Celtics ☘️ Sentinel

  I turned 82 a short while ago and I am in a battle . It starts with remaining verticle - meaning not spending most of the day and night in a horizontal position in bed and on the couch - or, at the worst, ending up in a coffin "on the wrong side of the grass". Viability is about surviving or living successfully - being able to accomplish the necessary  functions that were easy in younger days. Vibrancy in the elderly years is a tougher one.It's about energy and enthusiam . Tough goals in your 80s. Luck always plays a role in longevity and my "3V-trilogy". Disease and injury can take you ou t, and genetic makeup plays a major role. I have dealt with all of that. No one in my 5-person, original family lived past 64 years of age - except me . My dad and brother died at that age, and my mom passed away at 48 - while my sister died at 19. I have dealt with cancer and heart disease that took my mother and brother, respectively, and have luckily avoided the n...

 Is a person's grip strangth all that important for his or her present quality of life and the avoidance of negative, future outcomes? The answer is a resounding "YES" according to many research studies conducted over the years. I have been deeply involved in the fitness business for 33 years and have recently refocused on measuring the grip strength of my present clients. Beyond helping people to open stubborn jars, a strong grip appears to have a positive effect on an individual's longevity, quality of life, risk of some serious diseases, bone density, number of hospitalizations - and numerous other benefits still being studied ( per National Center for Biotechnology Information ): "Several diseases have shown a correlation with low HGS (hand grip strength), e.g., Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke, chronic kidney and liver disease, some cancers, sarcopenia and fragility fractures. The low HSG is also associated with increased hospitalization, n...

  “Today I will do what others won’t,  so tomorrow I can do what others can’t.” You just read it! When I try to talk myself out of my morning 2-mile walk - or my 30-minute strength training session - this is what drives me at 80-plus years of age .  "If you stop doing the difficult things in life, you lose the ability to do them." -- Tom Lane That's it!   I live in a 3-level home and make excuses to climb the stairs repeatedly during the day - so I don't lose the ability to do so . The first-half of my morning walk is mostly uphill, and I do it to keep my heart working at a viable level . The strength training is obviously to stay strong, but also to keep that ":metabolic reservoir" in the event of a traumatic event - and subsequent recovery.  Author at site of Old Man of the Mountain, Cannon Mt., NH The above photo of me - and the humor - was via my daughter, Lisa, four days ago . At 80.5 years of age - and at 5' 8", 159 lbs . - my best frie...

 Call it evolving- or call it adapting - but remaining active and viable past the age of eighty requires a boatload of changes.  "You can't tweak your little finger without your brain initiating the action." -- Tom Lane Everything starts with your brain . Having passed the 80-mark almost two years ago, I spend a good amount of time pondering how I will fill the next day. This is as basic as it gets . Spending eight decades on this earth creates a lot of habits - both good and bad. Lethargy wants to take you out of the action, and it needs to be fought. A lazy lifestyle is a killer and will take you out sooner than later. "Lack of curiosity in older folks separates them from the younger set." -- Tom Lane I learn more from my mistakes and those of others than I do from success. Daily movement is critical. Mental stimulation is vital. Living in the past on previous glories and not getting out of your comfort zone creates a downward slide.  My family members (da...

 Still can not fully comprehend being 80 years old and 32 years-retired from law enforcement. If the following sounds harsh - it was meant to be. I am the love survivor of a family of five - with none of my dad, mom, sister and brother having lived past 64 . My best high school friend died at 62 . My college roommate died a few years ago , and my best adult friend put a.38 special slug through his brain four years ago, leaving behind several million dollars for his "kids" that didn't deserve it. Carson Thomas Lane watching his great grandfather on TV My former boss also took his own life by hanging himself, leaving behind a thriving business that his children had no interest in acquiring. Also, the only business partner I ever had ended his life with an intentional overdose of drugs. Neither ever saw retirement, contented or otherwise. As I write this, the sun is shining into the oceanfront condo where we spend our winters - temperature is in the 60's - I have al...

 Author's Note: This is the first of an undetermined number of thoughts from a guy who turns 80 on his next birthday.  "When you stop moving, your body shuts down!" --- Tom Lane I watched as both my dad and brother retired early and gradually moved less and less as the years passed. Both died at the age of 64 . My father died of ALS, which may have been unpreventatble, but my brother, Don, died of heart failure.  My granddaughter, Courtney, was born with cystic fibrosis and died at the age of 25 . I often pestered her into moving more to remain as healthy as possible, just as I had with Don. Both reuttered my movement/body shut-down axiom a few times, but never followed it. They both should have lived longer. My mom and sister passed away at 48 and 19 years of age , respectively. They were unlucky - with my mother contracting cancer and my sister dieing of MS. I have weathered both cancer and heart disease but have (thus far) beaten both. We were born to move. I preac...

  Time, comfort and curiosity - their profound affect on aging "Time seems to stand quite still In a child's world it always will"   "Morning. Another morning" by The Moody Blues The  days for a child pass quickly  but the years pass like a slow-moving freight train. As an adult, I want the same.  Time , or at least our perception of it,  can be controlled . Here is  Scientific American's James M. Broadway  on the subject: “Where did the time go?” middle-aged and older adults often remark. Many of us feel that time passes more quickly as we age, a perception that can lead to regrets. According to psychologist and BBC columnist Claudia Hammond, “the sensation that time speeds up as you get older is one of the biggest mysteries of the experience of time.” "Engaging in a novel exploit makes time appear to pass more quickly in the moment. But if we remember that activity later on, it will seem to have lasted longer than more mundane experiences." Tha...

 When I told my doctor that - by the life-expectancy tables - at now age 79, I should have been dead a year or two (or three) ago. He responded by stating that the 76 years of life predicted at birth (via the tables) increases as men (and women) live into their senior years. So I checked that out and found that the 76 years of life projected at birth rises to 88 years since I have now made it to 79. And if I make it to 84, I might have another 6-or-7 years in me. This is good news. It appears, that the longer we survive various killing diseases, mishaps, etc. - our likelyhood of living into our 80's and even 90's - rises ( per verywellhealth.com ): "Each year a person lives means they have survived multiple potential causes of death. This means that life expectancy actually can increase with age." Who knew? Check it out yourself. Take care of yourself - survive your 40's, 50's and 60's - and possibly live into your 80's and 90's. 

  New day - new beginning . Morning is a vital key to health, fitness and mental well-being . Eschewing the flawed idea that a king's breakfast and pauper's supper is best for everybody, here's my case for the opposite stance. Imagine you are a kid at an amusement park , and your mom has given you only so much money for the day. Spend most of it early in the day, and you are set for a miserable time in the afternoon . You get the analogy. Protein and vegetables get you leaner . I go with one or two eggs, into which I throw canned spinach, roasted red peppers, mushrooms, etc. One egg is only about 80 calories, and the veggies and fungus are almost a non-factor in the calorie count.  My breakfast this morning was one scrambled egg, mushrooms and one link of turkey sausage cut up into the pan. Calories? Maybe as much as 120. With two eggs, it would be 200 - w/3 eggs, it gets to 280. Still under 300 calories. I will follow with a 100-calorie whey protein shake after my worko...

 So here we go! After close to 30 years as a Personal Trainer, Weight Management Consultant and Health Coach - in addition to being an-almost 78-year occupant of the planet - this is the first brief idea that some folks out there may want to follow. You are not a test tube! A test tube is an inert glass vessel to which are added various chemicals to produce a known reaction. That is not you. You are a distinct individual . There is no one in the Universe exactly like you. Carl Sagan said it best. So whatever your goal - weight loss, strength gain, added muscle, longer life, etc. - you need to EXPERIMENT to see what works for you as an individual.  "You become what you eat", so I will devote much attention to nutrition. I began my health and fitness career after working as a research engineer and police investigator, so don't expect the mundane or run-of-the-mill.  Tip # 2 will revolve around the idiotic adage, "Eat breakfast like a king and supper like a pauper...

At 75 years of age, I am 10 years past the 65-year-old elderly gateway. But I don't feel it. I honestly don't. One of my major battles is to not lose ground on energy levels, and trying to avoid dementia. So far - so good. This may sound like an advertisement, but I assure you, it's not. When pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ) became available via the Life Extension Foundation, i did a large amount of research on my own and liked the idea of boosting energy at the cellular level. I eventually bought in to the concept and have been taking PQQ for years. Part of the reason I write about the Boston Celtics and many other subjects is to maintain brain function at least at a reasonable level, in effect keeping the neurons working properly. And now learning about the connection between PQQ, space dust, comets and the beginnings of life only enhances my inquisitiveness - the thing that separates the young from the old. The entire LEF article is worth reading , but for those tha...