‘For The Quality of Your Life.’

Whatever the passion is that moves you to action and brings you joy, having the good health to thoroughly experience those moments is priceless.

This time of the year brings into focus what really matters to each of us. After being with family and friends to celebrate our traditions, thoughts of new possibilities form in our minds as we plan the future.

Let me share some encouragement with those of you who are focusing on better health; especially if you’ve experienced difficulties in the past.

The bedrock of your fitness foundation needs to be activities that you enjoy which involve movement–the bigger the better. And if you can incorporate some resistance training for muscle and bone health, cardio for the major body systems, and add some functional fitness along the way, you’ll be well on your way to total transformation!

Dance, do aerobics, enjoy the morning walk during the quiet moments; it’s all good.

Your need to use and challenge your physical and mental capacities throughout life does not go away. When you respect this aspect of who and what you are, the differences are profound. As much as science has discovered already about the transformative effects of exercise, much more remains to be learned. Undoubtedly, it is the most effective and comprehensive anti-aging tool we possess.

Make this year different by putting aside half-hearted resolutions and create a personalized revolution that will establish a different style of life!

If you want to start feeling different, provide your body with the exercise, nutrition, and rest that it has been needing all along.

Decide

Act

The human will is a powerful force–and like other dimensions of our personalities, it must be used and developed to become an effective tool for change.

This is where health and fitness begin: when you decide that you are worth the effort it takes to achieve this goal.

You are and you can,

Steven

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The Newest Workout: Why It’s Not Enough

While you’ve been doing what you were doing and wishing you had more energy and stamina to do more of it, dozens of powerful fitness programs have appeared.

What’s happening with you?

Good health and physical fitness are, at their foundation, simple and basic principles. There are no extremes necessary and the time involved is amazingly minimal.

And there are no secrets.

Like any endeavor, the more you learn and practice, the better you will be. But it’s not like attempting brain surgery without practice.

Movement is life. More movement is more life.

Eating more calories than your body can effectively utilize will generally result in accumulation of fat.

If you don’t love yourself enough to care about your good health, the previous two points don’t matter.

You may be disappointed with the brevity of this post.

Don’t be.

If you’re disappointed, get over it and get started by taking the first step – – whatever you can do – – in the direction of your new lifestyle.

Get Started Now,

Steven Siemons

 

The Senior Health and Fitness Blog by Steven Siemons is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Already Lost Your Resolve Regarding Your New Year’s Resolutions?

I really didn’t think it would happen that fast: the drop-off in gym attendance since January, that is.

Perhaps you’ve abandoned a few resolutions by now, and maybe getting back in shape was one of them.

Let’s get beyond the guilt and grab a solution – – not a resolution, ok?

Take a moment to read this short but excellent article from Inc. Magazine:
Done is Better Than Perfect. http://google.com/newsstand/s/CBIwoKTy9SA

As the writer suggests, take any small fitness action right now. 30 seconds of high stepping in place or 10 push-ups, or 3 squats–whatever!

Believe it or not, the consistency of doing small things on a regular basis with minimal improvement will, over time, lead to greatness. It’s quite possible that you were blindsided by disappointed when you worked out intensely for two weeks and then gave up because the slight improvement wasn’t worth the pain.

It happens all the time.

Success, as well, happens all the time…

… always with a consistent forward movement that proceeds step by step.

Enjoy the invigorating experience of high stepping for 30 seconds… and make sure you do it again tomorrow just a little more and a little better. What you’ll find is that 30 seconds won’t be enough, and you’ll want to do 5 squats instead of 3, and before you know it you’ve made it a habit, and after a while you’ll see it’s your lifestyle.

Got it?

Go get it!

Steven

The Senior Health and Fitness Blog by Steven Siemons is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Join me on the G+ Community ‘Senior Fitness Issues and Ideas’

The Treadmill Test: It Just Became A Powerful Predictor of Longevity… It’s All About Fitness!

“Fitness level was the single most powerful predictor of death and survival, even after researchers accounted for other important variables such as diabetes and family history of premature death—a finding that underscores the profound importance of heart and lung fitness, the investigators say.”

This is the conclusion from the just-released study by Johns Hopkins cardiologists involving 58,000 people.

You can read the complete article here: http://m.medicalxpress.com/news/2015-03-treadmill-mortality-formula-gauges-year.html

You must search far and wide to find statements more definitive and authoritative than this.

No need to say more.

A simple question, however, is certainly in order:

If not now, when?

For yourself and those who love you and depend on you, make health and fitness core values in your life!

To Your Health and Fitness,

Steven

The Senior Health and Fitness Blog by Steven Siemons is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Join me on the G+ Community ‘Senior Fitness Issues and Ideas’

Defining Fitness For The Unfit: It’s Not What You Think!

Let’s have a very serious discussion together. It concerns the reason for every word I write, and it concerns your perception of what fitness should be.

I don’t mean anything at all derogatory by the word ‘unfit’. It indicates, simply, the description of being in a state of less than optimal fitness. So let me explain.

I’m really interested in having this discussion with all of you who have the desire to move in a healthier direction, but for whatever reason, feel shut out. My blog site shows many pictures of people in the gym; that’s me–it doesn’t need to be you. So let’s take a look, first, at exactly what fitness can easily be in YOUR life, no matter what your age, and no matter your current condition. From the heart, I want to help you be healthier!

A Simple and Functional Approach

Fitness, for our purposes, is the level of necessary health and fitness to do the things we enjoy most. “Health and appetite impart the sweetness to the sugar,” said Ralph Waldo Emerson. Forget the sugar controversy here and focus on the main truth: It’s difficult to enjoy even the basic things of life in a state of ill health. Knowing that 80% of the major causes of ill health–cardiovascular disease and diabetes among them, can be directly affected by exercise, you must make the decision to take the first step using the irreplaceable tool of exercise. If the effects of exercise were obtainable from a drug, it would be considered a miracle drug. This, along with proper nutrition and quality sleep, are the core components of a healthy lifestyle.

Fundamental Building Blocks of The Senior Health and Fitness Blog Philosophy

1. The fitness journey of a lifetime begins with the first rep. Yes, I’m borrowing from the Chinese proverb regarding the importance of the first step. No matter how old you are, no matter how out of shape you are, there is a movement (rep) that you can do as a first step!

2. If you can move it, you can improve it! Your body responds to the positive stress of exercise by getting stronger; even if you’re in your eighties. We must use this capability because not doing so results in atrophy, or wasting. You do not have a choice to relax and remain the same.

3. Get going with what you’ve got! There’s no sense regretting your current condition. Whatever you have to work with is how it’s going to get done. It makes no sense to wish otherwise, but it makes a lot of sense to get moving now with whatever we can move–even if it hurts a little. Many of you may think that you can’t exercise because of arthritis. Wrong. You must exercise in spite of arthritis, to whatever degree you can, or you surrender to regression. Bursitis is part of my daily existence. Sometimes movement causes pain. I make a choice to tolerate it and keep moving because I don’t like the alternative.

The Weight Of The Evidence

Research has revealed in recent years that longevity and health depends, among other things, on simply being active; it’s not necessary to be superfit. And the Blue Zone studies, which focused on the common characteristics of the longest living people on the planet, observed a strong social/family lifestyle and living with a purpose as major important traits, along with sensible nutrition and activity. Moderation in fitness is a substantially powerful goal, and readily doable. 

There’s nothing for sale and nothing to buy. If the principles above make sense to you, let’s work together to change the look of Senior fitness!

For Your Health and Fitness,

Steven

The Senior Health and Fitness Blog by Steven Siemons is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Does Anyone Know What Your Dream Is?

If you left this earth tomorrow and your friends and family were paying tribute, would they be able to describe the dream that was your passion?

If the answer is no, then two possibilities present themselves. You either had no dream; or you did, but lacked the belief in yourself to act upon it.

I knew that feeling.

I also know the feeling of time running out. If no one has told you to get your act together yet, let me be the one to suggest that you do so.

Let’s not carry the excess baggage of excuses and regret any longer. At this point in time, who’s the critic living who’ll shame you? It really shouldn’t matter, should it?

It really never should have.

To Your Health and Fitness,

Steven

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The Senior Health and Fitness Blog by Steven Siemons is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.