fitness, strength, and wellness over 50
Astronaut Peggy Whitson returned to earth from the International Space Station last week, having racked up a number of records, including the longest time in continuous orbit for a female astronaut (288 days), the most cumulative hours of spacewalking for a female astronaut (53 hours, 22 minutes), and the most cumulative time in space of... Continue Reading →
I know quite a few people right around me who are doing an admirable job of keeping up their fitness and even their competitiveness as they enter their 50s and beyond. Robert (Bob) Neeley, aka "Zombie" (Bob's work shifts are all over the clock - graveyard, early a.m., etc. - and so are his training... Continue Reading →
I. "It's never too late to get fit" A study conducted at the University of Oslo found that men who began exercising in their 40s and 50s (as opposed to becoming more inactive, as is the norm) reduced their risk of stroke in later life by more than 50%. According to the researchers, stroke risk... Continue Reading →
Female readers, let us take a moment and give thanks. For forty years, now, the sports bra (or "jogbra," as it was first known) has been making all kinds of athletic pursuits a lot more comfortable for women (and has preserved zillions of Cooper's Ligaments). The invention was so revolutionary, the prototypes are in the... Continue Reading →
Earlier this month, 58-year old open-water swimmer Antonio Arguelles became the 7th person, and the oldest ever, to complete the Oceans Seven challenge - a series of seven open-water channel-crossings that includes the North Channel between Ireland and Scotland, the Cook Strait between the north and south islands of New Zealand, the Molokai Channel between... Continue Reading →
A while back, an acquaintance of mine – also in her mid-50s - started taking yoga classes for the first time in many years. She had noticed that her many hours of sitting at the computer were making her feel stiff and brittle. “What if it’s doing the same thing to my blood vessels?” she... Continue Reading →
Sad, but true: for men and women over age 50, it becomes harder to add and maintain muscle mass. In fact, we lose about 1% of our muscle mass each year. Some loss is due to physiological factors – changes in hormone levels, protein needs, etc. And some of the loss is self-inflicted: “use it... Continue Reading →
After a healthy and athletic youth and young adulthood, I gradually morphed in my late thirties and forties into a somewhat sedentary creature. Over the course of those ten or more years, I worked desk jobs, went back to graduate school (more sitting!), and was content to engage in a bit of weekend warriorism -... Continue Reading →
