Navigating Fitness After 50: Your GPS for Choosing Programs and Professionals You Can Trust Paperback Debra Atkinson

Baby boomers are creating a stir in the fitness industry as they seek to change the way we age. Looking around senior fitness classes they don't see themselves. Attending bootcamps they leave with their aching knees crying out for help. Author Debra Atkinson sorts through the maze of options available for physical activity and defines how to reach optimal results while preparing vulnerable exercisers to assess professionals. Debra Atkinson, the author, is a 34-year fitness professional (www.flippingfifty.com) former Senior Lecturer in Kinesiology at Iowa State University, and an international fitness industry presenter and author whose experience - teaching, hiring and supervising fitness professionals - enabled her to identify the questions boomers should ask instead of those they do. For example: - Not, are you certified? But are you certified by one of these four top tier agencies? - Not, have you worked with any one my age, but have you worked with anyone with my ability level before? - Not, do you have a plan for me, but what is the plan and why will that work? Most over 50 exercisers fall into one of two categories. They have exercised their entire lives, possibly stopping and starting and now what used to work doesn't anymore. The rules have changed. On the other hand, there are those who never have exercised and they can't ignore the fact any more their health depends on it. But they are intimidated, uncomfortable and don't know where to begin. As Atkinson describes each phase of an optimal exercise program and the mass of recent research for successful aging in the "second half" readers will: - Develop a needs-list tied to their status, wants and goals - Create a set of questions to find the right gym, group, or trainer - Turn skepticism into confidence when they know what to ask - Minimize risk of injury and frustration due to lack of results - Get the most out of the investment of exercise time and money Readers will have access to links providing examples of exercises for an interactive experience. While there are many books on the market that are focused on fitness for older adults, and many more will follow, this book is unique in it's focus on how to use the resources available and to know that the program or professional selected will be in alignment with safe and effective means to a goal.