Good Friend.  Better Results

Preston Barnes has been a friend of mine, and an “off and on” member at Gold’s Gym since 1991. Like every one of us he struggles with the issues of life, stress, weight loss, and general health and fitness. He has been searching for the right time to make the right move.

His wife (Beth) has recently gone through a program here at Gold’s where she successfully accomplished her personal goals of weight loss and body sculpting.

Laced with reasonable self-discipline, the powerful exercise programs of strength training, group exercise, and cardiovascular sessions have totally changed her life in good ways.

Inspired To Succeed

Preston has been inspired by his beautiful wife and is ready to seriously change his body and his life with Gold’s Gym Personal Training and Group Exercise.

Preston is the owner of Provident Office Environments, Inc. and is on the Board of Directors of the Douglas County Chamber of Commerce. This past month when we hosted The Douglas County Chamber of Commerce Coffee Card Exchange, Preston graciously volunteered to go through our Gold’s Visual Fitness Program where he got to see a virtual image of how he looks now, and then how he will look when he reaches his fitness goals. This program also displayed the incredible health-risk reductions made when a person gets in shape again. That made a powerful impression on Preston, as well as all of our Chamber of Commerce Members who were watching the demonstration.

Weight Loss Goals Set

The Weight Loss Journey Begins

Preston is 44 years old and weighs in now at 253 lbs. His percentage of body fat is 32.5%. He has a goal of dropping 50 – 75 lbs., and reducing his body fat into the mid-teens. For 12 weeks he will work with one of our personal trainers and utilize our outstanding fitness equipment and total fitness environment to see what differences he can make.

He just started a full program working with one of our elite Personal Trainers, Terry Maxwell, going through a solid cardiovascular and strength program several times a week. Preston said he already feels the difference.

Personal Training Support

Terry has given nutritional advice and guidelines to Preston. Although he says he feels hungry at various times, that will begin to change as he starts to eat more often (6 x a day), and wean his body from the bad to the better nutritional foods. The body fights any change tooth and nail but will adapt relatively quickly.

Preston has taken his “before” pictures and is putting them in strategic locations (refrigerator, bathroom mirror, car visor, etc.) where he can see them when he is in need of motivational gunfire during each day. Thinking right, staying on schedule, and working the plan will help make this dream become reality. Those of us here at Gold’s Gym are pulling for him and have all the confidence in Preston successfully reaching his goals and discovering his youthful body (and mind) once again. We will be following his progress while sending our own positive energies to help him succeed. Give Preston a high five when you see him.

Tom Butler, GM Gold’s Gym Hospital Drive, Douglasville, Georgia

 By: Leslie Austin, Gold’s Gym Director.

Benefits at Every Age

No matter at what age a woman becomes physically active, an ever growing body of research continues to support the idea that the benefits of this increased activity aretremendous, and extremely beneficial throughout a woman’s life.

Importance of Youth Exercise

Until recently, most people believed that children didn’t need to worry about getting enough exercise. But with the advent of television and computers, growing generations of sedentary children are becoming the next generation of unhealthy adults. Current research is finding that heart disease begins developing in youth. Considering that cardiovascular diseases are now the leading cause of death for women as well as men, one could conclude that childhood and adolescence is the appropriate time to develop healthy lifestyle habits that include exercise.

Exercise in Midlife is Very Important

During midlife, the most common physical complaint among women is weight gain. This slow, but steady and persistent gain is something the majority of middle-aged women experience. Some experts believe it is caused in part by hormonal changes; others argue it is most likely due to a decreasing amount of lean muscle tissue, which results in a slower metabolic rate. It is widely known that a woman’s bone density begins to decline even before her midlife years, and bone loss accelerates after menopause. While most types of activity offer some protection against bone loss, weight-bearing exercise such as walking, jogging and strength training seem to offer the greatest benefit.

Senior Exercise is Important

Physicians who work with the elderly are the fastest growing group of doctors who use exercise to combat injury, illness and disease. Washington Physiatrist Scott Gross, M.D. routinely prescribes exercise programs to his elderly patients. “Decreased muscle strength, flexibility and endurance is central to many of the problems I see in older adults, especially women. In terms of daily living, the typical 75-year-old woman I see rarely has adequate strength to carry groceries up a flight of stairs, and certainly could not pick herself up off the floor after a fall.”

Start Exercising Now

Once you’ve made the decision to begin exercising, don’t wait. By starting today, with something as simple as a walking program you will discover the key to a lifetime of health. For many women, young, old or in the middle, the day they begin an exercise program can be the day they discover the key to improved quality of life.

Are your ready to get started on being a healthier you?  Gold’s Gym wants to help you get started with a FREE MINI-MEMBERSHIP!  Get Yours Today!

Strength Training For Young Genes
It’s well known that resistance exercises improve muscle strength and function in young and old alike, but the new research suggests that strength training also affects older muscles on the level of gene expression — essentially turning back the clock on muscle aging.

The study, published in the online journal PLoS One, looked at whether strength training affects the “gene expression profile” in older adults’ muscle. Genes hold the instructions from which the body manufactures proteins; gene expression refers to the processes that translate these instructions into proteins.

The Difference Between Young & Old Muscle
Analyzing small samples of muscle tissue from a group of healthy young and older adults, researchers found that older and younger muscle tissues differed significantly in their gene expression profiles. The difference indicated that older muscle tissue had impaired functioning in mitochondria — structures within cells that act as the cell’s “powerhouse.”

Building A Younger Muscle
That impairment was reversible, however. After 14 of the older adults underwent 6 months of strength training, the gene expression profile in their muscles showed a more youthful appearance.

“In a very real sense, the muscle was younger,” said lead study author Dr. Simon Melov of the Buck Institute for Age Research in Novato, California.

Your Fountain Of Youth?
Experts have long known that exercise is good for younger and older adults alike, Melov told Reuters Health, but the new findings suggest that it can “actually rejuvenate muscle” in older individuals.

The study included 25 healthy men and women older than 65, and 26 healthy adults ages 20 to 35 who had diet and exercise habits similar to the older group. By analyzing muscle tissue from each volunteer, Melov’s team found age-related differences in the expression of hundreds of genes — such that mitochondrial function in older adults appeared “dramatically impaired.”