Guide to Lifetime Exercise for Health, Fitness and Anti-Aging

WHO THIS IS FOR:

Ordinary people who are NOT obsessed with the size of their muscles or sports performance for its own sake, including competition mode. You are not a professional athlete, just remain in good health for as long as possible, carry out your daily activities to remain independent and live as long as possible while enjoying your body and its physical activity for as long as possible.

You may compete for fun, to challenge yourself or to better your performance, but it’s not your primary goal.

If you’re ambitious for your sports performance, whether paid or amateur – see your coach.

If you’re on anabolic steroids or even considering them, this is not for you.

Your primary goal is to live well for a long time.

 

DISCLAIMER:

All information herein is general advice, not personalized. Everybody is different. Everybody ages differently and at different rates. Check with your doctor before starting any new exercise program. This is especially true if you have any physical limitations, including old age. Elderly, obese, and disabled people should exercise, but may need more specialized and personalized training from someone with advanced qualifications who can professionally design a program specifically for you and your individual needs.

 

First Principle

Exercise for the rest of your life.

Precisely what you do and don’t do can and will change.

That’s fine. Time happens. Your interests and abilities will change.

Do what you enjoy, whether it’s walking or bicycling or even golf. 

If you hate an activity, you’ll soon quit. Then your arteries will hate you.

Go to bed every evening pleasant tired.

Not stressed out. Not injured. Not in pain.

Just fatigued so you fall asleep soon after going to bed.

 

Second Principle

There’s (literal) strength in diversity.

There’re lots of exercises, lots of sports, lots of ways to move your body – and you have a lot of muscles to move.

Every form of physical activity has advantages and limitations. No ONE activity alone can optimize your health.

What should you concentrate on? Doing what you can every day – for the rest of your life.

 

Not just Zone 2 cardio, but stretching. Not just tennis, but riding an exercise bicycle while watching movies. Not just lifting weights, but standing up about every half an hour.

 

Exercise is like a cafeteria plan. There’s a lot more options available than any one person can do. Picking and choosing what you enjoy is up to you, but do perform a variety of physical activities. 

Slow run for miles or sprint? Both.

Lift weights or perform calisthenics? Both.

Go to yoga or dance classe? Both.

Of course, in real life you’re limited by both time and opportunity.

Still, variety counts.

 

Third Principle

You’re never too old to improve your fitness through daily, consistent, diverse exercises and physical activities.

Living for good health often feels like swimming upstream. It takes all your effort not to go backward, let alone move forward. Time acts on us all relentlessly.

However, regular consistent exercise DOES improve your health and fitness. If you’re already past your peak youthfulness, you’ll probably never see that level of strength again.

But you CAN make sure you’re stronger next week than you are today. And yet stronger next year, and so on.

 

Remember: even if you “only” maintain your current level of fitness until you’re 80 or 90, that by itself is winning against the river of Time.

By the time he died at age 96, the original exercise guru Jack LaLanne still worked out two hours a day. I doubt he was quite as strong then as he was at age 30, or 50, or even 80 – but we should all be half so fit at age 96. (His death carries an important lesson, explained later.)

 

How can you start improving despite whatever age you currently are?

Because exercise is stressful – good stress.

Exercise is Good Stress

The concept of “stress” was invented by Dr. Hans Selye, and popularized in his book THE STRESS OF LIFE.

 

In one sense, everything that happens to us is “stress” because it demands our bodies adapt to it.

Our bodies are lazy. When comfortable, they prefer to stay that way. But, of course, we can’t make time hold still. No matter how settled-in you are while reading this, sooner or later you’ll need to stand up, or brush your teeth, or listen to a friend or eat dinner, or something.

Cold, heat, driving, illness – all challenge your body. So does exercise.

You can handle simple actions, such as standing up. However, unless you’re a dedicated hiker, walking ten miles would push your body past its comfort zone. That’s “bad” stress.

 

“Good” stress forces your body to react while remaining within its capabilities.

If you’re used to walking one mile, walking 1.5 miles is stressful, but you can do it. What’s more, it will make you stronger. Your body reacts by strengthening your leg muscles, widening current, and creating new, blood vessels – expanding your lungs and strengthening your heart. 

That’s how exercise improves our health whether we’re highly trained athletes or last week’s couch potatoes. When we push ourselves just past our previous comfort zone, we become capable of accomplishing even more. 

 

“Bad” stress is stress that’s too much to handle. If you’re only comfortable walking a block, but you insist on going twenty blocks, you increase your chances of injury, illness and becoming discouraged and quitting.

According to Dr. Selye, “bad” stress also includes life events – good and bad, pleasant and unpleasant – that force you to adapt. For example, both marriage and divorce are highly stressful. 

Emotional “bad” stress drags down your health. But the good news is – regular exercise also helps you cope with whatever nonexercise problems or events (remember, even good things are must be adapted to) that are stressing you out.

 

Ready to go?

All set to be the best physical specimen you can be?

Ready to learn it all?

Hold on – you’ll make mistakes, and that’s okay.

 

Don’t Let Perfectionism Destroy You

Long term results require long term consistency – not a short term obsession.

“Long term consistency” so you’re exercising for the rest of your life means following your exercise schedule most days, week after week after month after year after year.

It does NOT mean your life is over if you have to miss or cancel today’s aquarobics class.

It just means, keep going.

Miss today, do it tomorrow – or next Tuesday.

Too many people run into life’s inevitable glitches, fail to exercise when they planned – and then give up.

That’s like going on a diet, then quitting when you give in to your craving to eat a piece of chocolate cake.

You can miss a day here or there, no biggie, but if you miss the next ten years, you’re in trouble.

Of course, that doesn’t mean cancel a workout or game just because you’re feeling lazy – but even if you do that today, don’t let it stop you next week.

 

Basic Points to Remember

Exercise Only When You’re Body’s Prepared

Exercise is stressful. It’s good stress because it stimulates your body to build bigger and stronger muscles. Plus, it triggers your heart, lungs and circulatory system to adapt to the stress – making you healthier and fitter.

However, that also means that to benefit from exercise, you should be ready for it.

That includes being well-rested from the night before. 

Every so often, I read about people so “dedicated” they run their scheduled five or ten miles even though they barely slept the night before. That’s asking for an injury or worse.

 

Nobody exercises as much as Jack LaLanne did. He worked out two hours every day. Apparently, he mostly lifted weights, but also walked and swam. 

 

So, why did he die at the unexpectedly young age of 96? 

One day he caught a respiratory virus, as we all occasionally do – even famous fitness gurus. Yet, despite his illness, he continued to exercise two hours every day for a week, up until the day before he died. His wife told him to see a doctor. He refused.

 

So, if you’re sick, learn from the “Godfather of Fitness.” If he’d visited a doctor, and rested until he fully recovered, he’d probably still be working out today at 111 years old.

When you’re feeling ill, see a doctor. At the very least, don’t keep stressing your body out with exercise while it’s trying to fight off an infection. Take a nap instead.

 

Should You Buy a Gym Membership?

Only if you don’t let the inconvenience of going to the gym become yet another excuse for not exercising or an obstacle to regular, consistent activity.

I bet I can walk to the supermarket three blocks away, shop, carry my heavy bag while I walk back – and return home (and put away my groceries) faster than you can pack your bag, drive to the gym, dress and wait for your favorite machine to open up so you can START exercising.

 

And I’ll have my fresh food.

If it makes you feel good, fine, but it’s not necessary. Does your home include some free floor space of at least six feet by three feet? Yes? Well, that’s where you can do your pushups. And planks. And squats. 

You don’t need any particular machine, just enough space to perform bodyweight exercises – what used to be called calisthenics.

Running and walking require sufficient open space. A gym can only provide you with a treadmill anyway. It’s true that outside activities are limited by time of day, weather, and general street safetiness – so determine what’s best for you based on what’s available to you.

 

Useful exception: If they fit your schedule and budget, take exercise classes. Whether at a gym, Y or other venue, showing up and doing the work along with a teacher and other people can help a great deal.

Also consider a home exercise bicycle. That eliminates a lot of excuses. Look for ones that are well-constructed, safe and offer varying speeds and levels of difficulty. You don’t need to pay extra for computerized bells and whistles and pre-set workouts and such, unless you want to. $150 to $200 should get you a simple but high-quality machine.

You can perform workouts. You can simply pedal while watching TV. That won’t win you any medals, but that regular physical movement is a lot healthier than sitting in a chair or lying on the couch.

 

Step by Step Plan

Age Groups:

18-40 – Young

41-65 – Middle-aged

66-75 – Older

76+ – Much older

Nothing extraordinary here, and the lines aren’t set in stone. Some people are younger at 60 than others are at 40.

However, we all get the general concept. 

 

Goals by Age Group

When we’re fresh out of adolescence, we’re still riding high, taking whatever physical fitness we attained in childhood for granted. Too often, we neglect it and start going physically downhill faster and farther than we realize. We can keep improving, though too many don’t, so this time is to prepare for the inevitable challenges of age. It’s also a good time to establish good exercise habits to last and serve us the rest of our lives.

 

If you’re that young now, stop taking your youth for granted. The current of the River of Time is pushing you downstream too. Prepare now.

Build muscle. Increase your VO2Max. Look for opportunities to perform VILPAs (more on that later). 

Get used to feeling “in shape.” I see far too many young adults who already act as though they’re more weak and tired than I am.

Yet, we are made to move. At this age, you should be able to act like a kid.

Run around, play games, be only as organized as you like. When you’re tired, throw yourself on the ground and rest until you feel ready to get up and do it all over again.

Have fun.

 

As middle-aged adults, we often start to notice a decline in physical abilities and performance. However, we can slow down aging through exercise. This is a good time to establish exercise habits we failed to while young. We can also begin to undo some of the damage we inflicted on ourselves during a lazy young adulthood.

Establish good fitness habits if you haven’t already. If you’re already weaker than you want to be (most of us are), decide how you’d like to improve. Do the work you (probably) didn’t when you were under 40.

Do VILPAs (more on that later).

Have fun.

 

Seniors want to realize they can no longer take anything for granted. If you don’t exercise now, then when? Physical health and function declines more rapidly. Exercise can slow but not stop it – making physical activity all the more important. 

When you no longer have to deal with a job or driving children to their activities, you can’t say you don’t have time.

Use it.

Definitely do VILPAs (more on that later) and interval walking.

Definitely have fun.

 

Older seniors face a narrowing of their worlds through loss of physical function. This affects their daily living and their social lives (how much of a social life you have is also a marker of aging). Independent living requires the ability to clean house, shop, care for yourself and remain injury-free. This requires a minimum of strength, endurance and balance.

You now can’t afford to neglect any aspect of fitness.

Work in activities in all areas: resistance, endurance, balance and daily activities.

Absolutely do VILPAs (more on that later) and interval walking.

Remember: you are never too old to improve. You won’t turn your body back to 30 years old, but you can improve on where you are today.

Have fun.

 

Exercise Types

STRENGTH – obviously primarily refers to training muscles – both upper and lower body. You can also call these “resistance” exercises too.

However, these types aren’t cut and dried. Resistance exercise also stresses your heart, so even though it may be aimed at increasing your arm strength, you’re also working your heart, lungs and circulatory system. Running is usually considered cardio, but obviously strengthens your leg muscles too.

 

KEEP ON KEEPING ON – endurance. Clearly, the single most important thing you can do to live longer is to keep your heart beating. Without a beating heart, big muscles mean nothing. These types of exercises also overlap. A 20-minute High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) session is much more intense than jogging for a hour, but both help you.

 

BALANCE AND FLEXIBILITY refers to your ability to maintain your physical body injury-free in this world that can be so challenging. 

When you’re young, these aren’t so critical. For example: during youth, most people don’t need to practice standing on one foot. But they grow progressively more important with age. If you’re 61 or over and break your hip in a fall, you have a 50% risk of dying within one year. In old age, avoiding falls is critical.

 

DAILY ACTIVITIES refers to the rest of your life. Most of us can’t and shouldn’t work out every day. However, numerous studies have proven that regular and consistent physical movement on a daily basis is important in keeping your heart and arteries healthy.

That’s movement, NOT working out. That’s standing up and stretching or taking a brief walk around every 30 minutes. That seems simple, but people who do NOT remain physically active in this manner are at higher risk of heart attack – EVEN if they work out.

So, work out. AND when you’re on the job or watching TV or working at your computer, stand up fairly often. (Use a standing desk if one is available and you like it.)

That also includes recreational activities. Take a walk around the block. Play in a pickle ball league. Anything you enjoy doing so you stand up and leave the couch. This can include pedaling an exercise bicycle while you watch a movie.

 

Exercise Goals by Age Group

	Age: 18-40	Age: 41-60	Age: 61-75	Age: 76+
Strength	Gradually increase muscle strength, mass and power	Gradually increase muscle strength, mass & power or maintain earlier gains	Slow down loss of muscle mass, strength & power	Slow down loss of muscle mass, strength & power
Keep on keeping on	Improve endurance, VO2MAX	Improve & maintain VO2Max	Slow down loss of VO2MAX and endurance	Slow down loss of VO2MAX
Balance & flexibility	Maintain	Add stretching and balance exercises to weekly schedule	Increase stretching & balance exercises –	Maintain flexibility & balance
Daily Activities	Remain active throughout day, Enjoy recreational exercise	Remain active throughout day, Enjoy recreational exercise	Focus on maintaining daily functioning – recreational exercise	Maintain ability to carry out daily activities, including recreational exercise
Overall Goals	Increase fitness as much as possible Establish good fitness habits Build as much muscle mass as possible Have fun	Work to improve peak fitness & slow down age-related loss of fitness Continue fitness habits, changing and adopting new ones as necessary Have fun	Work to improve peak, peak fitness & slow down age-related loss Adapt to age-related losses & changes as necessary Have fun	Maintain fitness Maintain ability to live on own, performing necessary activities Have fun

 

Suggested Exercise Activities by Age Group

	Age: 18-40	Age: 41-60	Age: 61-75	Age: 76+
Strength	Lifting weights, bodyweight exercises, isometrics Resistance machines	Lifting weights, bodyweight exercises, isometrics Resistance machines	Lifting weights, bodyweight exercises, isometrics Resistance machines – focus on speed of muscles	Lifting weights, bodyweight exercises, isometrics Resistance machines – focus on speed of muscles power
Keep on keeping on	Running, Zone 2 cardio, HIIT, swimming, bicycling, walking	Running, Zone 2 cardio, HIIT, swimming, bicycling, walking	Running, walking, bicycling, swimming, Zone 2 cardio, HIIT	Running, walking, bicycling, swimming, Zone 2 cardio, HIIT
Balance & flexibility	Yoga, Pilates, dancing, gymnastics	Yoga, Pilates, dancing, gymnastics	Yoga, Pilates, dancing, gymnastic Add daily stretching and practicing balance	Yoga, Pilates, dancing, gymnastic Daily stretching and balance practice
Daily Activities	Stand up at least every 30 minutes Sports such as tennis, softball, swimming, walking, pickle ball Exercise bicycle VILPAs	Stand up at least every 30 minutes Sports such as tennis, softball, pickle ball – recreational swimming & walking Exercise bicycle at home VILPAs Intermittent walking	Stand up at least every 30 minutes Sports such as tennis, softball, pickle ball – recreational swimming & walking Exercise bicycle at home VILPAs Intermittent walking	Stand up at least every 30 minutes Play sports such as tennis, softball, pickle ball – recreational swimming & walking Exercise bicycle at home VILPAs Intermittent walking

Most everything on the chart is self-explanatory. Most of the ordinary activities have hundreds of not thousands of books explaining them in more detail.

But a few items probably aren’t familiar to you:

 

What are VILPAs?

That stands for Vigorous Intermittent Lifestyle Physical Activity.

And what’s that? It’s a brief time when you push yourself. Not long, just about a minute or two. VILPAs are NOT running a marathon or lifting weights or even playing pickle ball.

They’re periods of about a minute or so when you DO push yourself hard enough to raise your heart rate significantly. A fast walk from the rear of a parking lot into the store. Taking three flights of stairs instead of the elevator. Carrying bags of heavy groceries from the checkout counter to your car in the parking lot instead of pushing them in a cart.

They are “vigorous physical activity.” They are NOT standing up from your desk or couch just to stretch your legs.

But they are brief, around just a minute or two, so they’re “intermittent.” 

And they’re part of your regular lifestyle. They NOT going to the gym or attending a Pilates class or delaying dinner to run five miles or playing in a softball league.

 

Obviously, measuring such physical activity would be impossible without wearable devices. (How many VILPAs did you do today? Don’t remember, do you?)

Researchers can’t follow you around all day every day, but wearable tracking devices can.

An international team of researchers studied the results of over 25,000 subjects using wearable devices. The mean age was almost 62 – and all of the participants were nonathletes. That is, they did NOT participate in sports, or work out, or engage in any organized exercise. 

 

Remember, they did NOT participate in ANY kind of structured physical activity.

They were followed for an average of nearly 7 years. During the study, 852 participants died.

The researchers compared their daily physical activities to their health outcomes – who lived and who died.

 

The result? The participants who engaged in VILPAs saw an incredible reduction in all-cause mortality, especially heart disease and cancer – compared to the subjects who didn’t do daily VILPAs.

The benefits started at one VILPA per day, and went up to eleven.

But the first few VILPAs are the most important. People who usually had three VILPAs per day had a 38-40% reduced risk of all-cause mortality and cancer – and a 48-49% reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. That’s compared to the zero-VILPA participants.

That’s a HUGE reduction in death risk for maybe 3 to 6 minutes per day in their USUAL daily routine. 

People who did eleven VILPAs per day saw a 49% reduction in cancer risk and a 65% reduction in cardiovascular disease.

 

Again: NO gym! NO yoga classes! NO pushups!

They played catch with their grandchildren. They tore weeds out of their gardens. They gave their dogs brief runs in the middle of walks. They shoveled snow. They cleaned out their garages. They swept and mopped their kitchens. They rushed to their airport gate.

They raised the rate of their hearts beating, but only for a minute or two.

 

Hint: If you don’t live in a flat area, going uphill automatically intensifies your physical activity.

In a sense, VILPAs do NOT “take” time. You’re doing what you would anyway, but you speed up. That gains you time you can spend doing something else!

Moreover, these results were compared to a similar, even larger group of organized exercisers – and both groups achieved similar health benefits.

I’m not going to tell you not to exercise in an organized way. You should.

But, if you just can’t, or won’t – work at least 3 to 10 VILPAs into your daily life.

If you no other exercise, VILPAs will help extend your healthspan and lifespan.

 

What is Interval Walking?

Interval walking is a simpler and gentler – but still highly effective – cousin of interval training, especially High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).

HIIT, also called Tabata after the Japanese Olympic hockey coach who came up with the protocol, has been promoted by gurus for decades now. You sprint at 99-100% intensity for 10 seconds to a minute. Rest for a relatively long time (the exact times will vary with your fitness level), then sprint again. Repeat around four times. You can compress an intense workout into just 10 to 20 minutes. You’ll be far more tired than someone who jogs for an hour, but you’ll be back home taking a shower while they’re still outside huffing and puffing.

But the drawbacks are obvious, especially if you’re already up in age. You are pushing your heart to near maximum levels. That’s good, unless your heart complains with chest pains or worse. Even if you have a young heart, sprinting increases your risk of injury and wear and tear on your knees (okay, unless you’re swimming).

So Japanese exercise physiologists began testing alternatives to HIIT that are suitable for ordinary people, especially senior citizens.

They found interval walking highly effective at lowering blood pressure and reducing depression.

They compared interval walking to the much-hyped “10,000 steps per day” recommendation. People who walked 10,000 steps a day also lowered their blood pressure, but not as much as the interval walkers.

Interval walking consists of . . . walking, yes.

 

You walk for half an hour. 

The first three minutes, you just walk at normal pace.

Then you speed up. Not an all-out, 100% sprint, but you increase your pace, and your effort, to about 75%. You will breathe harder, but shouldn’t have to gasp for air.

You don’t run, so there’s no impact on your knees. You just speed up your walking. You always have one foot on the ground. Therefore, as long as you pay attention where you’re stepping, there’s almost no risk of injury.

You alternate normal and speed walking every three minutes. Do this for half an hour, four days a week.

That’s the Japanese schedule. You can experiment with variations.

As your heart and muscles strengthen, you could certainly try doing this more than four days a week, or for longer than 30 minutes. You could try variations. Maybe speed walk for two minutes instead of three.

But keep the basic pattern. Don’t try to speed walk continuously. You may as well start jogging.

 

I suspect interval walking is probably effective for much the same reason VILPAs are. 

That is, both activities jack up your heart rate, but only for a short period. And, ideally, not enough to be dangerous.

Organized exercise and workouts keep your heart rate up for long periods of time. It could be our bodies prefer variation. 

If you stay on the couch, your heart goes downhill. We know this for a fact. But, push it for a minute or two, followed by normal daily activities, and your heart is a happy camper.

We all know the maxim, “Use it or lose it.”

Both VILPAs and interval walking force your heart to use a higher-than-usual capacity, but not for long enough to weaken or overstress it.

 

Final Points to Emphasize

1. What counts is long term regularity and consistency, NOT how hard you worked – or didn’t – today.

2. Always look to make incremental improvements. You won’t go from couch potato to marathon runner in one month. But if you continue to gradually increase your weekly mileage, you’ll eventually run that marathon.

You don’t have to keep running marathons. There’re good arguments against them. But keep running or walking enough to maintain a high level of fitness.

3. Exercise only when well-rested and free of injury and illness. (“Well-rested” refers mainly to sleep. Exercise after a day of hard work can help you relax and get over job stresses.) 

4. Go to sleep every night pleasantly tired. NOT overstressed and NOT injured – just ready for a well-deserved rest.

5. Every night after you exercise, get at least 7-9 hours of sleep. (Remember: exercise itself is stressful because it DAMAGES your body by shredding your muscle tissue. The benefits of exercise come NOT from the workout itself, but from RECOVERING from the workout. That happens at night while you’re asleep – so sleep a lot.)

6. If nothing else, do some VILPAs every day. They take only a little time, but give you large benefits. 30-50% reductions in cancer, cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality are nothing to take for granted.

 

Did I mention . . . have fun!

 

REFERENCES:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWR_ag45y04

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dO2YtjYMqs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w8EIUpQkG0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5IN0WrPEHw

https://wellfounded.health/insights/vilpa-the-secret-to-a-longer-life-could-be-in-your-daily-routine

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-022-02100-x#Sec10

https://www.nuffieldhealth.com/article/walking-10k-steps-a-day-fact-fiction

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjEAwWuWHng&t=523s

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/tabata-vs-hiit-whats-the-difference

https://grokker.com/fitness/interval-training-hiit/tips/history-of-tabata

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z71aHZ4scMs

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0071597174/

https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/high-intensity-interval-training-hiit