Workout and Diet Advice for Women over 45

“You’re used to putting in hard work to get a hard body—and that’s a good thing. You have to be committed to health and fitness to see lasting results. But occasionally “cheating” during your workout won’t mess with your fitness goals—in fact, it can even help. The trick is to cheat wisely so that your shortcuts never turn into setbacks.”

This is a recent article from Women’s health Magazine.   Actually, the  article is more about guidelines that can help your workout (or you) – and what can hurt.  Not all the items  are about shortcuts.   It asks and answers 8 questions regarding actions one might take to help get through a workout and mentions what “cheats” to avoid with workouts.    A fun read.

You’ve now moved beyond the basic plank from previous posts (or you were already doing the Plank anyway).  Here are some more interesting and more advanced Core exercises.

These will help you to flatten your abs; work the core beyond your sixpack – such as the obliques (see the side plank); and also make you focus on balance (see the lunge in 1.)

1.        Lunge with Rotation

lunge rotation

The recent post discussed the difference between Dynamic and Static Stretching.  Dynamic stretching does  a great job of improving dynamic flexibility for your workout.

I said I would follow up with a  set of Dynamic Stretching exercises that you can use before your workouts.  I also mentioned that the Dynamic stretch is much like our “warm-ups” from high school gym class; so if you recall those days, and haven’t suppressed the memories (with good reason), you should recognize some of the movements.    And don’t neglect your Static Stretching after the workout – forgetting to stretch very easy to do; just ask me!!

Do your workout friends (over) share their views on the “right way” to live/eat/workout?   Are they critical of your and others’ choices of food/exercise/lack of exercise etc?   Does this describe you? And the question is are they, and you, driven by real concern for the person being proselytized to, or is it something else?  It is worth taking a closer look.

• “People often project onto others how they feel about themselves”, says clinical psychotherapist Leslie Seppinni, Psy.D.  “If they’ve struggled with something, they can be more likely to judge, be openly critical, or even become outraged, by the choices of others.”

Continuing the review of the exercises I found in the BackPacker Magazine.   In the previous  blog post I commented on 6 of the 11 or so exercises.  So, starting in the left top corner and going clockwise we ended at the bottom of the page (Treating Muscle Cramps).  Moving on clockwise:

7.      Banishing Blisters.  Always good to read about the current thinking  – to pop or not to pop blisters?  I am sure this question has come up for most of you, even if it hasn’t exactly kept you up at night.  Seems it was settled in a much earlier BackPacker article.  And Yes you should pop blisters as long as:

 I found these exercises in the BackPacker Magazine.   It really seems to me that they are valuable regardless of the type of exercise/sport one engages in. 

Taking a look starting in the left top corner and going clockwise:

 1.   Building Lung Power.  The approach is to train using “Intervals” – three minutes all out then three minutes of recovery.   The article talks about jogging – running at high intensity then jogging at recovery rate.    And for many who no longer find jogging suitable, here are options:

• Speed walking and regular walking – outside or treadmill

  Looking for something a little different this week I found a set of poses (courtesy of Self.com online magazine) that make you work your core.  Nothing revolutionary, but useful and it came with some nice illustrations.  I have edited where I thought a little more explanation was needed.  Remember, tighten your abs to hold your body aligned, and blow the air out of your stomach and lungs as you tighten.

Yoga for abs and core

In the first part of this three part article, I introduced the concept that too much of a good thing like exercise is not always a good thing.  In part 2, I outlined the signs of the addiction associated with the “runner’s high” – much like a high associated with a drug.  In case you are still asking “so what?”; still wondering what the problem is with being addicted to something as wholesome as exercise, then read on.  Working out hard will let you see results quickly, but continually overloading the body will eventually lead to negative consequences.  Whilst working out hard is good for bones, going at high levels of intensity all the time puts enormous stress on bones, joints and muscles.