September 21, 2025 • 32 mins
What if your best years of strength and vitality weren’t behind you—but still ahead?In this inspiring episode, Dr. Jeff Armstrong is joined by Dr. Michael Guadagnino, a longtime health and wellness professional and author of Fitness Over 50, 60, 70 and Beyond. With decades of experience as a chiropractic physician and a deep passion for helping Gen X and Baby Boomers reclaim their physical potential, Dr. Guadagnino shares practical strategies to build strength, prevent injury, and preserve muscle as we age.
Together, they discuss the mindset shifts needed to overcome fear, ageism, and fitness myths—and offer clear, actionable tools that support not just a longer life, but a healthier, more vibrant one.Whether you’re just starting your fitness journey in your 50s or seeking to maintain peak performance into your 70s and beyond, this conversation is packed with timeless wisdom and encouragement to keep moving forward.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
What if your best years of strength and vitality weren't
behind you, but still ahead? Welcome to the Aging Well
podcast, where we explore the science stories and strategies
behind living a longer, healthier, and more purposeful
life. I am your host, Doctor Jeff
Armstrong, an exercise physiologist with a passion for
making science simple and life better as we age.
(00:25):
Today I am joined by Doctor Michael Guadagnino, a
chiropractic physician and author of Fitness Over 506070
and Beyond. With decades of experience
helping patients move better, feel stronger, and avoid injury,
Doctor Guadagnino brings a practical and empowering
perspective to help the agent. His mission is clear to help
Gen. X and Boomer adults not only
(00:47):
live longer, but extend their health span with strength,
mobility, and confidence. Whether you are new to fitness
or looking to keep your edge, you'll walk away from this
conversation with real tools andrenewed hope for Aging well.
The Aging Well podcast encourages informed decision
making and always consult your physician and scientific
(01:10):
literature when doctor. Welcome to the Aging Well
podcast. Let's begin by just having you
tell us a little bit about yourself.
Hi, my name is Doctor Michael Guadnino.
I'm a practicing chiropractor inNew Jersey.
In addition to offering traditional chiropractic care in
my office, I had non surgical spinal decompression.
I work with individuals over 50.We're looking to improve their
(01:31):
health but may not know where tostart.
So I maintain an active presenceon social media as well as on
YouTube channels and blogs, where I share insights not only
on Wellness, but also on topics that inspire and, you know, are
enjoyable and our sense of fun. So you've spent decades helping
people better their lives and live longer, move better.
What originally drew you to focus on fitness and Wellness
(01:54):
for people specifically over 50?That's a great question.
A lot of what we see today is geared towards the younger
twenties, 30s and being someone who's not in the 20s and 30s.
I have a keen eye for what's outthere.
So what I found a lot in my office that there are a lot of
people that want to be healthy, they just don't know how.
There's so much they're being hit with so much information,
(02:17):
misinformation, and especially after the pandemic.
Now, after the pandemic, we found that people over 40 who
were fit, physically fit to carethemselves, eat well, slept,
they had better outcomes. So I really felt that a lot of
people that they just again, they just don't, didn't know how
or don't know how to be better, get better.
(02:37):
So I said after that, I said, you know what, I'm gonna put pen
to paper. I'm going to just kind of give
sort of an introduction and really what my, I wrote a book.
It's sort of a, it's sort of a macro explanation on health,
fitness, state of mind, emotional state of mind, diet,
supplements and just give peoplejust something to look at and
see what fits because there are different pathways you can take
(02:58):
to being fit that may fit withinsomeone's different lifestyle.
Give a nice well-rounded and I've done it my practice and a
lot of people make the choice. I mean, example, I have some
people who are, who are vegan who, and there's a pathway for
them. There's some people who, and
they feel like just can't be vegan, be vegetarian.
So there's a pathway for them. So I, I try to find different
(03:19):
pathways and, and hoping to makea difference so that people can
be healthy, find the different trajectories.
And that's really that's, that'sreally a thought what motivates
me. I teach exercise science and I
emphasize to my students that one of the most under
underrepresented principles of adaptation is the principle of
individuality. You know, we tend to forget
(03:40):
that. We tend to put everybody in the
same box we're in. So what inspired your framing?
Now title of your book is Fitness over 506070 and beyond.
So what inspired that framing and what do those age markers
represent to you? A.
Lot of my social media in the past has been fitness over 50
and I have people contact me butI'm over 60, but I'm over 70.
(04:01):
So I said all right, it's 506070and beyond.
I mean, if you're 70, you're over 50.
So each benchmark there are different things that happen.
I mean, I'm approaching 60 now, which is different than when I
approach 50. And I'm sure when some approach
70, approach 80, they're just, they're just different things.
Your body does things different.The second law thermodynamics
talks about entropy and things will kind of decay and lead in
(04:23):
that way. And we have to, how I see it,
I'm sure you as a fitness physiologists see it, we have to
fight those things. We have to fight that entropy.
And there were As for benchmarks, there are things
that there are different people are 50 people over 60, people
over 80. And, and I took to a bit in my
book that there's exercise that someone under 50, someone 50s
can get under the bench and theycan throw up heavy weights, but
(04:44):
someone over 80 may not. So there's chair exercise,
there's yoga, there's other things they can do.
And depending on the person's fitness, I also talk a lot about
being non judgmental. Wherever you're at, you're at
and let's work on being better today than you were yesterday
and tomorrow than you are today.I also speak oftentimes about
different individuals as examples and one person I just
(05:06):
love is her name is Joan Campbell.
She began exercising or swimmingand at age 5959 is when she when
she began and by the age of 92, she swam a 1500 meter race in 50
in 50 minutes, 14 seconds. That's that's incredible at 92.
So it can be done. So it's those benchmarks are
(05:28):
there. I hate to see people put
ceilings on what they think theycan and cannot accomplish.
But again, it's be better today than we were.
Yes, thanks. Be better tomorrow than we were
today. That's one of my mantras is be
your best today, be better tomorrow.
So why is strength training so important as we age in?
How does it impact our long termhealth and independence?
Yeah, strength training is important.
(05:49):
We'll start first with the bones.
There's a scientific facult, Wolf's law.
Wolf's law says when you put stress on the bones, the bones
will will respond by being harder, bringing more calcium
and being stronger. That's a good remedy or
prevention for osteoporosis. I have some patients that come
in they show me, they show me their their osteoporotic
(06:11):
osteopenic tests. And 1st I asked him, is he do
any exercise? Exercise is great for that.
Strength training is great for that.
Strength training is also great for losing weight.
People don't realize that, but your body after you, you work
out the next the rest of the day, the next day, your body is
recouping doing the you know, asyou know when you exercise ever
break it down. That's the most simplest term of
(06:31):
weight lifting is ripping repairing.
And as you're repairing is on a micro level.
But as you're repairing your body is is stimulating the
different metabolic processes and that helps you to lose
weight. So I really am a big proponent
of lifting weights. And again, if, if someone is in
their 80s, they haven't taken care of themselves, you may have
light little dumbbells sitting in a chair just doing some
(06:51):
different, you know, physiological, mechanically
correct exercises. It makes it.
It'll make a huge difference. Yeah, I teach my students, you
know, this is what's in the textbook that says that
individuals from the age of 25 to 50 are gonna lose about 40%
or I think it's 10% of their muscle mass from 25 to 50, and
it's an additional like 40% from50 to 80.
(07:14):
And tell them that this is not absolutely necessary.
And this idea of sarcopenia, this age-related loss and
muscle, it can actually occur inpeople much earlier than they
expect. But we can also delay it if we
are resistance training. So what can we do to prevent or
even reverse this trend as we age?
(07:34):
What you say, exercise, exercise, going to diet, I mean
what you put into your body is just so important.
It becomes it becomes the part of you supplements.
If supplementation is important,you know, I'm not really big on
it, but there is a level of supplementation that's
important. Your body begins to lose Coq 10
as you age. There's a lot of scientific
(07:54):
studies on how taking kill Coq 10 help some people who aren't
statins. It helps to retrieve that.
That was Co Q10 in your in your mitochondria.
Sleep, sleep is super important.I mean, you need to repair I
it's easier said than done because some people really do
have a hard time sleeping, but finding that way, finding, you
know, working on it to get your your sleeping in your pair state
(08:18):
of mind, positive state of mind being social.
You've we're social beings. A lot of people like to live
isolated, but in the end, you doneed that social you need that
social aspect. You need if it's not family,
it's friends, it's it's groups, it's being around, it's going to
ball games, whatever it is just that social interactions.
It's important for the mind. It's important for to help
prevent the aging and it goes back to the the entropy that it
(08:40):
stops the IT helps fight againstthat.
You know you know that decay We want to keep walking up the
steps, you know, like the salmon, so swim upstream and as
opposed to let that unfortunate snowball wind itself down.
So I'm also too yes, we too about about the weightlifting.
Weightlifting also helps to stimulate and in men especially
testosterone and losing testosterone as as we age is as
(09:05):
that ageing process. But if we can keep that
testosterone level up and an exercise, weightlifting will
help continue to to to boost that that process.
There's been studies on that too.
So if you were to kind of give your list of say these are the
five supplements I would recommend, what would you
recommend? Coq 10, especially as I just
just talked about in the in the winter time, I zinc.
(09:26):
I mean, I load up on zinc in thewinter time because when it's
cold and flu season, people are indoors, you're not getting the
sunlight. Zinc is really important.
I also say a vitamin C vitamins,vitamin C is important to again
for your immune system. You won't want to keep things
that you want to help prevent the decay in that antioxidants.
Things like quercetin is shown to be really important in as an
(09:48):
antioxidant to help prevent thatoxidative stress.
Resperatrol, which is found in the in, in the the beets and
strawberries or, or, or in the cherries and just basically in
the skins. When, when people talk about
wine is good for you, it's 'cause you're getting
risperidrol basically. So, so that's, that's good.
It's actually, they've shown, research has shown that you
(10:09):
don't even need it every day, every other day is, is good.
Is that 5? Is that Is that 4I?
Think that's five. Yeah.
OK. Where do you stand on like
creatine and protein for aging adults?
Yeah, I I think it does help. You know, it's it may not be for
everybody. I gotta be careful if it, if it,
it clouds up, that clogs up the,the kidneys.
You have to have know what you're doing.
You can't just go and you know, anything you do, even even even
(10:30):
these supplements I just mentioned, research them, talk
to people who of authority and, and find out what, what they're,
you know, what their suggestionsor recommendations are for you,
your body weight, your, your, your metabolism.
And, and the same with creatine.And but creatine has has shown
to, to help fight that aging process, to help with the, the
muscles. And again, we're talking about
we might continue to walk up, want to fight that aging
(10:52):
process. Yeah, amazing thing with
creatine for me is, I mean for years we've been teaching it as
a a muscle supplement, but it's increasingly important for the
aging brain. And I think it's like 15% of
creatine is in the brain and even our dosages have been
probably lower than they necessarily need to be.
And, you know, any concerns overkidney function I think are
(11:14):
pretty well dismissed unless youhave significant, you know,
kidney dysfunction. But what about the role of
mobility and joint health and preserving functional fitness
over the age of 50? What role does that play?
And how does chiropractic fit into that as well?
Yeah, movement is life and you want to prevent that's that that
(11:36):
lack of mobility, I mean how it fits with chiropractic,
basically lack of mobility leaves you to sub septal to
injury. I mean, if you're just not as
flexible, you can hurt your back, you can hurt your
shoulders, you can hurt your, your hips, any, any of the
joints you could pull muscles. Flexibility is, is really
important. And and if you, I always say
it's rare to find a healthy person who doesn't have a decent
(11:57):
level of flexibility. And mm, hmm, one thing I, I
practice and I and I recommend to people's on your, you know,
you take your exercise three or four days a week on your
alternate days to do a stretching session.
Some people prefer yoga, some people just don't like yoga,
whatever it is, but, but but a stretch it, but stretching, it's
just, it allows for that. It keeps that mobility, you
know, movement is life and you, it just keeps up the blood
(12:19):
flowing the, the muscles to be, you know, like they're like
rubber bands to keep the musclesnice and flexible.
And it's especially again after the day after a workout, you
workout you're you're sore, you stretch it out and it helps to
break up the lactic acid and allows for the repair just
speeds up the. Many older adults are afraid of
getting hurt. What are some of the biggest
(12:40):
injury risks you see in your practice and how can they be
avoided? Falling is always the worst, and
that comes down with balance. That's again with aging.
Yeah, there there's, there are balanced physiologists, there
are balanced exercises, proprioceptive type of exercises
that are important. That I would say is probably the
biggest even it's not a bad fall.
I mean, I, I do have some, some some senior patients that come
(13:02):
in and say I fell this week, I fell over the weekend.
I felt that's the biggest thing.And, and just getting that
balance, getting that proprioception, know where your
body is in space, know where your feet are standing as is,
that's the biggest issue. I mean, even if there's nothing
wrong with, if you need a cane, there's nothing wrong with
holding onto a banister. So yeah, I've been leaning
toward towards falling being being the biggest issue.
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(13:25):
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(13:47):
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Thank you. And now back to the podcast we
have in the pathophysiology and exercise class I, I teach, I
kind of adopted a what we call Carmine's law.
It's named for Carmine Arpaia, who's a friend of mine from Long
Island. He's a long time director of
fitness for Pecanic Landing, which is a senior retirement
(14:10):
community out on the island. And it's basically stating that
strength plus posture equals balance.
And I love that principle because without posture, you
know, we're likely to fall because we're outside of our
base of support and strength is what's going to help us to kind
of counteract that this postural, you know, excuse me,
(14:32):
deficiencies. So.
It's it's how do we talk about the three dimensions?
Life isn't isn't flat. It's 3 dimensions like you just
mentioned, the two things that allow for for balance.
It's, it's always is this more than one thing?
Even people come in to me with with an injury, say they have a
disc injury, but you also more likelihood have a muscle spasm
(14:53):
unlikely to have have some kind of a something that has shifted
to it may affect another area ofthe body.
It's so it's taking care of the holistically the whole the whole
part of and strength, conditioning, health, fitness at
all. It should encompass more than
just that one. It should be.
It's again. It's 3 dimensional.
So how do you advise clients to balance really pushing
themselves with respecting theirbody limits, especially as we
(15:17):
age? They have to.
Well, it's basically being smart.
It's basically known your body, it's have I've evaluated what I
think they can and cannot do. Umm, there's someone who I'm
working with who's who needs to do some extra walking, but I
won't allow them to do it unlessthere's someone around.
And then whereas they get a lot of it too, is comfort and and
confidence that they can't do things that with a little bit
(15:38):
more encouragement, again, within reason, we don't want to
make falling at heart. We don't want someone who
shouldn't be running, running, but just to kind of give them
that that confidence, that balance, show them what they
could do in the office and see how they can and then allow them
to do it at home. But in the office, there's a
certain amount of work that's done, but it's what goes on
afterwards at home. It's if they're if they have
(15:58):
need heat or ice, if they need to do the exercises or whatever
it is again, even even the nutrition, it takes place as
they're only with me for an hour, 20 minutes and whatever it
is, but it's the stuff, but it'sthe instructions.
And I also have a YouTube page where I, I've actually do
exercises and I videotaped it. I show them, go to this, I show
them, I pull the clip up as we'll do it in the office and
(16:19):
say, this is, you know, any questions here, what it is, any
other questions you ask me when you come back in.
But it kind of again, just showing them more and more what
it is for the confidence level and just allow them to build
that strength, build that flexibility and continue to
fight the entropy. So you talk about confidence.
What are some of the most commonmind blocks that you see people
facing as they age and as they attempt to exercise?
(16:41):
PTSD. It happened once, they think
it's going to happen again, may have fallen once, they may have
hurt their neck once. It's same thing too.
You see someone who was in a caraccident, they really, a lot of
times they're apprehensive. They get back in the they'll get
back in the car, but they're very apprehensive.
I see that too. Same thing too with an injury.
It's happened once before. They're almost like expecting it
(17:02):
to happen again and they need toget that confidence, realize
over time it's just not going tohappen.
And it's, there's always so muchyou can tell somebody, but they,
they just need to get back on that horse again.
When I used to coach, I when I was another part of my life, I
used to coach a lot of travel baseball and when kids got hit
with a pitch, I can get them right back in the box again.
The next you got to get back in there back on the horse again
(17:24):
and again within with the respect with safety, but the
same thing to the patient. They're afraid it's going to
happen again. Let's get back on those steps.
Let's get someone walk with you and go up and down those steps
or whatever into the bathroom byyourself, whatever it is that
they need to do. But just kind of a.
What do you do to kind of help them, your patients, your
readers, whatever, overcome someof those fears, that
(17:45):
discouragement and even kind of some of the internalized ages
and that we find in ourselves aswe age?
You know, we're told you can't do something because you're this
age. How do you help them overcome
that? Yeah, well, I'll use examples.
I talked about John, John Campbell.
There are other examples I'll use.
I'll talk to them. I'll find out what is that
They're afraid of what what it is.
And a lot of times you could break it down to one thing, you
(18:08):
know, I tripped over the shoe, I, I, I missed a step.
And we kind of just work with that say, well, just, you know,
a little slower. Wherever that issue was, we kind
of work with trying to overcome it using the examples again of,
of other people. And if it's something as simple
as a walk around the corner or, or getting up and down, go off a
chair, we'll do it in my office a few times and just kind of let
(18:30):
them see that, see the process and see how it, you know, how it
develops and how it's, you know,it's not something to be afraid
of. Again, you gotta be careful.
We don't, we obviously don't want that because if it happens
again, then they they're really gonna be afraid of it.
But just show them how I've doneit, right?
And then sometimes maybe show them how to stand up.
They might be standing up. You tell them you put your feet
down, hold your back, whatever it is, and get up a certain way,
kind of working with them. Let them feel like, hey, now you
(18:51):
can again, the work is done. At home they go and at home be
with somebody. In in, in in practice.
So what does a realistic fitnessroutine look like for somebody
in their 50s, sixties or 70s or beyond?
It depends on what, what, what, where they're coming from, what
their position is. Someone like yourself.
From myself, I've never stopped exercising.
I work out with my 20 year old son and I, I can't do the weight
(19:13):
that he can do anymore, but I work out with him.
If someone hasn't started before, if someone has not
started before, no matter what the age is, we start just basic,
you know, just walk a little. Just walk.
If you have the ability to, to get in the pool, if you can
swim, just do a little bit, a little bit.
And then today let's do tomorrow, try to do a little bit
more. Sometimes you need to take a
break, then you do a little more.
Just just start off basic like that.
(19:33):
Someone in the 50s or 60s, they can pretty much go pretty, I
would say, I hate to use, say use the word, but pretty hard.
They can really, if they, if they have exercises, they're in
health, their heart's in good shape that they can go at it
again, as you get in the 70s, you might want to kind of dial
it down a little bit. You also want to be careful too
of, of heavy lifting. They've, they've shown some,
there's some early studies. I, I, I've seen, I haven't seen
(19:54):
the follow up studies on effectson the aorta if someone's
lifting too heavy, too old, because there's a lack of
flexibility there. So you want you can still bench,
you can still do the weights, but you just want to be be
careful of the rest of the body.And again, if someone who's not,
who hasn't worked out a lot, you've seen someone comes in, in
the late 70s, eighties or, and they have an exercise, there's
(20:15):
things you could do in the chair.
There's yoga exercises, there's chair stretching.
I, I've, I have a patient who's in the late 80s and she goes
twice a week to some kind of a, a chair class And they, they,
they, they, they, they pass a ball to each other.
They do some stretching exercises.
Again, we want to keep that movement.
You want to keep that flexibility.
That's important even if you're 80 or if you're 50.
(20:36):
So that's so again, if they answered your question, it
really depends what level you'restarting at and what you can do
from it. So, are there any specific
tools, programs, or movement patterns that you consistently
recommend to your older patients?
Well, again, it's just finding out what they like, what they're
amendable to, what their experience is.
(20:56):
There are some people I do not want to lift weights, I do not
want to lift weights. So, so maybe they can do
calisthenics, maybe they can do some push ups, they could do
setups, they could do squats or,or deep knee bends.
And if they do deep knee bends for a while, I could tell them,
why don't you grab a couple of dumbbells and deep knee bend
with the dumbbells and squat andI'll show them, you know, show
them examples and, and, and goodform to do that.
(21:17):
Some of them just want that they'd want to walk it.
It's really it's funny out what they want.
That's a lot I talk about to my book.
There's so many different examples I give from kettle
bells to dumbbells to calisthenics to yoga.
It's really funny out where they're at and what they're
going to do. I mean, last thing you wanna
hear is a lot of yeses and then they don't don't do it.
So we have to kind of try to meet them where they are and
(21:38):
take them to where you are. So what tends to be their
biggest opposition to lifting weights?
Honestly, they think they get too too big.
It's. Not gonna happen in your 70s,
yeah. Yeah, I mean, that's all right.
If you get, so if you start to get too big, we'll pull it,
we'll dial it back, you know, But it's that, that real.
That's that's a bit, that's whatthey say.
I don't want big muscles. If they start getting big, I
want to know their secret. Yeah, tell me about it.
(21:58):
Yeah, we'll write it. We'll write.
She had a student 1. I had a student once asked me in
class, She said, how do you respond to a female client that
says they don't want to lift weights because they don't want
to get too big? And historically, my response
has always been going into the hormone bit and all that kind of
stuff. And this particular day, I was,
I don't know why. I was just in like an ordinary
(22:18):
mood or whatever. And I just said, you know, just
tell her she's not willing to put the work in, you know, so
it's like it's not going to be aproblem.
That's an emotional question. People don't realize how much
effort. It takes to put muscle on.
Yeah, that's, that's an emotional question and you can't
give it a a it's a factual scientific answer.
You have to just kind of get, meet them where they are.
Yeah, help to take them. So we ask this of all our
(22:40):
guests, what are you doing personally to age well?
Oh, I great question again. I exercise four times a week,
alternate days playing pickleball.
I'm stretching and the fitness side of things.
I eat well, I take supplements. I get my 8 hours of sleep no
matter where it is. I stop and I, you know, at the
(23:03):
end of night and sleep is just so important.
It just really is so important. What else?
I guess I was, I guess I was a pillar.
So basically about, you know, I try to keep and I try to keep a
positive state of mind at all times and I was trying to keep
the mind working. I'm an avid reader.
I'm constantly reading mostly nonfiction and just it's always
kind of trying to learn actuallyfor my professional, I need to
(23:25):
kind of be up on things and, andyeah, I think that's that's how
I'm fighting it. So do you have any favorite
lifts? If you can only do 1 lift in the
weight room, what would you do? I'm old fashioned, just get me
under the bar and I'm like the bench press.
But you know, what I've actuallystarted to really fall for is
cup some hits. I love doing battle ropes and,
and I was black belt when I was a kid and I've, I trained, you
(23:47):
know, on and off until college when pre Med started, I had a
hard time keep up a lot of stuff.
I've always kept doing some, some exercise and working out
and working out with, with, withkarate.
But so I, I've gotten back to hitting the bag.
I just love doing that. And I'd use that as a hit.
So 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off, you know, hard for 30
seconds off for 30 seconds. And so I said my old school
likes to do the bench. The New School likes the HITS
(24:09):
exercise. See, I, the bench is the last
thing I do. I'm kind of that
countercultural. You know, most young guys that
go to the gym, first thing they're doing are either bicep
curls or the bench press. And I said no dudes, the first
thing you got to be doing is some squats because that's going
to develop the most amount of muscle mass.
And so for me, I have gotten andit's weird, you know, I probably
(24:31):
hit a just about when I hit 60 was when I really started
getting into the Zurcher squat. Oh wow.
And I'm like Zurcher everything now.
And for years it was like I was afraid to do it because I'm not
afraid to do it. I just uncomfortable doing it
because but not weight in the crux to your arm.
It just it was uncomfortable, but I kind of leaned into the
discomfort and I love it. I mean, I go heavy with it and
(24:54):
you know, it's better on my backgetting better range of motion.
Like I'm lifting heavier than I can ever back squat.
And so I'm like, yeah, I search for everything.
And my latest goal has been to be able to deadlift.
Search for deadlift. You know, you get down under the
bar and lift it up off the ground with your elbows.
(25:14):
And I'm 65, so that's that's a feat just to get down low enough
into that bar. But it's like it's one of the
best things for my mobility. If I can get bend down like that
and get under that bar, I'm going to have good mobility.
And if I can start doing it heavy, then you know I'm going
to kick age in the butt. So that's like my my favorite
big bench to me. The legs are so.
(25:36):
It. Drives that, that that venous
blood back and it's good. They said if you'll uncomfort,
uncomfort in the gym is a good thing.
You know, just really push yourself just just really
stressing. And I talk too, but a lot of
times you sometimes not a lot oftimes, sometimes you're just in
the gym. You just you have 500 other
things you need to do. You just don't want to be there.
But when you're done, make that endorphin rush and the feel of
(25:58):
accomplishment. You're just so glad you did it
and rest of the day is is even better.
So if our listeners could take just one message away from your
work and this conversation, whatwould you want that to be?
Well, I guess I'm with my book is which is designed for
individuals over 50 who want to improve their health.
Yeah, really aren't sure where to begin with so much
(26:18):
conflicting information out there.
It's easy for someone unfamiliarwith Wellness to feel
overwhelmed and unsure of the right path forward.
Umm, someone like myself and yourself.
And in this podcast allows people to find those pathways
and those avenues and, and just important.
I mean, there's, there really isa wealth besides myself, there's
wealth of people out there who really want to help and, and,
(26:41):
and fight the aging. We really want to fight that
aging process don't want to see people living on on pills and
medications and but we want to see the natural health and
natural doesn't mean alternativenatural is just so much
scientific data on natural health and to be naturally
healthy and let your let your body just be that that
pharmaceutical machine itself and and exercise and and just
(27:02):
enjoy it. It's, I think that's really what
people like yourself, myself andothers out there are looking to
are driving factor in driving force.
We talked about kind of what you're doing personally and you
say you're eating healthy. What is healthy eating to you?
I eat. Pretty much a a Mediterranean
diet for the past. I actually at one time I was a
pretty strict vegetarian vegan and I just again, you have to
(27:27):
adapt to the person. I do think the whole food,
vegetarian, whole food vegan is probably the most healthy diet
you can have. You have to just be careful.
It's whole food. Yeah, you need to get your 9
essential amino acids, especially people exercise and
make sure you get your proteins.It's it's it's available.
It's you can do it. Look at the Tennessee Titans a
couple years back. That like a whole bunch of
players in their teams who are vegan.
(27:49):
I just had a hard time struggling with it for for
years. So I I went off.
I eat more of a Mediterranean diet, which is also another
healthy diet. I can see that also fits well
with my, with my background, with my with my with my
genetics. I guess so.
I was going to say you're Italian.
You got to, you got to have a little bit of meat in there, but
it's, you know, easily to go Mediterranean when you kind of
eat a more Italian diet. Yeah, getting those fruits and
(28:12):
vegetables are really, really important.
Completely. That's one of the things I'm
struggling with right now is the, the protein piece.
Yeah, because you get so many conflicting things in, you know,
right now I'm reading Michael Gregor's book How Not to Age,
and he's very much plant based. And it's like, I, I can't get
rid of it, get give up the meat.I I like meat, but how can I
(28:35):
pare it back a little bit? So I'm a little bit more
flexitarian and really focusing on a Mediterranean diet, getting
my legumes, but not eating quiteas much meat.
And I think that is probably themost balanced approach.
I think it's unfortunate that keto and the carnivore diets are
getting so much media attention and social media attention I
(28:55):
should say, because that's that's where the worst of
information gets out to the people we deal with on a.
Regular basis for sure, you know, but it's the keto diet
you're people you're giving people what they want they want
to eat meat so you just that's all you eat is me.
You will, you know, Doctor Atkins showed you're going to
lose weight, you're going to have the different effects.
But this other studies are out there showing that high levels
(29:17):
of saturated fats, you know, arecorrelated with the higher level
of, of Alzheimer's. So you got to look at all the
data. And it's one thing to find, pick
and choose the data you'll want.I just say in some of the social
media stuff, but there's so muchgood data out there.
If you really, really care, you really want to know.
That's my, again, in my book, I try to talk about all the
different things so people can, can make choice and decide where
(29:39):
they want to go. And yeah, it's individual.
So it's what fits the individual.
Yeah, so how can people connect with you?
Follow your work or you can get a copy of the book.
OK, I I'm very active in social media.
Speaking of social media, but myInstagram is at doctor at Dr.
under score Guadanino GUADAGNINO, which I can see the
(30:01):
name on the bottom there. I blog once a week.
It's Doctor Gwad blog.com, my website isdoctormguad.com, DRMGU
ad.com and my book fitness over 506070 and beyond can be found
on Amazon. It's the book was published.
It came out in mid March. It's doing well.
I've done some book signings andand it's yeah, it's on Amazon.
(30:24):
It's also on like Barnes and Noble on another another website
still. So we'll make sure we include
all those links in the description notes.
Is there anything we missed talking about today?
No, we talked about a lot. This is really I, I could sit
here and actually talk all day about fitness and health and
weightlifting. And we started talking about
weightlifting. That's, that's real.
Like I can just do it. I have a couple of friends who
are who own gyms and we just start talking.
(30:47):
You start a little bit about it.And next thing you know, you're,
you're talking about, you know, you know, hammer curls, you
know, you're breaking it down tothe small.
But no, I, I thank you for this opportunity.
And yeah, and I think we coveredquite a bit.
I appreciate that. All right.
I appreciate having you on today.
I know we can probably keep talking in terms of lifting and
just the benefits of even chiropractic and you know
(31:10):
nutrients and everything else. It is interesting that I'm
starting to see more and more ofmy guests on here are leaning
toward the more plant based types of diets.
I think. And I, I heard this on Andrew
Huberman's one of his episodes where he was talking with a
nutritionist and they were talking about how a lot of
(31:31):
people have such a negative connotation of vegetarianism
because you, you get kind of that just like you get with the
people that are pro pro meat, you know that you get that kind
of obnoxious kind of attitude toward meat.
And so it turns people off from being a vegetarian, but plant
based doesn't holy kind of fit that.
We need to kind of come up with a good term that's going to
(31:53):
attract people to eating a more plant based diet.
Flexitarian to me just kind of sounds like, yeah, you know, you
want to be a vegetarian, but you're not wholly committed to
it. So I'll be a flexitarian, OK,
You're just eating meat, You're eating a vegetarian type diet or
you're eating a Mediterranean diet.
So we need probably some better terminology in there, but the
(32:14):
more we get people like yourselfeducating people and really what
it means to eat a more plant based healthier diet, and then
the more successful we're going to be in getting people to eat
those better diets for sure. So again, I appreciate the time
today. Just kind of keep doing what
you're doing, keep aging well, well into your 50s, sixties, 70s
and 80s. Thank you very much.
(32:36):
Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you for listening.
Hope you benefited from today's podcast and until next time,
keep aging well.
What if your best years of strength and vitality weren't
behind you, but still ahead? Welcome to the Aging Well
podcast, where we explore the science stories and strategies
behind living a longer, healthier, and more purposeful
life. I am your host, Doctor Jeff
Armstrong, an exercise physiologist with a passion for
making science simple and life better as we age.
(00:25):
Today I am joined by Doctor Michael Guadagnino, a
chiropractic physician and author of Fitness Over 506070
and Beyond. With decades of experience
helping patients move better, feel stronger, and avoid injury,
Doctor Guadagnino brings a practical and empowering
perspective to help the agent. His mission is clear to help
Gen. X and Boomer adults not only
(00:47):
live longer, but extend their health span with strength,
mobility, and confidence. Whether you are new to fitness
or looking to keep your edge, you'll walk away from this
conversation with real tools andrenewed hope for Aging well.
The Aging Well podcast encourages informed decision
making and always consult your physician and scientific
(01:10):
literature when doctor. Welcome to the Aging Well
podcast. Let's begin by just having you
tell us a little bit about yourself.
Hi, my name is Doctor Michael Guadnino.
I'm a practicing chiropractor inNew Jersey.
In addition to offering traditional chiropractic care in
my office, I had non surgical spinal decompression.
I work with individuals over 50.We're looking to improve their
(01:31):
health but may not know where tostart.
So I maintain an active presenceon social media as well as on
YouTube channels and blogs, where I share insights not only
on Wellness, but also on topics that inspire and, you know, are
enjoyable and our sense of fun. So you've spent decades helping
people better their lives and live longer, move better.
What originally drew you to focus on fitness and Wellness
(01:54):
for people specifically over 50?That's a great question.
A lot of what we see today is geared towards the younger
twenties, 30s and being someone who's not in the 20s and 30s.
I have a keen eye for what's outthere.
So what I found a lot in my office that there are a lot of
people that want to be healthy, they just don't know how.
There's so much they're being hit with so much information,
(02:17):
misinformation, and especially after the pandemic.
Now, after the pandemic, we found that people over 40 who
were fit, physically fit to carethemselves, eat well, slept,
they had better outcomes. So I really felt that a lot of
people that they just again, they just don't, didn't know how
or don't know how to be better, get better.
(02:37):
So I said after that, I said, you know what, I'm gonna put pen
to paper. I'm going to just kind of give
sort of an introduction and really what my, I wrote a book.
It's sort of a, it's sort of a macro explanation on health,
fitness, state of mind, emotional state of mind, diet,
supplements and just give peoplejust something to look at and
see what fits because there are different pathways you can take
(02:58):
to being fit that may fit withinsomeone's different lifestyle.
Give a nice well-rounded and I've done it my practice and a
lot of people make the choice. I mean, example, I have some
people who are, who are vegan who, and there's a pathway for
them. There's some people who, and
they feel like just can't be vegan, be vegetarian.
So there's a pathway for them. So I, I try to find different
(03:19):
pathways and, and hoping to makea difference so that people can
be healthy, find the different trajectories.
And that's really that's, that'sreally a thought what motivates
me. I teach exercise science and I
emphasize to my students that one of the most under
underrepresented principles of adaptation is the principle of
individuality. You know, we tend to forget
(03:40):
that. We tend to put everybody in the
same box we're in. So what inspired your framing?
Now title of your book is Fitness over 506070 and beyond.
So what inspired that framing and what do those age markers
represent to you? A.
Lot of my social media in the past has been fitness over 50
and I have people contact me butI'm over 60, but I'm over 70.
(04:01):
So I said all right, it's 506070and beyond.
I mean, if you're 70, you're over 50.
So each benchmark there are different things that happen.
I mean, I'm approaching 60 now, which is different than when I
approach 50. And I'm sure when some approach
70, approach 80, they're just, they're just different things.
Your body does things different.The second law thermodynamics
talks about entropy and things will kind of decay and lead in
(04:23):
that way. And we have to, how I see it,
I'm sure you as a fitness physiologists see it, we have to
fight those things. We have to fight that entropy.
And there were As for benchmarks, there are things
that there are different people are 50 people over 60, people
over 80. And, and I took to a bit in my
book that there's exercise that someone under 50, someone 50s
can get under the bench and theycan throw up heavy weights, but
(04:44):
someone over 80 may not. So there's chair exercise,
there's yoga, there's other things they can do.
And depending on the person's fitness, I also talk a lot about
being non judgmental. Wherever you're at, you're at
and let's work on being better today than you were yesterday
and tomorrow than you are today.I also speak oftentimes about
different individuals as examples and one person I just
(05:06):
love is her name is Joan Campbell.
She began exercising or swimmingand at age 5959 is when she when
she began and by the age of 92, she swam a 1500 meter race in 50
in 50 minutes, 14 seconds. That's that's incredible at 92.
So it can be done. So it's those benchmarks are
(05:28):
there. I hate to see people put
ceilings on what they think theycan and cannot accomplish.
But again, it's be better today than we were.
Yes, thanks. Be better tomorrow than we were
today. That's one of my mantras is be
your best today, be better tomorrow.
So why is strength training so important as we age in?
How does it impact our long termhealth and independence?
Yeah, strength training is important.
(05:49):
We'll start first with the bones.
There's a scientific facult, Wolf's law.
Wolf's law says when you put stress on the bones, the bones
will will respond by being harder, bringing more calcium
and being stronger. That's a good remedy or
prevention for osteoporosis. I have some patients that come
in they show me, they show me their their osteoporotic
(06:11):
osteopenic tests. And 1st I asked him, is he do
any exercise? Exercise is great for that.
Strength training is great for that.
Strength training is also great for losing weight.
People don't realize that, but your body after you, you work
out the next the rest of the day, the next day, your body is
recouping doing the you know, asyou know when you exercise ever
break it down. That's the most simplest term of
(06:31):
weight lifting is ripping repairing.
And as you're repairing is on a micro level.
But as you're repairing your body is is stimulating the
different metabolic processes and that helps you to lose
weight. So I really am a big proponent
of lifting weights. And again, if, if someone is in
their 80s, they haven't taken care of themselves, you may have
light little dumbbells sitting in a chair just doing some
(06:51):
different, you know, physiological, mechanically
correct exercises. It makes it.
It'll make a huge difference. Yeah, I teach my students, you
know, this is what's in the textbook that says that
individuals from the age of 25 to 50 are gonna lose about 40%
or I think it's 10% of their muscle mass from 25 to 50, and
it's an additional like 40% from50 to 80.
(07:14):
And tell them that this is not absolutely necessary.
And this idea of sarcopenia, this age-related loss and
muscle, it can actually occur inpeople much earlier than they
expect. But we can also delay it if we
are resistance training. So what can we do to prevent or
even reverse this trend as we age?
(07:34):
What you say, exercise, exercise, going to diet, I mean
what you put into your body is just so important.
It becomes it becomes the part of you supplements.
If supplementation is important,you know, I'm not really big on
it, but there is a level of supplementation that's
important. Your body begins to lose Coq 10
as you age. There's a lot of scientific
(07:54):
studies on how taking kill Coq 10 help some people who aren't
statins. It helps to retrieve that.
That was Co Q10 in your in your mitochondria.
Sleep, sleep is super important.I mean, you need to repair I
it's easier said than done because some people really do
have a hard time sleeping, but finding that way, finding, you
know, working on it to get your your sleeping in your pair state
(08:18):
of mind, positive state of mind being social.
You've we're social beings. A lot of people like to live
isolated, but in the end, you doneed that social you need that
social aspect. You need if it's not family,
it's friends, it's it's groups, it's being around, it's going to
ball games, whatever it is just that social interactions.
It's important for the mind. It's important for to help
prevent the aging and it goes back to the the entropy that it
(08:40):
stops the IT helps fight againstthat.
You know you know that decay We want to keep walking up the
steps, you know, like the salmon, so swim upstream and as
opposed to let that unfortunate snowball wind itself down.
So I'm also too yes, we too about about the weightlifting.
Weightlifting also helps to stimulate and in men especially
testosterone and losing testosterone as as we age is as
(09:05):
that ageing process. But if we can keep that
testosterone level up and an exercise, weightlifting will
help continue to to to boost that that process.
There's been studies on that too.
So if you were to kind of give your list of say these are the
five supplements I would recommend, what would you
recommend? Coq 10, especially as I just
just talked about in the in the winter time, I zinc.
(09:26):
I mean, I load up on zinc in thewinter time because when it's
cold and flu season, people are indoors, you're not getting the
sunlight. Zinc is really important.
I also say a vitamin C vitamins,vitamin C is important to again
for your immune system. You won't want to keep things
that you want to help prevent the decay in that antioxidants.
Things like quercetin is shown to be really important in as an
(09:48):
antioxidant to help prevent thatoxidative stress.
Resperatrol, which is found in the in, in the the beets and
strawberries or, or, or in the cherries and just basically in
the skins. When, when people talk about
wine is good for you, it's 'cause you're getting
risperidrol basically. So, so that's, that's good.
It's actually, they've shown, research has shown that you
(10:09):
don't even need it every day, every other day is, is good.
Is that 5? Is that Is that 4I?
Think that's five. Yeah.
OK. Where do you stand on like
creatine and protein for aging adults?
Yeah, I I think it does help. You know, it's it may not be for
everybody. I gotta be careful if it, if it,
it clouds up, that clogs up the,the kidneys.
You have to have know what you're doing.
You can't just go and you know, anything you do, even even even
(10:30):
these supplements I just mentioned, research them, talk
to people who of authority and, and find out what, what they're,
you know, what their suggestionsor recommendations are for you,
your body weight, your, your, your metabolism.
And, and the same with creatine.And but creatine has has shown
to, to help fight that aging process, to help with the, the
muscles. And again, we're talking about
we might continue to walk up, want to fight that aging
(10:52):
process. Yeah, amazing thing with
creatine for me is, I mean for years we've been teaching it as
a a muscle supplement, but it's increasingly important for the
aging brain. And I think it's like 15% of
creatine is in the brain and even our dosages have been
probably lower than they necessarily need to be.
And, you know, any concerns overkidney function I think are
(11:14):
pretty well dismissed unless youhave significant, you know,
kidney dysfunction. But what about the role of
mobility and joint health and preserving functional fitness
over the age of 50? What role does that play?
And how does chiropractic fit into that as well?
Yeah, movement is life and you want to prevent that's that that
(11:36):
lack of mobility, I mean how it fits with chiropractic,
basically lack of mobility leaves you to sub septal to
injury. I mean, if you're just not as
flexible, you can hurt your back, you can hurt your
shoulders, you can hurt your, your hips, any, any of the
joints you could pull muscles. Flexibility is, is really
important. And and if you, I always say
it's rare to find a healthy person who doesn't have a decent
(11:57):
level of flexibility. And mm, hmm, one thing I, I
practice and I and I recommend to people's on your, you know,
you take your exercise three or four days a week on your
alternate days to do a stretching session.
Some people prefer yoga, some people just don't like yoga,
whatever it is, but, but but a stretch it, but stretching, it's
just, it allows for that. It keeps that mobility, you
know, movement is life and you, it just keeps up the blood
(12:19):
flowing the, the muscles to be, you know, like they're like
rubber bands to keep the musclesnice and flexible.
And it's especially again after the day after a workout, you
workout you're you're sore, you stretch it out and it helps to
break up the lactic acid and allows for the repair just
speeds up the. Many older adults are afraid of
getting hurt. What are some of the biggest
(12:40):
injury risks you see in your practice and how can they be
avoided? Falling is always the worst, and
that comes down with balance. That's again with aging.
Yeah, there there's, there are balanced physiologists, there
are balanced exercises, proprioceptive type of exercises
that are important. That I would say is probably the
biggest even it's not a bad fall.
I mean, I, I do have some, some some senior patients that come
(13:02):
in and say I fell this week, I fell over the weekend.
I felt that's the biggest thing.And, and just getting that
balance, getting that proprioception, know where your
body is in space, know where your feet are standing as is,
that's the biggest issue. I mean, even if there's nothing
wrong with, if you need a cane, there's nothing wrong with
holding onto a banister. So yeah, I've been leaning
toward towards falling being being the biggest issue.
If you're enjoying the Aging Well podcast, be sure to like,
(13:25):
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(13:47):
recommending to our valued viewers and listeners.
Thank you. And now back to the podcast we
have in the pathophysiology and exercise class I, I teach, I
kind of adopted a what we call Carmine's law.
It's named for Carmine Arpaia, who's a friend of mine from Long
Island. He's a long time director of
fitness for Pecanic Landing, which is a senior retirement
(14:10):
community out on the island. And it's basically stating that
strength plus posture equals balance.
And I love that principle because without posture, you
know, we're likely to fall because we're outside of our
base of support and strength is what's going to help us to kind
of counteract that this postural, you know, excuse me,
(14:32):
deficiencies. So.
It's it's how do we talk about the three dimensions?
Life isn't isn't flat. It's 3 dimensions like you just
mentioned, the two things that allow for for balance.
It's, it's always is this more than one thing?
Even people come in to me with with an injury, say they have a
disc injury, but you also more likelihood have a muscle spasm
(14:53):
unlikely to have have some kind of a something that has shifted
to it may affect another area ofthe body.
It's so it's taking care of the holistically the whole the whole
part of and strength, conditioning, health, fitness at
all. It should encompass more than
just that one. It should be.
It's again. It's 3 dimensional.
So how do you advise clients to balance really pushing
themselves with respecting theirbody limits, especially as we
(15:17):
age? They have to.
Well, it's basically being smart.
It's basically known your body, it's have I've evaluated what I
think they can and cannot do. Umm, there's someone who I'm
working with who's who needs to do some extra walking, but I
won't allow them to do it unlessthere's someone around.
And then whereas they get a lot of it too, is comfort and and
confidence that they can't do things that with a little bit
(15:38):
more encouragement, again, within reason, we don't want to
make falling at heart. We don't want someone who
shouldn't be running, running, but just to kind of give them
that that confidence, that balance, show them what they
could do in the office and see how they can and then allow them
to do it at home. But in the office, there's a
certain amount of work that's done, but it's what goes on
afterwards at home. It's if they're if they have
(15:58):
need heat or ice, if they need to do the exercises or whatever
it is again, even even the nutrition, it takes place as
they're only with me for an hour, 20 minutes and whatever it
is, but it's the stuff, but it'sthe instructions.
And I also have a YouTube page where I, I've actually do
exercises and I videotaped it. I show them, go to this, I show
them, I pull the clip up as we'll do it in the office and
(16:19):
say, this is, you know, any questions here, what it is, any
other questions you ask me when you come back in.
But it kind of again, just showing them more and more what
it is for the confidence level and just allow them to build
that strength, build that flexibility and continue to
fight the entropy. So you talk about confidence.
What are some of the most commonmind blocks that you see people
facing as they age and as they attempt to exercise?
(16:41):
PTSD. It happened once, they think
it's going to happen again, may have fallen once, they may have
hurt their neck once. It's same thing too.
You see someone who was in a caraccident, they really, a lot of
times they're apprehensive. They get back in the they'll get
back in the car, but they're very apprehensive.
I see that too. Same thing too with an injury.
It's happened once before. They're almost like expecting it
(17:02):
to happen again and they need toget that confidence, realize
over time it's just not going tohappen.
And it's, there's always so muchyou can tell somebody, but they,
they just need to get back on that horse again.
When I used to coach, I when I was another part of my life, I
used to coach a lot of travel baseball and when kids got hit
with a pitch, I can get them right back in the box again.
The next you got to get back in there back on the horse again
(17:24):
and again within with the respect with safety, but the
same thing to the patient. They're afraid it's going to
happen again. Let's get back on those steps.
Let's get someone walk with you and go up and down those steps
or whatever into the bathroom byyourself, whatever it is that
they need to do. But just kind of a.
What do you do to kind of help them, your patients, your
readers, whatever, overcome someof those fears, that
(17:45):
discouragement and even kind of some of the internalized ages
and that we find in ourselves aswe age?
You know, we're told you can't do something because you're this
age. How do you help them overcome
that? Yeah, well, I'll use examples.
I talked about John, John Campbell.
There are other examples I'll use.
I'll talk to them. I'll find out what is that
They're afraid of what what it is.
And a lot of times you could break it down to one thing, you
(18:08):
know, I tripped over the shoe, I, I, I missed a step.
And we kind of just work with that say, well, just, you know,
a little slower. Wherever that issue was, we kind
of work with trying to overcome it using the examples again of,
of other people. And if it's something as simple
as a walk around the corner or, or getting up and down, go off a
chair, we'll do it in my office a few times and just kind of let
(18:30):
them see that, see the process and see how it, you know, how it
develops and how it's, you know,it's not something to be afraid
of. Again, you gotta be careful.
We don't, we obviously don't want that because if it happens
again, then they they're really gonna be afraid of it.
But just show them how I've doneit, right?
And then sometimes maybe show them how to stand up.
They might be standing up. You tell them you put your feet
down, hold your back, whatever it is, and get up a certain way,
kind of working with them. Let them feel like, hey, now you
(18:51):
can again, the work is done. At home they go and at home be
with somebody. In in, in in practice.
So what does a realistic fitnessroutine look like for somebody
in their 50s, sixties or 70s or beyond?
It depends on what, what, what, where they're coming from, what
their position is. Someone like yourself.
From myself, I've never stopped exercising.
I work out with my 20 year old son and I, I can't do the weight
(19:13):
that he can do anymore, but I work out with him.
If someone hasn't started before, if someone has not
started before, no matter what the age is, we start just basic,
you know, just walk a little. Just walk.
If you have the ability to, to get in the pool, if you can
swim, just do a little bit, a little bit.
And then today let's do tomorrow, try to do a little bit
more. Sometimes you need to take a
break, then you do a little more.
Just just start off basic like that.
(19:33):
Someone in the 50s or 60s, they can pretty much go pretty, I
would say, I hate to use, say use the word, but pretty hard.
They can really, if they, if they have exercises, they're in
health, their heart's in good shape that they can go at it
again, as you get in the 70s, you might want to kind of dial
it down a little bit. You also want to be careful too
of, of heavy lifting. They've, they've shown some,
there's some early studies. I, I, I've seen, I haven't seen
(19:54):
the follow up studies on effectson the aorta if someone's
lifting too heavy, too old, because there's a lack of
flexibility there. So you want you can still bench,
you can still do the weights, but you just want to be be
careful of the rest of the body.And again, if someone who's not,
who hasn't worked out a lot, you've seen someone comes in, in
the late 70s, eighties or, and they have an exercise, there's
(20:15):
things you could do in the chair.
There's yoga exercises, there's chair stretching.
I, I've, I have a patient who's in the late 80s and she goes
twice a week to some kind of a, a chair class And they, they,
they, they, they, they pass a ball to each other.
They do some stretching exercises.
Again, we want to keep that movement.
You want to keep that flexibility.
That's important even if you're 80 or if you're 50.
(20:36):
So that's so again, if they answered your question, it
really depends what level you'restarting at and what you can do
from it. So, are there any specific
tools, programs, or movement patterns that you consistently
recommend to your older patients?
Well, again, it's just finding out what they like, what they're
amendable to, what their experience is.
(20:56):
There are some people I do not want to lift weights, I do not
want to lift weights. So, so maybe they can do
calisthenics, maybe they can do some push ups, they could do
setups, they could do squats or,or deep knee bends.
And if they do deep knee bends for a while, I could tell them,
why don't you grab a couple of dumbbells and deep knee bend
with the dumbbells and squat andI'll show them, you know, show
them examples and, and, and goodform to do that.
(21:17):
Some of them just want that they'd want to walk it.
It's really it's funny out what they want.
That's a lot I talk about to my book.
There's so many different examples I give from kettle
bells to dumbbells to calisthenics to yoga.
It's really funny out where they're at and what they're
going to do. I mean, last thing you wanna
hear is a lot of yeses and then they don't don't do it.
So we have to kind of try to meet them where they are and
(21:38):
take them to where you are. So what tends to be their
biggest opposition to lifting weights?
Honestly, they think they get too too big.
It's. Not gonna happen in your 70s,
yeah. Yeah, I mean, that's all right.
If you get, so if you start to get too big, we'll pull it,
we'll dial it back, you know, But it's that, that real.
That's that's a bit, that's whatthey say.
I don't want big muscles. If they start getting big, I
want to know their secret. Yeah, tell me about it.
(21:58):
Yeah, we'll write it. We'll write.
She had a student 1. I had a student once asked me in
class, She said, how do you respond to a female client that
says they don't want to lift weights because they don't want
to get too big? And historically, my response
has always been going into the hormone bit and all that kind of
stuff. And this particular day, I was,
I don't know why. I was just in like an ordinary
(22:18):
mood or whatever. And I just said, you know, just
tell her she's not willing to put the work in, you know, so
it's like it's not going to be aproblem.
That's an emotional question. People don't realize how much
effort. It takes to put muscle on.
Yeah, that's, that's an emotional question and you can't
give it a a it's a factual scientific answer.
You have to just kind of get, meet them where they are.
Yeah, help to take them. So we ask this of all our
(22:40):
guests, what are you doing personally to age well?
Oh, I great question again. I exercise four times a week,
alternate days playing pickleball.
I'm stretching and the fitness side of things.
I eat well, I take supplements. I get my 8 hours of sleep no
matter where it is. I stop and I, you know, at the
(23:03):
end of night and sleep is just so important.
It just really is so important. What else?
I guess I was, I guess I was a pillar.
So basically about, you know, I try to keep and I try to keep a
positive state of mind at all times and I was trying to keep
the mind working. I'm an avid reader.
I'm constantly reading mostly nonfiction and just it's always
kind of trying to learn actuallyfor my professional, I need to
(23:25):
kind of be up on things and, andyeah, I think that's that's how
I'm fighting it. So do you have any favorite
lifts? If you can only do 1 lift in the
weight room, what would you do? I'm old fashioned, just get me
under the bar and I'm like the bench press.
But you know, what I've actuallystarted to really fall for is
cup some hits. I love doing battle ropes and,
and I was black belt when I was a kid and I've, I trained, you
(23:47):
know, on and off until college when pre Med started, I had a
hard time keep up a lot of stuff.
I've always kept doing some, some exercise and working out
and working out with, with, withkarate.
But so I, I've gotten back to hitting the bag.
I just love doing that. And I'd use that as a hit.
So 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off, you know, hard for 30
seconds off for 30 seconds. And so I said my old school
likes to do the bench. The New School likes the HITS
(24:09):
exercise. See, I, the bench is the last
thing I do. I'm kind of that
countercultural. You know, most young guys that
go to the gym, first thing they're doing are either bicep
curls or the bench press. And I said no dudes, the first
thing you got to be doing is some squats because that's going
to develop the most amount of muscle mass.
And so for me, I have gotten andit's weird, you know, I probably
(24:31):
hit a just about when I hit 60 was when I really started
getting into the Zurcher squat. Oh wow.
And I'm like Zurcher everything now.
And for years it was like I was afraid to do it because I'm not
afraid to do it. I just uncomfortable doing it
because but not weight in the crux to your arm.
It just it was uncomfortable, but I kind of leaned into the
discomfort and I love it. I mean, I go heavy with it and
(24:54):
you know, it's better on my backgetting better range of motion.
Like I'm lifting heavier than I can ever back squat.
And so I'm like, yeah, I search for everything.
And my latest goal has been to be able to deadlift.
Search for deadlift. You know, you get down under the
bar and lift it up off the ground with your elbows.
(25:14):
And I'm 65, so that's that's a feat just to get down low enough
into that bar. But it's like it's one of the
best things for my mobility. If I can get bend down like that
and get under that bar, I'm going to have good mobility.
And if I can start doing it heavy, then you know I'm going
to kick age in the butt. So that's like my my favorite
big bench to me. The legs are so.
(25:36):
It. Drives that, that that venous
blood back and it's good. They said if you'll uncomfort,
uncomfort in the gym is a good thing.
You know, just really push yourself just just really
stressing. And I talk too, but a lot of
times you sometimes not a lot oftimes, sometimes you're just in
the gym. You just you have 500 other
things you need to do. You just don't want to be there.
But when you're done, make that endorphin rush and the feel of
(25:58):
accomplishment. You're just so glad you did it
and rest of the day is is even better.
So if our listeners could take just one message away from your
work and this conversation, whatwould you want that to be?
Well, I guess I'm with my book is which is designed for
individuals over 50 who want to improve their health.
Yeah, really aren't sure where to begin with so much
(26:18):
conflicting information out there.
It's easy for someone unfamiliarwith Wellness to feel
overwhelmed and unsure of the right path forward.
Umm, someone like myself and yourself.
And in this podcast allows people to find those pathways
and those avenues and, and just important.
I mean, there's, there really isa wealth besides myself, there's
wealth of people out there who really want to help and, and,
(26:41):
and fight the aging. We really want to fight that
aging process don't want to see people living on on pills and
medications and but we want to see the natural health and
natural doesn't mean alternativenatural is just so much
scientific data on natural health and to be naturally
healthy and let your let your body just be that that
pharmaceutical machine itself and and exercise and and just
(27:02):
enjoy it. It's, I think that's really what
people like yourself, myself andothers out there are looking to
are driving factor in driving force.
We talked about kind of what you're doing personally and you
say you're eating healthy. What is healthy eating to you?
I eat. Pretty much a a Mediterranean
diet for the past. I actually at one time I was a
pretty strict vegetarian vegan and I just again, you have to
(27:27):
adapt to the person. I do think the whole food,
vegetarian, whole food vegan is probably the most healthy diet
you can have. You have to just be careful.
It's whole food. Yeah, you need to get your 9
essential amino acids, especially people exercise and
make sure you get your proteins.It's it's it's available.
It's you can do it. Look at the Tennessee Titans a
couple years back. That like a whole bunch of
players in their teams who are vegan.
(27:49):
I just had a hard time struggling with it for for
years. So I I went off.
I eat more of a Mediterranean diet, which is also another
healthy diet. I can see that also fits well
with my, with my background, with my with my with my
genetics. I guess so.
I was going to say you're Italian.
You got to, you got to have a little bit of meat in there, but
it's, you know, easily to go Mediterranean when you kind of
eat a more Italian diet. Yeah, getting those fruits and
(28:12):
vegetables are really, really important.
Completely. That's one of the things I'm
struggling with right now is the, the protein piece.
Yeah, because you get so many conflicting things in, you know,
right now I'm reading Michael Gregor's book How Not to Age,
and he's very much plant based. And it's like, I, I can't get
rid of it, get give up the meat.I I like meat, but how can I
(28:35):
pare it back a little bit? So I'm a little bit more
flexitarian and really focusing on a Mediterranean diet, getting
my legumes, but not eating quiteas much meat.
And I think that is probably themost balanced approach.
I think it's unfortunate that keto and the carnivore diets are
getting so much media attention and social media attention I
(28:55):
should say, because that's that's where the worst of
information gets out to the people we deal with on a.
Regular basis for sure, you know, but it's the keto diet
you're people you're giving people what they want they want
to eat meat so you just that's all you eat is me.
You will, you know, Doctor Atkins showed you're going to
lose weight, you're going to have the different effects.
But this other studies are out there showing that high levels
(29:17):
of saturated fats, you know, arecorrelated with the higher level
of, of Alzheimer's. So you got to look at all the
data. And it's one thing to find, pick
and choose the data you'll want.I just say in some of the social
media stuff, but there's so muchgood data out there.
If you really, really care, you really want to know.
That's my, again, in my book, I try to talk about all the
different things so people can, can make choice and decide where
(29:39):
they want to go. And yeah, it's individual.
So it's what fits the individual.
Yeah, so how can people connect with you?
Follow your work or you can get a copy of the book.
OK, I I'm very active in social media.
Speaking of social media, but myInstagram is at doctor at Dr.
under score Guadanino GUADAGNINO, which I can see the
(30:01):
name on the bottom there. I blog once a week.
It's Doctor Gwad blog.com, my website isdoctormguad.com, DRMGU
ad.com and my book fitness over 506070 and beyond can be found
on Amazon. It's the book was published.
It came out in mid March. It's doing well.
I've done some book signings andand it's yeah, it's on Amazon.
(30:24):
It's also on like Barnes and Noble on another another website
still. So we'll make sure we include
all those links in the description notes.
Is there anything we missed talking about today?
No, we talked about a lot. This is really I, I could sit
here and actually talk all day about fitness and health and
weightlifting. And we started talking about
weightlifting. That's, that's real.
Like I can just do it. I have a couple of friends who
are who own gyms and we just start talking.
(30:47):
You start a little bit about it.And next thing you know, you're,
you're talking about, you know, you know, hammer curls, you
know, you're breaking it down tothe small.
But no, I, I thank you for this opportunity.
And yeah, and I think we coveredquite a bit.
I appreciate that. All right.
I appreciate having you on today.
I know we can probably keep talking in terms of lifting and
just the benefits of even chiropractic and you know
(31:10):
nutrients and everything else. It is interesting that I'm
starting to see more and more ofmy guests on here are leaning
toward the more plant based types of diets.
I think. And I, I heard this on Andrew
Huberman's one of his episodes where he was talking with a
nutritionist and they were talking about how a lot of
(31:31):
people have such a negative connotation of vegetarianism
because you, you get kind of that just like you get with the
people that are pro pro meat, you know that you get that kind
of obnoxious kind of attitude toward meat.
And so it turns people off from being a vegetarian, but plant
based doesn't holy kind of fit that.
We need to kind of come up with a good term that's going to
(31:53):
attract people to eating a more plant based diet.
Flexitarian to me just kind of sounds like, yeah, you know, you
want to be a vegetarian, but you're not wholly committed to
it. So I'll be a flexitarian, OK,
You're just eating meat, You're eating a vegetarian type diet or
you're eating a Mediterranean diet.
So we need probably some better terminology in there, but the
(32:14):
more we get people like yourselfeducating people and really what
it means to eat a more plant based healthier diet, and then
the more successful we're going to be in getting people to eat
those better diets for sure. So again, I appreciate the time
today. Just kind of keep doing what
you're doing, keep aging well, well into your 50s, sixties, 70s
and 80s. Thank you very much.
(32:36):
Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you for listening.
Hope you benefited from today's podcast and until next time,
keep aging well.
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