to be susceptible to the ageism that some see entering the scene. I am 81 and I don’t see it, unless you consider senior discounts at stores, senior coffee at MacDonalds of maybe even Starbucks. I like the AARP discounts which I am offered at hotels and restaurants, etc. If that’s ageism, give me more.

    • When you decide to exercise and train your body to function as it should, you are taking ownership of your own health.

    When you follow my random thoughts about fitness and taking care of your own health, fitness and personal energy, you will be able to say to yourself:

    “I AM MY OWN
    FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH”

    Thank you for reading.