Book Review: Younger Next Year
I received a lot of good feedback from last week’s detox article. It seems a lot of people are looking for a way to start moving more, getting fit, and feeling healthy. With that in mind, here is a great place to start. I recommend reading Younger Next Year: Live Strong, Fit, Sexy and Smart – Until You’re 80 and Beyond by Chris Crowley and Dr. Harry Lodge.
This inspiring book was a bestseller almost 20 years ago when it came out. It still holds valuable lessons and is still a good read on the physiology of exercise. I find the sections on evolution the most compelling reasons to keep moving.
Our ancestors spent a substantial amount of their time moving, and this resulted in our bodies being what they are today. That means good health, longevity, and movement are all intertwined and interdependent. No research has ever contradicted this primary finding. And the authors are spot on; after a year of moving more I did feel much younger, and so will you.
The basic premise of this book is that our ancestors moved upwards of 10-15 miles a day looking for food. Depending on whether they were foraging or hunting, they did this at two basic speeds: slow and sustainable as well as fast and exhausting, with some activities in between the two modes. The authors explain how to mimic this activity in today’s world and offer a lot of good advice on this topic. My own much-evolved practice still revolves around Zone 2 and HIIT training for aerobic strength and endurance.
Crowley and Dr. Lodge insist that you use a heart monitor to start. This is not a safety precaution (although a cardiac check-up is a good idea before embarking on any aerobic program). The purpose of the heart monitor is to stay in the zone that is doing you the most good. To start, that is slow and sustainable, at about 50-65% of your maximum heart rate. Initially, you just stay at that heart rate for 40-45 minutes and do this at least four days a week and watch what happens.
It doesn’t matter where you start. The authors tell the story of one man who was very unhealthy and could only walk a few hundred feet in those 40 minutes at that heart rate. After a few weeks, he doubled that distance. After a year he was up to a mile or more. He probably added at least a few functional years to his life. The universal lesson is that movement is medicine – the best medicine you can get – and it’s free!
“For the Rest of Your Life”
This one phrase, part of "Harry’s Rules” (from coauthor Dr. Harry Lodge), resonated with me deeply. “For the rest of your life” sounds ominous. Yet it brings me to the core of the question: “How much am I willing to put aside the comforts and entitlements of modern life to stay healthy and live longer?”
Books, articles, and the internet offer abundant advice about what keeps us healthy and alive, as well as information on unhealthy habits that can result in disease and early death. The difference between these two health paths lies squarely in each of us, how we answer that question, and how we change as a result. Each step we take toward health is the most important one. And then the next, and the next, for the rest of our long and healthy lives.
In re-reading parts of Younger Next Year to write this post, I am reminded of two tricks I used when I was starting to move more on days I didn’t feel like going to the gym with my new heart monitor. The first was that I reminded myself that I would always feel better after moving than I did before. And the second was something I made up to motivate me. I imagined that for every hour I spent in the gym I would get to live an extra healthy day of my life. That day would be filled with vibrant life and, above all, time spent with my daughters.
We all have our own longings and motivations inside us to be healthier. Sometimes they are hidden. But I guarantee that uncovering them and bringing them into the light will be a rewarding journey for you. Younger Next Year is a great place to start that journey and see where your health path takes you.
