66-year young Helen Mirren scores big, outpacing Elle MacPherson, Jennifer Lopez and Pippa Middleton among other notable shapely females. In a poll commissioned by LA Fitness madame Helen scored 17.65% of the vote with MacPherson coming in a distance second at 10% for “Body of the Year”.

So why, you ask, is Helen Mirren outscoring her younger foes? Let’s be honest…this dazzling woman is edgy, classic, natural and unafraid of who she is. She has portrayed remarkable roles including Cleopatra, Lady McBeth, Madame Bovary, Ayn Rand and the Queen of England. Then there’s the detective, Helen, in Prime Suspect and the Debt, and of course her unforgettable and sexy performance in Calendar Girls.

Known as the sex godess of the Royal Shakespeare Company, her physical attributes can be described as sensual, graceful, alluring and she exudes a sense of sexual erotism. With age, she grows more stunning and admirable.
Keep it going Helen. You are an inspiration!

Today I met a passionate, high energy woman who opened a sports wear resale store in Tucson, AZ dedicated to the mission of fighting obesity and encouraging active lifestyles. Since opening last spring Lydia Kennedy has teamed with over a dozen not-for-profit organizations to promote physical activity and healthy lifestyles – everything from donating gently used sports wear and shoes (Girls on the Run, Bicas), sponsoring fitness activities and creating wellness fairs in the most unlikely places (Native American Wellness, Tucson Youth Development and Tucson Roller Derby).

Lydia’s philosophy of active living, active giving is spreading through out Tucson and her slogan of Pay less, Play more encourages recycling of quality sports wear and shoes for those that want to participate yet aren’t able or don’t care to purchase expensive sports clothing.

If you are from Tucson, be sure to stop by and meet Lydia. you will be WOW’d by her enthusiasm and impressed by her mission, plus she has some great stuff in her store – I snagged two like-new bike shirts for about $30. I have already decided to donate my gently used sports wear – and I’ve got a closet full of it – to Lydia and her mission. She also will buy or trade your used sports wear.

Lydia and her store, Reactivate, can be found at:

2782 North Campbell, just south of Glenn
ReActivateStores.com
(520) 325-4295

And if you are not from Tucson – you can ship your stuff to Lydia or find a resource near you that encourages active lifestyles.

Being physically active is vital to maintaining health and independence as we age, and a new federal campaign for people 50 and older will help them to get active and keep going. Introduced today by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Go4Life campaign encourages sedentary older adults to reap health benefits by making physical activity part of their daily lives. Only about 30 percent of people aged 45–64 say they engage in regular leisure-time physical activity, while only a quarter of those ages 65–74 and only 11 percent of people age 85 and older say they do.

The campaign was conceived, and is being led, by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), the component of NIH devoted to research on aging. The NIA will work with the Go4Life community on events and will highlight participating organizations and their activities on the campaign website.

“If we want to become a healthy and fit nation, we need to increase the number of Americans who are healthy at every stage of life,” said U.S. Surgeon General, Regina Benjamin, M.D., M.B.A. “Go4Life provides older adults with the tools and resources to get moving and keep moving. With the release of the National Prevention Strategy, we are moving our health care system from a focus on sickness and disease to a focus on wellness and prevention.”

The Go4Life interactive website has great information on how to get started today with your physical activity program and resources for family, friends, organizations and health professions. The materials are also available in Spanish.

DSWFitness, Center for Continuing Education, will be supporting the Go4Life initiatives as we continue to prepare fitness professionals to meet the needs of older adults and those with disease-specific conditions with our two 40-hour certificate programs for fitness professionals:
Physical Activity Instruction for Older Adults
Physical Activity Instruction for Disease-Specific Conditions

Get involved today and stay active 4Life!

Leave it to the French to devise this creative exercise and calorie burn activity.

Check it out!

french revolution

1988 – my first apple computer, that boxy little Mac that revolutionized writing…no more white out and correct tape!!

Today I blog from my iPad at the rim of the grand canyon, fom Italy and Costa Rica. Thank you Steve Jobs for connecting us to the world from anywhere in the world.

An apple advocate, devotee and faithful user from the beginning.

R.I.P.

A week in MacKenzie’s world… Casados, rice and bean, plantains and beer. Secluded beaches, powerful currents, big surf. Walking, taxis, buses. Humidity, rain, lush vegetation. Volcanos, waterfalls, canopyies, soaring. Time for talk, siesta, and relaxation.

My bambino goes global, discovering himself and the world.

Con mucho gusto Z!

Look at that lake! Mid August and I must head south today. The geese are flying in formation overhead preparing for their sojourn to warmer climates…another sign of impending fall. The big Lake Huron has cooled to 65 degrees, yet remains glass calm and crystal clear. Peering down through my googles at the magnified rocks and sand waves as I swim, the shimmering sunlight forms a kaleidoscope of light displays on the lake floor. I notice the familiar landmarks – the raft anchor, the parallel logs, the big rock as I sight the distance Point Nipegon. Gliding, almost effortlessly in the mirror-like water.

Body getting cooler. Time to turn my stroke around. Head back to the dock where I will catch the final warmth of the season before heading south.

Adieu big lake – till next summer.

From my window
Shades of tawny yellow
Appear on the tops of the evergreens
Faint light marks the sky

A small congregation of honking geese
Convene others in the small bay
The flight south imminent
As the Celsius gently nudges their departure

Skies of roses abut azul waters
A light mist rising from the calm
Surface water
Warmer than the wisping breeze

Sipping hot tea
Patiently, serenely
Waiting for the day
To crest anew

No where to go
No where to be
Just here
Morning serenity

“By the shores of Gitche Gumee, by the shining Big-Sea-Water, Stood the wigwam of Nokomis, daughter of the Moon, Nokomis. Dark behind it rose the forest, rose the black and gloomy pine-trees, Rose the firs with cones upon them; bright before it beat the clear and sunny water, beat the shining Big-Sea-Water. There the wrinkled old Nokomis nursed the little Hiawatha.”
Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The Ojibwe called the lake superior Gichigami, meaning “big water.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote the name as “Gitche Gumee” in The Song of Hiawatha. Either way that big water was a beautiful place to cycle and swim. The unusual extended period of warm weather this summer meant that Lake Superior reached a temperature that was tolerable for swimming…well lets make that dipping.

So enjoy these shots of the great Gitche Gumee….