Review
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
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
Product Description
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.
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