Well worth the weight

0 Comments | USA TODAY, August, 2007 | by Kim Painter

Picture a weight lifter. If you are thinking of a young Arnold Schwarzenegger, think again.

Instead, picture one of physical therapist Marilyn Moffat's clients: She's a 97-year-old lady who has been lifting for five years. "She lifts 4-pound weights for her upper-body-strength regimen and 41/2 on her legs," Moffat says. "She also rides her stationary bike for 15 minutes a day." That routine -- combining strength training with aerobic conditioning -- is a big reason the client remains "totally functionally independent," says Moffat, a professor at New York University and co-author of Age-Defying Fitness (Peachtree Publishers).

And results like that are the reason health experts are urging a much wider swath of the population -- including the elderly, the frail...