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On this rainy day, only the resolute are in the Energy Fitness Center in Baltimore getting in their evening workout. In the corner of the gym, Ernestine Shepherd lends credence to the adage “age ain’t nothing but a number.”
Five days a week, she trains women of all ages — three days at Energy gym and two days at her church, where she has a class of 25.
“I usually start off with about 15 minutes of cardio, running in place, then we do floor exercises working on the abs, legs, upper and lower obliques, and then we proceed with the weights,” she says about her training sessions, which last about an hour.
With 10 percent body fat, Shepherd is 5-foot-5 and about 130 pounds of inspiration to her clients, many of whom she includes in her routine of walking or running, which begins at 4 a.m.
Some days, even her trainer, Raymond Day, can’t keep up with her.
Though he runs with her some mornings, he is reluctant to take her up on offers to participate in the marathons she runs in. In addition to her regular workout routine and training others, Shepherd has participated in numerous 5K and 10K races and marathons.
It wasn’t until she turned 56 that she began to exercise with the aid of her sister. They were both spurred on to join a gym after shopping for bathing suits and thinking they didn’t like what they saw in the mirror.
Nowadays, she works with nutritionist Todd Swinney. She keeps busy by modeling in magazines and commercials, but mostly she inspires others.
If you’re putting off going to the gym, let 73-year-old Ernestine Shepherd be your inspiration.
CHECK OUT THE YOU TUBE VIDEO! You can do it too!
From Health magazine
The list of wine’s benefits is long—and getting more surprising all the time. Already well-known as heart healthy, wine in moderation might help you lose weight, reduce forgetfulness, boost your immunity, and help prevent bone loss.
With America likely to edge out France and Italy in total wine consumption in the near future, according to one analyst, and with women buying more than 6 out of every 10 bottles sold in this country, we’re happy to report that wine may do all of the following:
1. Feed your head
Wine could preserve your memory. When researchers gave memory quizzes to women in their 70s, those who drank one drink or more every day scored much better than those who drank less or not at all. Wine helps prevent clots and reduce blood vessel inflammation, both of which have been linked to cognitive decline and heart disease, explains Tedd Goldfinger, DO, of the University of Arizona School of Medicine. Alcohol also seems to raise HDL, the so-called good cholesterol, which helps unclog your arteries.
2. Keep the scale in your corner
Studies find that people who drink wine daily have lower body mass than those who indulge occasionally; moderate wine drinkers have narrower waists and less abdominal fat than people who drink liquor. Alcohol may encourage your body to burn extra calories for as long as 90 minutes after you down a glass. Beer seems to have a similar effect.
Stay Healthy by Keeping Your Home’s Air Fresh…It’s full of plants
Houseplants help cleanse air, too (assuming you’re not allergic). The money plant—Epipremnum aureum—is one of the best for cleaning air in the bedroom; it filters formaldehyde and VOCs released by mattresses and other furnishings.
For other clean-air plants, see Health.com/plants. And open windows (again, unless doing so will aggravate your allergies) for 15 to 30
Age is Attitude, In So Many Ways!
by Hedria Lunken
What does 50 or 60 years old look like today? This was the topic at a creativity conference I recently attended in San Diego. It wasn’t on the agenda, or at the breakout sessions. No, it was a topic at the dinner table among some of the speakers who have reached “retirement age.”
Retirement used to be at 55, 60 or when you could get Social Security at 62. And now there’s 591/2, when you can withdraw your IRAs without
- Harmony Hallers at Toby’s Dinner Theatre
penalty. It almost sounds like a numbers game.
But there is also another yardstick today, one based on attitude and behavior. Attitude and behavior go hand-in-hand. How we see ourselves, how we respond to our environment and personal changes both physically and mentally, make all the difference.
How do we get to be older, yet look and feel younger? I don’t know anyone who has discovered Ponce de Leon’s Fountain of Youth. But the difference in attitude and behavior has swept the nation. Visit a book store or search the ‘Net and you’ll find a plethora of articles, books and information on healthy life styles, all extolling the virtues of exercise, proper nutrition and mental peace.
We’re surrounded by examples of healthy, alert, active, participating adults enjoying themselves. Check out the TV commercials that feature older adults having fun, smiling, enjoying their senior years. So here are the some of the most important things to concentrate on if you want to look and feel younger, too.
• Use your brain. Learning new activities is an important step in maintaining and improving brain function at all ages. When we learn new information, the brain makes new connections and continues to grow. The old adage, “Use or lose it” is right on target.
• Try a new hobby or interest. Learning computer skills is a prime example of a mind-altering experience for those old enough to have missed the technology revolution.
• Renew your education. Educational institutions have explored ways to keep the older generation vital and interested. Elderhostels offer educational trips, universities permit auditing of classes, and lectures series have grown in depth and breadth and appeal. In New York state, if you’re older than 60 you can audit college courses for free. A friend is taking three courses at the University of Buffalo, and the joy is she can pick what she wants without worrying about degree requirements
• Have the right mental attitude. Try saying, “I’m old enough to collect Social Security and proud of it.” Or, “How exciting to get older and enjoy the fruits of my labor.”
There is a freedom that comes with age, along with wisdom if we’re lucky, and a permission to be oneself with fewer boundaries. Learn to enjoy this freedom. At a certain point, those of the “sandwich generation,” and others who were caregivers and responsible parents, finally find time to be themselves. Allow yourself to indulge in activities you didn’t have time for previously.
• Take charge of your life. It’s up to us as individuals to try to stay as healthy and fit as possible by eating correctly and exercising. Developing an attitude that helps you maintain a healthy body with a youthful outlook and demeanor makes a difference in how you feel.
Making the most of both work and leisure is not a privilege everyone enjoys, but cultivating a positive attitude can make a big difference. When we’re not excited about what we’re doing, when a new day looms without something positive to anticipate, then discontentment, unhappiness and eventually illness may be our lot.
• Have meaningful relationships. Develop them as individuals, in our families, and in our communities. People have studied the positive and healing effects of love, intimacy and relationships on individuals.
I find it a paradox that as we worry about more and more people becoming recluses as they sit alone using their computers, the computer itself has become a wonderful avenue for connecting senior citizens to distant children, grandchildren, other family and friends.
So forget your chronological age, take on a bright attitude and act the age you want to be, enjoying those senior moments.
Hedria Lunken is president of Hedria consulting in Williamsville.
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