Exercise is "a big part" of life for Catherine and Jim Lane.

   Catherine said she walks daily. The two have exercise equipment in their Iowa City home. And beginning in October, the couple joined a yoga class at the Iowa City/Johnson County Senior Center.

   Yoga is something Catherine said she's done before and enjoyed because it made her feel good about her body. And although the other exercise was good, "I was missing this part of it, this flexibility," she said.

   "When I come out of here, I feel a real sense of balance in my body," said Catherine, 59.

   The American Heart Association has emphasized 30 minutes of exercise "most, preferably all days per week" since 1995.

   This year, however, the American Heart Association and American College of Sports Medicine updated those guidelines to give a firm number -- five -- as the recommended minimum number of days per week for adults. The guidelines also expanded to incorporate muscle-strengthening and vigorous-intensity physical activity, as well as supporting doing short bouts of exercise, at least 10 minutes at a time, to reach a total of 30 minutes a day.

   That's how Gwen Elling, 61, of Iowa City, said she gets most of her daily exercise -- in 10 minute increments as she walks to and from her car to her downtown job at the beginning and end of her day and to go home for lunch.

   She's also in Michele England's Wednesday night yoga class.

   "It's just relaxing," she said. "I look forward to it."

   The Lanes and Elling, however, are in the minority of adults getting enough exercise per day. According to 1997 data from "Healthy People 2010," a framework of national health objectives led by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 40 percent of total adults ages 18 and older did no leisure-time physical activity.

   For the older adult population, 42 percent of adults age 45 to 64 did no leisure-time physical activities. For 65- to 74-year-olds, it was 51 percent, and for those aged 75 and older it was 65 percent.

The numbers for those who exercised for 30 minutes five or more days per week include:

• Seventeen percent of adults aged 18 to 24.

• Fifteen percent of adults aged 25 to 44.

• Fourteen percent of adults aged 45 to 64.

• Sixteen percent of adults aged 65 to 74.

• Twelve percent of adults 75 years of age and older.

   England, the instructor for Wednesday night's Senior Center yoga class and owner of her own yoga studio in West Branch, said yoga helps with balance and addresses both sides of the body, right and left. Students see a big increase in abdominal strength and a huge improvement in balance, she said.

   Some of the yoga positions also aid mobility in the upper spine, something that decreases as people age, she said.

   As the seven students in class did a "yoga push-up" for strength, England, 51, gave the students her reason for doing it.

   "In 20 years, I don't want to have to ask somebody to open the jar of pickles for me or reach up to get it," she said.

   Ken Mobily, academic coordinator for the Leisure Studies program at the University of Iowa and Senior Center exercise course instructor, said he agrees with the new guidelines set out this year.

   His Senior Center class "Boomers and Barbells" includes free weight lifting -- most four-, five- or six-pound weights -- as well as work with medicine balls and towels. In comparison, a gallon of whole milk weighs 8.6 pounds.

   This type of strength training "can do some things to help you stay independent," Mobily said, such as holding kitchen utensils, using a vacuum and carrying groceries.

   "It seems to resonate with them," he said. "They don't want to be a burden."

   This type of exercise also can help older adults avoid major injuries because they can develop the strength in their hands and arms to catch themselves when they fall.

   He described the class as recreational-level exercise, or light weight but high repetition.

   Students see improved arm and leg strength, hand-eye coordination and balance, he said.

   "The proof is in the results -- people are better able," he said. "The biggest improvement's going to come when you move from doing nothing to doing something."

   Mobily, 57, said part of the reason he named his class "Boomers and Barbells" is to get people of his generation "to admit they're old."

   "I don't mind being old. I do mind being unhealthy," he said. "Being healthy and old is not so bad."
 
 
 

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