The Annoying Parts of Senior Fitness:
A Reader Speaks Out

Patsi and Rob,

I am one who received a free SeniorFitness4Life book after your Open Circle talk. You did a great job speaking about senior fitness and motivating seniors to challenge themselves to exercise far more vigorously than we ever dreamed we needed to. You’ve got the perfect target population for the book right here at Lakeside. It would be interesting to do a collective study on how many pounds everyone lost, how many more pounds we lifted, how much medicine people got off of.

The book SeniorFitness4Life was easy to read with its simple sentences and large print for elderly eyes. The look of it made me feel a bit dumbed-down to, reminding me of the big print we learned to read on. Indisputably it contains important information for seniors. I think that most who would read your book are already inclined to exercise and support your premise.

I confess I grew progressively more annoyed with the amount of motivational haranguing, about half the book from my perspective. I found it unnecessarily repetitive. I wonder if some of this might be trimmed down at no loss of content. However, I’m aware you are a professional coach, Patsi, and you know what approach gets results.

I must admit it did do its job on me because it made me start walking quickly up the steep hills of Chula Vista Norte on Mondays and Wednesdays, days of the week between my hour-long gym workouts. You definitely convinced me that I wasn’t doing enough and I am determined to do more. Meanwhile, doctors caution me I’m overdoing it!

I wondered why you saved the effects of resistance training on the brain until so near the end. Wow! That, for many of us, is the most important benefit of all, the very one that would most get our attention in the first place. Your strongest arguments are research-based, in my opinion, though I also found the case studies interesting.

I pay attention to senior fitness. I’m 76 years of age and have exercised competitively for many years, including as a master runner/swimmer/cyclist/triathlete until age 60. During my competitive years I ranked in the top 1% nationally among women runners and in the top five nationally in my age group in swimming. For several years I held records for all swim events in the state of Florida.

When my husband Bob and I moved to Mexico six years ago, we both contracted serious, very difficult-to-treat parasites and were too weak to exercise. Meanwhile, worms and bacteria were eating not just the food we ate, but our muscles were wasting. Bob (6’2”) lost 60 pounds and has never regained his musculature or digestive system. I was thin to begin with, and lost 10 pounds (am 5’6”) and weighed 115. I think my digestive system has regrown the villi needed for absorption of nutrients and I have put on 5 pounds of good muscle in the last six months. My weight is where I want it to be. Bob is 84 and is now extremely frail.

Nonetheless, for the last year he has done resistance training three hours a week. No doctor seems able to turn around his digestive problems, however, and he cannot seem to gain an ounce. His appetite is good and he eats a lot, but he fights to maintain a weight of 145. I wished your book addressed this segment of seniors and their needs. Bob is not alone.

Anyway, I am here if you need me in any way.
Warm regards and good luck with the book.

Margaret Van Every, Ajijic, Mexico