[Muffie's Mom]

Excuses, Excuses, No More Excuses!

The wise woman is capable of doing anything she wants, but doesn't feel she has to prove it. There may never be a reason to move your own furniture, change a tire, or mow the lawn, but it sure would be nice to know that you could if you had to!

And what about the high likelihood of having to carry your own groceries, or the certainty of having to get up from a chair.

Imagine your future. The fastest-growing age group in the United States is sixty-five and older. The biggest fear among that age group is not being able to maintain the lifestyle they are used to. If you don’t take care of yourself now, the option of being independent and able to do simple tasks may not be there later.

Ask anyone who’s become dependent on others. She feels like a terrible burden. Hopefully you and I will never be in that situation.

Regular exercise can improve or maintain your health and capabilities.

It’s a key factor in growing old gracefully. Now is the time to put yourself first. It’s your responsibility to your family and friends to take care of yourself.

So often, I’ll be at the grocery store, doing errands, or out to dinner and I’ll run into someone who confesses to me that she hasn't been exercising.

The fact that I instill guilt doesn't thrill me, but it has exposed me to a whole range of excuses people use. Maybe one or two of these will sound familiar to you.

I'm too old.

I have to get into shape first.

I have no energy for exercise.

I'm too fat; I need to lose weight first.

I don't want to get bulky muscles like a bodybuilder.

If I stop exercising, my muscles will turn to flab.

I'm menopausal, (or prenatal, pregnant, postpartum,)

My doctor told me not to exercise.

My doctor said I may need to have surgery soon.

I'm just too busy.

If one or more of these sound familiar, hopefully you’ll see the light.

There are no excuses.

Too old? Not in good enough shape? No energy?

You can increase your muscle mass and strength at any age and any time. If you don't use a muscle, it atrophies: It degenerates and becomes weaker.

Remember the admonition "Use it or lose it?" Well, it's true.

Muscle growth, or hypertrophy, is the only way to raise your metabolism, which transforms your body into a more efficient machine. You utilize more calories with every movement. You have more energy to burn when you’re fit.

If you don’t exercise, you lose muscles, your bones become less dense, and your metabolism drops. Then you become sluggish and the pounds slowly but surely pile on over the years.

It has nothing to do with age, only with lack of exercise.

Exercise physiologist Daniel Rooks, a researcher at Beth Israel Hospital and an instructor in medicine in the Division on Aging at Harvard Medical School, conducted a study on fourteen women, aged 60 to 77. They participated in three one-hour strength-training sessions per week for sixteen weeks. They did lower- and upper-body exercises on machines. They used no cardio-vascular equipment. At the end of the four months, the women's isotonic strength (which is needed to lift groceries, for instance) increased an average of 52 percent, and their isometric strength (needed to do things like get up from a chair) rose by 31 percent. In addition, their walking speed increased by 18 percent.

About these finding, Dr. Rooks said, "They show that proper conditioning translates into an improved ability to perform daily activities that are critical to maintaining independence."

Too fat? Want to drop those pounds first?

Exercise helps you lose weight. Sure, you may feel the need to lose a few pounds first, but you may be defeating the purpose if you don’t combine exercise with dieting. Dieting alone results in a loss of half muscle--half fat.

When diet is combined with exercise, you decrease your percentage of body fat while maintaining, or increasing, your muscle mass which results in major proportional changes. Instead of ending up as a thinner version of what you were, you could reshape your figure as you slim down. You may as well do both at the same time.

Afraid of bulk or flab?

Women’s genetic makeup generally keeps us from getting bulky. Believe it or not, it takes a lot of hard work to look like a bodybuilder! In the unlikely case that you wake up one morning with big, bulky muscles, you’ll find that if you just stop the program you've been doing, they'll disappear very quickly.

Flab is synonymous with fat. Muscle and fat are two completely separate things; therefore, muscle cannot turn into flab. When you stop exercising, your muscles atrophy, so you have relatively more fat. That’s the flabby part.

Menopausal? Pregnant? Postpartum?

Because we go through so many changes during menopause, e.g., hot flashes, irregular periods, and emotional ups and downs, regular exercise may be the only consistent part of our lives. With a life expectancy of about eighty years old, we could expect to live almost forty percent of our lives after menopause.

Two of the major risks associated with menopause are osteoporosis, a rapid, painless loss of bone mass, and cardiovascular disease, which includes heart attacks and strokes.

The UC Berkeley Wellness Letter reports: "The more bone you build early in life, the better you will be able to withstand bone loss later. But even if you've waited until your forties, fifties, or sixties, there's still plenty of reason to follow this preventive program:

1) Make weight-bearing exercise part of your daily life,

2) consume enough calcium,

3) if you smoke, stop,

4) if you drink, drink only lightly or moderately, and

5) consider hormone replacement therapy."

The TONE-UP system includes weight-bearing exercises which strengthen your muscles, bones, and heart.

TONE-UP is safe for women who plan to get pregnant, are pregnant, and those who never intend to get pregnant. Of course, before beginning an exercise program, it’s wise to get your doctor's okay.

Your Doctor said not to exercise?

Unless you have a very specific injury, ailment, or disease, perhaps you should start interviewing new doctors.

Granted, some forms of exercise may be hazardous to your health, like deep sea diving, hang-gliding, football, and motor-cross racing, but TONE-UP is a very safe and grounded form of exercise. The risk factors are quite low, and if you need to check with your physician first, show him or her this book before you begin.

Planned surgery?

Of course it depends on what type of surgery you’re having, but exercising pre-surgery can only help with your post-operative recuperation. When you are in good condition, your lungs can clear quicker, your muscles and bones heal quicker, and your overall strength is better.

Lack of time?

We all have the same amount of time, but we don't always prioritize its use well.

There are 8,760 hours in a year, but knowing how difficult it is to find a few for yourself, I’ve come up with some ideas:

Tell your staff you have an important meeting.

Order a take-out dinner.

Cut out an hour of television a day.

Let your machine answer your phone.

Have the kids clean their own rooms.

Work only the hours you are paid for.

And, finally, my personal favorite:

Get up one hour earlier. There are plenty of advantages to that. The phone isn't ringing, everyone’s asleep, and there are no interruptions. It could even become your favorite time of the day!

Your mind is a powerful thing. Use it positively and develop self discipline.

Make your workout time a priority and don't let anyone or anything get in the way.