He's on a mission to change your life. Meet Chris Crowley, a wise
cracking,
fast talking 70+ year old ex - attorney (who can literally ski
circles around
most 30 year olds) chats with A. Belletty about feeling
younger, getting
stronger and just being “Younger Next Year”.
Belletty: What inspired you to make such a dramatic career change?
Crowley: I’d always had it in mind. I’m thirteen years older than the oldest baby
boomer I know, and I thought it would be fun to write a book telling them what’s
going
to happen in the next thirteen years of life. Then I met a guy out west who
told me
about exercise flattening out the body's curve of decline, and I got excited about
that. But the big thing was meeting Harry Lodge, my partner in these books.
He’s
a brilliant guy that just fired up my imagination and off we went!.
Belletty: You appear to be passionate and knowledgeable about your book
and
the information in it. How well is the message being received, and are
you
happy
with the results?
Crowley: I am happy and delighted. We sold 500,000 to 600,000 copies, that’s
a
bunch of them. We get people saying, “Hey, you changed my life.” That’s
wonderful.
At the sametime it still drives me nuts that so many people lead such
crummy lives in this country. I mean, it just seems crazy to me that in this country,
life after fifty for most people, isnot nearly as fun as it ought to be. I wish we were
more persuasive in getting more people cranking but, It’s a slow process. It’s a
word of mouth revolution and it’s happening. But I’d like it to move a little faster.
Belletty: You stated in your book that there’s a difference between aging and
decay, more importantly, that decay is optional. In your estimation what are
the three most important signs of decay? And how can we prevent them?
Crowley: There is more pain. You’re surrounded by your fat. You’re sick and you
get hurt. Then there’s the great silver bullet, the gray key (there are a bunch of
them). But I find the simple master key is to do a serious exercise program six
days a week till the day you die. It sounds like a nutty regimen, except for the fact
that it works so amazingly well. Not to become an athlete, simply to run your body,
makes a huge difference in how you feel and how often you get sick and hurt and
how much pain you’re in. It’s a transforming thing. It’s a pain, but it really works.
Belletty: I see that there’s a lot of emphasis on the hearth rate. Why is this
a significant tool in achieving optimum health?
Crowley: The emphasis is really on aerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise is a great
key
to resisting heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and a whole lot of
cancers. Getting your heart rate up and keeping it up for forty-five minutes, four
times a week, makes a tremendous difference in heart attacks, strokes and all
the things I just mentioned. It’s the great antidote. It’s better than any pill on the
market, better than anything around. We talk about it a lot.
Belletty: Why is strength training so important regardless of gender or age?
Crowley: When you use your body, on the strength side especially, you send
signals to various parts to get rejuvenated. You really do! When you do strength
training, you grow new bone. You actually do. Enormously important, especially
when worrying about osteoporosis. When you do strength training, you strengthen
your existing muscle cells and improve your balance and coordination enormously.
In the normal course of life, you lose balance, strength and coordination at the
rate of twelve to fifteen percent every decade. That’s a brutal attack! Strength
training stops that process, not completely, but an awful lot. It makes a huge difference. Remember, aerobics is important for health; how you feel and how
much pain your in or not. Strength training is great for balance and strength.
You
ought to do it early and often. Continues page 2
