My name is Chris Zaremba, and I have set up this web site to provide information, ideas and inspiration to anyone who is over 50 and is looking to improve their level of fitness.

I’ve been taking my fitness pretty seriously over the past five years, having ignored it for the previous 50. It’s been a journey involving a massive amount of learning for me, and then putting what I’ve learned into practice, so that I can honestly say I am now healthier and fitter at 55 than I was at 25.

It’s now my turn to pass on what I have learned so that others can benefit from adopting a fitness-centred lifestyle in the way I have. By the way, I said above that I’ve been taking fitness ‘seriously’ for the past few years – its actually been a huge amount of fun, and I hope to pass on some of that aspect on the site too.

In general, this site is designed to contain information that should be of help you and motivate you whatever your goal: whether you are trying move the scales downwards by losing some fat, moving them upwards by putting on some muscle, or to pretty much keep the same weight but replace some of the pounds of fat with some of muscle. Maybe that elusive ‘toning’ is the target. It should also help if you’re happy in the shape you’re in, want to stay that way and simply live a long and healthy life. So, irrespective of whether you want to make a fairly substantial change – as I did – or just a tweak here or there, I hope you can find something here that will inspire and help you towards your goals.

The fitness journey for me continues as I expect to continue my fitness regime for as many years in the future as possible. In the shorter term, I have set myself a goal of studying for and qualifying as a Personal Trainer during 2012, and I’ll be commenting on that course and my progress on it as part of the site.

By the way, although the site is targeted for those over 50, much of the information is applicable and could be of use to those that have yet to reach the joy of the half-century mark. And the ideas and suggestions here are designed to be of interest and relevance to both sexes. So, I hope you enjoy the site, and find things here that are of interest whatever age and sex you are.

The web site is regularly updated, as I add new bits over the coming weeks. I hope everything will be as I want it to be by the end of July 2012. If what you are looking for isn’t there yet, please check back in a few weeks or send me an email requesting an update, and I’ll shift the point you are interested in up the priority list.

Workout Plans

There are four different workouts described here which I hope will be useful to you whether you are training in a gym, at home or elsewhere. For in-gym workouts, I describe three that I follow – the Total Body Hour, ideal if you have time for just one to two gym trips per week; secondly there is the 3-Day split, designed for between three and five gym visits per week, then if you have even more time and inclination there is the the ABC7 Workout that I follow that is designed for between six and up to ten gym visits per week (that’s me at that ‘addicted’ end of the number range!). Finally, for non-gym goers, there is my 20:20 Workout, designed to exercise all parts of the body in just 20 minutes, at home and without equipment.

Exercise Descriptions

For every exercise referred to in each of my workouts, I’m planning to put a description about how to perform that exercise here, usually a photo as well, and maybe also a video. All designed to help you perform that exercise correctly, productively and above all safely.

Stretching

Maintaining core and limb flexibility should be a vital part of anyone’s health and fitness programme. Sometimes overlooked in favour of the other three exercise elements – resistance training, abs work and cardio – stretching is arguably the most important of these four components as we get older, so it gets a special section. And let me confess; the person most guilty of overlooking stretching for far too long is me – I’ve a lot to catch up in this area.

Cardio

I’ve made the cardio work optional in my workouts, as I know a number of people who prefer to concentrate all gym time on resistance work, and either perform no cardio, or do this as outside-gym activity – such as running or cycling. However, if you want to add gym-based cardio work in to the routine, then I have two additional optional workouts that you can use as guides – one based on High-Intensity Interval Training principles and the other as a Multi-Station Cardio Tour.

Nutrition

Some ideas on making the ideal nutrition choices to help achieve your fitness goals, with some thoughts on balance of nutrients, specific food content, portion size, timing of specific foods throughout the day, and some points on specific foods. There will be ideas on how you can build your own daily and weekly nutrition plan taking these points into account, and the effects you can expect from following (or deviating from) your own plan. I also explain the world’s shortest, quickest fat-loss plan.

Training Extras

Information goes in here relating to additional exercise approaches that are outside of my main workouts. There are comments on running generally, Park Runs, cycling, swimming, and a Cardio Challenge in which everyone can participate, and there’s also a page from Jenny, my wife. The Fitness Forum is in this section – I’m always looking for questions to answer about fitness, especially those relating to training, nutrition or the application of fitness principles to the daily life of a 50+ year old. Your question will be answered by me with contributions, if appropriate, from Chris Saward, who is the Sports Science Consultant to Fitness Over Fifty Ltd. So, any question, please send me an email to Chris@FitnessOverFifty.co.uk. Anything you email me that is relevant will be posted in the Forum, and if Chris and I don’t know the answer to a question, I’ll research it until I find out.

About

I have a blog here plus some details about me and my training, including my fitness story – ‘Fat to Fit at Fifty’ – plus my own nutrition plan and my current ABC7 Workout records.  On a lighter note, a whole range of my ‘top ten’ favourite lists related to all aspects of fitness – some good and a few bad!  And finally, to keep my legal chums happy, there is info in here about not hurting yourself, privacy, use of the information on the web site and copyright.

That’s all I can think of at this stage. I’m always looking for suggestions for additional content on the site and if you can suggest something that seems to be to be of general interest, email me and I’ll plan to add it to the site.

My email for everything you want to suggest or discuss is the same – Chris@FitnessOverFifty.co.uk. This is the email address for anything ranging from clarification on some intricate complexity of the ABC7 Workout or how to tell a good carbohydrate from a bad one – all such e-mailed questions will go on the Forum. If you want, attach a photo of yourself in the email, and I’ll try to get that on the site too.

Many thanks for reading this far. I hope you will find the pages of the site to be motivating, interesting and of value to you, and that they help you towards achieving or maintaining a healthy, fit and fun life.

Please keep up to date with activity at Fitness Over Fifty on the Facebook page or on Twitter.