Just Move!: A New Approach to Fitness After 50

by James P. Owen

This step-by-step guide, written by a best-selling author and former Wall Street titan, provides all the information—and inspiration—you need to feel better, reduce aches and pains, and push back against aging with a personalized fitness program that's right for you.  

Whatever your fitness goals or preferences, this book is designed to help you pursue the health program that works for you.

An inspirational speaker, author, and former Wall Street rainmaker, Jim Owen was 70 when he decided he had to get fit. Years of a chair-bound lifestyle were taking their toll. Realizing that the old bodybuilding approach was no way to tackle the stiffness, weakness, and aches and pains that come with age, he set off on a journey of discovery and transformation. With help from the experts, he developed a common-sense, step-by-step program that can be tailored to any level of physical ability. Along the way he learned why cardio machines aren't enough, what it takes to be "functionally fit" for daily life, and how to stay motivated. Today, Owen is in better shape than he was at 25, and he is a passionate evangelist for fitness as a way of life. He has proved that you don't have to be powerless in the face of advancing if you make a commitment to "just move," you can take charge of the aging process and make your coming years the best they can be.

The book is divided into two sections, with the first providing fascinating information and the second showing step-by-step details of how to put the best fitness principles into practice.

Genres: Nonfiction, Health

224 pages, Paperback

Published September 12, 2017

About the author

After a successful 35-year Wall Street career, James P. Owen found new purpose in being an author, inspirational speaker, and social entrepreneur. His book, Cowboy Ethics, a best-seller with more than 150,000 copies in circulation, and two follow-up volumes, Cowboy Values and The Try, shine a light on the importance of shared values and personal character in our society.

Now Jim is propelled by a new mission: showing older adults how to get and stay in shape. His latest book, Just Move! A New Approach to Fitness after 50 (National Geographic), was inspired by his personal journey of transformation. As a 70-year-old “couch potato,” Jim resolved to do whatever it took to become fit and ease his chronic back pain. Seven years later, he is in better shape than he was in his twenties, and has become a passionate evangelist for fitness as a way of life. In his speaking engagements, he reminds audiences that being in shape helps older adults stay mobile, active, and independent, enabling a quality of life no amount of money can buy. Jim lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife, Stanya.

Reviews

[Lisa Kekaula · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just Move by James P Owen
This is a step by step manual for persons over 50 to get fit.

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great way to get started. It is full of information and motivation. It encourages you to simply get started. Start slow and pay attention to your body. Do not get bogged down with a routine, it is important to change it up regularly. The book provides beginner, intermediate and advanced techniques for multiple exercises.

Received as a Goodreads giveaway. Having just turned 50, I was excited to win this book. Although I have just started reading it, I am encouraged that it's not too late. I recently purchased a membership at my local YMCA and feel that one hour a day is not unreasonable. I can take one of my books and read while on the stair climber or treadmill. My goal is not to become a body builder or have a six pack, my goal is simply to start moving and keep moving. If this book helps me change my attitude towards getting healthier and moving then it will receive a five star rating from me. I will keep you updated.

[Dale · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has an encouraging tone rather than a lecturing one.

Published in 2017 by National Geographic

The author, James P. Owen, was 70 and realized that he was horribly out of shape. By out of shape I do not mean that he was fat. I mean he was walking around like a stiff and brittle old man - more content to sit and watch the world go by rather than get up and be a part of it.

Rather than go to the gym and try to become buff, he decided that he needed to combat aging by becoming "functionally fit". Instead of bulging biceps he would pursue these 5 goals in an effort to be more mobile and become less likely to injure himself in his everyday life:

-Core stability and strength
-Flexibility
-Balance
-Muscular strength
-Cardiovascular endurance

And he succeeded. He claims that at age 75 he is the most fit shape of his life.

There is nothing really shocking in this book, but he gives tons of practical advice to make things happen more safely and more quickly, especially if you have a few extra bucks to pay for a membership to the local YMCA and have access to a personal trainer (including tips on how to pick out the right trainer for you).

But, he also includes a lot of activities for people that don't have that extra padding in their budget but still want to work on that extra padding around their middle.

I have gone through my own fitness metamorphosis in the last 18 months after having a diagnosis of...

Read more at: http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2017/...

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

An otherwise mediocre book I read had one good quote, "sitting is the new smoking". I have been told to get off my butt every thirty minutes by pros and this book covers in much more detail why and some easy ways to start. The author classifies the exercises into five types and covers basic methods. He emphasizes on changing your habits gradually and that your more likely to succeed this way. A decent introductory book, I don't see any advice in here that would hurt you, he doesn't recommend some of the more extreme methods of exercise and recommends working with a trainer if possible for weight and other forms of training where appropriate. A good read for us old farts.

Also see http://www.justmoveforlife.com/

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was looking for a non-culty book about fitness for the old. This one seemed to fit. Mostly good, sensible advice, based on science and experience. What I was looking for, generally.

Negatives: laid out like a big magazine article. Too flashy and busy. And the book is large format, but the type, even though leaded—so there’s lots of room—is faint, small and a bit hard to read.

[Brooke · Rating 1 out of 5]

I won this book through a goodreads giveaway and did not receive it.

[Peggy McCoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crammed full of information, encouraging, and hopeful, this book lays out a plan for aging with strength. I've already started doing the 5 essential strengthening exercises!

[Connie · Rating 3 out of 5]

good advice

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Light on substance for such a big book.

[Jill Frederickson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Straight forward fitness advice for 50+ adults

[Quinn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I won this as a Goodreads giveaway I never received my copy and picked up this book from the library.

[Gail]

I won a copy in a giveaway but never received the copy. So I have no idea how good it is.