Yoga for seniors? Absolutely!

Is yoga appropriate for seniors? The answer is absolutely "yes" - with some qualifications.

I am Lance Porter. I am a yoga teacher and personal trainer in Bradenton, Florida. I work with people of all ages, including a lot of middle-aged and senior clients. I am a senior myself - I am 65 years old.

Yoga is very popular among seniors, and you will find them in most yoga classes. That's because yoga increases your flexibility, and helps to improve your balance - two things that are very important to older people.

But there are yoga poses that are just too extreme for seniors. Nobody over the age of 65 has any business standing on their head!

So, yes, yoga is great for seniors - if you use common sense and leave out some of the more extreme poses.

If you live in Bradenton and you're looking for a yoga teacher, please get in touch! My fee is $20 for one hour of individual yoga practice. If you have a workout buddy, I also offer partner practice for $10 each. You can call me at 502 475-4686. Or drop me a line at lancenelsonporter@gmail.com.

I look forward to talking with you soon!

Lance

The best fitness advice I ever got

Many, many years ago, I started training for my first marathon. It went well, but as my training runs got longer, my knees and hips started to hurt. I mentioned this to another runner, and she said: "Get off the asphalt and concrete! You need to run on the grass."

It was the best single piece of fitness advice anyone ever gave me. I started running on grass, dirt, or gravel - anything I could find, except for asphalt or concrete. The pain in my joints went away, and I completed my marathon. More than that, it opened up a lifetime of running. Today, at 65, I still go jogging two or three times a week, and my knees and hips feel fine.

Running on the road once in a while won't hurt you. Running a race on the road is fine. But pounding away on concrete or asphalt day after day is too much. Humans are specifically designed to run. But we did't evolve running on hard surfaces! Asphalt and concrete are both very recent inventions (in the context of evolutionary time.)

So stay on soft and irregular surfaces, and run all you want.

If you live in Bradenton, and you're looking for a personal trainer, please get in touch! my fee is $20 for a one-hour individual session. If you have a friend, I also offer partner training for $10 each. You can reach me at 502 475-4686. Or drop me a line at lancenelsonporter@gmail.com.

You can do it!

The Ultimate 12-minute Dynamic Tension Workout

Dynamic Tension is a self-resistance exercise method that pits muscle against muscle. Some Dynamic Tension exercises are pure isometrics. Others could be called "isokinetics," because they involve movement.

The primary populizer of Dynamic Tension was Charles Atlas, who made a fortune selling his Dynamic Tension exercise course, starting in the 1920s. Legendary boxers like Max Baer, Rocky Marciano and Joe Louis all used Dynamic Tension in their training.

I learned Dynamic Tension when I was boxing in my twenties, and I have used it ever since. Here is the 12-minute routine I use today.

If you live in Bradenton, Florida, and you're looking for a personal trainer, please get in touch! You can reach me at 502 475-4686, or lancenelsonporter@gmail.com.

You can do it!

How fit are you?

There are a variety of tests that trainers and coaches use to assess a person's fitness. One of the best is also the simplest: how many push ups can you do?

In a study published in 2000, W.D. McArdle et all established norms for various age groups. Men must do full push ups, with only your hands and the balls of your feet on the ground. Here are the standards for men 60 years of age or older:

29 or more push ups - excellent

20 - 28 - good

10 - 19 - average

5 - 9 - poor

Fewer than 5 - very poor

Women can do modified push ups, with their hands and knees on the floor. Here are the standards for women 60 years of age or older:

19 or more - excellent

5 - 18 - good

3 - 4 - average

1 - 2 - poor

None - very poor

Why use push ups as a standard for fitness? Because push ups test whole-body fitness almost perfectly. A push up is a compound exercise that uses muscles in the arms, chest, shoulders, back, abs and legs. If you can do push ups you can do almost anything!

Fitness tends to decline as people age. The good news? Studies show that people respond to training by getting stronger, even into their mid-nineties!

My name is Lance Porter. I am a fitness trainer in Bradenton, Florida, and I specialize in working with seniors. I am 65 years old, so I am a senior myself. If you live in Bradenton and you're  looking for a personal trainer, please get in touch! You can reach me at 502 475-4686 or lancenelsonporter@gmail.com.

The Ultimate 6-minute Kettlebell Workout

The kettlebell is an apparatus shaped like a cannonball with a handle. It is used primarily for swinging movements that help develop your strength, stamina and flexibility, all at the same time.

If you're thinking about adding a kettlebell workout to your routine, please start slowly and with a light weight. The ballistic nature of kettlebell movements can be dangerous for people with back or shoulder issues, or who do not have a strong core. I don't use the kettlebell with my senior clients unless they are really in good shape.

That said, I love the kettlebell! I do a short kettlebell workout almost every day. I can't imagine how you could get a better workout in a short period of time.

Here's my Ultimate 6-minute kettlebell workout.

If you happen to live in Bradenton, Florida, and you're looking for a personal trainer, please get in touch! Call me at 502 475-4686. Or drop me a line at: lancenelsonporter@gmail.com.

You can do it!

My fitness resume

If you are thinking of hiring a personal trainer, I think it is fair to ask: what is your experience?

So I took a look back at my own resume. I am 65 years old, but I cannot honestly say I offer you 65 years of fitness experience. I can, however, offer you 46 years of fitness experience.

I first took fitness seriously when I was 19. Along with a bunch of my friends, I took a college course in fencing at the University of Kentucky. A lot of great friends in this picture of the UK Fencing Club! I am the dark-haired guy just to the right of the tall guy in the center. I loved it. And I wound up winning my first state championship before the class was completed. I went on to win several more state championships in both foil and epee.

Not long after that picture was taken, my friend Dennis Blais and I got interested in rock climbing. This picture was taken on an expedition to the Red River Gorge in Kentucky.

Dennis and I went on to climb the five highest mountain peaks in the contiguous 48 states: Mt. Elbert, Mt. Massive, and Mt. Harvard in Colorado; Mt. Whitney in California; and Mt. Rainer in Washington. Here is a picture of me on the summit of the Grand Teton in Wyoming.

Dennis and I soon realized we needed to take up running if we wanted to climb mountains! I'm still running today. Here is a picture of me at the end of a 10K race in Lexington, Kentucky, when I was 29 years old. So far, in my lifetime I have run four marathons, more than a dozen half-marathons, and more 10Ks and 5Ks than I can remember.

When was 27, I took up boxing at the Hamilton Community Center in Louisville, Kentucky. I am the taller guy on the right.

In this picture, my opponent is tagging me. But I went on to win the fight. I had three AAU-sanctioned fights, and won all three.

And I never gave up on fitness. Here I am around 50 years of age,  still

in good shape.

Lastly, here I am today, at 65 years old.  Today I am using everything I have learned in 46 years of fitness to help my fellow seniors get in shape!

Strength training for seniors.

Hi, everybody! My name is Lance Porter, and I am a fitness trainer in Bradenton, Florida. I specialize in working with seniors. I am a senior myself - I am 65 years old.

How do you build strength in seniors? The way you do with anybody: with progressive resistance. The difference is, people tend to lose muscle mass over the years. So you may have to start a senior who is out of condition with lighter weights. I bring a set of dumbbells along to all my training sessions. My lightest dumbbells are just three pounds, which almost anyone can lift. I also have five-pounders, eight-pounders, ten-pounders, 15-pounders, 20-pounders and 25-pounders. So I can work with almost anybody.

The way you build strength is to start out with a weight that is light enough that you can do at least eight repetitions of a given exercise. Then you work your way up until one day you find you can do 12 repetitions with that weight. At that point you change to a heavier weight. So progressive resistance simply means using progressively heavier weights to challenge your muscles as you get stronger.

Strength training is extremely important for older people because it helps you maintain and increase your lean muscle mass. It also helps to make your bones stronger.

If you live in Bradenton, Florida, and you're looking for a personal trainer, please get in touch! My phone number is 502 475-4686. Or drop me a line at lancenelsonporter@gmail.com.

You can do it!

Super-nutritious, super-delicious, super-satisfying soup!

Years ago, I read a book on body-building. The author said: "You build your abs in the kitchen."

It was true then, and it is still true today. Planks and crunches are great. But if you want to shed the body fat that is hiding your abs, you've got to cut back on the calories you eat and drink.

Even though I get a ton of exercise, I still have to be smart about what I eat. So I always keep a big pot of my super-nutritious, super-delicious, super-satisfying soup in the fridge. It is packed with antioxidants and other micronutrients. It is delicious, so I always look forward to eating it. Equally important, it is satisfying. If I feel like I need to lose weight, a bowl of this can hold me all day.

Here's the recipe!

One head of cabbage
Two medium onions
Three or four stalks of celery
Handful of baby carrots
Chicken stock
Three strips of bacon
Olive oil
Soy sauce
Hot sauce
Ground cumin seed
Salt
Pepper
Two cans of cannelini beans
One can of crushed tomatoes
16 ounces of Hillshire Farms smoked sausage

This makes a lot of soup, so you're going to need a big soup pot. I start by cutting up my bacon into bite-size pieces, then throw them into the pot over medium heat to render out a little of the fat. While the bacon is rendering, I chop up my carrots, celery, onions and cabbage. I pour in a couple tablespoons of EVOO with the bacon, then add the carrots, celery and onion. I let that mixture sauté for a minute, then throw in my cabbage. I add enough chicken stock to just cover the cabbage. Next I add a couple teaspoons of salt, a teaspoon of pepper, a heaping teaspoon of cumin, and about a teaspoon of hot sauce. (I am currently using a hot sauce called Sadistic Mistress. Don't laugh - it's good!)

I let all that cook until the cabbage starts to soften, then I add the beans, tomatoes, and sliced sausage. Give it a while to simmer at low heat,, and enjoy!

Obviously, this not a no-fat dish. I added the fat in the bacon and sausage very deliberately. Arguably, it would be a healthier dish without the fat. But it would not be as delicious, and it would not be as satisfying. This soup works for me because a little goes a long way!

If you happen to live in Bradenton, Florida and you're looking for a personal trainer, please get in touch. 502 475-4686 or Lancenelsonporter@gmail.com.

You can do it!

Lance Porter

How to do the Yoga "Tree Pose"

Even if you don't practice yoga, you have probably seen or heard of the famous "Tree Pose." In Sanskrit it is called "Vrikshasana."

This elegant pose is great for building up your balance, along with the strength and stability of your legs. Once you get the hang of it, you can do it for several minutes on each leg.

But it can be tricky to get started, unless you have really excellent balance to start with. So I have posted a YouTube video showing how to master the pose, step by step. Just click on the link below.

If you live in Bradenton, FL and you're looking for a personal trainer, please get in touch! I am Lance Porter, and you can reach me at 502 475-4686. Or drop me a line at: lancenelsonporter@gmail.com. Your first workout is absolutely free, with no obligation to continue.

You can do it!

The Health Benefits Of Exercise

Time to stop and remind ourselves why we work out in the first place!

The health benefits of exercise are so many and so fantastic, I'm afraid you might accuse me of making things up. So, to be safe, I am strictly going to go with the list of proven health benefits posted by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on their official website. Here they are!

CONTROLLING YOUR WEIGHT

As everyone knows, physical activity burns calories. But, as the CDC points out, to lose weight you also need the reduce the calories you eat and drink. You lose weight when you burn more calories than you take in.

REDUCE YOUR RISK OF CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE

According to the CDC, getting at least two hours and thirty minutes of physical activity per week can reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke.

REDUCE YOUR RISK OF TYPE 2 DIABETES AND METABOLIC SYNDROME

REDUCE YOUR RISK OF SOME CANCERS

The CDC says that being physically active can reduce your risk of colon and breast cancer. They also say that, although the research is not yet final, exercise may also reduce your risk of endometrial and lung cancer.  Additionally, if you are a cancer survivor, the CDC says exercise can improve your quality of life.

STRENGTHEN YOUR BONES AND MUSCLES

Exercise can slow the loss of bone density that typically comes with age. According to the CDC, older people who exercise have a lower risk of hip fracture. And resistance exercise can increase or maintain your muscle mass - no matter your age!

IMPROVE YOUR MENTAL HEALTH AND MOOD

IMPROVE YOUR ABILITY TO DO DAILY ACTIVITIES AND PREVENT FALLS

INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF LIVING LONGER

The CDC says that people who are active for about seven hours a week have a 40% lower risk of dying early than those who are active for less than 30 minutes a week. That's a big difference!

Are you too old to exercise? No! Let me quote the CDC directly: "Everyone can gain the health benefits of physical activity - age, ethnicity, shape or size do not matter."

Are you afraid you might injure yourself? The truth is, you might. But, quoting the CDC directly again: "The health benefits of physical activity far outweigh the risk of getting hurt."

If you happen to live in Bradenton, FL and you're looking for a personal trainer, please get in touch. My name is Lance Porter. You can reach me at 502 475-4686 or lancenelsonporter@gmail.com.

You can do it!

How to improve your balance.

Hi, everybody. My name is Lance Porter, and I am a personal trainer in Bradenton, Florida. I do a lot of work with senior clients - I am 65 years old myself. A major concern for people my age or older is: balance. We all know someone who has taken a fall. Sometimes they get right back up. But sometimes the result is catastrophic.

So how do you improve your balance? You practice standing on one leg! Try it right now. Just shift your weight onto your right leg, then lift your left foot an inch or two off the floor. You will immediately feel a network of stabilizer muscles in your right leg jump into action. These stabilizer muscles go all the way from your hip to the tips of your toes. When you stand on two legs, they don't do much. But when you stand on one leg, they work frantically to maintain your equilibrium.

I have a video on YouTube that demonstrates an outstanding balance exercise called the "March-pause." I really believe that everyone my age or older should do the March-pause for a minute or two everyday. It is easy to do. It is absolutely a suitable exercise for seniors. And it will definitely improve your balance.

Here's the link:

If you happen to live in Bradenton, Florida and you're looking for a personal trainer, get in touch! Give me a call at 502 475-4686. Or send an email to lancenelsonporter@gmail.com.

You can do it!