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    You Don't Have to Act Your Age: Physical Fitness for Older Adults
    You Don't Have to Act Your Age: Physical Fitness for Older Adults
    You Don't Have to Act Your Age: Physical Fitness for Older Adults
    Ebook163 pages1 hour

    You Don't Have to Act Your Age: Physical Fitness for Older Adults

    By Win McFadden

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    About this ebook

    Win McFadden, now in his nineties, is an international senior track and field star who still participates in U.S. Masters and Senior Olympics competition. In You Dont Have to Act Your Age, he has written a book with a radical mission: to convince the many millions of people over the age of 65 that the remaining years of their lives can be healthy, joyful ones.

    He poses the following questions: Suppose that in our effort to be as healthy as we could possibly be, we engaged in a pursuit that also let us have funand that while having fun we became totally absorbed and therefore willingly disciplined in our efforts? Suppose further that because of our dedication and discipline, we were eventually rewarded by public recognition and tangible rewards? What if as our days sped by in this happy, rewarding, and disciplined existence, we also met large numbers of friends who were similarly healthy, dedicated, and interesting? And suppose that through the friends we made and the recognition we received we became able to be of service to other older people who needed help in bringing themselves to a condition of greater health and fitnessand therefore happiness. That would be true satisfaction of the highest order.

    He claims that his positive answers to these questions have been the result of his participating in Masters athletics and teaching physical fitness classes for older adults. In this second edition of You Dont Have to Act Your Age, McFadden has added tips for seniors on how to choose an exercise class that meets their needs, as well as advice for younger relatives of seniors who now live in convalescent facilities on how to encourage their loved ones to remain as physically fit as possible.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherXlibris US
    Release dateJan 31, 2001
    ISBN9781477176894
    You Don't Have to Act Your Age: Physical Fitness for Older Adults
    Author

    Win McFadden

    Paul F. Cummins is the Executive Director of the New Visions Foundation in Los Angeles. He has been the primary founder of New Roads School, a co-founder of Camino Nuevo Charter Academy, Los Angeles Academy of Arts & Enterprise Charter School, and the New Village Charter School. Before New Visions, Cummins was the primary founder and headmaster of Crossroads School and founder of P.S. Arts. Paul is a poet who has published two collections of poetry: A Postcard from Bali and Under Cover. His book for adults on understanding poetry is titled Why Poetry? Reflections on Poetry, Writing, and Culture. PETER BEDGOOD has been drawing since he could hold a pencil. When he’s not illustrating he enjoys performing stand-up comedy, performing and listening to music, writing, and acting. This is Peter’s fourth illustrated work; some of the other titles are The Case of the Missing Blanket and Monster Street.

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      Book preview

      You Don't Have to Act Your Age - Win McFadden

      YOU DON’T HAVE

      TO ACT YOUR AGE

      Physical Fitness for Older Adults

      Win McFadden

      Copyright © 2000 by Win McFadden.

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

      To order additional copies of this book, contact:

      Xlibris Corporation

      1-888-7-XLIBRIS

      www.Xlibris.com

      Orders@Xlibris.com

      CONTENTS

      Acknowledgments

      Introduction

      PART I:

      From 62 to 80—

      Competitive Senior Athletics

      Chapter 1:

      You Don’t Have to Act Your Age

      Chapter 2:

      Sixty-five Is Not Too Late to Begin

      Chapter 3:

      Life-oriented, Not Age-oriented

      Chapter 4:

      Why Not Get Started Now?

      Chapter 5:

      Not Enough Time to Keep Fit?

      Chapter 6:

      Your Pulse

      Chapter 7:

      Effects of Exercise on the Older Body

      Chapter 8:

      Race Walking

      Chapter 9:

      Cooling Down

      Chapter 10:

      My Own Track and Field Techniques

      Chapter 11:

      A Typical Masters Track Meet

      Chapter 12:

      Some of the Pitfalls of Exercising

      Chapter 13:

      Courage and the Ability to Deal with Stress

      Chapter 14:

      Injuries

      Chapter 15:

      The Hidden Rewards for an Injury

      Chapter 16:

      Injuries and First Aid

      Chapter 17:

      Nutrition

      Chapter 18:

      Staying Happily Married to a Veteran Athlete

      PART II:

      From 80 to 95 and Beyond—

      A Healthy Senior Lifestyle

      Chapter 19:

      Motivation

      Chapter 20:

      Health and Fitness for Seniors of All Ages

      Chapter 21:

      How to Choose an Exercise Class

      That’s Right for You

      Chapter 22:

      The Best Exercise—Walking

      Chapter 23:

      The Hidden Pleasures of Running and Walking

      Chapter 24:

      Dancing and Other Physical Activities for Seniors

      Chapter 25:

      Exercises for Convalescents

      and Advice for Their Relatives

      Chapter 26:

      Questions People Ask Me

      Bibliography

      My Awards Scrapbook

      Notes

      Acknowledgments

      I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to the many friends and associates who have helped and encouraged me over a period of years, and in so doing have made my track career both more successful and more pleasurable than it might otherwise have been.

      In 1969 I attended a seminar for athletes given by Dr. Jim Crakes, and on that occasion met his associates Dr. Harold Elrick and Dr. Paul H. Broadley. All three have been instrumental in my athletic endeavors since then. Dr. Crakes has been not only a source of good counsel, but also a true friend; Dr. Elrick tremendously influenced my performance by means of sage advice (and truly inspired nagging); Dr. Broadley brought me triumphantly through two surgeries that could have ended my track career if performed less skillfully. In addition to these three, I would like to thank Dr. Frank Gilman, who has been my trusted personal physician for many years.

      I would like to say thank you to Pete Mundle, the eminent statistician of Masters athletics, and to Sing Lum and Harold Chapson, two formidable competitors who have become colleagues and companions as well. I owe thanks to Dave Jackson for help and encouragement over many years. Thanks are also due to Dr. Bill McClellan, associate pastor of the Point Loma Community Church; Louise Thistle, who teaches writing at the Chatsworth Adult Center; and Hal Clement of KFMB-TV (Channel 8) for their genuine concern for and interest in my activities. I would also like to thank Kelly Ferrin, author of What’s Age Got to Do

      With It?, for including me in her book about the productive lives of ninety-nine active seniors.

      This book could not exist without the good will and talent of many people. i would like to thank all of them for everything they have done to make the book a reality. Miles Blaine took the action photographs in the center of the book as well as the front and back cover photographs.

      The unfailing devotion of my wife, Leota McFadden, has made the success of my track career possible. i dedicate this book to her, with all my love.

      W. McF.

      Introduction

      This book has a mission, and a radical message. Its aim is nothing less than to turn around completely the self-defeating and sometimes self-pitying attitudes that confine many senior citizens to a prison of ill health, want, and dependence on others.

      Everyone likes living to a ripe old age, but no one likes the fact that these extra years of life are added on at the end—when one is likely to be sick, lonely, and unhappy. Why can’t the additional years medical science has given us be lived in healthiness and joy? THEY CAN.

      This book is about the extraordinary satisfactions I’ve found in competing in Masters (or Veterans) athletics. If you’re thinking that this satisfaction is unique to me and couldn’t be duplicated or enjoyed by others, let me explain why I know it can.

      Believe me, I have everything in common with millions of other senior citizens around the country. I know that what we all want more than anything is to live the remaining years of our lives in the best health we can.

      Suppose that in our effort to be as healthy as we could possibly be, we engaged in a pursuit that also let us have fun—and that while having fun we became totally absorbed and therefore willingly disciplined in our efforts? Suppose further that because of our dedication and discipline, we were eventually rewarded by public recognition and tangible rewards? What if as our days sped by in this happy, rewarding, and disciplined existence, we also met large numbers of friends who were similarly healthy, dedicated, and interesting? And suppose that through the friends we made and the recognition we received, we became able to be of service to other older people who needed help in bringing themselves to a condition of greater health and fitness—and therefore happiness. That would be true satisfaction of the highest order.

      And imagine, finally, that as a result of all this activity for oneself and for others, American senior citizens in general became stronger, less dependent on government charity, less of a burden to their family and friends, more able to manage their lives capably in their later years. If you had helped to bring these events about, wouldn’t you say your retirement years had been golden ones? You bet you would.

      The paragraph immediately preceding describes work still to be done by many of us, but all the rest is an accurate description of the wonderful things that have happened to me in retirement, all connected with my participation in Masters athletics and teaching physical fitness classes for older adults. Read on and find out what’s in it for you.

      Part I:

      From 62 to 80—

      Competitive Senior Athletics

      Chapter 1:

      You Don’t Have to Act Your Age

      For the last 32 years I haven’t been acting my age, and I can truthfully say that doing this has worked out extremely well for me. I turned ninety-five on March 12, 2000. There’s no doubt in my mind that the last 32 years of my life have been the most rewarding of all. The reason? Because I’ve been involved in Masters track and field competition since 1968, when I was 63. I never missed a Masters meet in the 17 years following 1968, and I haven’t missed a Senior Olympics meet since they were begun, in 1970.¹ I’ve traveled the world taking part in Veterans world meets. Lately I’ve been told by some undoubtedly well-meaning people that I’ve done enough and should retire from competition. I have cut down, but I’ll be damned if I’ll retire. Only a few of us who competed in the first meets are still competing, but I plan to keep hanging in there. If I live to be 100, I hope I can still compete in at least one event in the Senior Olympics.

      When I retired, back in 1967, I would never have predicted any of this. Actually, I had quite a different view entirely; I retired when I was 62^ years old, and I had only stopped working a few months when I began to wonder if I hadn’t retired too early. Time was hanging on my hands. Of course, that may have had something to do with the fact that back then I thought anyone over the age of 62 was elderly and should be taking it easy. That feeling of being elderly had been creeping up on me for a long time; in fact, when I was in my late thirties my wife suggested that we go dancing, and I replied that I was getting too old for that. Now I feel just the opposite: We would all do better to forget our birthdays entirely and work harder at making time go backward for us.

      I can’t make any excuses for my attitudes; they certainly didn’t come from ignorance. I had been interested in the health sciences since I was 15 years old. I’ve always been a devotee of healthy living, sports, and physical fitness. I’m a liberal arts graduate of Millikin University in Illinois, with a minor in psychology, and I completed a two-year postgraduate program in physical education at the American college of Physical Education. In high school and college I participated in football, baseball, and especially track.

      But as I became middle-aged, I no longer participated in sports on a regular basis. (I was proud of my unusual agility, though, and made it a point to kick as high as my head with each foot every day.) In short, back in those days my attitudes about getting old and what was proper behavior for old people

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