It doesn't require too much imagination to think of situations where greater flexibility would confer a great advantage. (I'm thinking of myself on my back with my feet next to my ears, for example…) Men often avoid flexibility training either because they hold the ridiculous notion that it is just for women (Remember Jane Fonda in tights?) or that it is just not as sexy as pumping iron or sweating on a treadmill. Stretching does involve a certain degree of sustained discomfort, however slight, and without the sex appeal of cardio and weight training flexibility training is all too easily skipped over.

This is unfortunate because one cannot claim to have a complete fitness program without doing some flexibility training. This kind of training is important for everyone to speed recovery from other forms of exercise, reduce the duration and severity of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), and improve your versatility in a variety of situations. It becomes especially important as our bodies age because greater flexibility means less likelihood of injury in even normal, everyday activities.

We used to think that stretching should be done before weight training as part of a warm-up routine. However, research has shown that deep stretching of muscles actually reduces their ability to contract strongly, and this effect is definitely not desirable when you are trying to build some lean tissue.

Winter holidays invite us to gather with friends and family for unusually sumptuous meals. Even strict dieters can and should take holidays from eating "clean," bodybuilder lingo for maintaining a relatively low-fat, controlled-carbohydrate, nutritious diet. Some foods are good for your body, but some holiday foods are especially good for the soul. A single meal or day of meals alone need not derail a fitness program as long as you don’t let overindulgence become your regular dietary style after the holidays.

Mature men tend to put on more body fat more quickly than younger men, so overindulgence can produce undesired effects more quickly than when we were younger. The main two reasons are lower levels of activity and of testosterone. Assuming you don’t have a physical ailment or disability that prevents you from vigorous exercise, your activity level is largely a choice.

Some people "pay" for their overindulgence by feeling guilty. This can be an insidious, unconscious way to avoid doing anything really effective about getting back in shape. The unconscious dialogue goes like this: "If I feel guilty enough, I don't have to think about a diet or exercise."  Ditch the guilt and just return to healthier habits.

We used to think it was enough to spend some time on a treadmill or something similar to keep fit. But cardio-vascular exercise alone will not preserve bone density and muscle mass. As time passes without adequate stimulation, aging bodies lose both, and these changes can result in falls, broken bones, back injuries, and decreased resistance to disease in our golden years.

Cardio is important, no doubt, but to achieve total fitness we need to lift some weights one way or another. There is an old mistaken notion that men with well-developed muscles will have all that “turn to fat” if they don’t' keep lifting. Muscles will atrophy if they are not regularly and sufficiently stimulated, and men who eat more calories than they burn will store the excess as fat. But if you have ever built muscle at any time in your life, the foundation will remain, and rebuilding will be easier through a process known as “muscle memory” than for those who never lifted a finger.

Whether you are new to weight training or returning from a break in training, it is wise to start out your weight-training program slowly and carefully, allowing plenty of time for your body to adjust to the new level of exercise. Before you lift anything heavier than your gym bag, however, you should start out with five-to-ten minutes of a warm-up exercise such as a treadmill, elliptical trainer, or stationary bike. The idea here is simply to get blood flowing, warm up stiff muscles, and break a sweat. We used to think that stretching before lifting was a good idea, but we now know that stretching is best done between lifts and after training. Done before lifting, stretching can actually decrease muscle strength.

Those of us 50 or older have seen fitness trends come and go. I, for one, used to jog the entire length of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco in the late 70s (about five miles). When I moved back to Los Angeles in 1980, I started training for 5K and 10K races in Griffith Park. Jogging morphed into running, and then aerobics in all its various forms consumed the fitness world. It is fitting that so many have devoted so much time to cardio-vascular training as these heart-pumping exercises form the base of the fitness triangle, with weight training and flexibility training as the other two sides. Nevertheless, motivating ourselves to do these often-repetitive (i.e. boring) exercises can be a challenge, despite loads of studies showing how regular aerobic exercise can reverse or reduce the risk of heart disease and Type II diabetes, lower blood pressure, eliminate unwanted body fat, lift our spirits, and even keep Mr. Happy perky.

Most American men around my age (over 50) attended schools in which physical education was a required part of the curriculum. This was John F. Kennedy’s innovation to education in the 60s to help young Americans get strong and stay fit physically as well as academically. The idea was that a sound foundation in physical culture acquired at an early age would create a habit of fitness to last our whole lives.

Well, it sounded good at the time.

Many of us participated in extra-curricular sports or leisure activities that involved plenty of physical exercise in those halcyon days. A few hardy souls even might have maintained that high-school weight-training routine and laps around the track into adulthood. But, most American men at some point, and for any number of seemingly good reasons, put aside regular exercise for other compelling activities like working for a living and operating the remote control on the television.

A Long Walk With a Friend is a Good Way to Start Exercising Again

Many of us may recall with a chuckle the first time we heard the saying, “Whenever I get the urge to exercise, I lie down until it goes away.” Actually, this saying is only really funny to younger men just starting to neglect themselves who do not yet experience the genuine feeling of loss that comes with diminished physical fitness and the unpleasant changes in the way we look and feel as we avoid physical exercise over time. Those of us who have seen our waistlines increase as our aerobic capacities decrease confront a sobering choice: Do we surrender to physical decline, or do we fight back with all the proverbial wisdom and determination granted us by surviving this many years?

”Aging is not for sissies,“ said Bette Davis.

As I approach my 55th birthday, I can relate more and more to her sentiment with each passing year. However, it is helpful to remember that age by itself is not a disease.  It's not something to be feared or avoided. I have known men in their 60s in better shape than men in their 20s.

While aging is a natural part of spending time on this planet, keeping fit and healthy into our mature years is to some degree a choice. Time and again I’ve heard much younger men tell me how attractive they find an older man who takes care of himself. (I personally find men who take care of themselves at any age more attractive than men who neglect their health, but I certainly understand how a man with the experience and knowledge that maturity can bring is even more appealing when he’s physically fit.)

It is important both for our own personal wellbeing as well as for our social and sexual lives to keep our aging bodies healthy and fit. But it is not always clear just how to do this safely as we come to realize that older bodies require some special care to maximize our fitness gains without risking injuries that can interrupt training, not to speak of other enjoyable activities.

Physical fitness at any age consists of three chief components, strength, flexibility, and endurance. A complete fitness program will include workouts that target each of these areas of fitness along with a reasonable, sustainable diet.