Blaze Driscoll

Shirley Coen may have bench pressed 55 pounds and currently holds the record in her weight class but she isn’t telling us the whole story.  You see, Shirley is also building muscle, tendon and bone strength which is essential to to her continued longevity and fight off osteoporosis.  She will also be able to eat more because with the added muscle she can also burn more calories.  (Or perhaps she can lose weight if she chooses buy keeping her caloretic intake to less then she is burning.)

And let’s not forget that she is also developing a better sense of balance.  That’s right, moving free weights requires balance and many elderly are getting hurt by loosing their balance… why not work at improving it.  I recently told Karen, my wife, that one of the benefits I get from weightlifting is building balance and coordination, this carries over to my favorite sport, waterskiing.

We continue to here endless segments about preventative medicine with Obama currently pushing for health care reform… start you own preventative program with a weightlifting regime.  It is never too late to start, just look at Shirley.  She’s benefiting from exercise at 85 years old… so can we.