Better Late than Never

For the great majority of people, fitness cannot be achieved without exercise. Although exercise is beneficial to every one of all ages, it is particularly vital to those who are fifty and over. The young body has a natural resistance to the consequences of poor fitness. But for seniors that resistance is not nearly so resilient. Breaking a hip at thirty can have life-changing consequences, breaking it at 60 can have death-threatening consequences.

Studies have shown the decline in muscle mass for adults over 50 is about 1.5% a year. The severe loss of muscle mass is called sarcopenia and it is a strong predicator for osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is an analogous condition of a severe loss of bone mass. The declines in muscle mass correlates with the loss of bone mass. The logic is self-evident: if you can prevent the loss of muscle mass, then you can prevent the loss of bone mass.

The good news for seniors is that exercise can yield positive results regardless of the age of the individual. Study after study show that age is no barrier to developing fitness. One study found that even 90 year-olds recorded significant gains in strength in a six month training program. Exercise retards aging for any age, but starting early can help avoid conditions that limit exercise options later in life. Aerobic exercise can lower the risk of heart disease, but once the heart disease has developed; there are real limits to reversing its effects. High resistance exercise training (HRET) can lower the risk of osteoporosis, but once osteoporosis has set in, resistance exercise can be severely limited. The lesson here is that exercise is beneficial at any age, but the earlier an individual adopts a fitness program, the greater chance he or she can realize the maximum benefits of exercise.

Flexibility Exercise

 Flexibility can be defined as the ability of joints to move through a range of motion. The more flexible we are, the greater the range of motion. This joint flexibility depends on the connective tissue and muscles associated with the point. Connective tissue refers to the ligaments that bind bones together and tendons that bind muscle to bone.

 There is little flexibility to connective tissue. Tendons are the least flexible and will tear beyond 4% of stretching.  Ligaments have a bit more flexibility but will tear when stretched beyond 6%. Thus, flexibility exercises are primarily devoted to the muscles attached to the tendons. With stretching exercises, muscles can be stretched 50% or more without tearing.

 The purpose of flexibility is threefold.

 First, by extending the range of joint motion, you reduce the potential of injury when that range is over extended. The ankle and the knee joint are particularly subject to joint injury. When running or just walking on rough ground, the foot can easily be turned by a hidden hole causing a bad sprain. Skiers suffer injury to knees when they fall awkwardly. When ligaments have some range of movement, damage can be avoided or minimized by accidental movement.

 Second, flexibility can reduce the stress on the vertebral column. Much of lower back pain can be caused by excessively tight quadriceps (quads) and hamstrings (hams). These are two of the most powerful muscles in the body, and they can exert powerful stresses on the spinal column. If these muscles are stretched, the level of stress on the back is also reduced.

 Back stress can also be caused by an imbalance between the quadriceps and the hamstrings. Generally the quadriceps are larger and the more powerful of the two. Quadriceps are used (exercised) more often. Every time we raise ourselves from a chair we exercise the quadriceps. Most aerobic exercises utilize the quadriceps more than the hamstrings so balancing the strength is difficult. However, with power exercise, it is possible to set resistance to balance the quads and hams. Both weights and Human Isokinetics can achieve this balance.

 Third, flexibility can reduce the internal resistance of the both the quads and hams. By stretching these muscles, their tension loosens. Not only will this lesson the stresses on back, but also reduce the resistance when running or cycling. This can improve both speed and resistance to fatigue. This is certainly a benefit for runners.

 The primary focus of flexibility exercise is for the muscles associated with the knee joint: the hamstrings and the quadriceps.

 All of the hamstrings stretches involve the straightening of the leg parallel to some surface. The most familiar of these is the runners stretches which there are many variants. The toe-touch stretch which was frequently employed in physical education classes for many years has lost favor because of the potential strain on the lower back.

 Quadriceps stretches are the opposite movement of the hamstring stretches. In these stretches, the leg is flexed backwards and upwards. The stretch requires exercisers to pull the muscle with their hand or use a strap or elastic band.

  Stretching can be broadly categorized into two forms: static and dynamic. As the names imply, dynamic stretching involves movement whereas static refers to holding a certain position. A stretch position can be both dynamic and static. Consider a sprinter's stretch which primarily stretches the hamstrings. The exerciser lowers the torso toward the knee of the leg that is parallel to the ground with the goal of touching the chin to the knee. This movement is dynamic stretching. However, if the chin remains on the knee for an extended time, 30 seconds or more, then that interval is static stretching.

 Static stretching was once a popularized form of exercising, but has recently lost favor especially among athletes. Such stretching has been shown to cause the muscle to lose elasticity and power. If you look at the muscle like a rubber band that has been stretched for a long time, the rubber band has lengthened but has lost its elasticity, and might eventually snap. Static stretching appears to have that effect on muscles.

 There are other variants of stretching such as ballistic, active, an assisted stretching. Once popular, ballistic stretching subjects the muscle to jerky movements. These movements pushes the joints to its limits, and unfortunately sometimes beyond its limits. Active stretching is exaggerating natural movements. Lunges are the most common form of active stretching. These lunges can also be dangerous if not properly executed, and they are especially dangerous when weight is added to the exercise.

 Assisted stretching is the use of some device or person to facilitate the stretching. Exercise bands can be used for this purpose. There are also therapeutic devices that fulfill the same function—some with the assistance of a trainer or therapist.

 For senior exercisers, dynamic stretching is a valuable addition to an exercise regimen especially for those with running as their major aerobic activity.

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Flexibility Exercise: Three Purposes

 Flexibility can be defined as the ability of joints to move through a range of motion. The more flexible we are, the greater the range of motion. This joint flexibility depends on the connective tissue and muscles associated with the point. Connective tissue refers to the ligaments that bind bones together and tendons that bind muscle to bone. 

There is little flexibility to connective tissue. Tendons are the least flexible and will tear beyond 4% of stretching.  Ligaments have a bit more flexibility but will tear when stretched beyond 6%. Thus, flexibility exercises are primarily devoted to the muscles attached to the tendons. With stretching exercises, muscles can be stretched 50% or more without tearing.

The purpose of flexibility is threefold. 

First, by extending the range of joint motion, you reduce the potential of injury when that range is over extended. The ankle and the knee joint are particularly subject to joint injury. When running or just walking on rough ground, the foot can easily be turned by a hidden hole causing a bad sprain. Skiers suffer injury to knees when they fall awkwardly. When ligaments have some range of movement, damage can be avoided or minimized by accidental movement. 

Second, flexibility can reduce the stress on the vertebral column. Much of lower back pain can be caused by excessively tight quadriceps (quads) and hamstrings (hams). These are two of the most powerful muscles in the body, and they can exert powerful stresses on the spinal column. If these muscles are stretched, the level of stress on the back is also reduced. 

Back stress can also be caused by an imbalance between the quadriceps and the hamstrings. Generally the quadriceps are larger and the more powerful of the two. Quadriceps are used also (exercised) more often. Every time we raise ourselves from a chair we exercise the quadriceps. Most aerobic exercises utilize the quadriceps more than the hamstrings so balancing the strength is difficult. However, with power exercise, it is possible to set resistance to balance the quads and hams. Both weights and Human Isokinetics can achieve this balance.

Third, flexibility can reduce the internal resistance of the both the quads and hams. By stretching these muscles, their tension loosens. Not only will this lesson the stresses on back, but also reduce the resistance when running or cycling. This can improve both speed and resistance to fatigue. This is certainly a benefit for runners.

Many fitness books concentrate on the importance of flexibility and claim significant benefits from this exercise. Flexibility exercise improves flexibility--it does little for strength or aerobic fitness which for seniors, the most essential elements of fitness.

Seasonal Training

 There are exercisers who train completely indoors, usually at some gym where equipment and facilities are available for total training. For these people, consistency of training is more important than the diversity of training and they prefer a rigid program. 

I prefer seasonal training for reasons other than just diversity. When you train seasonally, it makes you more aware of the seasons – the same way you are aware of the seasons as a child. With each season, there are new opportunities, new challenges. So fitness training can satisfy your inner child.

There are also physiological and psychological advantages of seasonal training. Whether your training at sixteen or sixty, every training program experiences performance plateaus and at some point, an ultimate plateau. There is a point where improvement becomes virtually impossible. This may take months or even years, but it is inevitable. When we encounter these plateaus or impasses, it can evoke a negative psychological response. One of the most positive reinforcements for training is the pleasure of improvement, and when improvement disappears, so can much of the pleasure. When we develop seasonal training programs, every season we set up new training goals. For instance, my spring cycling goal is to reach four hours by the end of the season. My first ride is usually about an hour with every subsequent ride a bit longer. My game is to see long far I can reach before the end of the season. I don't always surpass the previous season's performance, but I never encounter training plateaus. 

I approach each season with a real sense of enthusiasm. If I faced the same workout training program month after month, I'm not certain I could retain the discipline to continue training.The best training program is one that produces results and one that the exerciser can maintain for the long term. There are some people who have the will power to exercise regularly even when each workout is a result of will power and not joy. Most of us our not endowed with such will power so the choice is not to exercise at all or to create a training program that is actually enjoyed.  For those who value their health and vigor, the choice is clear.

What is core exercise?

 In physical fitness, the core is what we commonly call the torso. Core training is exercise that involves the movement of the torso. Unlike the appendicular muscles, the movement of the torso is not associated with a major joint, although the movement of the torso usually involves some hip action. 

Also unlike appendicular movement, there is a complex multi-layer host of stabilization muscles that work to protect the spine when the torso moves. So core training develops strength to move the torso, but also to develop the stabilization muscles that support the spine.

Core exercise focuses primarily on the muscles that are associated with the movement of the torso. Most common of these movements is the action of bending-over at the waist. This action is both a flexion and an extension of the dominant muscles. On the anterior (the front) of the torso, the dominant muscle is the rectus abdominis muscle which is commonly called the abs. On the posterior (the back) the dominant muscles are the sacrospinalis which are three groups of muscles: spinalis, longissimus and lliocostalis. 

Equally important to the core are a complex, multilayered group of stabilizer muscles. The function of these muscles is to stabilize the spine when the torso is moved. The deepest layers of muscles are the transverse abdominis and the multifidi. When these muscles are activated they increase in intra-abdominal pressure surrounding the spinal column making it rigid capable of resisting damaging forces. These muscles are the most important stabilizers and called the primary stabilizers. 

There is a second group of stabilizers that assist in protecting the spine. These are called the secondary stabilizers as they do not directly connect to the spinal column itself. The secondary stabilizers include the internal obliques, external obliques and the gluteal muscles. These muscles are also essential for the protection of the spine, especially the gluteal muscles. Without strong hips supporting the base of the spine, a healthy spine cannot exist. Unlike the core’s action muscles, the stabilizers activate automatically when the torso is moved. If we had to think about these muscles, they would be too late in protecting the spine.

The situps and crunches are good exemplifications of  core exercises. The prime mover is the rectus abdominis. The synergists include the external obliques, the iliopsoas, the tensors and the sartoris muscles. The stabilizers include the transversus abdominis, the multifidus and the quadratus lumborum which are the deepest core muscles. When we perform the basic core movement, all of these muscles come into play, but we are rarely aware of the host of muscles that are utilized in that movement. Thus it is difficult to pinpoint exercises the supporting muscles.

Core training develops both the muscles that move the torso and those muscles that stabilize the spine during that movement. For many years the dominant core exercise was the sit-up, but recently the exercise has fallen out of favor because of the potential of lower back problems. The sit-up does place torque on your spine especially if the exercise includes diagonal movement. The sit-up also develops the hip flexor muscles which can exert pressure on the lower spine resulting in lower back pain. 

Stamina training and bodyweight exercise

Of the three forms of strength, stamina is the form most frequently utilized during our everyday activities. Rarely in a course of a day is maximal power demanded; nor are there many activities that require significant aerobic fitness. However, stamina is required for the most strenuous daily activities such as yard work. 

The muscle fibers most responsible for stamina strength are the mid-twitch fibers which display moderate contractile power and some resistance to fatigue.

For some individuals whose daily activity requires stamina, such exercise is probably unnecessary. A person who spends eight hours a day handling a jack hammer probably does not need stamina exercise. However, for the office worker who sits in from of a computer all day probably does. 

The benefits of stamina strength and exercise

The most obvious benefit of stamina exercise is that it builds the most useful form of strength. Stamina is what allows you to work all afternoon in a garden or help your best friend move to a new apartment.

The most common form of exercise for stamina training is bodyweight or what was used to be called calisthenics. Bodyweight exercises are the ones that most of us are familiar: pushups, knee bends, etc. Unlike power exercise, these exercises require many repetitions and perhaps multiple sets.  

For those who want to maintain or even lose weight, stamina exercise is an efficient fat burner. The calories that are expended during exercise depend on the intensity of the exercise and the length of exercise. A moderate intensity calisthenics program will burn off about 300 calories an hour, which is more than weight training but less than running.

Stamina training also builds muscle mass--not to the degree of power training, but more than aerobic training. With additional muscle mass, there is an increase of muscle tone, which is the constant muscular tension that maintains posture and allows for a quick, unconscious reaction to any sudden internal or external stimuli. This constant muscle tone utilizes calories and is an important component of weight maintenance.

Often, the term tone is used to refer to muscular definition. We say that person has a "toned body." Toned in this case refers to a body with so little fat that the muscle can be seen. Power exercise builds mass and stamina exercise defines muscle. For many years my exercise concentration was on developing power, but my body showed little definition. It was only after I added stamina exercise did I define my muscles. 

If our goal is to achieve balanced fitness, then stamina exercise is necessary. And, for most of us, the sculptural form of such a body is more pleasing.

The final advantage of stamina training is that aerobic benefit also accrues. The amount of that benefit depends on the amount of rest between exercises and the intensity of the exercise. If there is little rest and great intensity, then the exercise is as much aerobic as it is stamina. For instance, a rowing machine exercise can be power, aerobic or stamina. If we set the resistance very high with only a few repetitions, it is a power exercise. If we set the resistance very low with many repetitions then it becomes an aerobic exercise.  Anything between these extremes is a stamina exercise. 

Why Power Training for Seniors

 All strength exercises involve some degree of resistance. The intensity of that resistance determines which form of strength will be developed. Light resistance and high repetitions will best develop endurance strength. Medium resistance and repetitions will develop stamina strength. High resistance and low repetitions will develop power strength.

Of the three forms of strength, power is the most neglected by seniors.

High resistance strength training (HRST) or what I call power training is essential if the senior is to prevent the loss of muscle and bone mass, which can lead to sarcopenia (the excessive loss of muscle mass) and osteopenia (the loss of bone mass). Power training is the exercise that develops the major skeletal muscles. 

Power training is essential if the senior is to prevent the loss of muscle and bone mass, which can lead to sarcopenia (the excessive loss of muscle mass) and osteopenia (the loss of bone mass). Power training is the exercise that develops muscle mass in the major skeletal muscles.  

Power Exercise

Power is to exert maximum force over a very short period of time usually for only a few seconds. In sports, both weight lifting and power lifting rely on muscular power. Power training builds tensile mass of the muscle. The effects of power training apply primarily to the adaptation to the fast-twitch muscle fibers. These muscle fibers grow larger and the contractile power increases.

Power exercise not only builds muscle mass, but also builds bone mass. There is a strong correlation between sarcopenia (the loss of muscle mass) and osteopenia (the loss of bone mass). Osteoporosis, the extreme form of osteopenia, is most prevalent in post-menopausal women, but men can also be afflicted in their senior years.

What is Human Isokinetics

Isokinetics is a relatively recent term for when an isotonic action encounters varying levels of resistance. Isokinetic exercises usually refer to the new exercise apparatuses that provide alternating resistance against the muscle action. For instance, electronic controlled stationary bicycles may alternate the resistance to simulate hill climbing. Similarly, riding a bicycle on a hilly course would result in an isokinetic workout with the hills supplying the varying resistance.  

In Human Isokinetics (HI) the apparatus that provides the resistance are the other muscles in the body.

Isotonic, isometric and isotensive exercises will all increase strength. Isometric exercise primarily increases strength at the specific point of static contraction whereas isotonic exercise increases strength for the full range of the muscular movement. 

Building strength and muscle mass can be achieved by all forms of high-resistance exercise. In isotonics, the crucial element is amount of resistance that opposes the movement. The greater the resistance, the greater the force needed to overcome the resistance. When all of our strength is needed to overcome the resistance of the load, the effort is maximal, which I call powerMax. The closer the effort is to powerMax, the greater the gains in muscle mass and in strength.

With isometric contractions, the muscle contracts without movement. A push-up is an isotonic exercise, but if you hold the position then it becomes an isometric exercise where the exerciser’s own body supplies the resistance. Pushing against a door frame is an isometric exercise where the door frame supplies the resistance. When a body builder presses his palms together to accentuate his chest muscles it is isometric exercise where the resistance is supplied by each palm.  

A contraction can occur without any external resistance. This is an isotensive contraction where the muscle contracts or flexes without any resistance. With a static isotensive contraction, there are no changes in the length of the muscle. An isotensive contraction is when a bodybuilder contracts biceps to show off its size. An isotensive contraction can be both dynamic and static. It becomes dynamic when an isotensive contraction is combined with movement.  

Human Isokinetics employs all three forms of muscle contractions with progressive resistance from minimal to maximal exertion. 

Rowing is a great aerobic and strength exercise

 Rowing can be an important component in aerobic training and it has one other great advantage in that it provides a full-body exercise.  Of all of the aerobic exercises, it develops power in both the upper body and lower body. It is estimated that rowing uses over 80% of the body’s total muscles. Virtually every muscle in the arms and legs are used in the full rowing motion.

Much the power of rowing comes from the back muscles which are heavily worked with a rowing session. These include the trapezius and the latissimus dorsi. And as an additional bonus, the rectus abdominis (the abs) are also worked. The largest muscles of the body, the quadriceps and gluteus maximus are particularly stressed. After an intense rowing workout, your legs can feel like mounds of jelly.

Few people actually do on-the-water rowing, but instead use one of the many indoor rowing machines. These machines come in many types from the most common, the hydraulic piston machines, to the water rowers which best emulate the outdoor rowing experience. Depending on the type, prices can range from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand for the more exotic machines.

Cycling Basics

 Cycling provides a strong aerobic workout with much less stress on the knees than running. When it comes to bikes, there are many choices. Outdoors, there are dozens of different styles from sleek racing bikes to the bulky fat bikes with wide tires. Most outdoor bikes are uprights but there are also recumbent bikes. In the upright bikes, the rider sits perpendicular to the bike frame whereas in the recumbent, the rider a close to parallel to the bike frame. The choice between an upright and recumbent is primarily one of personal preference although recumbents are less stressful on the back and there is little danger of falling. For individuals with balance issues, a recumbent is probably a better choice. Upright bikes provide the upper body and the arms with a more strenuous workout than the recumbents. 

Indoor bikes can also be upright or recumbent. The choice is more evenly divided than the outdoor bikes. Recumbent are generally more expensive and require more space.

Like running, the training measures for cycling are duration, time and tempo. The same training goals are also in place. The exerciser needs to attain some level of intensity and duration in order to achieve a positive training effect. The major difference is that in cycling you can also control the resistance by choosing higher or lower gears.  So intensity is going to be determined by some combination of tempo and resistance. By increasing resistance, the exerciser can achieve a more intense workout in a shorter time. Personally, I enjoy longer rides on my outdoor bikes whereas I prefer shorter more intense workouts with my stationary bike. 

Outdoor cycling poses other risks from drivers who don't want to share the road with bikes. In certain non-bike friendly cities, cyclists can almost feel like they have a target on their back.

Exercise versus training

Many people exercise, but few people train, especially seniors. Exercise becomes training when a progressive element is included in the program. There is an adage: if you are not trying to move forward, then you are moving backwards. The natural progression of life makes us weaker. The best way to avoid weakness is to become stronger. The program advanced in this book is exercise training to make us stronger. Progressive training presents challenges, but there are ways to overcome these challenges.  

It is hardly a secret that exercise is good for us, but what kind of exercise do we really need?  We exercise to increase our physical fitness, and by physical fitness, we mean our capacity to work and to play. Looking at the twelve components of fitness, most exercise programs are devoted to increasing some form of strength. The three forms of strength are power, stamina and endurance.

Before we continue much further, we need to take a brief look at some physical fitness terminology.  The word “exercise” can have two different meanings depending on whether it is being used as a verb or a noun. When we run, we exercise and the name of that exercise is running. Exercise as a verb is some activity that develops physical fitness. The noun “exercise” refers to some specific activity for a physical fitness purpose. It is also a generic term for general physical activity, which is also close to its definition as a verb, “We all know we need to exercise.” 

If we begin exercising to become more physically fit, then we are training. We design a program of exercises for our training. Then, we do a series of workouts using these exercises. Hopefully, our training program will realize our goal of becoming more physically fit. Training requires a progressive intensity of exercise. So if we walk an hour every day, we are exercising, but we are not training because there are no goals and no progressive exercise. Now if we strive to walk further or faster each time, then the walk is both training and exercise.

Benefits of Endurance Training

By endurance training, we are talking about aerobic exercise that develops the body’s ability to respire and process oxygen. We measure aerobic fitness by VO2 max which is the maximum amount of oxygen an individual can utilize. The VO2 technical definition is the maximum amount of oxygen in milliliters, one can use in one minute per kilogram of body weight.

The most obvious benefit of endurance training is that we improve our VO2 max, but what does that mean in practical terms? It means we can climb multiple flights of stairs without being exhausted or we can run to an airport gate to make a flight. 

Endurance training develops the heart muscle, making it more elastic and stronger so that it pumps more blood with each beat. By pumping more blood with each beat, the heart rate drops. The average heart rate is in the 70s for more people. Athletes, especially those in endurance sports, have a rate in the 50’s. Along with lower heart rates, blood pressure usually declines with aerobic training. 

Endurance training also develops the mitochondria in both the heart muscle as well as skeletal muscle. Mitochondria are rod-like entities in the cell that convert oxygen and food into energy. This is the energy to sustain the cell as well as provide muscular energy. They also appear to play a major role in the aging process. Mitochondrial degradation has been hypothesized as a major factor in aging. 

Should you incorporate aerobic exercise in your fitness program?

We can approach this question logically. We know that if we don't exercise our aerobic fitness will continue to decline as we age. To avoid this decline, some level of exercise should be included in our fitness regimens. This determination begins with a physical audit of your cardiovascular system. If there is no or little evidence of heart disease or high blood pressure than there should be no hesitancy to include aerobic work in your program. Even if there are some heart or lung problems, some modified exercise is still called for—perhaps not running but rather a walking or jogging regimen.
Aerobic training comes with some caveats. We know middle-age aerobic training will help maintain the elasticity of the heart. It is this elasticity that gives the heart much of its pumping ability. At some point in the aging process heart muscles harden and once this occurs it is difficult if not impossible to regain that elasticity. So the question is whether aerobic exercise should be included in a program for a new exerciser over 65?
Here is what I know.
The Covid crisis caused me to cut back on my aerobic exercise for over a year. When I resumed my interval training, I was shocked in the amount of deterioration in my aerobic fitness. I could not even complete a light version of my previous program. Halfway through the first workout, I had to stop. Because I am approaching my eighth decade, I was concerned. The good news is that I scaled back my program and in just few months I regained and surpassed my previous fitness level. Training works!
Supplying oxygen to all of the body’s cells plays a crucial role in maintaining cellular health. When the body loses its ability to deliver and process oxygen to the cells, the cells die; when cells die, organs die and when organs die, we die. The only way to retain this oxygen processing ability is through aerobic exercise. Is aerobic exercise important? Is living important?

My summer aerobic training

 Sunday: Bicycle, long slow distance cycling with a training measure of time adding one minute each workout.

Tuesday: Fartlik run. Fartlik is an alternating tempo run such as sprinting for 30 second or so then slowing down to regain my wind. The training measure is distance covered in the run, perhaps adding 200 yards each session.

Thursday: Long slow distance running, adding about 30 seconds each run. My benchmark for this may only be 8 or 9 minutes initially, but by the end of the season I will be close to an hour.

On Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I do some sprint work with my circuit training. My training measures are for the strength exercises and sprint intensity is what I feel like doing.

Saturday: No aerobic workout.

Seasonal Training

A challenge for any exercise training program is to maintain a progressive element in the training. Seasonal training allows you to maintain a progressive element to your workouts and also adds diversity to your exercise.

When we were young, the seasons had meaning. For me, spring was the beginning of baseball season. I can remember the joy of the first days in March when we pulled out our baseball gloves, bats and balls. All through the summer school vacation most days were spent on the baseball diamond. With fall and return to school, we put away our baseball gear, and began playing basketball every day after school. I remember walking home with friends in early November dribbling the ball as we walked and talked. This was childhood as we created it—not the organized adult developed activities.

Seasonal training brings back the joy of seasons. Spring no longer brings baseball to my life, but it is the beginning of my bicycle training. Training might be a bit of an exaggeration. I have devised a seasonal cycling game. I ride only once or twice a week. I call this “little boy” riding. I don’t worry about speed and my training measure is distance. Each ride is two or three minutes longer than the previous ride. I ride over the same course each year, and the game is to see how long I can ride by the end of my cycling season. The first ride of the season is usually about one hour, but the end of the season I am approaching four hours. I put away my bicycle sometime in October, and move on to my winter swimming program when I start my lap swim regimen, starting with six or eight laps. By the time by the time spring arrives, I might be swimming up to 60 laps. 

Each season has its own training goals. I begin with a set of exercise benchmarks. Usually these benchmarks are about 50% of the final workouts from the previous season. The goal is to have an improvement over the previous season. For example, in my circuit training course, I have a pull-up station where I was able to do 10 pull-ups at the end of summer training. In the spring, I set a new benchmark, which is some performance under ten. For instance it may be 5 pull-ups. Thus, my seasonal training goal is to exceed the 10 pull-ups from the previous season. Even at almost 80, I usually succeed surpassing the previous season’s performance, but if I don’t, I always have next season.

What is carnitine?

Like most nutritional supplements, carnitine should not be used by everyone. However, anyone who suffers from insufficient carnitine production, supplementation could be beneficial to their health. 
Carnitine is a naturally produced substance that is produced primarily in the liver and kidneys. It is biosynthesized from the amino acids lysine and methionine. The body also assimilates carnitine from food with red meat the most prominent source.
Carnitine deficiency is seen most in vegetarians. So for people who don't eat red meat (beef), carnitine supplementation may be recommended.

Different Strengths, Different Exercises

Popular fitness books usually extol one particular form of exercise while ignoring or even denigrating other forms. In truth, to be totally fit requires an exercise program that addresses all components of fitness. For all ages, the exercising principle is the same: if you don't work your body, your body will become weaker. There are those that follow a different strategy and believe by resting they somehow conserve their strength. All that resting does is to place you quicker in a rest home.

 Fitness is primarily about strength and strength comes in three forms: power, endurance, and stamina and the exercises that develop these different strengths are quite different. So if you are going to achieve total fitness, you need to develop a program that works for each form.

 Power strength is the capacity and ability to exert force. This is the strength to open a stuck window on a hot afternoon or to lug a 50 lb bag of top soil. The type of exercise that best develops power is high intensity strength training or HIIT. The goal of power exercise is to develop muscle mass.

 Endurance strength is the capacity and ability to work for long duration. This is the strength to climb ten floors of stairs without being winded. The type of exercise that best develops endurance is aerobic exercise which increases the exerciser’s ability to access and process oxygen.

 Between power and strength is stamina which is the ability to work fairly intensely for a fairly long time. This is the strength to do vigorous yard work for an afternoon without becoming exhausted. The types of exercises that best develops stamina are bodyweight exercises or what was used to be called calisthenics.

 Other than strength exercises, core, balance and flexibility should also be included in a total fitness program for seniors.

 Which exercises are most important for seniors? Unfortunately, the best exercises are the ones that seniors do least: aerobic and power. This blog is going to explore all of the exercise forms and why and how they should be performed.