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Injury-free at 40, 77 or 109: start now with our longevity workout and you'll be smoking the whippersnappers years down the road

Men's Fitness, June, 2003 by Roy M. Wallack

"YOUR BODY'S changed since you were 20--but your workouts probably haven't," says Robert Forster, whose Santa Monica, Calif., physical-therapy office is overpopulated with maturing triathletes and gym rats. "Age-related decline hits sooner than you think."

Way sooner. The typical man starts experiencing stiffness in the joints in his 20s, begins losing muscle mass at 30, and has been shrinking in height since 18, thanks to postural changes. "If you keep doing things the same way as when you were young--like throwing big weights around cold--you can actually accelerate your problems," says Forster, who has kept the likes of Pete Sampras, Kobe Bryant and a number of Olympic athletes working smoothly.

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"You can't stop the decline," explains Robert Wiswell, Ph.D., associate professor of biokinesiology and physical therapy at the University of Southern California, "but you can slow it down and get injured less by working out with the long term in mind."

THE SOLUTION, according to Forster and Wiswell, is to practice smart, safe training that lubricates joints, protects connective tissues and builds up neglected muscle groups. Then you can hammer your muscles with heavy weights and a blistering pace. The result: You revive flagging fast-twitch muscle fibers, snap a slumping spine to attention, and flood your bloodstream with youth-maintaining hormones.

"Don't wait until you're 40 or 50 to integrate some of these elements," says Forster. "By then, you've already done irreparable damage to your body."

GET UNBENT

The first step in the anti-aging workout is to straighten your frame before you work out. A poor stance doesn't just look bad. The drooping and hunching first seen at 35 or 40, restricts breathing and digestion, hurts athletic and fitness performance, and is the basis of a multitude of injuries and joint conditions. The ill effects are reinforced by unbalanced resistance workouts, rather like "building a Ferrari on a bent chassis," says Patrick Mummy, founder of Symmetry, a San Diego-based postural-therapy office.

POSTURAL DECLINE begins the day you trade the playground for a desk. The pelvis loses its natural 10-degree tilt as hip flexors shorten, making the lower-back muscles work harder. Shoulders crouch forward to write or type, hips cant to one side or the other (elevating one shoulder higher than the other), and repetitive motion creates right- or left-hand dominance. Add an accumulation of injuries and an overemphasis on chest presses instead of pulls, and you develop what Mummy calls the "suck and tuck": butt drawn in, belly pushed up, shoulders stooped, diaphragm collapsed and lower-back flattened--an ache-ridden, constricted position that squeezes lungs and intestines.

Suck-and-tuck cases call for stretching the hip flexors to restore the correct pelvic tilt, repositioning the shoulders back and equalizing the hips. At one or two minutes each, the eight exercises below will take 10 to 15 minutes to complete. Perform them in the order given as often as possible, especially before warming up for weightlifting or aerobic exercise. (Then stay tuned for tips on saving muscle and protecting joints.)

1. STATIC FLOOR

Purpose: Relaxes and evens spine muscles to prepare for exercise.

How to: Lie on your back, legs bent 90 degrees and calves flat on the seat of a chair. With your arms out to the side and palms up, sink into the floor and breathe through your diaphragm. Tighten your abs for one second at the end of the exhalation.

2. CROSSOVER

Purpose: Removes pelvic elevations, untwists the hips and indirectly repositions shoulders.

How to: Lie on your back with your arms out to the sides, knees bent and left foot on the floor. Cross your right ankle to your left knee and rotate both limbs to the left until your right foot is flat on the floor. Look in the opposite direction and press your right knee slightly away to feel the stretch on the outside of the right hip. Hold one minute. Repeat in the opposite direction.

3. CATS & DOGS

Purpose: Restores natural tilt to the pelvis by aligning it with the spine.

How to: Starting in bent-knee push-up position, pull your chin to your chest while pushing your lower back to the ceiling, then look up to the ceiling and allow your back to sway and your shoulder blades to pull back and together.

Keep a constant, smooth motion, not allowing your body to move forward or back. Repeat 10 times.

4. ARM CIRCLES

Purpose: Strengthens the shoulder girdle and repositions shoulder blades back.

How to: While kneeling, raise your arms straight to the sides as you squeeze your shoulder blades together. With palms facing down, rotate your arms in six-inch circles; then switch to palms facing up.

5. SHOULDER ROTATIONS

Purpose: Stretches and repositions shoulders.

How to: Sit in a chair with your knees bent and your hips rolled forward to create an arch in the lower back. Place your knuckles on your temples, pivot your arms in until the elbows touch, then raise your arms up if you can.

Injury-free at 40, 77 or 109: start now with our longevity workout and you'll be smoking the whippersnappers years down the road

Men's Fitness, June, 2003 by Roy M. Wallack

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