Look and feel your best at any age!

Forty doesn’t look like forty anymore…or at least it doesn’t have to!  One of our staff recently attended her high-school reunion and sent me a photo of her and her classmates.  The difference between her and her peers was startling.  They had all put on a ton of weight and looked at least 20 or 30 years older than her…like they could have easily been her mother! Because she exercised daily and ate well, it dramatically affected the aging process.  So it is very clear what you do or don’t do today, with either have a positive or negative effect on what you look like now, 10 years, 20 years, 40 years or more from now.

As a reminder, there are five critical areas to an anti-aging program:

1.  Aerobic cardiovascular exercise

2.  High-intensity anaerobic cardiovascular exercise

3.  Muscle strength and conditioning

4.  Flexibility training

5.  Balanced nutrition and lifestyle

In addition, I want to provide you with a specific muscle conditioning exercise that counteracts the aging process.

Today’s exercise will focus on strengthening your weaker posterior muscles, help to keep your spine elongated and help to maintain a youthful posture.Stay tuned next week for more anti-aging exercises.

Tri-Pod Training: a)  Start by getting down onto your hands and knees.  Position your arms directly under your shoulders and your knees directly underneath your hips.  Keep your abdominals contracted inwards and your spine completely stabilized.  Your back should be completely neutral and it should feel like a straight line from your tailbone to the top of your head.  Start the exercise by lifting one arm from the shoulder and reaching it out in front of you.  You should attempt to really stretch the arm forwards and lift upwards while maintaining the abdominal contraction and spine stabilization.  Return to the starting position and then repeat on the other arm.  Then perform the same movement with one leg.  Then the other leg.  While you lift one leg, be sure to not shift all your body weight to the side that is supporting you.  Try to stay completely stabilized.  Do this entire set 5x.  b)  If you want to intensify this movement, lift the opposite arm and leg at the same time.  Do this 10x each side.  Remember the key reference points for this exercise are that you must keep the abdominals contracted inwards and the back should be completely stabilized.  Try to avoid arching your back as you lift the arms and/or legs – think more about reaching the arms and legs rather than lifting so high that you have to arch your back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yours in health and fitness,

Sherri McMillan