This blog is for folks over fifty who want to get in the best shape of their lives and stay there---Fit For The Ages.

A bit of personal history might be appropriate to begin. When I was 59 I was taking a stress test at the New Mexico Heart Institute in Albuquerque because I had arrived at their Emergency Room the day before complaining of pain in my chest and legs. Early into the test, the doctor abruptly shut down the treadmill and pushed a nitro-glycerin tablet into my mouth, instructed me to lie on a gurney that whisked me into an ambulance which drove me directly across the street to the hospital.

To this day I do not not know what had upset the kind gentleman so much, but one of the team of doctors wrote into my record that I had early stage heart failure. Several other doctors have told me that diagnosis had no basis. I know I never really believed it either. But, the whole episode really got my attention. The bottom line was very clear, I was in really bad shape.

Not long after that, I was sitting on my back porch (portal if you live in New Mexico) with a couple of my buddies enjoying one of only about 4 cigars I smoke in a year, along with some very fine tequila. We do this once a year, when one of our wives leaves town, we commandeer that house for what has become our legendary, annual camp-in. It used to be a camp-out, but we have become wiser with the passing of years.

Surprisingly enough, something good usually comes out of these rare but rascally nights. That year Jim, my best friend for more than 50 years, had just watched his 20-something daughter compete in a triathlon in Hawaii and so he challenged our select little group to compete in an Olympic distance triathlon within the year.

Well, one of the guys, George, had completed well over 50 "tri's" and even won some of them. He was in his early 40's. Stuart was in his early thirties---still in velvet---and was in great shape. That left Jim and me, the two Methuselahs of the group, but Jim had the edge because he had a life long habit of jogging. Me? I thought I was in fair shape until my little cardiac wake-up call just a short time back. I had been involved in martial arts for years, but then again that was years ago. More recently, I had been doing some yoga and weight lifting.

After the other guys had enthusiastically jumped on board, all eyes were on me. I admit I wanted to bail on this challenge, but what was I going to do as they fixed me with their expectant gazes---chicken out? Heck no! With just a modicum of kicking and moaning, I signed on.

In the cold and way too early light of the next morning, as the other guys were sitting around the internet planning which event to sign up for, I was nursing a cup of black coffee and wondering how I could gracefully undo last night's folly.

Since nothing came to mind and they had now decided on the date and place of my execution (twelve months later, in Hawaii) I decided I had better get humping. That day I walked to the dirt road behind my house and attempted to jog up the lower portion, the part that wasn't too steep. I made maybe 50 yards before I stopped to look for my lungs and to wonder if maybe that doctor had been right after all except maybe I was in the final, not early, stage of heart failure because I sure felt like it right then.

The next day I pulled my old mountain bike from a mountain of dust, thinking I would log 10 to 12 miles on the flattest stretch I could find close to my house. I literally got less than one mile when discretion urgently asserted itself over valor. My God! Was I really in that bad shape? Oh yeah, no doubt about it.

I was determined to rectify this situation, and being quasi-retired, I could devote lots of time to training and---more importantly for this blog---I could dig deep into the science of fitness. That is exactly what I did. I enrolled in the Santa Fe Community College and finished their semester long offering with a 98 average. I became a Certified Personal Trainer with two prestigious organizations, NASM & ACE (National Academy of Sports Medicine and American Counsel on Exercise). I earned one advance certification with NASM as a Corrective Exercise Specialist.

I learned that getting in far better shape than I could ever have imagined was far easier and more fun than I (or you) could ever have imagined, using the new proven approaches I was soaking up from every source I could find. This was nothing like the old "run till you puke" stuff I remembered from my high school coaches---frustrated dentist, all of them.

I ran three triathlons in that next year, placing second, third and first. Now, you should know that it is not all that hard to place in the top three when it only takes a few seconds to call the roll in the 60-64 age group. But still, I'm just saying, I set the goal of finishing and I exceeded my expectations.

The following year I switched to the 50 and 100 meter sprints and the long jump. this was much more to my liking. In the Santa Fe Senior Olympics, I swept every age group from the whipper-snapper 50 year olds on up in each event. I won in times that are very competitive nationally. I know, I am tooting my own horn and it does feels a little weird. But shoot, I am trying to get you folks to see that if a guy who was being rolled into the New Mexico Heart Institute on a gurney not too long ago can do that much that soon; what might you do with the right guidance?

I have been working exclusively with the over 50 population in the Santa Fe, NM area for the past 4 years and I have worked out hundreds of protocols for men and women to reach their varied goals. I have also worked with special populations who have significant limitations.

The picture of me, which I will post when I can figure out how to do that---yes, I admit to being more that a little challenged in the computer arena; well, that picture is totally real, 100% un-fooled around with. So stay posted and see if the level of fitness you see reflected there is something you aspire to. It so, great! Maybe we can develop an online way for me to get you the information you need to work your own magic.

This is clearly the first step in a fledgling project. It should be interesting to see where it takes us. Are you in?

Yours in health,

Walt