The Come Alive Project

Category: Senior Fitness

  • Energy Bite 183 – CorePower

    Can you get a “six pack” at age 50, 60, or even 70? The answer is a resounding — probably? If you are really out of shape, don’t count on finding that six pack anytime soon. So is it worth working your abdominal muscles, hips, torso, and lower back, if you aren’t going to see the results anytime soon.?

    Most seniors would have no use for “body builder” style abdominal muscles anyway. How many 60 year old men or women go strutting around the swimming pool or down the beach expecting people to marvel at your six pack? Actually, I have seen a few here and there.

    Six pack abs used to be a strictly male “thing”. But over the last fifteen years or so, strong “showy” abs have become a prime indicator of female health and fitness too. Programs like Crossfit, Boot Camps, Pilates and even the expansion of Yoga into the mainstream, have stressed the importance of fitness for everyone.  There are many  “Masters” athletic events for seniors, with more being added every year. All of these require a strong core.

    When you decide you want to get fitter and start an exercise program, where is a good place to start? My suggestion would be to start with the muscle group that gives you the most leverage with the rest of your body. That would be the lumbar-hip-abdominal complex, commonly known as “your core”. Why start there?

    Simply stated, your core area is critical to any form of physical movement. The core area is the “first mover” of just about any physical effort you make, no matter how slight. Here are some general thoughts on having a strong core:

    • A strong midsection makes all movement easier.
    • Ever wonder why the millitary shouts “Hoorah!” or “Oohrah!” ? Try shouting those words with power, energy and enthusiasm. Press your hand against your abdominal muscles as you say the words and as you powerfully expel the air from your lungs. You can feel the power they bring into your abdominal muscles and how that power radiates throughout your body. Martial artists do the same thing.
    • A strong midsection can help prevent falls.
    • “Feel good” chemicals are released into your body when work your core hard. You feel dramatically stronger both mentally and physically after a good session of “corepower” exercises. “Corepower”? Hey I like that term. I thought I just made it up but “corepower.com” and a “corepoweryoga.com” already exist online. Darn!
    • A strong core energizes you.
    • A strong core helps you maintain good posture as you get older.
    • It helps prevent back pain. Core exercises will not necessarily eliminate back pain, but they will help prevent it.
    • And on and on . . .

    When you begin a new exercise program, remember it will take a while to develop those six pack abs. If you are overweight, you’ll have to “free the fat” first. But if you continue with a sound exercise program for your core, that six pack will likely start to appear a few months down the road. In the meantime, you will build a strong core and begin to reap all the other benefits I mentioned above.

    So what core exercises should you do? You can find some good ones here:  Ebook-Core and Abs2.

    Thank you for reading.

  • Energy Bite 182 – Unabashed Self Promotion

    I’m not a particularly good Self-Promoter but I intend to change that. I’m learning how important self-promotion is when you have a blog with the purpose of helping seniors, but which you also want to ultimately monetize. I plan to monetize mine through workshops and publications on the subjects of Movement, Motivation and Mindset, Health, Fitness and Personal Energy for Active Seniors.

    Back in the day when I had my own Seminar Company, I was truly an unabashed self-promoter. I wrote articles for many publications related to public speaking and seminars. I was asked to do interviews for radio and cable TV, as well as having a full page profile in the Washington Business Journal and profiles in several publications for Speakers and Seminar Leaders. I was en route to a national following, but those days ended a long time ago.

    So, it’s particularly exciting when a national publication has an article about me in its local Washington, DC Metro Area Edition. Robin Fillmore, Publisher and Editor in Chief of Natural Awakenings Magazine (DC Edition) wrote and published a very nice profile about me and The Come Alive Project in the March 2017 edition. You can read the article right here. Tell your friends! Tell your neighbors! Tell everybody! Self-promoter, who me?

    So, spurred on by this article, I’ll be kicking things up a notch or two with more writing, more speaking (including seminars and workshops) and publishing videos for YouTube and other video outlets, hoping to get The Come Alive Project onto the National stage. You can help by sharing this article on Facebook and by email to others you know who may be interested in Senior Health and Fitness.

    NOTE: Robin Fillmore, the Publisher of the DC Edition of the Magazine will be pursuing another lifelong dream and is making the magazine available for purchase at what I think is an excellent price. If you’ve ever considered magazine publishing, here is a great opportunity. You can contact Robin for the complete details at Robin@NaturalAwakeningsDC.com.

    Don’t forget to click on the article here and READ IT!

    Thank you for reading, and don’t forget to share this article.

  • Energy Bite 181 – Movement, Motivation and Mindset

    movement – motivation – mindset

    The Manifesto of the Come Alive Project is Health, Fitness and Personal Energy for Active Seniors through Movement, Motivation and Mindset. Let’s take a look at how those three elements look on the page. How do I define and use each of these terms.

    Movement: You must move your body to stay alive and youthful. That refers to the concept of moving the body from simple walking, to programs like Pilates, basic calisthenics, using your own bodyweight, to machines, barbells and dumbbells. As we get older,  we need to learn to move our bodies naturally, the way we use them in everyday life, but in a way that improves our strength, range of motion and flexibility. That would include the basic floor and core movements, stretching, as well as bodyweight and resistance movements to build strength. All too often Seniors leave out one or more parts of the movement spectrum and don’t get all the benefits of what they are easily capable of doing. I include breathing, rest and sleep patterns as part of movement.

    Motivation: I’ve done a number of blog posts recently on motivation, particularly the subject of intrinsic motivation. Many adults are motivated at the beginning of a new year to improve their current physical reality. They become, for a short time, willing to create a new reality for themselves in the area of Health, Fitness and Personal Energy. But they get sidetracked or discouraged by plateaus and periodic lack of progress. They don’t see the improvements they expect so all too often, they give up.

    Recent research has shown that even if a person’s doctor has told a person to exercise or get sick and die, only one of seven people who have been given that warning by their doctor, will even start an exercise program for their own benefit. Why is that? Who knows? I would think that would be enough motivation for anyone, but apparently, it’s not.

    As I’ve written before, Intrinsic motivation is the key. Something inside a person needs to want to take the time and effort to move their body and take responsibility for their own Health, Fitness And Personal energy, whether they feel like it the time or not. Dick Van Dyke, at age 90, looks forward to 40 minutes at the gym every day. Gillian Lynne and Twyla Tharp, both working dance choreographers in their 80s, force themselves to exercise for 40 to 50 minutes every day. That’s in addition to the time spent practicing their craft. Richard Branson, the Billionaire owner of Virgin Airlines and many other businesses says that “working out” is key to his productivity. Is there a message there?

    Mindset: Motivation and Mindset overlap but they are not inherently the same. Mindset refers to your overall attitude about life and how you choose to live it. People with positive Mindset tend to be highly enthusiastic about life no matter what their age. People with a negative mindset often are sick more often, have low energy and can drain the energy from a room when they enter it.

    Carol Dweck, PhD has written an excellent book entitled, Mindset, where she differentiates between a “growth” mindset and a “fixed” mindset. The following is from the book’s flyleaf:

    “Dweck has found that everyone has one of two basic mindsets. If you have the fixed mindset, you believe that your talents and abilities are set in stone — either you have them or you don’t . . .  this is the path of stagnation. If you have a growth mindset, however, you know that talents can be developed and that great abilities are built over time. this is the path of opportunity — and success.”      

    This applies to business, sports and fitness, as well as other aspects of life. Dr. Dweck says that we can change our mindset at any stage of life. I recommend the book, it is an excellent read. The subject of Mindset will be a topic for a future post.

    Anthony Robbins refers to this as “State”. Others refer to it as “attitude”. Whatever you choose to call it, it can determine your approach to your own Health, Fitness and Personal Energy.

    If you learn and apply those three elements of Movement, Motivation and Mindset to your own personal development as you get older, you will quickly discover Your Own Fountain of Youth. Instead of aging in the traditional way, you might find yourself becoming “ageless” in mind and body, (as defined in last week’s article).

    Thank you for reading.