Younger Next Year: Live Strong, Fit, and Sexy - Until You're 80 and Beyond Paperback – September 25, 2007

I have read many books and listened to many audio books about exercise, healthy nutrition and anti - aging. This one is by far the best especially the section about exercise. Lots of books write about the benefits on health of regular proper exercise. Younger Next Year goes beyond this by describing the biology of exercise, strength training, aerobic and unaerobic exercise, burning fat vs. burning sugar, why a heart rate monitor is necessary for any kind of exercise, how to use a heart rate monitor, how to test your cardiovasular fitness, an exercise program for beginners and another one for the already fit, mistakes to avoid in exercise, the importance of exercising within your heart rate zones, how often to do what kind of exercise, the risks associated with overexertion and training above 80 % of your maximum heart rate per minute, the benefits of skiing, cycling, rowing etc. particularly for maintaining good health and for becoming younger next year are very clearly explained. The information and advice on exercise is relevant not only for middle aged and old people who want to benefit from exercise but also for young people even for athletes and participants of various competitive sports. Because it is based on a knowledge of the biology of exercise. Moreover in my opinion a lot of performance sports people unawaringly exercise in wrong ways for short term performance gains at the expense of their long term health. I came across many sports coaches who don't know many of the things explained in Younger Next Year about exercise and sports. They too certainly have a lot to learn from this book / audio book. A very large section of the book is devoted to exercise from the beginning.The other things needed to be younger next year according to the book are proper nutrition, developing and maintaining friendships and social relationships by participating in community activities, touching your loved ones, having hobbies, playing, taking care of your finances by spending less than your income and intelligently investing the surplus etc. They are all important and necessary. Proper nutrition does not mean dieting. According to the authors diets don't work. All you need to do is to stop eating crap.All these topics are explained in the audiobook by two co - authors : Chris Crowley a 70 year old ( oops ! 70 year young ) guy and Henry S. Lodge MD, Chris's doctor who is an expert on the biology of exercise and nutrition. They take turns to speak so the listener does not have to listen to the same voice throughout the audio book and get bored. Chris gives a lot of real life cases in a humorous and sometimes sarcastic way without offending. He uses language very skillfully. So does Henry. You enjoy yourself while learning a lot by listening to these gentlemen from the audiobook. I listened to it over and over again.You don't have to be unfit to benefit from Younger Next Year. You may discover and confirm that you are exercising and eating properly to a large extent already. I discovered that my exercise program was 80 % correct already. I started correcting the 20 % by starting to do low and intensive aerobic exercise in my heart rate zones. I also decided to buy a heart rate monitor and am researching one. The correctness of my nutrition was confirmed by this book. However, I need to work more on my finances and developing social relationships.This is a book / audio book that should be read / listened to regulary once every few weeks to stay on the right track. I strongly recommend it to people of all ages. I also visited the web site [...] by the same authors, it is also very good. You may want to take a look at that too.

The difference with this book is that the authors recommend exercise with evangelical fervor AND give hold-your-hand, even comedic, instructions and wisdom. But their homespun approach does not hide the fact that they are dead serious.The book does refer to some studies, but basically the authors humorously and seriously deal with the physical "decay" of aging. And, yes, they discuss sex. No research studies are footnoted. I just assume they think the reader would not be interested; besides, who can tell if the research was correctly done? Nevertheless, why don't the authors just say, "Science aside, these are our best opinions based on our philosophies and experiences of life--as it should be"? (Or something similar.)You can't tell from the book's title that the latter chapters deal with the emotional-social side of aging, which they straight-forwardly face. To me this is the best section of the book.Even though one author is a doctor he makes dietary recommendations that not all health advocates would agree with--even the respected contrarian (to some) viewpoints of, let's say, The Weston A. Price Foundation. (Check it out; it's a dot org.)The authors don't seem to realize that some older (50-plus) persons can do few of the exercises they push. Some of their recommended exercises can be more easily followed if, for example, their readers get biannual knee injections of synovial fluid (paid for by Medicare for those 65-plus) or take a glucosamine-chondroitin combo tablet to lessen the pain of arthritis. (The latter supplement can take up to six months to be effective or not at all, and often gives a constant upset stomach/gas and too-frequent soft stools--did me, so I quit it, but some friends swear by it.) Exercise, alone, does not always lessen the pain from this condition. Nevertheless, "...this book has one core message--either you grow [in strength, i.e., exercise] or you decay" (p. 216). And I can add (p. 112): "We are not tired at the end of the day because we get too much exercise. We are tired because we do not get enough." We may also be tired from not getting enough quality sleep, which they don't address--check out a CPAP (continuous positive air pressure) machine; the new ones are super quiet.To some extent, I do not appreciate the rah!-rah! approach of the authors. Maybe that style, in part, is to compensate for the fact that they lauded the book as being based on solid scientific research, but present no data.According to the authors, exercising together can also strengthen the tie that binds you to your partner, will turn your relationship around, and rah!-rah! on they go. To use an altered hackneyed phrase: "Those who exercise together, stay together." But keeping in good physical shape doesn't depend on a marriage or some other tie, whether it binds or not. Relationships that no longer work (even after counseling) are detrimental to either partners' overall health. No science from me here, either; just common sense--sort of like parts of their book.To sum the book up too simply:1. To keep, regain or get good health, you should exercise (fast walk, for example) for 45-minutes six times a week for the rest of your life.2. To be happy you should be socially-emotionally connected; preferably intimately.That does sound a little too humdrum. The book is more interesting and certainly worth a read.A FINAL NOTE: I HOPE YOUR BOOK HOLDS TOGETHER BETTER THAN MINE. EVEN WITH GENTLE HANDLING THE PAGES STARTED FALLING OUT--APPARENTLY A GLUE-SPINE PROBLEM.