Ageless Intensity

Are you age 40 or over and want to increase your longevity while maintaining your workout intensity even as your body starts to age? Are you not yet ready to give up intense sweat sessions? Ageless Intensity offers a research-backed perspective on how high-intensity exercise can not only maximize health benefits past age 40 but also help minimize the physiological effects of aging and help you live longer.

Fitness expert Pete McCall provides straightforward science-based information on how the same high-intensity exercise that provides a number of health benefits—from increased lean muscle mass to burning fat to reduced heart rate—can also influence human physiology in a way that can reduce the biological effects of time. Learn about the impacts of aging on the body and how to keep getting results from working out hard and pushing yourself to your limits while doing it safely, lowering the risk of injury, and building in the needed recovery for a body that may be starting to show signs of aging.

You'll gain practical knowledge on the importance of strength and power, mobility work, and recovery as the keys to boosting your efforts to build and maintain muscle, burn calories, and help joints stay mobile as the body ages. The exercises included are designed to be challenging and deliver tangible benefits to middle-aged and older adults. Save time with the predesigned workouts or customize a complete workout plan to maximize your results and combat the effects of aging.

Reaching the “over-the-hill” milestone doesn’t mean you have to slow down. Ageless Intensity is your guide to maintaining fitness with high-intensity exercise and workouts to remain active, stay in shape, and enjoy your favorite activities for the rest of your life.

Earn continuing education credits/units! A continuing education exam that uses this book is also available. It may be purchased separately or as part of a package that includes both the book and exam.

Audience

Fitness enthusiasts age 40 and over who want to continue to work out at a high intensity; also a reference for personal trainers and other fitness professionals to use in working with their clients.

Part I. Slow the Aging Process
Chapter 1. Functional Training Redefined
Chapter 2. Change How You Age

Part II. Improve How You Move
Chapter 3. Mobility and Foundational Movement Patterns
Chapter 4. Mobility Exercises and Workouts
Chapter 5. Strength and Power Training Methods
Chapter 6. Strength and Power Exercises and Workouts
Chapter 7. Metabolic Conditioning and Workouts

Part III. Plan for Longevity
Chapter 8. Design Your Workout Plan
Chapter 9. Extend Your Life Span

Pete McCall is the owner and president of All About Fitness and host of the All About Fitness podcast. He is certified as a personal trainer through the American Council on Exercise (ACE) and the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM), and he holds a CSCS (Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist) certification from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). He is the author of Smarter Workouts: The Science of Exercise Made Simple.

McCall is a sought-after resource for accurate, in-depth insight on how to get results from exercise. He is frequently quoted as a fitness expert in national publications such as Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Men's Fitness, Shape, and Self. McCall has more than a decade of experience educating personal trainers around the world, including teaching for both ACE and NASM. He is a master trainer for Core Health & Fitness (the parent company of Nautilus, StairMaster, Star Trac, and Schwinn), a content contributor for 24 Hour Fitness, and an adjunct faculty member in exercise science at both Mesa Community College and San Diego State University. He has delivered wellness education talks for the U.S. Navy (at Naval Air Station North Island), the White House, the World Bank, the International Association of Fire Fighters, and Reebok.

McCall earned his master's of science degree in exercise science and health promotion from the California University of Pennsylvania, and he holds the Fellow in Applied Functional Science credential from the Gray Institute.

McCall is a semiretired rugby player, playing front row forward (all three positions) for Santa Monica Rugby Club, Potomac Athletic Club, and the Boston Irish Wolfhounds, where he was a member of the 2007 men’s Division III national championship team. He enjoys mountain biking, obstacle course races, hiking, keeping up with his two children, and coaching youth rugby.

"This book is what the fitness industry has been waiting for. Ageless Intensity is a thoughtful and comprehensive training resource to help you live your best life as you advance in years. It is a must-read for fitness professionals who train clients at any age."
—Jeffrey Scott, Vice President of Fitness, Nutrition, and Results at Beachbody

"In a world where people are living longer and quality of life is taking center stage, Ageless Intensity is a welcome resource for all who want to understand the aging process and how to age healthily and gracefully. Pete has done an incredible job of providing the reader all of the pertinent information necessary to make the aging process an exciting journey and not a frightening process. As an author and authority on training, I have already learned a few things from this book. I recommend this book—if not for you, then for someone you care about who is in their 30s or 40s and wants to age healthily and with grace."
—Juan Carlos “JC” Santana, MEd, CSCS, Author of JC's Total Body Transformation and Functional Training

"Pete McCall has a talent for translating research into practice. Ageless Intensity offers strategies to promote healthy aging based on the latest exercise science, including the application of high-intensity workouts."
—Martin Gibala, PhD, Professor at McMaster University and Author of The One-Minute Workout: Science Shows a Way to Get Fit That’s Smarter, Faster, Shorter

“I spent my working life as a professor dedicated to understanding back pain. After 32 years of probing pain mechanisms and building athletic performance and resilience, I found I had become a 60-year-old person losing resilience because of the sitting habits of modern life. I was unhappy about losing my strength and feeling my abilities decline. But such weakening can be reversed, as Ageless Intensity explains. In this book, Pete McCall has synthesized the science on aging well, explaining how to implement the science to enhance your resilience. He explains the reality of the finite capacity allowed by biology but then shows you how to use that capacity wisely. He covers the science of training adaptations, explaining why some body systems adapt quickly and others more slowly. Use this book to become more robust and resilient. Employ the wisdom to live well and feel FABULOUS.”
—Stuart McGill, Author of Back Mechanic and Distinguished Professor Emeritus of the University of Waterloo

Anti-aging benefits of HIIT
Foam rolling exercise for the upper back
How exercise supports successful aging
 Change how you ageChronic health conditions influenced by agingFunctional training redefinedThe role of metabolic conditioning