Strength training, intended to increase muscle strength and mass, has many health benefits. Loss of muscle mass becomes less likely, as does functional decline and injuries related to falling, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Research indicates inactive older adults who engage in strength training experience strength gains within a few months.
You have no interest in being 21 again. (Neither do we.) But, oh, wouldn't it be nice to feel 21 again: The energy! The metabolism! The sense of I-can-accomplish-anything-I-set-my-mind-to!
We're all looking to maximize results while minimizing time and effort in the gym. That search for shortcuts has translated into a lot of myths about exercise.
Javier Mendez, a mixed martial arts trainer for 32 years, scoffed when he heard that retired NFL star Herschel Walker, who's nearing 50, wanted to compete in ultimate fighting.
As a wife and mother to five children, Sally Massagee had always led an active lifestyle. She ran her own successful CPA firm in her hometown of Hendersonville, North Carolina, and loved to cook and play tennis with friends.
Jeff Kepner's new hands slump on the table, like ill-fitting, flesh-colored anchors fused to his arms.
For two years leading up to the World Cup, Brian Hall exercised four hours almost every day.
Steroids are so 2008. The next way to get an edge may be gene doping.
Everybody says it: This year I'm going to get in shape.
For the first half of 2009, Jason Dinant morphed into a gym rat. He worked out four times a week in a gym cycling on a stationary bike, lifting dumbbells and doing hundreds of sit-ups to attain his New Year's resolution of having "six-pack" abs.
Before Friday night lights, there is summer suffering.
The thick shoes come with a big promise: to chisel the butt and legs.
To look at her, you'd never know Jessica Ordona, 25, has a problem with her jeans. "I don't like the fact that when you sit down, your stomach comes over them," she says.
Michael Phelps, who scored his fifth gold medal at the world championships in Rome, Italy, last weekend, has a body that frequently propels him to world record speeds in the pool.
Aging athletes don't have the agility they had in their youth. Minor injuries accumulate and become major ones. And by the time they hit their mid-30s and 40s, they're considered geriatric -- that's the conventional wisdom.
Aging athletes don't have the agility they had in their youth. Minor injuries accumulate and become major ones. And by the time they hit their mid-30s and 40s, they're considered geriatric -- that's the conventional wisdom.
It has been almost 30 years since Maggie Rajnic lost her leg in a motorcycle accident. Since that time, she's tried to stay competitive, not allowing her disability to alter her life.
After six months, 35 pounds of chicken breast and more than a hundred hours of exercising, Jason Dinant finally sees the fruits of his labor. There are six of them.
As he strained, crunched and lifted weights, the muscle panels surfaced from Jason Dinant's stomach. Faintly at first, they emerged: one, two, three and four -- not yet a six-pack.
Not everyone wishes others well in fulfilling their New Year's resolutions.
Midway through Jason Dinant's fitness journey to get six-pack abs by June, the 27-year-old had a breakdown.
Jason Dinant has the opposite problem of most Americans -- he has flat abs.
First lady Michelle Obama has a fashion following, with blogs tracking her daily garment choices.
Exercise can be a sweaty proposition. And with millions of Americans jumping on the exercise bandwagon, all that perspiration can become downright messy.
Being in space is like being Superman every day, says Clay Anderson, a NASA astronaut from Omaha, Nebraska. At the international space station, where he spent five months last year, he flew to breakfast, work and the bathroom.