While it’s true that your body will gradually deteriorate as you age, you can still lead an active lifestyle and stay in tiptop shape. Here are some great fitness tips from Winnetka trainers on how you can keep fit even when you’ve reached your golden years.

Eat Healthy Meals
Stick to nutritious food choices so that you can reduce your chances of stroke, arthritis, and other health complications. Stock up on veggies, fruits, protein-rich foods, and fiber so you get all the essential nutrients. As much as possible, avoid greasy foods, junk foods, and other unhealthy treats.

Drop Your Vices
If you’re a heavy smoker or alcohol drinker during your younger years, now’s the time to drop the habit. Now that you’re older, your body won’t be able to cope with such substances as effectively. If you continue to indulge in your vices, you’ll only damage your body further, and this could lead to some serious complications.

Be Active
Make exercise a daily habit so you can keep your body strong and fit. Try easy some easy cardio routines like jogging, biking, or swimming, or do some light resistance training. You also can play some sports with family or friends. Better yet, you can get your own personal trainer in Winnetka to supervise your regimen and recommend the best exercises for you.

Visit Your Doctor Regularly
Make sure to schedule regular appointments with your doctor so that he can assess your general condition and diagnose any problems. It’s also an opportunity for you to bring up any concerns and queries that you may have about your health. You should also undergo regular health exams to screen for possible disease and to monitor any health risks.

Exercise Your Brain
Indulge in activities that stimulate and sharpen your mental muscles. Try doing Sudoku, crossword puzzles, or other activities that make you think. Not only will they enhance your mental ability; they will also help keep memory loss at bay.

Most commercial diet regimens being publicized with much hoopla do help to drop weight fairly quickly. However, it’s not permanent weight loss — dieters often regain the weight they lost within a few months or so. Permanent weight loss comes only when a complete and long-term CHANGE in eating habits is effected. Following are some diet tips from established Winnetka trainers for permanent weight loss:

Breakfast
Start your day with a breakfast bowl of high-fiber cereal, accompanied by yogurt or a banana. If you find yourself rushing without time for a bite, then a low-fat, high-fiber cereal bar is better than nothing at all.

Portion Control
Controlling portion size is critical toward achieving permanent weight loss. Two roast potatoes, a chunk of meat bigger than a pack of cards, or a plateful of creamy pasta is too big a portion, calorie-wise. Fill up your hunger void with a big bowl of salad with low-cal vinaigrette, or munch on vegetables first to quiet your rumbling tummy. Drinking a glass of ice water 30 minutes before lunch or dinner is served can also help.

Treat Days
Choose one day a week as your Treat Day — when you get to indulge in your favorite foods for one meal, or maybe gorge on your favorite take-out chow. This can do wonders by way of motivation — and by not depriving yourself of your food cravings too much! Many who have attained permanent weight loss still indulge in occasional treats, but always keep this in mind: MODERATION is all, and DISCIPLINE is the rest.

Benefit From Protein
Proteins, in the proper amounts, have appetite-suppressing abilities. Ingesting high-quality protein, such as lean meat or tofu, during each main meal can satisfy your appetite, as well as suppress those pesky cravings. Moreover, it is essential toward maintaining lean muscle mass for an optimal rate of metabolism.

The trick to any diet, as any personal trainer in Winnetka will tell you, is to settle on the best and most comfortable way to lessen your calorie consumption without starving yourself. To lose weight permanently, you should never try to reduce your food intake too much, too soon — this will only cause a weight-loss plateau as your body’s metabolism lowers to adjust to your new intake.

Even a personal trainer in Winnetka would agree that if you want to improve your strength and conditioning, plyometrics is the way to go. In this article, you will learn about some plyometric exercises that would do wonders for your strength.

Drop Jumping
To do this exercise, you must drop to the ground from a box or raised platform, then immediately jump back up.  Your leg muscles would get a pre-stretch from the drop and the drive up would give you the secondary concentric contraction phase. The effectiveness of the exercise depends on how long your feet are in contact with the ground – the shorter, the better.  The height of the drop should be around 2 or 3 feet. Since this is a high-impact exercise, you should do this only if you’re already accustomed to low-impact alternatives.

Bounding and Hurdling
If forward motion is what you want, then bounding is for you. This involves running with oversize strides and spending more time in the air during the bound. Hopping is perfect for an increased intensity, as well as one-legged bounding. You can also do some bounding up the stairs.

If you’re an athlete or training for a competition, Winnetka trainers would recommend going through advanced courses like hurdles. Tuck jumps or split jumps are great for low intensity exercises.  Standing long jumps and standing hops are excellent for low-medium intensity. For medium-intensity, you can do bounds or bunny hops.  If you want a high-intensity routine, you could try out depth jumping.

Upper Body with Press ups, Hand Clap and Medicine Ball
For your upper body strength, the hand claps are perfect for the arms and chest. To get the best results, you should maintain your time of ground contact at a minimum. The medicine ball is another way to attain strength improvement in the upper body. You would need a partner for this. First, lie on the ground face up then have your partner drop a ball to your chest. Catch the ball then throw it back. Since this is another high-intensity exercise, make sure that you have gone through basic conditioning before attempting this.