Strength Training Over 50: Stay Fit and Fabulous [Spiral-bound]

D. Cristine Caivano (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2, 2005

Strength Training Over Fifty focuses on the health needs of more senior men and women. Men and women lose as much as 20-40% of their muscle mass, beginning in their 30's. This muscle loss, often thought of as an irreversible part of aging, is really the result of disuse. Strength-building enables you to regain this lost muscle. It is the key to feeling and looking great after 50. With over 80 explicitly described exercises and 350 color photographs, this user-friendly book will teach you what you need to know to get started, get strong, and stay motivated.

• Get started with reassuring advice if you are just returning to training.
• Stand straighter (and have a trim waist) by strengthening your core.
• Improve functional strength, making all the actions of daily life easier.
• Learn which muscles can be strengthened to alleviate specific problems such as back pain or achy knees.
• Improve your balance.
• Exercise safely, even with arthritis, osteoporosis, or if you are over 65 years old.
• Learn about nutrition, motivation, and how to design your own work-out.
• Follow extended exercise programs, including sessions for exercise on the road, a 15-minute work-out, and one to protect and strengthen your lower back.

From the foreword by Michael George, fitness expert and trainer to Richard Dreyfus, Meg Ryan, Julianne Moore, and James Spader:

"This fun and challenging book will help the older trainer rediscover" his or her body, beginning with the basics: posture, breathing, and motivation...Start training with this book and you'll never look back-I promise you."

About The Author:
D. Cristine Caivano (MA Columbia University) is an exercise/movement therapist in private practice in NYC. A former dancer and teacher, her work now focuses exclusively on the needs of the over-50-year old exerciser.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A rapidly growing senior population needs quality information on how to stay healthy and fit longer. Caivano provides just the thing, combining her broad knowledge of dance and movement therapy training in this exceptional strength-training guide for men and women over 50. ...This sensible and motivating gem of a book is highly recommended for all public and academic libraries." --Library Journal (added by author)

From the Back Cover

Strength Training Over 50
STAY STRONG, STAY HEALTHY-
THE ULTIMATE FITNESS PROGRAM

Includes Foreword by Michael George
With over 80 exercises and more than 350 color photographs, this book provides a comprehensive guide to looking after your body and feeling good.
Follow extended exercise programs, including sessions for exercise on the road, a 15-minute workout, exercising the abdominals, and back care
Learn how to begin a fitness routine with reassuring advice if you are returning to training
Supplement your training routine with advice on nutrition and positive thinking, guidance on planning your workout, and motivational tips
Practice a variety of exercises for general health and special concerns, such as osteoporosis, balance, arthritis, and the over-65s
Enjoy specially adapted exercises if you are an

older participant, including chair exercises and exercises against a wall.

Product Details

• Spiral-bound: 160 pages
• Publisher: Barron's Educational Series (May 2, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764158120
• ISBN-13: 978-0764158124
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #118,231 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Cris Caivano lives in NYC where she spends her time teaching people how to become motivated, indeed even enthusiastic about exercising. Originally a modern dancer, Cris taught jazz dance to beginning, adult dancers at Purchase College in the 80's. Working with these wonderful, untrained and very self-conscious students shaped the philosophy of all her future writing and teaching: that is, that it's never too late to learn to move with more freedom, efficiency, and enjoyment, once you understand how. As one of Cris's all time favorite students, philosopher and professor Dr. Maxine Greene,puts it: "I had thought that old age was a dead-end. What Cris has shown me is that it is a continuing path."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

84 of 85 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fitness for Boomers, May 24, 2006

By 

Jane Austen "Barb" "schriftstellerin" (Montreal, Quebec, CANADA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Strength Training Over 50: Stay Fit and Fabulous (Spiral-bound)

As a 52-year-old who has always shunned weight training for fear of injury, I think this book is terrific, for three main reasons:
1) The authors realize that many older exercisers are very out of shape and/or recovering from past and present injuries, and their exercises are shown in several variations, from very easy to moderately difficult;
2) There is a lot of emphasis on core body strength and proper form, which not only helps you do the exercises safely but also improves your posture (which I think is one of the best ways to look younger (have you ever noticed how you can tell someone's age without seeing their face, just by observing how they stand, walk and sit?)
3) It's hardcover, but with a spiral spine, so you can lay the book open flat on the floor next to you as you do the exercises (why aren't all fitness books made like this?)
Even people in their 70's, 80's and beyond can benefit from this book.

65 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Very disappointing, June 9, 2007

By 

Photoguy (United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Strength Training Over 50: Stay Fit and Fabulous (Spiral-bound)

I am 73, and as a person who has worked out all his life, I would not characterize this book as a work on strength training. It barely qualifies, at a very basic level, as a fitness manual. Also I think that some of the exercises outlined are ill advised for someone who is elderly and frail.

If you have ever worked out in the past, are over 50 and want to get back in shape, this isn't the book for you. You already know much more than you will find here. I returned this book.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Strength Training Over 50: Stay Fit and Fabulous, July 15, 2007

By 

S. Fagan (Marblehead, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Strength Training Over 50: Stay Fit and Fabulous (Spiral-bound)

Staying Fit and Fabulous is certainly a challenge over 50 and this book is an amazing tool for success. It shouldn't even be evaluated with the perky-chatty books it shares the shelves with. The book is quite well thought out from the medical illustrations which help me focus and visualize, to the spiral spine of the book inself which lays flat as I coordinate my excercise routines. I find myself using it to help "cure" my aches and pains from simple daily chores and have finally found how to relieve that backache at the end of the day. I am amazed how dramatically my posture, energy and stamina have improved. I have been singing the praises of this handbook since the day I found it.