USA Today recently featured an interview with Vonda Wright, author of Fitness After 40: How to Stay Strong at Any Age. Wright, an orthopedic surgeon, works with both aging athletes and sedentary adults . She wrote the book to offer advice for folks who want to get in shape and stay healthy in their later years. USA Today writer Kim Painter sat down with the author to talk about the book. Wright created the FACE acronym:
Flexibility- stretch for 15 minutes a day
Aerobics- 30 minutes a day at least three to five times a week
Carrying a Load-Strength train three times a week
Equilibrium-Do balance exercises every day
Wright suggests that the most common mistake made by older exercisers is doing too much too soon. During the Beijing Olympics she saw a surge of weekend warriors "who hadn't exercised in a while or who had been exercising but took it to the next level too rapidly". She cautions exercisers to "modify, modify modify" rather than give up their favorite sports. She acknowledges that there are almost always ways to adjust a training plan so that athletes can continue to participate in their sport.
When asked about the special qualities of elite aging athletes, Wright says that they have "incredible mental fortitude. They will tell you that the best years of their lives are the second 40 or 50. They can't wait to get up in the morning."
Comments
I'm one of the people she's referring to in the book LOL ... 44 and have not been active. I played competitive tennis most of my life ... then had kids (at 30) and never really got back into it. I'm working out with a trainer 4 x's a week now and getting on the right track with diet and nutrition so there's hope for me yet. *SmiLes* Suzanne
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