The Fourth Quarter Podcast
Living the last quarter of your life with intention around health, fitness, nutrition and joy! Learning from others and tuning in to hear live one on one coaching that educates, inspires and motivates you to move!
The Fourth Quarter Podcast
005: Adult Fitness, 40 to Forever
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What if the most important fitness decision you ever make happens after 40? We sat down with Linda and Gerry Blight, authors of Fittin' It All In: Adult Fitness, 40 to Forever, to unpack a brutally honest, hopeful roadmap for the “fourth quarter” of life—where momentum, modification, and recovery matter more than ego or PRs.
Linda brings a lifetime of movement and coaching; Gerry brings a wake-up story few forget: a 95% heart blockage discovered only because he pushed for the right test. Together they redefine lifestyle as health style, focusing on the levers we can own—strength, hydration, protein and healthy fats, sleep discipline, and smart progressions that protect joints and prevent falls. They make it simple to begin with what you can control: steps, water, sit-to-stand reps, and short sessions you’ll actually do. Then they layer in a “new month’s resolution,” a 30-day recommitment that stacks small wins into durable habits.
We dig into training after 50 with practical workarounds: modify instead of quit, load your long bones for bone density, and use water workouts for buoyancy, resistance, and arthritic relief. Recovery becomes a skill—consistent bedtimes, screen limits, reading to quiet the mind, and enough protein to rebuild what training breaks down. For women, Linda spotlights strength for bone health, moderate weights, and daily movements like sit-to-stand that pay off for decades. Gerry caps it with a powerful frame: one percent better matters. Hit 100 minutes of weekly activity and you’re already outpacing national guidelines.
You’ll leave with real tools you can use today, a mindset that trades perfection for momentum, and a reminder to find your recess—something active you genuinely enjoy so you keep coming back. Grab Linda and Gerry’s book on Amazon for exercise illustrations, stretches, and step-by-step guidance. If this conversation moved you, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs a nudge, and leave a quick rating or review so more people can build their strongest fourth quarter.
Get the Book on Amazon Here: https://a.co/d/0cZ1TtaB
Coaching Updates: Karen And Mitch
SPEAKER_04Wake up, wake up, and listen up. Welcome to the fourth quarter podcast with your hosts Doug Telmich and Ted and Mia. Tune in as we dive into living your best life in the fourth quarter of your life. Hear from health and lifestyle experts, inspirational stories, learn simple steps to keep you motivated or to help get you started. Finally, join us as we coach others live on air who want to begin a healthy lifestyle or just might be stuck and need a breakthrough. Remember, it's never too late to decide to be great. Momentum keeps you motivated, so take a deep breath, lean in, and let's go. All right, all right. Welcome back to the fourth quarter podcast with Doug and Ted. We are excited to be here with you guys this week. We have some incredible guests lined up. I'm not even going to tell you what the topic is or how we're going to roll. Just know you're going to want to lean in and listen up. Absolutely lean in and listen up. But before we get to our guests, before we get to our guest, Ted, this is a new thing for you and I. We're coaching people on the podcast. And it's been at least a couple weeks since Mitch and Karen have gotten back on the air, which we'll get them back on soon. What's going on with with Karen and Mitch? Why don't we get the listeners tuned in real quick?
SPEAKER_06Well, Karen, Karen was on vacation for a couple of weeks, has just been killing it. She has gotten her steps in every day, done her water intake. She's texted us every night and let us know how she's doing with her progress, and has just been creating those those healthy habits along the way. Mitch has, like a lot of people these days, got hit with a little bug. So hasn't been able to get out and get his steps in like he wanted to, but he has made it a point to get his water intake up from I think he was 16 to 24 ounces. He's up to 60 to 70 ounces every day. So he was able to control that, even though he wasn't able to get out and get his steps in, feeling better and and moving forward starting today. He's been updating us on a regular basis. So we're looking forward to getting them back on the air in a couple of weeks and really finding out what they've been doing, their successes and their struggles if they've had some. And we actually have two more guests coming on next week that we're going to start coaching as well. So we're looking forward to that.
SPEAKER_04Very cool. And I gotta say, you know, I love and appreciate that. Uh Mitch was very open to you and I checking in on him and saying, hey, what you know, we see some non-movement in some areas, like what's going on? We need to, we need to hear some feedback. And he was very transparent about what's going on. And it was just great. I loved after the call Ted that, you know, to uh Mitch received, he felt very encouraged, supported, and understood that he, you know, as being hit with that bug. Sometimes we beat ourselves up and like, oh man, I'm not getting the steps in, I'm not doing this. But this is a this is a lifestyle change, you know, and so we don't expect perfection. It's just just making some progress. And the same thing with Karen, you know, I really, I mean, she's been texting every night, just you know, crushing it, crushing it, crushing it. But I really appreciate it when she shared, I think there were two hard moments for her. She got it done, but when I see people getting it done, despite it being hard or challenging sometimes, that that just fills my heart because that's where most of the progress is being made. When you're doing stuff you don't want to do, man, somehow that just gets those neuro neurons in your brain and everything in your soul and your heart and your body just connected on a more deeper level.
SPEAKER_06You know, just to jump in on her uh first world problems, she was in Hawaii for almost two weeks. Yeah, but it was raining and windy and just miserable out there. And they actually she sent a video one day, she was just getting blown away and hit in the face with rain, but she was out there getting her steps in and walking, getting getting some movement. So she's committed to it and did a great job.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and you know, I'm gonna just mention about the video. I'm gonna mention about the video, someone was taking that video. So not only were her goals helping her support the commitment she had made, but her husband was out there as well. He was taking the video, so that tells me he was out there supporting, walking, because it was that video, there was a lot of wind and rain coming down. And you know, so you know, when we did when we make a commitment, when we decide to better ourselves, sometimes other people come along for the ride, and it's a good thing. So I thought that was really, really a cool thing just to catch and observe.
SPEAKER_06And to have that support from he was out there, you know, with her, getting getting his steps in and pushing her and supporting her. So it's always always easier when you have somebody doing it with you.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, good job, Lee. We're giving you a shout-out, brother. I look forward to seeing you soon and and hearing Karen's update, and maybe she'll tell us a little more about how you're supporting her day in and day out. But Ted, let's uh let's move on past uh Mitch and Karen for now. We have some guests. Why don't you set it up, line it up, and ask them the first question?
Introducing Linda And Jerry’s Book
SPEAKER_06Yeah, well, actually, how this came about was my daughter's mother-in-law knew Jerry and Linda in Chicago. And when we first put uh an announcement on Facebook that we were going to be doing a podcast and what it was about, she said, Well, I've got the for perfect people to speak with. She says they wrote a book of health after 40, and she sent a message to Linda, connected us, and got the book. We've read read through the book, and you know, it's just been been great. It's their their philosophies, and the theme of the book is exactly what we're doing here on the fourth quarter podcast. So looking forward to getting to know them a little bit more and finding out a little bit more about what prompted them to write the book, get their backgrounds. I think we mentioned on the previous episode that they have gotten to a point in their health, but it's come from two different directions, very contrasting ways of getting there, which I'm excited about because it lets our listeners know that there are different ways to get there. It's just once you you see and have that vision of where you want to be, that you know it could it could come from two different directions on on how you get there and numerous different directions. Like we've always said, everybody's got a different journey, and how they get there is individual to them.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. And and so just just so people know, the title of the book, it's called Fitting It All In: Adult Fitness, 40 to Forever. And it's written by Linda and Jerry Blight. Linda and Jerry Blight. And you'll see their cover their images on the cover. And it's the the subtopic is 10 proven strategies to rejuvenate your life, rebuild your body, and still have time to spare. Come on, people, we want to know about that. So, Ted, go ahead and fire away some questions. And well, what why don't you guys just say hello for right now and tell us where you're where you're calling in from and tell us a little bit about where you were yourself and where you live, and then Ted will uh start firing away some questions.
SPEAKER_00Um, we're calling in from Waimama, Florida, which is about what, 30 miles from Tampa?
SPEAKER_01It's it's halfway in between Sarasota and Tampa.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Nice little rural community. We relocated here from Las Vegas, Nevada four years ago, and we moved into a 55 plus community. So that was a big switch for us because we lived in a you know in a regular neighborhood in a cul-de-sac in Las Vegas. But this has been such a wonderful journey to be here with people that are kind of like-minded, is you know, with fitness and exercise. So it's really it's been really eye-opening and very interesting and really supporting our journey for health.
SPEAKER_01The uh move here was my idea because during COVID, Linda was working for the city of Las Vegas as a fitness instructor. And because of the COVID, they reacted by shutting down the facility and basically just gave her nothing to do, although she was still religious about getting her own fitness done. She's very good at leading other people on this path. And she didn't have that in her life after having done it full-time, uh full bore for a I don't know, seven, eight years at that point. And I just said, okay, it's time for a new start. So we moved here and she started all over again, and it's been a very good experience.
SPEAKER_06Well, I I'm just curious, why don't you each give us a little uh background on how you came to fitness? I know in reading the book that it came from very different directions. So whichever one of you wants to start, just fill us in and let us know what your background is.
SPEAKER_00Okay, I'll go first. Jerry's journey is a little bit different than mine. I grew up in in Chicago Lane, one of the suburbs of Chicago. So I always grew up being very active. My mom started out started us out early with Irish dancing, and I went to college, majored and uh minored in dance, actually. And then I taught, I was involved with the G exercise family for many, many years, and then I was an instructor. So it was always part of me, like who I am. It just always was. And I just feel better about exercising, and I kind of found a passion with what I like to do and make sure people can enjoy what they do through through exercise and fitness, whatever that journey may be. And so Jerry's mine was more conventional, which his was a little unconventional. So I'll let him take it from there. He was a little more interesting.
SPEAKER_01Well, I don't know about interesting. It's uh you know, it's kind of embarrassing, actually. I was a high school athlete and I I took up weightlifting as a way of training back in the day and did that through community college. And then I put down the weights and got married and just went to work. Forgot all about the extracurricular stuff I was supposed to be doing to maintain myself. And although I got a degree in nutrition and food science, I specializing in human nutrition, I never really practiced much of what I uh learned and went to work in a high stress environment, stayed with that until it nearly killed me at the age of 50. It was a very serious situation, and I I just had a a talk with the man in the mirror. Okay, you knew better and you still didn't pay attention. I am a reformed couch potato, I guess is the best way to say it. I'll be 73 next month, and that happened when I was 50. So I've been practicing fitness now for 24 years, almost uh, you know, because I started knowing that I had promised to get a checkup when I was 50. So in that checkup, they found a 95% blockage in my heart, and it took two cents to open it up. Basically, I was told by the doctor I wasn't going to feel the floor when I hit it because I would have already been dead. That'll get you going. It did get me going. I uh doubled down on all the things I knew from earlier on and started researching what had happened and transpired in exercise physiology and nutrition in the 20 years since I paid close attention to it. As they say, I'm back.
Pushing For Heart Testing And Wake-Up Call
SPEAKER_06Yes, you are. Well, one of one of the things that I thought was interesting in your book that you might want to elaborate on a little bit more was didn't you have to really push the doctor to give you a particular test?
SPEAKER_01Or that's an excellent question, Ted. And I I I try not to relive that moment, but we had gone on vacation, and it was you know three months before my 50th birthday, and I knew that I had made that promise to go to the doctor when I turned 50. And uh that in itself was a procrastination. My mother passed away from a heart attack at 47, so I was just denying reality. In that you know, effort to get back in shape to go see the doctor and not fail the exam, I started walking on a treadmill. And that in itself was a serious challenge because it it was uncomfortable, and but I did overcome those limitations, and three months later I was able to go in there and say, Hey, I walked five miles on a treadmill. And then I asked him for the test, the diagnostic test that would evaluate the heart. And he says, Well, I can't authorize that. And he says, if you walked in here and said that you breathe heavy walking up a flight of stairs, I could authorize it, but you just did five miles on a treadmill, you're fine. And I said, Well, I do breathe heavy when I try and swim in the pool. And I said, I'm not a good swimmer, so after up and back, I could barely, you know, I have to stop and catch my breath. And, you know, I said, It's a it's a really challenging effort to catch my breath. It takes me 30 seconds, whatever. And he said, Well, we'll use that. So it wasn't it was a serious conversation where I kept after him in order to get that test. And I'd hold nothing against the doctor, he was working under whatever limitations they put on him as far as authorizing tests, but my family history should have been enough to authorize that test. It turns out that the the test did its job and you know it revealed severe cardiac problems, and I I was, you know, just in the nick of time, I got saved. So I mean I wasn't mad at the the medical community, although I I have some questions about it. I was mad at myself because I really having been a trained athlete in my youth and having been a you know, I have a master's degree in human nutrition. I should know better. I should have not gotten to that spot. So I I made it my business to try to help other people avoid getting to that spot too. And that's where, you know, Linda's been a great inspiration to myself as well as the other people she comes in contact with on this. So we we pay attention and we try to encourage others to do the same.
SPEAKER_04Wow. I I just want to highlight something, Ted, before you go to your next question, is that you just said something, Jerry, that I think people really need to pay attention to and just listen to. Uh you said I wasn't mad at my doctors, that I was kind of frustrated or mad at with yourself, that you let yourself get to that point. Because I think we in today's day and age, sometimes it's it's easy to point a finger. It's easy to blame, blame, blame. And but while you're in that state of mind, you don't take any action because you're waiting for someone to come along and save you.
SPEAKER_01If it's somebody else's fault, then you want somebody else to be responsible. There's only one person responsible for your health, and that's you.
SPEAKER_04Yes.
SPEAKER_01If and once you pass the age of 21, it's on your shoulders. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Love that. So thank thanks for mentioning that because that's uh, you know, for those of you listening, you know, if you're struggling to make change, you know, it might be a good time to just do an inventory of your mindset, how you're thinking, how you're feeling, and take full and complete ownership of where you're at. And then and only then can you do something about it. Otherwise, you'll be stuck in the cycle of looking for someone to come save you or something outside yourself to save you. And everything you need is already within you. And then we have wonderful people like yourselves who wrote a book who, you know, if you're not sure how to do it, you know, what a great guide to get to kind of give, you know, break down the steps so that they can guide you through the process.
Ownership Mindset And Doctor Visits
SPEAKER_00I think too, when he hadn't he had been sedentary for many years prior to getting back into this. And I think what probably should have been a good idea is always go to the doctor ahead of time just to get clearance so that you can go back into an exercise program rather than thinking that you automatically can do it, because what he went through was so eye-opening and frightening all at the same time. And no offense, honey. No, but I mean, however, he was stubborn and he didn't want to go back, he didn't want to go get checked out before he decided to do the swimming or to do the the treadmill. And I think when you hit the you know, 4550, the atmosphere, you know, your body starts to change, lifestyles change, you know, you're working hard for your family, and you think, oh, I can do it, I'm still young. Well, there's you know, family history was key in his point, in his family. So I think it's good to always get checked out with the doctor ahead of time. And if you don't like the physician, move to somebody else.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you know, great point. And it's it just can't be said enough. After 40, you need permission to start a program. Yeah, really you do, you really do. And I was living proof that it because of just jumping back into it, although it it was a ramp for three months, I I could have passed away any moment in any day. And a friend of mine I had known from from college was also a a wit wrestler, and he was a he went on to be division one. He had died stepping off of a treadmill a few months before I took. And it was the same age. He was two younger than me, but it was just a hard lesson to learn, and I think of that guy all the time.
SPEAKER_04Wow. Wow, that's uh you know, no, I gotta say that's probably one of the biggest habits that's hard for me to break because I've always grown. I was into fitness very young and did a lot of stuff on my own, and you know, and and I think in our society culture, men, we don't stop at the gas station and ask for directions, we just go. But Jerry, give me some light, some hope, Jerry. That changes over time, right? Or are you still stubborn? Come on, man. Be keep it honest with me.
SPEAKER_01That's what you what you get with me, is I'll be honest. And uh I I'm firm in my convictions, I've done my homework and I know what I'm trying to do. I do go to the doctor a lot more frequently now, only because I've learned that it's not a bad thing to listen to your spouse.
SPEAKER_06Good. Well, you you know, it's it's funny. I've I've told this story a number of times, but when I was probably in my early to mid-50s, I was not a big person to go see a doctor. I mean, I just I didn't go. And I went to the Philippines on business and got the flu while I was there and came home and was sick. And my wife was convinced that I had some sort of exotic flu bug. So she insisted I went to uh the urgent care. And I went in to the urgent care, and I'll I'll change his name, but went in to see the doctor, and he said, Who's your primary physician? And I said, Dr. Ho. And he said, Okay, and we continued on. He did tests, and he said, Good news, bad news, you don't have any exotic flu, you've got the flu, so you know you got to deal with it. And then as I was getting ready to leave, he said, So you said your your primary physician was Dr. Ho. He said, Was that Donald Ho? And I said, Yes. And he said, Well, I'm Donald Ho and I've never met you before. And from my records, you haven't seen a doctor. Yeah, he said, from my records, you haven't been to a doctor in nine years. You know, and you're getting to that age where you need to start getting in and having an annual checkup. And so I I did heed his advice, and I have been going in and on a regular basis now, and it's a good thing, but yeah, that was uh that was a funny one.
SPEAKER_04That's funny, but not funny, Ted. That's good. True.
unknownTrue.
SPEAKER_04Hey, so your stories are are incredible, and and man, you're two but two different backgrounds, absolutely incredible. So, what is that part of what in because now you know a lot of people go through stuff like that and and they get awakened, but not everyone writes a book. So, what what inspired you guys to write a book?
SPEAKER_01Well, if I could take that one first, basically what it came down to is that your your observation's correct. I don't know that one married couple could be further apart on a subject that is so as important as fitness. Generally, couples that like to go running together, they do that and they they have something in common like that. Linda has always been active, always been a dancer, always been a you know, exercise type. And I basically I I tell people I took when I do talks on this, I tell people I took 25 years off for bad behavior. And and sitting around too much, watching too much TV, drinking too much beer, you know, yeah, eating too much heavy fat foods. And those kinds of things, and didn't think anything of it. I figured that okay, well, my mom lived to 47. I've at least got that in the bag. And but that's the wrong way to think about it. So I was so angry at the whole all the circumstances that I just said, I've got to do something about this. And I tried to put it together in I booked that was not judging people. It was, you know, I'm in a glass house here, I can't throw stones. I did all the things wrong first. Right. And if if I could earn a second chance, that people of much less negative existence than I had could also make a comeback. And that was the motivation for the whole thing. And I thought that the contrast between Linda and myself made for more interesting stories because there's a full spectrum defined there between couch potato and active lifestyle. And those are the people we're trying to reach there. Love that.
Why They Wrote The Book And “Health Style”
SPEAKER_04And thank you. Thank you for doing that because it's a great guide for people to follow along. And I love how you framed that, that if you can do that, you know, people who are much less who are dealing with much less worse, man, it should be a walk in the park for them. Not that it's ever really a walk in the park, mentally, really, right? You know, in the free in the beginning of your book, you talk about, you know, the word lifestyle gets thrown around a lot, but you reframed it or recoined it health style. Tell me, tell me a little bit about that.
SPEAKER_01Well, lifestyle encompasses everything in your life. And I tried to limit it. I'm not going to be able to tell somebody how to do their financial planning or do their career building and all the rest of that stuff. But any of their aspects that do relate to their health, the health style in our terminology is something that is our bailiwick. My background in nutrition, my personal experience of not getting you know, you said you're always in shape, you're always active. I have a unique perspective because I was in shape as a young man, I got out of shape as an adult. I went through the high stress career, and I made that journey back. Now that covers a lot of ground, and I just thought that that was the way to pursue it, and that's what we did. So 25 years off for bad behavior that takes in a lot of things.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Well, I'll tell you for me personally, when I when I read the word, and just want to give you some positive feedback, that it actually triggered my mind to really hyper focus on, oh yeah, this is this is directly related to my health and and physical movement and nutrition. And it it really helped me zone in and hone in on, you know, what can I do for my health? Because you're right, there are other compartments to our life. There is relationships, there's finances, there's career, all that stuff. And but this, when you said health style, I'm like, ooh, I kind of like that. And it brought it drew me in with my curiosity into just really wanting to dive in more into the book. So just want to give you some props, brother. That was a great, great word, great verbiage.
SPEAKER_03Thank you.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. All right, Ted, what else you got for us, brother?
SPEAKER_06Well, and you know, one of the things, Jerry, that in our podcast, we have a tagline to the fourth pod, fourth quarter podcast, and that's creating the healthiest version of you. That's what we're looking at, is like you said, you were coming from an unhealthy position and and got yourself healthy. And that's that's what we're trying to do along the way. As you know, we do this podcast and we do some coaching on air, is every everything is different for each person. It looks different, the health is different to each person and their activity. So we're excited. Next week, we actually have two people on, and one of them has gotten into some very unhealthy habits, and we're looking forward to getting him moving forward and doing that. So we really appreciate your story and your journey coming from a position of very unhealthy from what you say. One of the things you mentioned in the book also was you know, we're we're into February now, middle of February, New Year's resolutions, and how a lot of those have fallen away. And you had a terminology called uh a month's resolution, I think is how you referred to it. Can you elaborate a little bit about that?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, everybody's familiar with New Year's resolutions and uh you know, to the point of the gyms are always crowded in January, but in February you can always find open machineries and up, you know, up and coming opportunities to do whatever exercise you want because so many have fallen away. The new month's resolution is every 30 days you recommit yourself. What am I going to do now to build on what I did last month? And it's just kind of a reaffirmation so that it doesn't go away. You don't have to worry about I can get to the holidays, I can uh start all over and do it again. But you give yourself 11 months off in a lot of cases, or six months off, whatever you you know, you get tired of dieting and whatever the the your advice is as far as you want to watch baseball all spring and summer, what you know, you you can fall back into your old habits relatively quickly. But in a new month's resolution, you have to reaffirm every four weeks that okay, what am I doing now? What's my newest challenge? Am I doing last month's again? Am I staying with it or am I doing something even better? And I think it's a neat concept because uh you never get time to quit. And if you do only last three weeks, you're still doing three-quarters of the year where you're on, as opposed to one-twelfth of the year.
Monthly Resolutions And Habit Building
SPEAKER_06I love that concept. And you know, Doug and I have talked about it. It's just those those small steps to start and then just building on that. The the guests we had on a couple weeks ago, that was, you know, they were very simple things. They were walking a certain amount of steps a day and drinking water, things that they could control and could do and be successful at. And then as we move on with them, as they get into the habit of those, then we'll continue to build on that and they they'll build on it. You know, we're we're firm believers in if you have a small goal, if it's you know, 3,000 steps a day, you're gonna go out there and get your 3,000 and probably just do a little bit more each day and build as you start feeling better. So I I love the concept of that because it if you do kind of fall off, you can recommit yourself. And even if it's doing the same thing again the following month, or if you've been successful and gotten through that whole month, then you're looking at what I can do to build upon that. And I I just think that's a great, great concept.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I love that too. Oh, you know, I have a question for you guys, and let's let's peek under the hood a little bit. And I'd love to hear a female and male response. So, Linda, if you don't mind answering first, that'd be awesome. But how do you when I was I remember when I was 55, I was still trying to do things when the same age as when I was 45, and and I was capable because I stayed in in shape that whole time. But something happened to me after 55, and I just couldn't figure it out. And now as I'm getting ready to turn 60, a light bulb has come on. But I'd love to hear from you how do the physical needs and challenges of people over 50 differ from those of younger adults? And and maybe you also can address how does your book address that as well?
Over 50 Training: Modify And Workarounds
SPEAKER_00Well, I think in my particular case, because I'm 73, 72, I'll be 73 this year. Also, what I've had to adjust to is my body changing. You know, when you actually, and you know this, Doug, probably since you've been exercising for a long time as well, your body starts to change. So the things you could do at 25, like hop, skip, or jump, you might not be able to do that at 55 as as you did at 25 as diligently. Right. So I need to modify, and that's always my big word is modify. I never want to stop, but I want to modify. So maybe I want to walk instead of run. And I can walk a little quicker, or I put a timer on and I'm like, okay, let me walk for 15 minutes and we'll see if I can walk maybe a little faster. But if my knees are starting to bother me, I need to, you know, need to kick it back a little bit and alter that a little. So I try and do things that I at 25, I can't do what I do now or can't do what I did at 25 now. But and I had a knee replacement recently too. So that's modified a lot of my stuff, but it hasn't stopped me because I can still walk, bike, or swim. That's what he said. No skiing, no, you know, pickleball, different different things like that. However, it's a mindset. And if you don't give up, and if you find your passion, what you like to do, whether it's, you know, walking, bowling, swimming, pickleball, right, whatever, you can modify. And that's my big word is modification, because if you stop, forget about it, it's over. So you never want to stop, you want to modify, even if you have to come down a little bit, you have to go for a little longer period of time on walking, but you can modify to make it what's best for you.
SPEAKER_04Love that. That's awesome. And Jerry, what about you? I mean, and I know Jerry, uh maybe you can draw some how the book structures that as well and kind of lead you into that. But share your thoughts on that.
SPEAKER_01Well, the like to just add one thing to what Linda said. She uses the word modify in her training and stuff like that with people. But uh I think in the book we refer to it as a workaround. Okay. So there's always a way you have to be creative. And we have another saying basically that nobody ever cut recess.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01Okay. So you're in a situation where, hey, if it's hard to run around the playground, then walk around the playground. That's a workaround. If it's hard to lift you know, your body weight, then lift half your body weight, you know, in in training. And those are uh workaround solutions that you have to face more in reality sometimes as you get older. Now we're gonna diverge again in in style because one of the things that I've done in my training, and by the way, Linda and I are both have been certified trainers and instructors over the years. We've gone through a number of different classes for that. But one of the things that I'm working on, which will probably be an addendum or in a revision of the original book, is I've gone into some very intense extreme training now. And I actually bench pressed a month ago a weight heavier than I ever did when I was competing in power lifting when I was a young man. Wow. And it's strange, it's weird, and I wasn't able to do that when I was 20, but now that I'm 70, I can do that. And that's through the persistent extreme training that I've done uh starting in 2019. You know, I just started lifting a little bit heavier, and it's gone, it's gone very well. So yes, we have to work around more frequently, but some things we're actually better suited for as we grow older. Now, at the same time, I'm gonna modify what I just said because it's not always smart to do that. And I have, you know, one of the chapters in the revised book will be what could possibly go wrong. And there I'm gonna tabulate some of the things that I've done when I tried to do too much. So we have a saying that we have in the book there, and I think that it typifies what your question was, is go slow, but go. All right, and I think that's the really the approach. Nobody's gonna run a marathon if they haven't run before after their age 60. I know a fellow who did pick up marathon running as a 50-year-old and ended up running two marathons in every state of the union and one on every continent. So it's possible, but it's not advisable to just start out and go crazy with it.
SPEAKER_00Can I say one other thing too, gentlemen? Is it's really important too, as you get older to stay strong and healthy to prevent falls. You know, you'll see that maybe you guys knock on wood, you know, don't have that issue. But as seniors get older, if they're not strong in their legs or upper body to either help them get up or push up, if they fall, they could be in a world of hurt. So that's why it's really important to stay strong, is to be able to maintain your health in that respect. People don't always think about that. You're still pretty young. So, you know, you might not not feel that yet, but as you get into your, you know, sixth floor, seventh floor, whatever, you're gonna start noticing that you're gonna need to maintain strength in your muscles because you know, you're gonna need them down the road.
SPEAKER_04Right. Thank you. That was great, great words of wisdom. And Ted, did you catch that? She said you're still pretty young. She was talking to you. Yeah. Oh, I thought she meant you, Ted. No, I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_06You, you know, and and it's funny because uh to your point, you know, we we tend to compare ourselves against others and always trying to see what we can do with others. But big thing is don't necessarily compare yourself against yourself and your younger self, right? Because you to your point, you end up trying to do too much, and it's funny because I had in my notes, I had your quote, go slow, but go. You know, it's just just get moving. That's what we have said from day one on this podcast is just anything to get you moving, get started, smallest steps, move you forward. We want you to get in a state of motion.
Recovery, Nutrition, Hydration, Sleep
SPEAKER_04Yes, yes. I I remember working in a church office one time. There were some volunteer ladies there, and there was this one lady, she was 90 something, but you would never know. I thought she was between 60 and 70 myself, but I knew how old she was, and she would drove herself to come volunteer at the church every day. She would do her things, and a lot of times she was either getting ready to go golfing or just coming from golfing. And I said, What? I said, What? I said, You got to tell me your secret. Like, what you're drive around, you live independently, you golf every day. Like, what's your secret? And she said, Don't ever stop moving. She goes, When you're dead, then you can stop. But right now, while you're alive, just don't stop moving. I said, Okay, I'm listening, and it's just it's in alignment with what you said, Linda. You know, don't don't stop, man, because when you stop, you're done. You're done. And so, and modifying the movement.
SPEAKER_06We have a guest coming on in a couple of weeks that is living embodiment of that. She's 82, and just incredible what she's doing right now. Uh more more than I think what we're doing. It's pretty amazing. So, I'm looking forward to speaking with her.
SPEAKER_04What can you share about nutrition and recovery and maybe more emphasis on recovery because and and and but and nutrition as well? But how important is it for this this fourth quarter of your life and recovery? I know recovery is starting to become a big fad, like a lot of people are starting to include it into their exercise routines, and which I'm glad to see because you know, sometimes you can just go, go, go, go, go, and then you're injured. But how do you how do you how do you frame that in your book around nutrition and recovery?
SPEAKER_01Well, the uh they are related. And nutrition, you don't recover if your nutrition is poor. You know, it's just you know, you have to have the right micronutrients in order to repair the tissue that you break down in vigorous exercise. So that being said, you you need the right minerals, you need the right vitamins, you need the right proteins and carbohydrates, and most importantly, you need the right fats. Now, not Kentucky fried chicken, I hate to disparage anybody. And big on the fact that yes, they can be part of a diet, but they can't be a predominant part of a diet. Healthy fats, you know, olive oils and avocado and uh things like that are a lot better for uh you to have in your diet. And if you have some of those healthy fats in your diet, you're gonna be able to recover faster. So all that being said, you also do need to rest. Now, this is something that I put to the test in the last year or two. I I told you I was doing extreme training. I was lifting weights for the last two years at a million pounds, a foot pounds a month. And that is a lot, and it requires you to, yeah, it I was also doing it at a high rate, you know, 14 to 1500 pounds per minute over most of that time. That being said, you do need to recover those muscles. So, what I did for my nutrition side of it is I made sure that I was getting adequate protein. Because if you short yourself on protein, your body's not going to recover, it's not going to be rebuilding tissue. You might get a little bit stronger for the short run, but you will fail in the long run. Okay, so you have to make sure you hit those things. Your focus on hydration is really a big one. Linda's real big on telling people, you know, let's go ahead and make sure you get all your water, push the water.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Restoring electrolytes, there's there's you know, the Gatorade that everybody sees dumped on the coach after the football game. It's better as a drink rather than a shower. So I I would advocate uh restoring electrolytes if you're in a high sweating activity like running distance or something like that. And then rest. You know, the the one that's really getting a lot of play right now in the in the health press is adequate sleep and and sleep discipline so that you you try and focus your body on getting to bed at the at a time that you can be sustainable. You know, you know we all know when we have to get up, but nobody tells us, you know, we're not seven anymore. We don't have to go to bed when mom says. So if you don't have the sleep discipline, then you're going to spend more time on your blue screens. You're going to spend more time with restless sleep, trying to turn off your brain and getting into the slumber that you need. That's when your body repairs itself. I'm a big advocate on quieting the mind. So I actually read for about 20 to 30 minutes before I fall asleep. And, you know, I read complex books, I do a lot of history and you know technical stuff. But you don't have to, you can read whatever novel you prefer. It's just a different stimulus to get your mind to relax. Whereas the blue light is not particularly sleep inducing. It's it's stimulation and it's it's working against your best interest. So uh it doesn't really matter. It really comes down to when you have to get up. I get up very early, I get up at 5.15 every day. So I want to make sure I I need at least seven hours of sleep. So I back that through. I I lay down probably nine o'clock and read till 9.30. And then I'm up at five by 5.30 for sure.
SPEAKER_00The water for this for the seniors too. Push that water. Even if you have to get up three and four times in the middle of the night, push the water because you're staying hydrated. It's really, really important. Because as you get to age, you don't have the desire for thirst as much. So coffee's not coffee's not hydration. You know, I always tell my students, don't be thinking coffee's the hydration because it's not, you've got to drink water.
SPEAKER_01Well, and the the caffeine in coffee actually is that it dehydrates the body more than it hydrates. That's in the context of your recovery question, the re the way you vacate the waste product in the body is you flush it out. And so that's where the water comes in. You have to, the more intensely you're working out, the more intensely you have to consume water. When you're dieting, you also have to, when you're you're trying to reduce body weight, you have to flush the system too. So those are real important for recovery.
SPEAKER_04That's awesome. Thank you.
Women’s Strength, Bone Health, Sit-To-Stand
SPEAKER_06Linda, do you have any specific advice for women growing up with three sisters and two daughters? And I know there's huge differences between men and women. And what would you tell a woman to focus on in their health as opposed to just general, something that's more specific to women?
SPEAKER_00I any certain age, I just think women in general have to stay strong physically, because as we go through our journey of life and get a little older, we start losing our muscle mass if we don't use it. Any weight bearing with you know exercises are good, such as walking, such as you know, riding a bike isn't as weight bearing as walking is necessarily, but you've got to, you don't want any broken bones. And that's why I'm a big proponent of staying very healthy with so you don't fall. I do my students, for example, a lot, something as simple. Is sitting to stand. That seems like it's hard if you ever see you know older people they can sit in a chair but they can't get up. You know, their legs aren't strong enough. So that is something that we work on constantly is sitting to stand. And you don't have to do many, you can do four or five at the commercial. If you're watching your favorite HG TV show, for example, and it's on commercial, during commercial, get up and do three or four sit to stands because it's very important that we don't want any broken bones if we fall or if we pivot or if we turn around, it can happen without even knowing it can happen. So we've got to keep our bones and muscles strong, and it all works together. So I'm a real big proponent of that is sit to stand, walking, lightweights. I do with my students and myself. Jerry's the he's like the giant. He does all these weights and all this heavy stuff. I don't do that. I I'll do like anywhere from five to 10 pound weights three times a week. I'll do maybe eight reps, but it's important to engage your muscles so that you can lift, push, pull, that kind of thing. And I str we stretch too. That's really important to stretch, to elongate. But sit to stand is like one of the number one research uh things for seniors to do is just sit in a chair and stand up because oftentimes you guys, and men have a different way of looking at it, you have to go to the bathroom. So you have to sit down, you have to stand up. And if you don't have anything you can hold on to, for example, you need to engage your quadriceps, you need to make sure your muscles are strong. So in your question, Ted, any weight-bearing exercises that they can do, especially after they've had children in that, I would focus on that.
SPEAKER_06Okay. And when and when you're saying sit to stand, you're talking about without using your arms to help yourself up.
SPEAKER_00You can you can use the chair, you can use the chair rails or whatever if you need to. So, you know, you want your feet hip width apart, you want to roll forward, you know, from your torso area, and you want to use your legs to get up. You don't want to use the momentum, and you just practice three or four a day till you develop stronger legs, and you can maybe do 10. It's one of the things I work on with them because believe it or not, it doesn't take long to get improvement on that, and you'll start feeling a lot better, you know. And so that's something that you can do on a daily basis.
SPEAKER_05Okay. What about any supplements or anything that you recommend for women?
SPEAKER_00I do. I'm not a physician, but my my particular physician had recommended taking like vitamin D, vitamin C, and then I take um calcium every day as well. You know, and that's something that I would have a talk with your doctor on because everybody's different. You know, some people have a tendency to have osteoporosis early on in their life, whereas somebody could be 70 years old and never have that at all. So I you don't want to overtake any vitamins as well. I I usually, when I go to the doctor, I usually bring in my little bag of vitamins and he and I go through it and see if I'm taking the right kind, how much. So they can go to the doctor or the gynecologist or whomever and bring in your vitamins. Have them look at that and see what's best for you because they know you better than you know yourself sometimes in that. They take blood tests and all that good stuff. So I always bring my vitamins in. And sometimes he'll say, Oh, you're taking too much of this, beck off on this, take this instead. So I usually do, I'll be honest, I usually do an airborne every day. He suggested an airborne as opposed to my multiple every day. So I take an airborne every day, vitamin D, vitamin C, calcium for sure, magnesium. I'm a big magnesium person that helps you rest and relax yourself a little bit to go to sleep. And I'm like Jerry, I cut off the TV at night because you know I'm getting more into reading at night, relaxing. Turn on some nice music. Doesn't have to be, you know, anything crazy, just some nice jazz music, mellow blues, just to kind of let your mind rest a little bit because we get so caught up in the phone and and the television, what's happening today in the news? You know, just take some time for you, and that seems to work for me.
SPEAKER_04That's awesome. That's awesome. Thank you so much. There's we're gonna come to the part of the podcast where Ted is gonna share a song with us and we get to comment on it. But before we do that, you knew you were coming on a podcast today. Is there anything floating around in your mind, in your heart that you wanted to share, you haven't been asked the question about?
SPEAKER_00Or oh, I think for me, I think for people to start out their journey of fitness, just find something you love to do, find your path, make it happen. You know, that that old saying from the movie Flash Dance, you know, I'm aging myself here. But I think that's a great line. Just find something you enjoy doing, give it a try. No, working living here in this facility, a lot of people are like, Well, I don't women, for example, I don't want to get in a bathing suit and go to water aerobics, which is a wonderful activity for people to do because I don't want to feel nobody's looking at you, nobody's paying attention, they're focused on themselves. So just do something that you like to do that's gonna reward you and make you feel good about yourself.
Water Work, Osteoarthritis, Find Your Recess
SPEAKER_01I love it. Two things on what she has said in the last couple of minutes. As far as the the chair exercises, the sit to stand, what you're looking for, especially in women, is the osteopenia is the early stage of demineralization of the bone. It does accelerate after menopause. So, with women, you do want to load the thighs that that pushes the metabolism, but you do also want to load the long bones because that encourages mineralization. Okay, there's uh the mechanism of the bones is the bone bone is stressed, the more it calls for calcification. Don't want to get too technical, but that's important. And then the other thing as far as the uh the passion and and the water aerobics, when you're starting out, water is a wonderful medium for getting the motion going because you you're getting some buoyancy from the water, but you're also getting resistance from the water. It's 700 times more dense than air, so it's giving you some resistance training. One of the things that I did when I early on when I first started getting back into fitness is I would run in water. And I'll tell you what, I I got a lot of good workouts out of that. It's uh it's just a very tough resistance medium. But playing in the water is just as good for for playing around and getting your motion back. And it's also 50% of the people over the age of uh, I believe it's the age of 60, 50% of the population has some level of osteoarthritis. So what happens in water is it tends to cool the hot joints, it tends to support the hot joints, it tends to support the musculature. And so there's a lot of winds out of that, and it's a great place to start once you can move around in the water. Well, you'll be able to move on dry land even better.
SPEAKER_00Find your recess.
SPEAKER_04Oh, find your recess. Man, that should go on a t-shirt. I love that. Find your recess. I hope that's in the uh updated version of the book.
SPEAKER_01That that will be in the next version.
SPEAKER_06All right, good. Yeah, I mean, we we've really made that point to everyone is whether it's a nutrition plan or some sort of exercise, you have to find something you enjoy doing. It's got to be fun, or you're just not going to do it. You know, you want that consistency. One thing before we finish up is because I I heard this story or read the story in the book, and I wanted you to talk about it, Jerry. Was we're we're really big on you know, one percent improvement, just how important it is to improve just that little bit. And I think you had a story where you actually met Jim Lovell, the astronaut. Can you can you talk about that a little bit?
The 1% Rule And Apollo 13
SPEAKER_01Yes, I I had uh marketing company years ago, and uh, Jim was just I mean, he was the perfect gentleman. I think we he passed about 18 months ago now, and he's just uh an American hero in my book. There's there's very few is uh on a higher pedestal. So uh he he said, Jerry, I've got one story, and and I said, Well, Jim, I don't see it that way. I said, You're the first person in a major United States corporation to put in a fitness program. You're the first person to start your own telecom company, the former astronaut to start a telecom company, you're the first person to do this, and I said, and I finished off with the combination to make the story a little shorter. I said, Jim, you're the first person to break down, I think it was 100,000 miles from home and still make it back time. You know, so it tells me that in order to save weight in the uh Apollo 13, they took out the recovery manual because it weighed a couple of pounds. So from memory, he had to remember the algorithm or the the uh calculations in order to take the proper trajectory. And the proper trajectory was to not bounce off of the atmosphere. And if he if he came in too steep, he would be down into the atmosphere at too high a speed and burn up the ship and himself inside. If he came in too shallow, he would bounce off the atmosphere and go forever onward into space, and so that's the difference of the 1%. And what I was doing recently on some calculation was if you worked out one percent of your time, you would already exceed the national recommendation for fitness. They recommend that you you spend 90 minutes a week. Well, if you have 168 hours in a week, one percent of that comes out to 100 minutes, and if you did your 100 minutes working out each week with vigorous exercise, you'd be more than exceeding the uh recommendation from the government on a healthy fitness level.
SPEAKER_04Wow, wow, that is so cool. Thank you. Ted, great question. That that's a cool story. I love that.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, that really is. Just it shows the importance, just how that one percent can make such a huge difference.
SPEAKER_04Yes. All right, so now we're gonna move into this is where Ted shares a Ted has this gift, but he has this gift of finding a song that kind of resonates with whatever the guests are gonna say or whatever we're talking about. And and since you're the guest today, we're gonna ask that you participate and just share some feedback after you hear the song and what it what it brings to mind, what it brings to heart, and and we'll close out the podcast from there. But Ted, did you have some last-minute comments or are you gonna just go ahead and play?
SPEAKER_06I did, and I have to admit, I actually stole it from your book. I saw this, I I hadn't heard this song in a while, always liked it. And I think the way you you framed it was body types are all different. Everybody's a little bit different in how they look and how they feel about themselves. And I think you framed it as just be happy with who you are and what you look like and what you're doing moving forward. Appreciate that.
SPEAKER_04Okay, and here we go. All right, thank you, Ted. Thank you, Ted. Yes, everybody's beautiful, everything is beautiful. I love that. I, you know, hearing that song and just uh listening to what we talked about and the people we're working with and the people we get to meet in this podcast. And you know, thank you, Linda and Jerry, so much for joining us. It is beautiful, people are beautiful, and I love the way you guys have framed your book to address individuals and having them start where they're at so that they can become the best version of themselves. And some of the things we talked about today was I think Ted, you might have mentioned it as you know, don't don't even compare yourself against yourself. You know, be where you are and start where you are and and move forward. That's that's what I get from that song, Ted. Thank you for choosing that. But Linda and Jerry, one at a time here, what do you what what what came to your to mind since that's from your book, since Ted stole that from you? What do you guys think of?
SPEAKER_00I just think this is a good saying, and this is from Theodore Roosevelt, and it just says, do what you can with what you have where you are. And I love that. I mean, you can't get any better than that, and everything is beautiful. End of story.
SPEAKER_01All right. So I I thought it was about to get very strange because on that list of songs, I saw the uh two different versions of Forever Young. And every time you do a book signing, I sign every book, May You Stay Forever Young. Yeah, and it just so I do like that. I like the uh Ray Stevens song as well because uh if you start with that premise when you look in the mirror, that hey, I'm worth the effort to invest one percent in myself, then you will be even more beautiful because you'll recognize your own value.
SPEAKER_04Wow. Thank you guys. You guys are awesome. Where can people find your where can they find your book, fitting it all in, adult fitness 40 to forever?
SPEAKER_01It is uh Amazon, and it's that's pretty much the the way we've gone for the last 15 years. It's it was done originally through them, and so that's Amazon.com. We support them all the time.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, one of the things I I wanted to mention was that in the back of the book, Linda actually has illustrations of her performing a lot of these exercises and stretches and different things, so it's very valuable as far as that goes as well.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's uh it's a tutorial. I we were criticized recently. Somebody wanted more of that, and I think they wanted it short attention span, they wanted it up front. So it's uh it's for 10 and 11. So all right.
SPEAKER_04Well, that's good to know. Good, good call, good shout-out there, Ted, because uh now they know to go to peruse right to the back if they want to get to the to the meat and potatoes of the book right there.
SPEAKER_06But Ted, any last thoughts? No, I I mean I just really really appreciate them coming on. I well, I enjoyed the book and really enjoyed speaking with you, and I think our listeners will will enjoy it as well. I'm going to sign off like I always do. That's if you don't make time for wellness, you're gonna have to make time for illness.
SPEAKER_00Woo! Stay healthy, stay inspired.
SPEAKER_04That's Linda's stay healthy, stay inspired. All right, and Jerry, you have one yourself?
SPEAKER_01Don't stop thinking about tomorrow. You guys are the fourth quarter podcast, and I just want to remind people sometimes fourth quarter goes into overtime, so be prepared.
Song Reflection And Key Takeaways
SPEAKER_00Oh, I love it. Woo!
SPEAKER_01Love that.
SPEAKER_04Love that. Very good. And I'm gonna sign off like I always do and say, God bless and peace out.
SPEAKER_00Peace out. Later. Thank you. Bye guys, thank you.
SPEAKER_04If you like what you heard, be sure to subscribe, follow, share an episode. If you want to leave a comment, go to the show notes. There's a text link there. We will receive an anonymous text from you with any comments or suggestions. Thanks again for tuning in, and most importantly, keep on coming back.