Monday, December 28, 2009

Active Adult Fitness - Baby Steps for Boomers

Looking to ease your way into an Active Adult Lifestyle?

Here are a few great tips from Kathi Casey, ERYT, CPI:

It’s all about those first “baby steps”: start out with a few easy, fun exercises and stay with those until you’re ready to add one or two more. It doesn’t matter how long it takes for you to work your way up to 10 or 12 exercises, what matters is finding something that you enjoy.

Setting small, achievable goals is important for your success. This is a secret that the best Olympic coaches use when training young athletes, and it works for anyone at any age. When you continue to achieve your goals, you feel great and you want to keep going.

Active Adult Communities

Here’s a simple exercise to try:
While on the couch watching TV, lie on your side and raise your top leg up toward the ceiling slowly while inhaling to the count of 5 (slowly – it’s not a race) and then exhale 5 counts while you bring it back down. Do 2 or 3 to begin with, making sure that you breathe deeply and make your movements slow and purposeful. If you try to throw your leg up into the air you will be using momentum instead of leg muscles and you’ll be throwing your hip joint out – not fun! During a commercial, sit back up slowly and carefully and then lie on your opposite side to work your other leg. This is easy and you don’t need to set aside extra time from your busy schedule. Set an achievable goal for yourself like doing 2 or 3 leg raises on each side for 2 weeks. You’ll feel so good when you complete that goal that you’ll be ready to add more! At your own pace, work up to doing 10 on each side.

The muscles that you use with this easy, slow, purposeful leg raise are those deep muscles that are so important for strength and balance. And did you know that when you build lean muscle, your body burns more fat to keep those lean muscles working? This means that the more you do this simple, easy exercise – the higher you’ll be able to lift that leg, and then the more repetitions you’ll be able to do, and then the INCHES will drop from your thighs and hips! In fact, I recommend that you measure your thighs before you begin and then again after one month. You will see and feel a difference and that will encourage you to keep going. Now, understand that you may not have lost any weight during that month because muscle weighs more than fat, but you’ll fit into you jeans a little better, and your friends and family will begin commenting that you look “fabulous” and asking what you’re doing different.

When you have a minute, take out a pen and paper and write down some of the activities you loved as a kid. Was tennis your game? How about riding a bike? I’m sure you’ll find something that has slipped out of your life due to busy careers, raising families, etc. Now is the time to go back to those activities and have fun while getting fit at the same time.

For information about Active Adult Living Communities visit www.trilogylife.com.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Retirement Communities Suited to Your Active Living Style

No matter what your taste, retirement communities for active adults are built just for you...

Imagine enjoying your retirement years...

...minutes outside of Seattle among towering pines that bring a breath of fresh air that allows you to choose or pace of life, or

...enjoying views of California's central coast while sipping a glass of local wine and knowing that you are only a few hours drive from a trip to San Francisco or Los Angeles, or

...soaking in year-round sunshine, beautiful mountain vistas and taking your best swing on PGA quality golf courses, or

...working on your Florida tan while taking in the sights of Orlando...

Ready to enjoy a new home in a community suited to your active living style?

To explore active adult retirement communities in these areas and more, visit www.trilogylife.com.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Swimming Good Exercise for Baby Boomers

Active Adult Living Retirement Communities

There are an increasing number of people that are starting to want to improve there health and baby boomers are no exception. Swimming appears to be one of the most popular forms of exercise among the baby boomers. Swimming provides a full body workout without the danger of overdoing it because it is one of the least stressful forms of exercise that you can do.

Most people do not realize all of the benefits that can be obtained from swimming. Swimming and water exercise is the second best form of exercise that has the lowest rate for injuries. Walking is still the leader in that aspect for low injury rates. There is a great deal of doctors that will recommend that you do water exercises so that you can strengthen your muscles without harming your recovery. Swimming is great physical therapy for people of all ages no matter what their current physical condition is.

Baby boomers like swimming as it allows them to utilize almost all of their major muscle groups at the same time, so that they can get a complete total body workout with minimal strain. The water works as a great form of resistance so that you can use it as strength training and even for aerobic exercises. The baby boomers like water fitness as it can work well for people of all fitness levels. It can help people strengthen their muscles and build up their endurance as well as making them much more flexible.

Many people are not aware that swimming actually provides almost all of the same effects as running does. The difference between running and swimming is that you are not putting a strain on your connective tissues as you do when you are running or doing weight training. Many baby boomers find that swimming allows them to easily maintain the fitness lever or to improve on it as well. You can also do exercise in water more often then you could if you were doing them out of water because the amount of injuries is so low. When you are in water, your body weight is reduced my nearly 90% your movements are 12 times greater then just doing them in the air, therefore you can do much more while in the water.

You will want to look into swimming for your recreational activities if you are from the baby boomer era and want to maintain an active adult lifestyle. Not only will swimming help to fill your need for exercise but it is safe as well. This low impact form of exercise can help to increase the amount of range of motion that you have as well. You will want to talk to your doctor to make sure that you are doing the right thing as with any new exercise program that you begin. To ensure you are not over doing it your doctor will be able to suggest some water exercises to suit your actual fitness level.

Swimming as exercise for baby boomers is a popular pastime as more and more baby boomers near and enter the retirement phase of their lives.

If you are looking for retirement communities that cater to active adult lifestyles, visit http://www.trilogylife.com/.

Article provided by Juliette Crane of Women's Health.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Retirement Community Living: An Environment for Healthy Aging

Active Adult Living Communities

As more of the population pushes the previous life-span boundaries, more and more of us become concerned with aging in such a way that we can maintain our quality of life. Of course, at the core of healthy aging is making good choices about eating right, maintaining a healthy body weight, and having regular medical checkups, but did you know that where you live can have a factor in your overall health as well?

In many neighborhoods there may not be readily available exercise facilities or social opportunities. This can make it difficult for retired people to maintain a previously healthy lifestyle. Keep in mind, a healthy lifestyle doesn’t just include exercise, but also social connections and mental stimulation as well. All of these factors can be supported by living in a new home in a good retirement community. Exercise helps keep up Active Adult Living and even moderate exercise can help keep you more mobile and able to enjoy both daily life as well as special outings.

Mental exercise is also an important factor to consider; the more mental stimulation we participate in, the sharper our minds remain. Mental exercise can be as simple as having regular trips to the library for reading materials, playing a game of bingo with friends, visiting a local museum, or connecting with friends and family. Both kinds of exercise also help keep our stress levels down as well. Prolonged stress can deteriorate most of the systems of the body and even affect your memory. Enjoying a relaxing and active adult living environment can be one way to help combat stress in your life.

A good retirement community can help you with all of these issues and more. It might include such simple elements as walking paths and close proximity to shopping, medical care, as well as entertainment such as a theatre. Some retirement communities have swimming pools or shuffleboard as well, giving you that holiday cruise feel!

Some aspects of healthy living, such as choosing whether or not to smoke, having regular medical checkups, and eating healthy are very personal decisions; while other aspects can be greatly influenced by the environment you live in. Whether choosing either a new residence for living in all year round, or just winter accommodations to help you escape a harsh climate, keep in mind what kind of environment would support you best in your retirement.

For information about Active Adult Living Communities visit www.trilogylife.com.

This article provided by the Editor of Medical Rag.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Active Adult Resort Living - Retirement Communities

At Trilogy, we simply don't believe in cookie-cutter homes. Instead, each community offers a variety of floor plans that honor the local design style, from desert contemporary in Arizona to bungalow influences in coastal California.

All of our homes are finished with flexible living space you can tailor to fit the way you want to live -- including options from a separate casita for visiting guests to an office studio to your own cigar and wine tasting rooms.

At Trilogy, it's about combining the ease and value of a production home with the advantages of custom; it means you get a home that's uniquely yours without all the hassle (or expense!).

Click to learn about our Retirement Communities today!

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

US Census Reports 78 Million Baby Boomers: New Homes Cater to Active Adult Living

In its first report on Baby Boomers in 13 years, a new US Census Bureau analysis of 2006 data released in November 2009, found that California, Texas, New York, Florida, and Pennsylvania are the five US states with the largest numbers of Baby Boomers. In 2006, Baby Boomers age 42 to 60 totaled an estimated 78.0 million and comprised 26.1% of the total U.S. population.

With 78 million people nearing retirement age, it is not surprising that retirement, or “Active Adult Living”, communities catering to the needs and interests of the Baby Boomer generation are increasing in popularity.

Some new home builders even offer a resort-like lifestyle in the form of forward-thinking, master-planned communities complete with diverse amenities like world-class resort clubs, tons of recreation choices, restaurants, scenery, and spa services.

WOW....Who wouldn’t want the live that way….EVERY day?!!!

If you are in the market for a new home in an active adult living community look into the amazing, eco-friendly, energy efficient new home communities located in California, Texas, New York, Florida and Pennsylvania by Trilogy of Shea Homes.

For more information on the November 2009 census on Baby Boomers visit www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/age/2006%20Baby%20Boomers.pdf