Younger Next Year, Part II: A Second Glance

 

Younger Next Year, Part II:  A Second Glance

 

If you and I are both lucky, you glanced through my first review of Younger Next Year.  Possibly, you found some good information, but decided to wait a bit, or got distracted by that cold beer in the frig.

Younger Next Year, Part I

 

Maybe you just need some more details.  After all, a new you is not just about exercise, but about being healthy and happy. You are in luck! As usual, I do everything I possibly can for my three faithful readers.

 

First two rules: 1. Get a physical checkup before you start.

                               2.  Unless you’re used to exercising, start slowly.

 

Let’s lean a little heavier into the science of exercise.  In a nutshell:  Your body decays everyday.  The book lays out specifically what forms decay.  For now I’ll stick to what fits under the nutshell.

 

According to Dr. Lodge, growing old and weak is not normal.  Cells in your body die every single day.  Natural chemicals clean up the mess and also, if you exercise, the same chemicals call on other body chemicals to come behind and repair things.  But, without exercise, there is no call for repair.  This is such a brief description that I’m almost ashamed to write it.  Younger Next Yearexplains the process in more precise detail.

 

But, your exercise program builds up your cells, your muscles. In other words, it repairs the body. 

 

Let’s step back a moment and quickly discard two normal approaches:  #1 – I’ll try it for a while and see how I like it.  #2 – I’m too busy.

 

#1 is a no win.  Start slowly, but commit to exercise for the rest of your life.  Chris Crowley relates the story of a middle age guy, a hundred pounds over weight, who could only walk a hundred yards. But he DID walk a hundred yards and did it everyday, losing weight and building up to a five mile walk!

 

#2 is a whimp-out.  At the age of 50 or older, surely you can arrange your day to get 45 minutes of heart pumping exercise.  We’re all blessed with the same 24 hours each day.

 

The authors use the analogy of tearing down an old house and building a new one.  As a house sits, it decays.  You bring in a wrecking crew to tear it down.  Then you bring in the construction crew to build your new house.  A sedentary person never brings in the construction crew.

 

Dr. Lodge explains the science. “With the chronic stress of modern life, the chemistry of inflammation persists, but the renovation never gets started.  Decay becomes a career path for your body, and your blood itself becomes an inflammatory caustic stew.”

 

Here’s the good news:  “You can control the cycle.  Commuting, loneliness, apathy, too much alcohol and TV all trigger the inflammatory part of the cycle (the decay).  But, daily exercise, joy, play, engagement, challenge and closeness all trigger the crucial repair.”

 

Don’t know about you and my faithful readers, but I love knowing I can control the situation.

 

Cynics may sneeringly ask, “So, what the hell do you do?”  I ignore their cynicism.  Been bike riding for about a year and my body keeps pushing me to pedal faster.  I belong to the local YMCA and swam until the cold weather hit. Now that warmer weather is just around the corner, I’ll be at it again.  Haven’t jogged in years, so I followed what the exercise magazines tell you to do. I’ve start off with a short run and short recovery walk, run and walk, run and walk, for about an hour.  If you’re lucky enough to live by a beach, it’s easy.  For me, this has turned out to be a blast!  Younger Next Year explains a host of exercises that will do the job.  Just pick one or two or three you like.

 

Don’t forget hitting the weights and those push-ups and pull-ups.  Both are easy ways to work the upper body, build strength, and call in that construction crew.

 

Yes, the book also gives interesting perspectives on nutrition and how it affects your blood, your heart, and the rest of your body.  It also convers answers to a host of questions:  Is a heart attack really a heart attack, or is what we call a heart attack really something else?  And, how are “heart attacks” and strokes similar?  Best of all:  How exercise and nutrition help you avoid both! 

 

Younger Next Year packs in humor, science, and loads of encouragement.  NOW, grab a copy of Younger Next Year, get motivated, and start building a NEW YOU!

 

News about one of the authors, Chris Crowley, who was 70 years old when the book was published.  He is now 86 and still skiing the double black slopes!

 

 

Younger Next Year: A guide to living like 50 until you’re 80 and beyond

 

Younger Next Year: A guide to living like 50 until you’re 80 and beyond

 

The books are separated by sex into two volumes, which I call: Studly Once More, and Back in a Bikini.

 

Here’s the premise, shamelessly plagiarized from the book jacket: Younger Next Year is about how men (and women) can turn back their biological clocks.  How they can become functionally younger every year for years to come, and continue to live with vitality and grace into their eighties and beyond.  How they can avoid 70 percent of the decay and eliminate 50 percent of the injuries and illnesses associated with getting older.

 

Sadly, it does not cover how to down beer faster than a teenager at a keg party.  Nor will young men swoon over your luscious bod.  Well, maybe they will after the keg party.

 

The authors are Chris Crowley, a normal guy (70 years old) following the precepts and concepts of the book, and Henry S. Lodge, M.D., a board certified internist whose name you’ll find on many surveys of best doctors in New York, America, and the world.

 

Chris’ journey begins with a trip to Dr. Lodge for a routine checkup.  He’s in fairly good shape, but a little overweight.  Dr. Lodge is pleased, generally speaking.  Doctors are never completely pleased and usually for good reasons.  My father once asked and answered a rhetorical question:  Why the hell am I going for a checkup?  The doc’s just going to tell me to lose weight and get more exercise!  Yes, he was pissed at the doctor!

 

Dr. Lodge avoided the usual and approached Chris in a positive way.  …basically, can be as athletic, vigorous, and alert as you were at fifty until you’re eighty or older.

 

Yeah, but HOW?

 

The doc continued:  Hard to summarize, but there are three things: Exercise. Nutrition. Commitment.

 

Doc, I need some details!

 

Do hard exercisse six days a week, and on two of those days also do strength training.  A closer look at “hard exercise” doesn’t mean an unmanageable Olympic effort, but it does mean swimming, biking, or numerous other ways that get your heart rate up.  And it also means the dedication to do it six days a week.

 

There’s another interesting concept at play. With two authors coming at it from both doctor and patient directions, Younger Next Year promotes positive, interesting and understandable perceptions.   Doctor Lodge covers the physiological and anatomical details of resetting your “age clock,” while Chris (who lost 40 pounds, by the way) walks you through the “regular guy” reality of resetting your life and having fun doing it.

 

Two words give you the concept:  Stay Active!  But those two words are so broad that without getting the full explanation, motivation, and coaching that Younger Next Year gives, they float around loosely in a cloud, leaving you to settle back, have another beer and promise yourself you’ll think about it, as soon as you have nothing better to do. 

 

How to break the inertia and stay motivated?  Pick out exercise(s) you enjoy and look forward to.  Take the slow approach. Listen to your body and let it tell you when you’re ready to pick up the pace. Keep going!  It’s going to get better!

 

What Younger Next Year really tells you is YOU CAN DO IT and what it gives you is a doable plan.

 

In short order, you’ll notice how proper diet and exercise leaves you with more pep and a brighter outlook, improves creativity, and makes you more aware of life’s possibilities?  Ready for that?  Well, buy Younger Next Year before you order anything else from Amazon.

 

It’ill pump up your motivation, and I’m telling you, you’ll feel younger next year.