Posted on: Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Three-week course can help you find longer life
By Jane Glenn Haas
Knight Ridder News Service
The sexy gals on the cover of Fitness magazine consistently drive home the message: Work those abs, suck in your "core," eat healthy, do your cardio and you can have big boobs, a slender waist and a body to die for.
In its latest issue, the magazine touts ways to "Age Proof Your Body," offering tips and guidelines for a three-week complete body and health makeover.
Which struck me as interesting because the target audience for Fitness is women 25 to 45, not the group usually fretting about aging.
"But these are the years women in particular notice their lives are changing," says senior health editor Amy Fishbein. "Women are going through changes like having babies."
Ah, Amy, it's not the having of babies that ages you — it's the raising of them.
Still, the Fitness goal of establishing good health habits to offset the ravages of time is a proven plan.
Just ask Jack Johnson of Irvine, Calif.
Johnson, 60, says he feels better today than he did at 50. He not only feels better, he claims he's turning heads.
"Women are smiling at me again," he says.
And he enjoys the attention, he says, while he remains devoted to his wife.
So is he turning heads because of a fitness routine?
"No. Because I got a buzz and grew a goatee," Johnson says.
He was losing his hair when he decided on the drastic style change. Now women who have known him for years say, "You never looked better," he says.
Fitness? "Oh, the fitness routine has been part of my life since I was in my 40s," he says.
Five mornings a week, Johnson does a 15-minute routine that includes stretches, running in place for five minutes while holding 5-pound weights and moving his arms in circles, 100 deep-knee bends, push-ups and sit-ups.
He started the routine, he says, after he saw a magazine article featuring an old woman who had a hard body because of exercising.
Johnson says he has a hard body, too. "I'm close to having a six-pack," he says.
He weighs only 7 pounds more than he weighed in his 20s, he says. But, he also admits, "I've never had a weight problem. I've always been thin."
So how does Johnson's routine compare with Fitness magazine's? Actually, they're fairly similar. But neither the magazine nor Johnson will claim three weeks of lifestyle change will turn you into a hardbody.
"It's all a question of habit," Johnson says. "And I'm a creature of habit."
Forming healthy habits at a young age is critical, says editor Fishbein. "After all, we have 70 percent control over how we age."
There, now, doesn't that make you want to jump up and do 100 squats?
Jane Glenn Haas is the author of "Time of Your Life: Why Almost Everything Gets Better After Fifty." She writes for the Orange County (Calif.) Register.
Well, not to die for, actually.
THREE-WEEK 'LIFE MAKEOVER'
Fitness magazine recommends three weeks to start a lifetime of healthy habits:
Week 1: Design a "longevity diet." Basically, it is like the Mediterranean diet, which is rich in vegetables, whole grains, fruits, nuts and olive oil. Follow workouts with a cup of bran cereal or other healthy carbohydrate. Go light on butter, margarine, whole-milk dairy and sugar to reduce wrinkles.
Week 2: Enhance your health with 30 minutes a day of weight-lifting, which helps maintain bone density. Also, regular sex will reduce the risks of cancer and auto-immune disease, and slow the aging of arteries and wrinkling of skin. If sex isn't available, try social activity with friends.
Week 3: Train your brain by having a good outlook on getting older, which could extend your life by 7.5 years. Learn new things, from Pilates to studying Chinese, to boost your immune system and keep your brain young. And get rid of anger, which can cause an 84-percent boost in blood pressure.
