So often, we say we want to lose weight, tone up or get in better shape—-but we don’t really have a plan to do so, and therefore action never takes place.  I’m not sure who said it, but there’s a quote that goes something like this:  “Fail to plan, plan to fail”.  All too true when it comes to weight loss.

So, what’s a boomer woman who wants to lose weight to do?  Stop talking, and start doing!! Yes, I know–easier said than done!

To move from the talk mode into the action mode, you need a plan.  In my last post and video I told you how writing down your goals was a great first step toward better fitness this year.  A game plan is the second step.

In your game plan, you map out the actions you’ll take to achieve the goals you wrote in step #1.

I made a little video for you explaining how to go about setting up a game plan.

I kid you not when I say that the boomer women who put together a specific game plan are the ones who are achieving higher levels of fitness and better weight loss progress.  This stuff works.

If you need a copy of my goal setting handout, you can grab a copy HERE.

What’s YOUR game plan for making 2010 your fittest, leanest year yet?  Share your plan here at the blog.  Your ideas may just be what another boomer reader needs to get a jump start on her fitness program!

Yours in health,

Becky

Tweet This Post

Want to look younger?  Stand taller!

Next to wrinkles and being overweight, nothing ages us more than poor posture!  Many of us sit a lot during the day, often in front of a computer.  This shortens our chest muscles, brings our shoulders and head forward and rounds our upper back.  Yuck.

Although training and strengthening your postural muscles will do wonders for your posture and your appearance, so will training your brain!  Simply being mindful of pulling your shoulder blades down and back on your ribs, and lifting your chin and chest can make a huge difference.   Part of creating better posture is being aware of yours at all times.

I’ve put together for you four exercises that will help you strengthen muscles responsible for holding your body in proper posture. The exercises I’ve listed are not an exhaustive list of exercises you could do to improve your posture.  However, they’re a great start, and should be a part of a full body strength training program.  If you add these exercises into your workout, you will see and feel the difference!

Wall squat with shoulder blade squeeze

Starting Position:  Lean against a wall with your feet about 18 inches from the wall. Place your rear end, your shoulders and your head on the wall.   Slide down the wall a bit so that your knees are slightly bent and you’re in a semi-squat position. Put your arms up over your head in a “V” position as pictured

Action: Hold your semi-squat position as you squeeze your shoulder blades and bring your hands down to the level of your ears.  Try to keep as much of your arms on the wall as you can.

Add it into your routine this way: Perform one set of 10-12 repetitions and build up to 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions.

Straight arm pull back

Starting Position:  Loop exercise tubing around a pole, post or sturdy tree (you can also use an adjustable pulley system at a gym).  Put arms in front of you, palms down.  Step away from the pole until the band is just getting tense.

Action: With straight arms, pull the band back until your hands are just behind your rear.

Be sure to: Keep your arms straight and your abs braced.  Squeeze your shoulder blades together as you pull your arms back.

Add it into your routine this way: Perform one set of 10-12 repetitions.  Work up to 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions.

Prone Back Extensions

Starting Position:  Lie face down on a mat with your arms folded and your head resting on your arms

Action: Simultaneously lift your feet and your shoulders off the ground

Be sure to: Take care not to over-arch your back .  If this bothers your low back, try this just with the shoulders off the ground.  You can put the “feet up” part of the exercise back into your program a little later on.

Add it into your routine this way: Perform one set of 10-12 repetitions and work up to 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions over time.

Good posture requires strong abdominal muscles, so a good posture improvement program should involve something for the abs.  You’ve seen “the plank”, one of my favorite core conditioning exercises, described in an earlier post about core conditioning for baby boomers, but I’ll show you again here.  It’s a definite “add” to just about anyone’s fitness program!

The plank

Modified plank

Starting Position:  Lie face down on a mat with your elbows right underneath your shoulders.

Action: Bring your hips off the mat and hold yourself up either at your elbows and toes (regular plank) or at your knees and your toes (modified plank).

Be sure to: Pull your abdominal muscles up toward your spine.

Add it into your routine this way: Pull up into the plank and hold for about 20 seconds.  Release and repeat.  Work up to longer hold times.

So, let’s review……….

-Stand taller

-Shoulder blades down and back on the ribs

-Throw a few posture-specific exercises into your regular workout

………….you’ll look and feel younger within weeks!

Committed to your success,

Becky

Tweet This Post

I recently visited El Dorado Hills, California, where one of my colleagues teaches a “boomer” fitness class. I thought it would be fun to drop in on his class and see how he keeps the boomer population in shape in his neck of the woods.

With his permission, I got some video clips of Val’s boomers in action. Wow, what a workout! He’s got all the elements we boomers need in a workout: strength, cardiovascular endurance, balance, core stability, and one element that really deserves a blog post and video of it’s own: POWER. (Power is the rate at which you perform a movement. I’ll go into detail on power and why we boomers need to address power in our workouts in a future post, as it really deserves a post and video explanation of its own!)

Take a sneak peak at this lively group in action. There are lots of take-aways for you in this video. If you see some exercises in it you’re not doing—-add them into your workout! I interview Val briefly after my sneak peak of his class, and he lays out exactly what baby boomers should incorporate into their workouts, so make sure to watch the end of the video.

?

Oh, and a little P.S. : Although Val bills this class as a “boomer” workout, one of the participants let me know after class that she’s in her 80’s! She kept up with the “younger” crowd with no problem. I want to be like her when I grow up!

Thanks to the Boomers at the Four Seasons Community in El Dorado Hills, California for allowing me to be a “fly on the wall” at their class.

Make it a great day!

Becky

Tweet This Post

Impact! Yes. IMPACT. Now, please understand I’m not suggesting that every baby boomer woman run outside right now and jump off her back porch or run for an hour straight.

However, every woman who wishes to remain healthy and maintain her bone mass as she ages needs to consider whether her current exercise program is placing enough demand on her bones. You boomer gals who are avid swimmers, walkers or “spinning” enthusiasts–take note!

At this point in our lives, our bodies aren’t making any more bone. We “banked” it in our youth, up until we were about 30 years old. It’s imperative that we KEEP what we currently have. We can do this by making sure we get enough calcium** and by doing weight bearing cardiovascular exercise and full body strength training.

Back when I was in graduate school, we were taught that walking produced enough of a “stress” on the bones, but recent research has shown this is not the case. Cardiovascular activities that provide a little impact (not necessarily throughout the whole workout) are proving to be the best choices for helping women maintain bone mass. Weight training, especially exercises that target the back and hips, has also been shown to help maintain bone mass in women.

Again, it’s not necessary for your whole cardio workout to be impactful. Studies show that just a few jumps or hops here and there can make a big difference over time. As with any significant change in your workout program, you should always check with your primary health care provider to see if adding a little impact to your exercise program is safe for your particular situation.

For my female baby boomer customers here in San Jose, I include in their workouts strength exercises for the hips and back (like dead lifts and squats) and I add just a little impact to their cardio routines. For instance, I suggest they simply jump rope, do jumping jacks or jump up on a porch step a few times after their cardio workout. We start with 5 jumps and work up from there (over time) to about 10 or 15 jumps 3 times per week.

One need only look at an elderly osteoporotic woman to see the devastating effects of severe bone loss. We can’t control the hormonal changes that happen to us over time, but we can control the amount of impact our bones get and the type of bone building nutrients we put in our bodies.

Are YOU getting a little impact in your workout?

Leave me a comment here and share how you challenge your bones each week.

Let’s learn from each other!

Yours in health,

Becky

**Nutrition experts recommend 1,000 mg. of calcium a day for pre-menopausal women, and 1,200 mg. a day for post -menopausal women. Check with your primary health care provider to find out the ideal amount of calcium intake for your situation.

Tweet This Post

In my last post I talked about how finding the “why” is important in maintaining your motivation in a fitness program. Today I’ll address another theme that I believe is extremely important with regard to weight loss results for boomer women–especially if your ultimate result will take a long time.

Maintaining FOCUS is paramount if you wish to maintain your motivation and reach your goals. Focus involves having a clear picture of what it is you want. Being focused means being able to minimize distractions that take your mind or body away from goal oriented behaviors. Think for a moment about someone you know that you would describe as “unfocused” or “distracted”. Does this person get a lot accomplished? Probably not.

We baby boomer women are often classic multi-taskers (yours truly is guilty as charged!!). We juggle a lot of balls between work, family, volunteering, and other responsibilities. Maintaining focus, especially on ourselves, can be really hard. I think this is one reason that some baby boomer women struggle with their weight–they just don’t stay focused long enough.

Successful weight loss requires that we maintain some sort of focus on our goals. Here are some tips to help you maintain your focus on weight loss or other fitness goals:

-Put it on paper. What do you want to achieve? Write the specifics down. Post them where you’ll see them.
-Put it in pictures. What will you look like when you reach your goal? Find photos or other images that reflect what you will look like. Post them where you’ll see them.
-Put it in your mind. Visualize how you’ll look and feel when you reach your goals. Make a written list of those feelings and emotions.
-Take daily action. Keep a little notebook and write down at least ONE thing each day that you’ve done toward reaching your goal. Even little things matter. Doing something goal-oriented every day keeps “your mind on the prize”.

Some of us are better at maintaining focus than others. But even those of us who are easily distracted can learn to focus better. Try these tips and I guarantee your focus will improve— and you’ll enjoy successful weight loss and better fitness!

Becky

Tweet This Post