Fitness After Forty

Fitness After Forty

In the first edition of Fitness After Forty, Runnerâ€™s World Contributing Editor Hal Higdon quoted Plato: â€œMan is in a constant state of decay and renewal.â€ True, 2,500 years ago and true today, as Higdon releases a revised edition of his best-selling work.

Statisticians can state absolutely what the Greek philosopher writing at the time of Pheidippides only surmised. Man reaches his peak, at least in terms of athletic efficiency at age 22, if he is a sprinter; 25 for milers; 29 for marathoners. From that point, it is all downhill. â€œThey tell you that things change at 40,â€ commented retired NFL quarterback Johnny Unitas, â€œbut they donâ€™t tell you how much.â€

The same statisticians who describe manâ€™s peak can also predict the rate of his decline: 1% a year in ability to swim or run fast, a steadily sloping line that parallels manâ€™s loss of manâ€™s pulmonary efficiency.

But author Hal Higdon denies the reliability of such statistics, because they measure only what man has done, not what he is capable of doing. Higdon points to the performances of super-athletes such as New Zealandâ€™s Jack Foster, who ran 2:11:18 for the marathon at age 41. At the World Masters Championships in Toronto, Higdon won his first of four gold medals for runners over 40, setting an American masters record in the 3000 Meter Steeplechase unbroken today. His fourth gold was 2:29:27 for the marathon at age 49.

â€œWe all must slow down sometime,â€ Higdon concedes, â€œbut probably not as much as we now do.â€

In Fitness After Forty, Hal Higdon describes how man develops, decays, and eventually dies, most often from coronary artery disease, which kills more than 600,000 Americans each yearâ€”unnecessarily, he claims. â€œHeart attacks are almost completely preventable.â€

Higdon is no Messiah. He does not exhort others to do the few things middle-aged men and women can easily do to greatly increase their fitness, and their capacity to enjoy life. But he does describe how many people have changed their lives, including members of Dr. Kenneth H. Cooperâ€™s Aerobics Center in Dallas. He tells of David H. R. Pain, the San Diego attorney, who started the masters movement. Higdon also shows how the average individual can extend his lifespan by six to nine years. And simultaneously improve the quality of that life.

Fitness After Forty is must reading for individuals past that age who want to get in shape, or stay in shape. Originally published in 1977, it is as valid today as it was more than four decades ago.
Country USA
Manufacturer Roadrunner Press
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2012-06-28
Format Kindle eBook

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Roadrunner Press
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	2012-06-28
Format	Kindle eBook

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