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!