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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #45134 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-30
• Released on: 2006-09-30
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

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.

Customer Reviews

Must reading for over-40's!
A very thorough how-to book to a more fit and healthier life. It starts with testing your status in 5 areas. Then, it prescribes specific exercises to do to improve the areas that are poor. It was written by 2 highly-praised physical therapists for the general population.

Need a Tune-Up?
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!

great book
The book is well organized and gives adequate descriptions and pictures of the exercises. It allows one to develop an exercise routine according to specific needs. There are also cautions to not use some exercises if certain conditions exist such as low back pain. I found it to be a great addition to physical therapy.