Age Defying Fitness: Making the Most of Your Body for the Rest of Your Life [Paperback]

Marilyn Moffat (Author), Carole B. Lewis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 30, 2006

THERE IS NO DOUBT that our bodies change with age, as the baby boomer generation is now learning firsthand. But many of the problems attributed to inevitable age-related changes are in fact not inevitable and are often lifestyle induced and reversible.

In this new book, Moffat and Lewis show how to overcome the aches, stiffness, and unsteadiness in your muscles and joints. Using their simple, self-administered tests, you will assess your level of physical performance in these five critical domains: posture, balance, strength, flexibility, and endurance. The authors help you develop a personal profile, according to the results of these tests. Easy-to-follow strengthening and stretching exercises, based on the latest clinical research, are included along with a Thera-Band ® resistive exercise band for use in some exercises.

More than a simple how-to book, Age-Defying Fitness encourages you to take responsibility for your physical well-being, and offers an easy everyday approach to achieving better health.

Editorial Reviews

Review

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. --Kirkus

Clinical 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

About the Author

MARILYN MOFFAT, PhD, PT, an internationally recognized leader in the field of physical therapy, is professor of physical therapy at New York University. In 1997, she completed a six-year term as the president of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA). She is currently on the executive committee of the World Federation for Physical Therapy. She has also been in private practice for almost forty years. CAROL B. LEWIS, PhD, PT, is founder and owner of a large physical therapy practice in Washington, DC. She currently serves on the medical faculty of George Washington University as a full adjunct professor in the Department of Geriatrics. Lewis has published numerous textbooks and articles in the field of aging. She has a PhD from the University of Maryland and two masters degrees from the University of Southern California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Peachtree Publishers; 1st edition (September 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561453331
• ISBN-13: 978-1561453337
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #98,387 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #6 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Aging > Exercise

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

149 of 149 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Need a Tune-Up?, January 15, 2008

By 

Patricia - See all my reviews

This review is from: Age Defying Fitness: Making the Most of Your Body for the Rest of Your Life (Paperback)

Just a great little book written by two physical therapists. The idea the book is based upon is that the antidote to aging is activity. So what kind of activity do you need?

To answer this question, the book begins by having you evaluate your physical performance so you can identify those areas that you need the most work in. Thus, you complete five tests that assess your posture, strength, balance, flexibility, and endurance- or what the book calls "the five domains."

After finishing these tests, you should have a pretty good idea of what areas you need the most work on. From there, you just go to the posture chapter or the balance chapter, or the strength chapter and so on- whatever chapters you need the most.

Each chapter contains additional "tests" for the reader to do to further hone in on problem areas. These are kinda neat and very easy for just about anybody to do. After these specific tests, easy-to-do exercises are provided. For instance, the posture chapter contains a lot of stretching exercises. the strengthening exercises use a theraband which comes with the book, the balance exercises (there are eight) are simple i.e. stand on one leg, flexibility exercises which cover your neck area down to your legs, and endurance exercises such as walking, jumping rope or cycling.

The book ends with a brief chapter called "Putting It All Together" which ties up loose ends such as coping with soreness and staying consitent with exercise.

All-in-all its a neat book with a wealth of evidence-based information and simple exercises you can do with little or no equipment. Other books I liked in the body repair genre include Treat Your Own Rotator Cuff if you have a shoulder problem or rotator cuff tear that keeps you from exercising. Good luck with the tune-up!

56 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Safe Exercises for Getting Fit, January 20, 2007

By 

Mady Goldstein (New York, New York USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Age Defying Fitness: Making the Most of Your Body for the Rest of Your Life (Paperback)

As an exercise trainer myself, I was delighted to see a book on exercise by physical therapists, the real exercise specialists. Because they have the medical background to safely prescribe exercises which respect our aging joints, I highly recommend this book to those over 50 and those under 50 who want to embark on an exercise routine. It is well written, clear, concise and easily understandable and useable. Given that it is so necessary for all of us to work on maintaining good posture and balance, this book maps out exercises with precise instructions and photos to specifically focus on these areas. It provides an excellent explanation of the aging process and the changes that occur within our bodies, and then prescribes exercises to counteract and work with these changes. The exercises will help those who want to gain strength and endurance, increase flexibility, and improve balance. My personal recommendation (after you have read the book) is to suggest hiring a physical therapist to come to your home to help you fine tune your program, see that you are doing the exercises correctly, and to offer a few alternatives as well.

Mady Goldstein, M.S.W., NYC

41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book to keep your body going, March 9, 2007

By 

Dennis Eichenlaub "Life time learner" (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Age Defying Fitness: Making the Most of Your Body for the Rest of Your Life (Paperback)

Three times in the last several years, I have had physical problems bad enough to require a PT (physical therapist). Each time, the PT helped me get back to health. Two of these times, the PT allowed me to avoid surgery. I came away with great respect for the philosophies, skills, and knowledge that PTs have.

Now I find that, while I don't have any major physical problems, I need something to keep my body at its best. There are many books about staying fit past 50. I wanted one written by a PT. I could find two, this one and another book Marilyn Moffat wrote with Steve Vickery. This is by far the better book.

This book breaks fitness down into 5 categories: Posture, Strength, Balance, Flexibility, and Endurance. For each category, the book offers a series of simple self-evaluations. Then the book offers several exercises for each of these five categories. What makes this book particularly helpful is that exercises are targeted according to the results of the self-evaluations. I was able to find those areas where I need the most help, then target the exercises that help me the most.