fitness, strength, and wellness over 50
Yes, it's been a minute since my last post - which claimed that I want to continue blogging. I do! I just haven't entirely figured out how to be a full-time pastor and have an unrelated hobby or two. The last six months have been especially out of control, for some reason. But I'm trying... Continue Reading →
(Cover image borrowed from here; covered by creative commons license.) Sometimes, not breaking one's personal best is a good thing: I didn't let four months pass between posts! First a quick update, and then I'll share some goodies... Me and my patient running companion. Safe to say I've had a lot of false starts over... Continue Reading →
For the longest interval between blog posts on Fifty is the New Forte! Apparently I'm still in that time-management challenge phase where I can either fit in exercise, or fit in writing about exercise, but not both. I'm telling myself I'm improving, but I can't prove it, yet, so don't ask me to. For now,... Continue Reading →
(Photo above of 80-year old Jacinto Bonilla borrowed from Men's Fitness magazine online. See details below.) I'm not going to change the name of the blog, but I've entered a new decade! And while I ended my 50s in a fulfilling place vocationally, fitness-wise I need to step up my game. It took a couple... Continue Reading →
Three months without posting?! I was closing in on the third anniversary of this blog, with at least one post every month (a bit of a feat for me), and it all went pear-shaped at the end of June. Too many extra-curricular activities (some required for my career shift), and too much overtime at work... Continue Reading →
At 70 years of age, Joan MacDonald was overweight, badly out of shape, in pain, and on blood pressure medication. Her daughter Michelle was deeply concerned, and challenged her to start working out, and to join an online group of women trying to develop healthy habits. I'm now three years into my journey and I... Continue Reading →
I seem to have misplaced the last three weeks. Has anyone seen them? I was certain my April streak would carry me right into May, marching along with focus and discipline. Instead, I've been completely out of control of my days, and sometimes not even sure which day it actually is. My longest walk was... Continue Reading →
If your 50+ year-old self needs a little motivation to start something new (or maybe restart something you gave up long ago), I give you Dr. Josefina Monasterio, and Julia Hawkins. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HuM2QlQDSY Dr. Josefina Monasterio took up body-building at age 59; at age 71, she looks fitter and stronger than most folks 50 years younger.... Continue Reading →
I love this blog post. Sarah Lavender Smith is a writer and a leading ultramarathoner who is trying to "make peace" with some basic physiological realities of aging (she's a mere 48 years old, but that's close enough to 50 to quote here 😉 ). After a particularly good recent workout, she found herself thinking,... Continue Reading →
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 →
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 →
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 →
50 is the new "forte" 