The RealAge(R) Workout: Maximum Health, Minimum Work [Hardcover]

Michael F. Roizen (Author), Tracy Hafen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 11, 2006

Dr. Michael F. Roizen has empowered thousands of Americans to take control of their own destinies. How? His best-selling books, RealAge^®, The RealAge^® Makeover, and YOU: The Owner's Manual, have helped people reverse their chronological aging by ten, fifteen, and up to twenty-nine years by revealing simple lifestyle changes that have profound effects that control their genes -- and thus control their health and the aging process.

Chances are you picked up this book because you, too, want to be healthier and younger. The RealAge^® Workout explains the importance of gradually phasing exercise into your everyday routine, because even the smallest changes in behavior can make you feel, look, and be younger. No matter how busy your schedule, Dr. Michael Roizen will show you how to gain the maximum age-reduction benefits from a minimum amount of time and effort.

Before you take your first step, The RealAge^® Workout offers a series of calculations that factor in age, genetics, and lifestyle so you can determine your overall status of health and create a program to help you plan and execute your goals. The RealAge^® Workout then begins with a simple, yet life-changing premise -- just by walking 30 minutes a day, every day, you can roll back the years, significantly improve the status of your overall health, and have more energy to work and do the things you love.

After you've adjusted to this change in your lifestyle, The RealAge^® Workout will guide you through a series of training phases during which you will steadily develop your foundation muscles and eventually add a stamina-building program to help you maintain improved health. You will learn how to lift weights safely and effectively through step-by-step instructions with photographs and easy-to-understand explanations. Additionally, there are charts that help you determine the RealAge effect -- the number of biological years younger you become with each change you make.

Along the way, The RealAge^® Workout dis-cusses common myths, addresses frequently asked questions pertaining to age and lifestyle choices, and offers tips to actually enjoy, yes, even love, exercise. So get ready to achieve optimal health and be as young as you can be!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Michael F. Roizen, M.D., is cofounder of RealAge^™ and chair of the RealAge Scientific Advisory Board. He is past chairman of a Food and Drug Administration advisory committee and a former editor of six medical journals. His first book, RealAge: Are You as Young as You Can Be? became a New York Times #1 bestseller. He appears frequently on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America, The 700 Club, and Canada AM. He has hosted several PBS specials, and his own radio show is heard on twenty-seven satellite stations. He also writes a monthly column for Reader's Digest and he and Dr. Oz share a daily syndicated newspaper column. He is currently chief wellness officer and chair of the Wellness Institute at the Cleveland Clinic.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow (April 11, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060009373
• ISBN-13: 978-0060009373
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #737,475 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

We wrote YOU: The Owner's Manual to help everyone understand that 70 percent of how long and how well you live is in your hands. But we wanted to go one step further and move you from just knowing the rules to really understanding how your body works. And we realized that if we bottled the 'eureka moments' and irreverence that medical school teaches, you might really enjoy the artistry of the inner workings of your body (we included cartoons so guys would understand). But The Owner's Manual was limited: folks whose lives were already touching the health care system needed advice to best navigate that serpentine path. We realized that a 'Smart Patient' was essential to realizing the promise of 'The Owner's Manual'. Luckily for us, the Joint Commission, our nation's health care safety advocate, approached us to help with a BIG problem. Medical errors in hospitals cost us 98,000 lives per year, and the Joint Commission could not squash this crazily large number without making all patients allies in this fight.

Being a Smart Patient means you've passed a stringent exam (well, a fun but informative quiz, anyway), and you know things that the vast majority of other patients do not. We learned a lot from this process of writing, and share all we knew beforehand and learned:
' You'll know why you need to include your spouse in your health history, even though there's no blood relation.
' You'll know why you should always be one of your doctor's first appointments of the day.
' You'll know which hospital staffer you should always talk to before choosing a surgeon (hint: it's the anesthesiologist).
' And you'll know why you should never touch the TV remote control in your hospital room.

The book debuted at #2 on the NY Times list, so some must at least like the jokes, or the cartoons (we understand an insurance company doesn't care for the one on page 333), or the insights combined with an encyclopedic list of trustworthy resources.

It's a scary statistic, but it's true: you have a 2 in 5 chance of being affected by a major medical complication in your life. And even the best doctors using the most cutting-edge technology can't prevent it. Yet that's the unrealistic expectation. The unsettling reality is that health care has become so complex it is no longer possible for any one doctor or other health care provider in the system to manage the whole process unless they have a partner. And that person is YOU.

The following insider tips are just a taste of those we crammed into You: The Smart Patient. We hope that this book will inspire and empower YOU to get involved in your health care.

Just the Facts, Ma'am

The first sign of a Smart Patient is that telltale document they produce during their first visit, or even their 50th. It's their health profile. This is the sign of a patient who means business, one who will challenge us to be at our absolute best and who won't waste time and money on redundant and unnecessary efforts. To create the perfect health profile, circa early 21st century, find the sample form labeled Your Health Journal. These forms are also online at www.jcrinc.com and www.realage.com.

Have a Tattle Plan
Bring your spouse or advocate to your doctor's appointment when you're giving your health history; there are a lot of questions that only he or she can answer. But, please, before coming in to the office together, make sure you discuss which fibs you're going to tell. Why? Because when you tell us that you've been taking your cholesterol-lowering drugs with the discipline of a Marine, your spouse will shoot you'or us'an involuntary look that communicates something close to Are you kidding me? We never miss it. And sometimes your spouse is trying to give your fibs away: it's called love.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

142 of 143 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A winner; recommend without reservation, June 13, 2006

By 

Cal Dougherty (Madison, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The RealAge(R) Workout: Maximum Health, Minimum Work (Hardcover)

First some context: My wife and I have been reading, applying, and reviewing physical fitness books for about nine months now ("see All My Reviews"). We didn't plan to carry on so long but with appreciative feedback from friends and acquaintances we haven't been able to stop! As always, keep this in mind ... we aren't gunning for the Olympics or super-model status. We're just average, middle age people interested in life-long fitness for health and weight control reasons. Your goals may differ from ours.

The RealAge Workout is a new release and we rate it somewhat higher than another book we like, Harley Pasternak's Five Factor Fitness. In fact it's the first book to come along that we can rank as high as our long running favorite, Joe X by Avery Hunicutt. There's a lot of philosophical similarity to RealAge and Joe X, but the presentations are vastly different. RealAge is excellent for fitness beginners and those that are very "numbers-driven," while Joe X will be appreciated more by those with some fitness experience and may now struggle with boredom or burnout.

If by chance you are familiar with the popular health guru and author Andrew Weil, both RealAge and Joe X provide workouts that are consistent with Weil's Healthy Aging message.

If you click on "search inside" you'll see the RealAge workout is made up of four phases, each 30 days long.

Phase 1: Walk 30 minutes/day
Phase 2: Add 7-10 minutes of core strength training, every other day
Phase 3: Add 8-10 minutes of non-core strength training, every other day
Phase 4: Add 21 minutes of aerobic exercise 3 times/week

The book details modifications to the phases for people that are not beginners but is adamant that everyone start at phase 1 and progress in sequence.

The author prefers dumbbells over barbells or weight machines. Both free-weights and weight machines are presented in the exercise descriptions. The descriptions are good and a nice reference for whatever program you subscribe to.

The book details a comprehensive pre-test that is recommended before beginning phase 1.

In addition to detailed descriptions of strength exercises, warm-up/stretch exercises are also provided.

A significant difference between RealAge and Joe X is Joe X puts more focus on breathing technique to the point of synchronizing it to your exercise form. (It probably doesn't make a physiolgical difference but it does seem to help with the mental challenge of staying fit.)

A RealAge workout, if followed to the letter, will on average be somewhat longer than a Five Factor or Joe X workout. All are typically 5-day/week regimens.

Almost no question will be left unanswered. Instructions are detailed and complete. Though RealAge is actually a collaboration of authors, the presentation is consistent, clear, and concise. We liked the professional writing style but at times found the fixation on linking the workout to Dr. Roizen's numbers driven "real age" concept irritating. It smacks of being a marketing gimmick, though we have to admit it's a pretty effective one! Who doesn't want to be told their real age is actually younger than their chronological age?

We don't plan on changing our own routine as we are quite satisfied with results but The RealAge Workout is a great and safe way to get started on your physical fitness program.

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everyone wants to look & feel younger, September 10, 2006

By 

Colleen Bachna "CJB" (NE OHIO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The RealAge(R) Workout: Maximum Health, Minimum Work (Hardcover)

Beg, buy, or borrow this book & get started on the 4 phases over 120 days to take control of your destiny of aging: walking, strengthening foundation & non foundation muscles,then stamina. Dr. Roizen's books have been best sellers & this latest release should join the list. He explains it in a way that makes it very simple for everyone to incorporate the steps into their daily lives. It is based on walking, as he says, not everyone rows, swims, or bikes their way to work or up steps, etc., but everyone walks. Lots of charts, pictures, questions & answers pertaining to aging, etc. Even if you don't exercise, or like to exercise, read this book, begin the program, and see if you don't see results over time. Time can be rolled back, & you will have more energy. And who doesn't wish that?

68 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's a good workout!! :-), April 27, 2006

By 

Little Miss Cutey (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The RealAge(R) Workout: Maximum Health, Minimum Work (Hardcover)

I really like this book. Michael Roizen knows his stuff. The book is so informative and you know it's information that you can trust because of his reputation.
This is broken up into 6 chapters. The first chapter is The Real Age Promise and then chapters 2-5 are phases 1-4 (talks about strengthening and stamina etc) and chapter 6 is dedicated to Fitness FAQ's - Myth or Fact.
Throughout the book is the usually info about why we should all exercise, and then when it comes to the actuall exercises, there are plenty of pictures to demonstrate each routine and tips on how to perform them acurately.
This book is geared toward anyone interested in keeping themselves in tip top form and good health and anyone wanting to boost their fitness. You will be surprised at how soon your body responds to regular workouts and you also do surprisingly feel a little younger.