How to Get an Effective Workout Over the Age of 50

Margie Weiss: Hi! I am Margie Weiss. I am a personal trainer. I own a company called Body By Weiss in the Washington Area. The video we are going to do today is how to get fit over 50. Generally what we want to do is in segments, a warm-up we are going to do strength, strength for different area of the body, major muscle groups that the body needs in order to function properly as we get older. After we do each of these major muscles groups from the lower body through the core to the upper body then we are going to do a stretching section which is very important as well. Tools that you are going to need to do a workout, generally we will include a mat, some hand-weights or twos, often a Resist-A-Ball which is a big ball that you can sit on, is really helpful because you can move and its very easy to handle. So any kind of weights whether they are two pounds, three pounds, five pounds or a combination thereof is good and a mat is essential. Good running shoes, good tennis shoes and an outfit that you can move in. Safety-wise you always want to think about the core, all your strength emanates from your core so that's the area where you have to take belly to your backbone, tighten your rear end, shoulders low and chin high and then start any exercise. The number of reps is often a question people worry about. Everybody is different, you do the number of reps that you feel is comfortable and then a little bit beyond. For instance when doing a bicep curl you would perhaps start both arms at the same time when you get too tired you can alternate arms and at some point when you feel you can't alternate arms give it two more tries with both arms controlling the up and down. That way the number of reps is determined by your energy level, by your resistance level, by your ability to get the weights exercise done safely. I have been in the fitness business for more than 40 years from owning my own gymnastic gym to owning fitness clubs and now I have own personal training company Body By Weiss. My main goal in life is to get other people fit and to get them happy doing fitness. Finding spots that they enjoy finding areas of their body that they want to work, that they can control, that they can change and seeing the changes in people is really very satisfying as a personal trainer to do that. So lets get started and see what you can do.