Perhaps it’s the colder Fall weather, but I’ve been hearing a lot lately about “achey” knees.  We boomer gals can have sore knees for a variety of reasons.  Unfortunately, sore knees can sometimes affect our ability to exercise, or make us feel that we’re limited in what we can do for exercise. Not a good situation for those of us trying to manage our weight! Strangely enough, though, exercise is sometimes just what we need to improve the comfort level of our joints! There are a lot of situations that can cause knee pain, so it’s always best to see a doctor to check your particular situation.

I put a short video together to show you my top 4 exercises for strengthening the thighs and the hips.  I incorporate a number of these exercises into my personal training programs and my boot camp for boomers in San Jose. Strong thigh and hip muscles can help support arthritic knees by better stabilizing the joint.  Many of us boomer gals tend to be weak in our deep hip muscles, so one of the exercises targets just that area.

So, if you suffer from “boomeritis” of the knees, check with your doctor first to see if these exercises are safe for you, and then give them a try!

Click here to see the video:  Knee strengthening exercises for boomers

Committed to your success,

Becky

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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.

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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

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If you’re in the San Jose, CA area, please make sure to check out the press release below that announces my newest camp for “boomer” ladies:

Baby Boomers. They’re not planning to “get old” without a fight. But how does a Baby Boomer battle a slowing metabolism and an expanding waistline? Not through long, moderate cardio workouts and extremely low calorie diets according to local fitness expert, Becky Williamson.

“Women from the Boomer era have grown up with the idea that hours of moderate intensity cardiovascular exercise and eating as little as possible is the way to stay trim. I think we actually screwed up our metabolisms by following that advice” says Williamson, an Exercise Physiologist and Baby Boomer herself. “Women have sacrificed a lot of calorie-burning muscle by chronic low-calorie dieting and staying away from strength training due to the fear of “bulking up”.

Frustrated with seeing so many over-forty women do all the wrong things in order to get slim, Williamson has created a fitness camp for women over 40 to train them to do exercises that will boost their metabolism. “Muscle IS your metabolism”, Williamson explains. I’ve created a format that pairs strength training exercises done in rapid succession with short bouts of cardiovascular exercise. One of the best things about this format is that I can give women a strength AND cardiovascular workout in about 40 minutes. That’s a lot better than an hour and a half at the gym! “

Recent studies have shown that bursts of higher intensity exercise followed by brief recovery exercise may indeed be more advantageous for body fat loss than longer, more moderate intensity exercise. Short bouts of higher intensity exercise isn’t for everybody, but Williamson believes that with proper form and by building up fitness slowly, just about anybody can benefit from this type of training.

Women over 40 in the Bay Area will get their first chance to experience Williamson’s unique program this November in Willow Glen. The “Fit and Fabulous Fit Camp for Women” will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays in November from 6:30-7:15 am November 4th through November 20th at St. Francis Episcopal church located at 1205 Pine Ave. Tuition for the 6 class camp is $90 and includes handouts on nutrition and weekly email support from Williamson.

Those interested in learning more about the program can log on to www.lifesportfitness.net/FitFab/index.html for more information.
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Okay, there you go ladies! If you’re in my neck of the woods, I’ve got a special class coming up in November just for YOU!

Committed to your success,

Becky

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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

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