It doesn’t make much sense to act a different age than we are, but exactly what that means is not always clear. For example, what is the physical behavior of someone 60. Is it slow and sedentary?  Or is it still vibrant and energetic most of the time? Mostly the answer to that is up to us, it depends a lot on our individual behavior over time.

One definition of wisdom is applied knowledge. The situation that 50, 60, 70 year olds live in today is not like any time in history. Every day there is new knowledge about the human body and its potential. Wisdom does not come from just being alive for a long time. It comes from paying attention and learning while we are alive for a long time.

The challenge for Fitgevity Lifestylers is to continue to learn, grow, and pay attention. There is much to learn. It is only through applied learning and knowledge that we can gain wisdom.

This week I’d like to continue with fitness and the mind with more from The Brain That Changes Itself  by Norman Doidge, MD. Last week I talked about the meaning of neuroplasticity, the concept that the brain can change. I talked about the fact that for many years scientists, and people in general, believed that your mind was set when you were very young, and there was nothing you could do about it except wait for eventual degeneration. I pointed out how Doidge, in the book,  gives a lot of evidence showing that that idea is not true. The brain can change over time, in fact it can change tremendously in very fundamental ways.

Norman Doidge MD

I’d like to continue this week with what Doidge calls “brain maps.” I’ll let him explain. “There is an endless war of nerves going on inside each of our brains. If we stop exercising our mental skills, we do not just forget them: the brain map space for those skills is turned over to the skills we practice instead. If you ever ask yourself, “How often must I practice French, or guitar, or math to keep on top of it?” you are asking a question about competitive plasticity. You are asking how frequently you must practice one activity to make sure its brain map space is not lost to another.”

From that research the key to changing our life for the better becomes clear. All we have to do is start practicing new, more beneficial behaviors. At first they will be foreign and at least a little bit difficult. Over time we will make a new “brain map,” and because of the competitive nature of brain maps, that new one will take over and make its own new space, its own brain map clearing out the old one. The new “brain map” will become our new automatic way of behaving. One that we choose for our own benefit, not one that was randomly chosen for us. Believing that the new “brain map” will establish itself, and that new automatic habits will present themselves while the old ones fade away, that’s the hard part. Having that belief and sticking with it is the key to a new lifestyle that has our best interests at heart, not just for the short term, but for our entire healthy life. That idea is a key message of the Fitgevity Lifestyle.

Thanks for reading,

Rudy

This week I’d like to continue with the mind and fitness with a book a client gave me about the brain and the idea of neuroplasticity. The book is titled, The Brain That Changes Itself. It’s written by Norman Doidge, MD, a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and researcher on the faculty at Columbia University. What he means by neuroplasticity is that your brain can change. For many years scientists and people in general believed that your mind was set when you were very young and there was nothing you could do about it except wait for eventual degeneration. Doidge gives a lot of evidence showing that is not true. The brain can change over time in very fundamental ways.

What this has to do with Fitgevity is that contrary to some people’s opinion, it is possible to change, no matter what your age. One of the Fitgevity principles is; Planned positive change, even large change, can be executed after 50. I see that principle as belonging in the “duh factor” category, but it turns out not everyone believes or realizes it. Changing your life for the better with things like the Fitgevity Lifestyle is not easy. It takes time and commitment. Then again, for some people any change is not easy. My argument is that such changes are more than worth the effort. You’re still alive. Why not make it as stimulating, uplifting, enriching, inspirational, appealing, bracing, breathtaking, exhilarating, hair-raising, hectic, inspiring, interesting, invigorating, lively, moving, provocative, rousing, spine-tingling, stirring, thought-provoking, thrilling, adrenalizing, arousing, challenging, electrifying, energizing, gripping, and titillating as possible?  Or at least make it better.

Thanks for reading,

Rudy

To that end, there is a new book out that details the proof. The book has two authors. One is Dr. John J. Ratey, M.D. He is an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and has a private practice in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The other is Eric Hagerman, who is listed in his linkedin.com bio as: Writer for Wired, Popular Science, Best Life, Outside, Men’s Journal, Skiing, Bicycling, and PLAY (the New York Times sports quarterly), among others. I have not yet read this book, but it was featured on one of the fitness newsletters I regularly receive. Here’s what they had to say about one critical part of the book.

On Aging…
Dr. Ratey has much essential information to share on the subject of exercise and preserved cognitive health throughout the aging process. Below is just one short excerpt:
“Population studies support the evidence that exercise holds off dementia. In one, about fifteen hundred people from Finland originally surveyed in the early 1970s were contacted again twenty-one years later, when they were between sixty-five and seventy-nine years old. Those who had exercised at least twice a week were 50 percent less likely to have dementia.”

One of the Fitgevity Principles is; A long life is great, a long, fit life, is better. We have no way of knowing what the future holds, but since exercise and body movement have noting but upsides, why wouldn’t we take every opportunity to practice and enjoy them.

Thanks for reading,

Rudy

Body weight exercises can be great, but often the problem is that you have to use the entire weight of your body. For example, doing a push-up and doing a dumbbell press is essentially the same thing, working most of the same muscles. The problem is that in order to do a push-up you have to be able to lift up the entire weight of your body. Not so with a dumbbell press. You could start with as little as six pounds, or even less. That’s the beauty of using dumbbells, barbells, bands and tubes as resistance. They can allow a lot more accuracy in strength development.

I think one of the problems with strength, or weight training, is the reputation it has. People often think of massive, inhuman looking individuals, with sprayed on tans, when they think of weight training. That might have been true forty years ago, but it is certainly not true today. As an example I’ve included a picture of Clarence Bass, retired lawyer, at the age of sixty. He looks very lean and fit, but I wouldn’t call his look inhuman at all. By the way, Clarence is now seventy and there are pictures of him at seventy on his site.  http://www.cbass.com/index.html

I could go on with this subject for some time. But for now, I’d like to call attention to an extensive, international study about weight training done over a period of more than twenty years. It detailed, with conclusive evidence, one of the benefits of strength training. This is part of an article from the Telegraph UK.  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/5371468/Men-with-big-muscles-cut-cancer-risk-by-40-per-cent.html

Men with stronger muscles from regular weight training are up to 40 per cent less likely to die from cancer than men who do not pump iron, according to new research.

Thanks for reading,

Rudy

Toffler goes on to talk about the idea of people taking responsibility for their own health. “Many of us change out diets, quit smoking or drinking, and adopt exercise regimens. If, then, our health improves how much should be attributed to the doctor and how much to our own efforts?” He then quotes, Lowell Levin, professor emeritus at the Yale School of Public Health, “85 to 90 percent of all medical care in the United States is provided by ordinary people. Self-treatment remedies include aspirin for headaches, ice pacts for sprains, ointment for burns, and much, much more.

I’d say that included in “self-treatment” would be things like the Fitgevity Lifestyle, which encourages a complete change of diet and movement, which can literally “transform” your life. Toffler goes on in the rest of the chapter to talk about the numerous advances in self-monitoring tests available to individuals. How there’s been an explosion of devices in the last few years and there many more to come shortly. This is the reality of life in the 21st century. The changes are coming fast. In order to take advantage of the advanced life offered to us we need to change too.

Fitgevity Lifestyle is the change that can remake your life in a fundamental way. It can add years to your life and life to your years. Why not give it a try? Or, at least learn about it.

Thanks for reading,

Rudy

I’ve always respected the books of Alvin Toffer and his ideas. His landmark book in 1970, Future Shock, was revolutionary and shocking when it came out, but has proven to be amazingly accurate about what has happened over the last 39 years. I’m now reading his latest book, Revolutionary Wealth. In the chapter “The Health Prosumers,” he talks about the state of healthcare today and in the near future. Here is a quote from the text, “Today’s main killers in the affluent nations are no longer communicable diseases like pneumonia, tuberculosis or influenza. They are heart disease, lung cancer and other illnesses that are clearly affected by individual behavior with respect to diet, exercise, alcohol, drug use, smoking, stress, sexual activity and international travel.”
Notice that diet and exercise are the first two mentioned. I would assume that is because they are the ones that affect our health and life outcome the most. They certainly are things that we have control of and can change for ourselves, if we really want to and just make up our minds. No XXX is stopping us from working out or eating with reality in mind. Those are things that we can change and improve. Why shouldn’t we change them? After all, it is our life. We can continue to blame XXX and YYY if we think that will help, but the truth is, it really won’t do anything. Now is the time to change and make the life we want and deserve. We don’t have to do it alone, Fitgevity Lifestyle can help.

6. Exercise can put the spark back into your sex life.
Are you too tired to have sex, or feeling too out of shape to enjoy physical intimacy? Exercise to the rescue.
Regular exercise can leave you feeling energized and looking better, which may have a positive effect on your sex life. But there’s more to it than that. Exercise improves your circulation, which can lead to more satisfying sex. And men who exercise regularly are less likely to have problems with erectile dysfunction than are men who don’t exercise, especially as they get older.

My Comments: Sex. That probably got your attention. Despite the myths that we heard when we were very young and the myths that a lot of young people still have today, the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and beyond is a time when sex is still a big part of your mental and physical life. It’s going to be a lot more mental than physical if you don’t keep yourself in good physical condition. Although sex has a large psychological and mental component, it really is an extremely physical act. It’s about using your body, all of it. And the more your body is fit, energetic, flexible, responsive, and just generally useable, the better the physical part will be.

7. Exercise can be — gasp — fun!
Wondering what to do on a Saturday afternoon? Looking for an activity that suits the entire family? Get physical!
Exercise doesn’t have to be drudgery. Take a ballroom dancing class. Check out a local climbing wall or hiking trail. Push your kids on the swings or climb with them on the jungle gym. Plan a neighborhood kickball or touch football game. Find an activity you enjoy, and go for it. If you get bored, try something new. If you’re moving, it counts!

My Comments: This, I hope, is one of the big messages of the Fitgevity Lifestyle and being fit for Advanced Life. One of the main points I’m trying to evangelize here is that body movement is enjoyable on a very fundamental level. Fun is a good word. We all want to have fun, but the word is almost too light, too surface, and too trivial for the kind of deep enjoyment that is to be had by rediscovering our bodies. We got them for free when we first arrived. They came with free existence membership on Planet Earth. Let’s use them for the full time we have them, and not let them die and fade away while our imaginations still live on.
As I said earlier this is only a partial list, but it covers a lot of the main points. One point about the benefit of exercise that’s been gaining a lot of traction lately is how exercise benefits not just physical, but mental ability. I think it would be good to explore that concept further in future blogs.

Helen

Jerry, the second winner ($100,000) was 64.What does that tell us about age, fitness, and the Fitgevity Lifestyle? To me, what it says is that this is something that is really possible. It is something that is doable. The great thing about this show and these winners is that they prove any of us can accomplish this, whether we’re 50 or not. Age is not holding us back. The only thing holding anyone back is the desire. Oh, the environment and the trainers are a help, that’s for sure. But what it really starts with is the desire. The desire leads to the vision, the vision leads to some way to do it. My job, as I see it, is to work to provide as many “ways” as possible for people to get there. The Fitgevity Lifestyle is open to anyone.

Jerry

4. Exercise strengthens your heart and lungs.
Winded by grocery shopping or household chores? Don’t throw in the towel. Regular exercise can leave you breathing easier.
Exercise delivers oxygen and nutrients to your tissues. In fact, regular exercise helps your entire cardiovascular system — the circulation of blood through your heart and blood vessels — work more efficiently. Big deal? You bet! When your heart and lungs work more efficiently, you’ll have more energy to do the things you enjoy.
My Comments: I like to call strengthening your heart and lungs endurance. If you want to see your current endurance level, just go for a little run (if you physically can) say a half a block to your car, and see how you feel. Some reading this may get winded by just fast walking for a short distance. There’s really nothing wrong with that. It’s just your starting point and you need to work from there. How much intensity you start with has to do with the level of endurance you have. Just a little longer fast walking would be an endurance improvement and would be moving you forward to a much better place.
5. Exercise promotes better sleep.
Struggling to fall asleep? Or stay asleep? It might help to boost your physical activity during the day.
A good night’s sleep can improve your concentration, productivity and mood. And, you guessed it, exercise is sometimes the key to better sleep. Regular exercise can help you fall asleep faster and deepen your sleep. The timing is up to you — but if you’re having trouble sleeping, you might want to try late afternoon workouts. The natural dip in body temperature five to six hours after you exercise might help you fall asleep.
My Comments: This one I’ve always found to be very true for myself and for most everyone I’ve ever trained. A side effect of contemporary life, with most all physical activity drained from it, leaving only mental and emotional depletion, is that many feel tired, yet can’t get to sleep. The body needs to be somewhat physically challenged or drained to provide nice, deep, and easy to come, sleep. As to when during the day you exercise to induce sleep naturally at the proper time, I find that varies a lot depending on the individual. The thing to do is just experiment around with working out at different times of the day.

Remember, there are lots of lists about the benefits of exercise. Most everyone realizes these benefits intuitively. It’s something we all just seem to know in our bones, but sometimes it’s good to go over the details. The questions is, “Are you doing everything that’s necessary for your own health and fitness?” If not, why not? What could possibly be more important than your health and fitness? What is it that’s holding you back? Those are the questions. Fitgevity Lifestyle could be an answer.

Thanks For Reading,

Rudy