| People will shop interminably, ask endless questions | | | | of exercise, a balanced diet, proper rest, mental activity |
| and spend a lot of money to buy today's luxuries like | | | | and peace of mind in ensuring a long and productive |
| big screen TV's, VCR's and desktop computers and | | | | life. As a rule, bodybuilders going into their 70's and 80's |
| laptops. And once this sophisticated electronic gear is | | | | today remain functional, healthy and independent. |
| installed, they impulsively poke at keys and buttons on | | | | Bodybuilding has always been a form of re-search . |
| the chance that they can make it work with little or no | | | | The bodybuilding community itself was a great |
| reference to the manuals. They learn to live with | | | | experimental group. We learned a lot by experience. |
| equipment that functions minimally. It's of no great | | | | We discovered things for ourselves, not waiting for |
| concern because they won't be punished for their | | | | scientists to do it for us. Today, we enjoy the benefits |
| indifference. | | | | from both. |
| In a similar way, they shrug off their physical functions. | | | | We knew you had to be fit to survive. There is no |
| Their hurry-up world has steered them away from the | | | | place for weakness. The laws of nature are fixed, |
| performance of their physical machine so delicately | | | | finite and unforgiving. Early people had no drugs, or |
| designed for healthy survival on this planet. Let their | | | | antibiotics to cure infectious diseases. They had to rely |
| cars sputter for a moment on the freeway and they | | | | on their lifestyles as hard working athletes. Too many |
| waste no time heading for the repair shop. Yet, when | | | | of today's people have grown soft and dependent on |
| they find themselves out of breath after climbing a | | | | scientific cures. Perhaps they live longer, but they have |
| flight of stairs, they disregard the symptom, preferring | | | | also become victims of incipient diseases due to their |
| not to consult the body's manual of operation. | | | | modern degenerative lifestyles. |
| They grab pills instead, on the chance that one of | | | | Perhaps the greatest age related loss affecting health |
| them might work. Like their half used electronic | | | | and daily activity is the loss of strength and total |
| devices, their bodies remain at a low level of | | | | muscle mass. It comes as no surprise to us that |
| performance. | | | | scientists have recently observed the health benefits |
| We are biologically wired at birth with a warranty of | | | | from strength training from people of all ages. In fact, |
| threescore years and ten, but we tend to ignore the | | | | the older you are, the more significant the health |
| fine print with its numerous disclaimers. With proper | | | | benefits. |
| care and maintenance, we can live far beyond the | | | | With less muscle mass, your metabolic rate is lower, |
| warranty. When we hit the wrong key, nature makes | | | | which means you must eat fewer calories to maintain |
| little allowance for the error. We get stamped with the | | | | a healthy weight. Which also means you get fewer |
| deficiency, and we have to live with it. If the error is | | | | nutrients and run the risk of becoming nutritionally |
| too great we may not live. | | | | deficient. Also, making matters worse is the increased |
| We can live longer or die sooner. The choice is ours. | | | | need for certain nutrients with advancing age. Thus, |
| We can be either active or sedentary. It has always | | | | the loss of muscle mass in the elderly is particularly |
| been the ethic of bodybuilders to plumb the depths of | | | | alarming. |
| human physical behavior to determine a lifestyle that | | | | You can build muscle at any age. The sooner you get |
| would ensure optimum function. Truths that have | | | | started the better. Every decade of your life has |
| existed since time began have been ignored by | | | | pitfalls that can be avoided by what you did previously. |
| modern man. Our forebears must have done the right | | | | The bodybuilding you do today prepares you better |
| thing to have handed us the legacy of life. The whole | | | | for the threats awaiting you in the future. |
| purpose of bodybuilding was to relearn the rules of | | | | If you don't consult the manual and hit the right keys |
| nature to re-establish of form of life commensurate | | | | for the precisely functioning human machine presented |
| with the past. Primitive cultures and previous | | | | to you at birth, you face life threatening consequences. |
| civilizations must have been faced with the same task, | | | | I think the bodybuilding lifestyle is precisely what you |
| and they evidently came through with flying colors. | | | | need to keep your body up and running in perfection to |
| As bodybuilders, we learned long ago the importance | | | | the full extent of your warranty - and beyond. |