Age Defying Fitness: Making the Most of Your Body for the Rest of Your Life
If you are an aging baby-boomer, chances are good you will fail this book's quick quiz assessing your overall physical health. Read on and you may soon earn a passing grade.Clinical physical therapists Moffat and Lewis pose to the reader eight simple questions-among them: Do you slouch, are stairs a strain, is it difficult to look over your shoulder while backing up your car, do you get stiff sitting through a movie, can you easily stand on one leg while putting on your shoe? These are all age-related physical changes that find their solutions in activity. You've got to move, but you also need the right regimen. Moffat and Lewis allow you to personalize an exercise program that addresses posture, strength, balance, flexibility and endurance. In each category, they explain what is causing the changes and the deterioration (or lack thereof, should you be so lucky), and they design a program from individual exercises to complete routines, offering constant tips for motivation. The assessment routines are actually enjoyable, and a crisp reminder of things you once did naturally, and can do again.A comprehensive, accessible, individualized program to counter the aging process. --KirkusClinical physical therapists Moffat (NYU) and Lewis (geriatrics, George Washington Univ.; founder & president, Premier Physical Therapy) provide excellent, easy-to-understand guidance for baby boomers looking to assess their level of physical fitness in five domains: posture, strength, flexibility, balance, and endurance. Chapter 1 sets the scene, explaining changes that take place as our bodies age. Simple tests, well illustrated with clear black-and-white drawings and photographs, enable readers to assess their capabilities and lead to a personal profile for physical fitness in each of the five domains. Many of the strengthening and stretching exercises use the Thera-Band resistive band; others use only wrist or ankle weights and a sturdy chair. The benefits of each exercise are listed, while charts and work sheets allow readers to track their progress. A great resource for determining one s fitness level and custom-tailoring a program: highly recommended for public libraries, though selectors should note that a bound-in insert contains the Thera-Band . --Library Journal