Join Or Renew Today
Join or Renew With AARP for Just $16 a Year
- Discounts on travel and everyday savings
- Subscription to AARP The Magazine
- A voice in Washington and in your community
- Free membership for your spouse or partner
Exercise Trend: HIIT Me With Your Best Shot!
Walking. Indoor cycling. Yoga. Older Americans continue gravitating to these activities as a favorite way to burn calories, but now there’s a new kid in the town gym: It’s called high-intensity interval training, and it seems destined to become a HIIT. Never heard of HIIT? Based on studies conducted by Martin Gibala, a kinesiology professor at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, HIIT is showing the world that less is more when it comes to exercise. There couldn’t be better news …
5 Ways to Get Fit and Fashionable in 2015
The sandwich generation — those of us (usually women over 45) squeezed by the competing demands of kids, aging parents, work, community, romantic partner and so on — rarely have time to think about the things that will make us feel fit and stylish. But we need to make that time, so I’ve listed a few action items designed to boost our health and happiness in the new year. Many of these are trends that came to light in 2014 …
Fitness Is for Much More Than Weight Loss
Well, many of us have done it again. We promised ourselves that we wouldn’t overeat during the holidays. But those savory dishes just kept calling our names. And, on top of that, somewhere along the way many of us got too busy and fell off the exercise wagon. Regardless of what your weakness has been, the good thing now is that we all have another chance. Regardless of age, doctors say, exercise has benefits for all of us. So with …
Has the Hourglass Figure Run Out of Time?
Ladies, are we going from zaftig to zeppelin? According to a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the waist size of the average American woman grew almost two inches — from just over 36 to nearly 38 — from 1999 to 2012. Making the trend especially curious, the study authors noted, is the fact that abdominal obesity — which jumped from 46.4 percent of the population in 1999 to 54.2 percent in 2012 — keeps getting …
People Located Near Bike Lanes and Walking Paths Exercise More (A Lot More)
Not exercising isn’t completely your fault. A study conducted in the United Kingdom by the University of Cambridge MRC Epidemiology Unit (and published in July by the American Journal of Public Health) finds that people who live near bike lanes and walking paths are likely to exercise at least 40 minutes more a week than people who don’t have easy access to such traffic-free routes. In fact, for every 0.6 miles a person resides near a dedicated walking path or …
A Challenge to Caregivers: Exercise and Get Fit!
AARP has launched a new online fitness and weight-loss challenge to encourage caregivers to take charge of their own health. What are the odds that caregivers will rise to the challenge? Not as bad as you might think. The average caregiver is a 49-year-old woman who has a job and a family. She spends 20 hours a week providing care for a loved one – usually her mother, who lives alone about 20 minutes away. About 6 in 10 caregivers say …
