{Exercise} Watch These Now and Win!

Win the complete Yoga for Faboverfifty Women video. To enter, comment below and answer: How do you think Iyengar Yoga would help you?

A message from FOF Founder, Geri Brin:

One thing I know for sure: If I’m lucky enough to live to my eighties, I do not want to shuffle like my mother did.

Many older people shuffle because they’re unsure of their balance and worried they’ll fall. And they’re absolutely right. If we don’t work our muscles, they are going to atrophy and we will fall.

Beauty products, plastic surgery, great-looking clothes and jewelry may be a girl’s best friends. But balance, strength and flexibility—physical and mental—are what really keep us young.

We have the solution: Yoga for Faboverfifty Women, a new video we’ve created for the FOF Shop. It will calm your mind and strengthen your body.

Namaste!

xox,
FOF Founder, Geri Brin


Ready to practice Iyengar?
The complete video series, Yoga for Faboverfifty Women, is available for download in the FOF shop right now! We’re charging $14.99 to cover our production costs, but we promise it will be worth it!

Win the complete Yoga for Faboverfifty Women video. To enter, comment below and answer: How do you think Iyengar Yoga would help you?

{Giveaway} A signed copy of Denise Austin’s “Get Energy! Empower Your Body, Love Your Life” + 3 workout DVDs

FOF television and DVD fitness star Denise Austin is giving away a signed copy of her just-released book Get Energy! Empower Your Body, Love Your Life plus 3 of her workout DVDs.

To enter, comment below and answer: Have you ever worked out to a fitness video? Which one?

Thank you for entering. This contest is now closed.

“Denise Austin practices what she preaches,” said legendary fitness enthusiast Jack LaLanne, who gave Denise her a first big break on his show. And it’s true… Denise works out just 30 minutes each day (“I really try to make the 30 minutes very effective and efficient because I don’t have a lot of time.”) and eats healthily but indulges a little too (“I eat well 80% of the time and have my treats 20% of the time”). In her just-released book Get Energy! Empower Your Body, Love Your Life, 53-year-old Denise Austin shares the food and fitness plan that’s allowed her to maintain her booming body and her booming business for the past 30 years.

The book has a quiz to help readers identify their own energy-zappers, a list of energy-boosting foods and guidelines on when to eat them, mini-workout routines and more.

“I wrote ‘Get Energy!’ because I meet with women all the time who ask me, ‘Denise, how do you have so much energy?'” says Denise. I compiled the tips and stretches that I use throughout the day to stay energized and fit!

Denise’s workout bible has already received glowing reviews: “Denise Austin makes the Energizer Bunny look lethargic,” wrote People magazine editors. “Denise Austin probably could motivate a statue,” said a review in the Chicago Tribune.

[Read Denise’s entire interview with FOF here]

[Read Denise’s 5 ways to get your energy back here]

To enter to win a signed copy of Denise’s just-released book Get Energy! Empower Your Body, Love Your Life and 3 of her workout DVDs, comment below and answer: Have you ever worked out to a fitness video? Which one?

Thank you for entering. This contest is now closed.

{Exercise} Denise Austin’s 5 easy ways to get energy back now!

In her just-released book Get Energy! Empower Your Body, Love Your Life, 53-year-old Denise Austin–who “makes the Energizer Bunny look lethargic,” according to People magazine–shares the food and fitness plan that’s allowed her to maintain her booming body and her booming business for the past 30 years. Here she shares 5 easy ways for you to get your energy back now:

1. Expend energy. A sedentary lifestyle is an energy drain: ironically, the more you sit, the less energy you have. Regular exercise boosts your circulation and delivers much-needed oxygen to your body. And you don’t have to sweat buckets, either. I exercise just thirty minutes a day. I know how tough it can be to get to the gym when all you want to do is curl up on the couch. But research shows regular exercise can reduce fatigue by 65 percent. Just remember: to get energy, you need to expend it.

2. Stretch. Each time I take a break from working at my desk, I stretch. Presto! Instant recharge. Remember: energy begins with oxygen. Stretching enhances blood circulation, which brings fresh oxygen and nutrient-rich blood to your body. During a good stretch, your brain calms, your mood lifts, and your energy generator comes online again. Then you’re ready to jump back into the fray.

3. Go to bed earlier. It’s better to sleep and wake early (i.e., 10 p.m.– 6 a.m.) because your body’s functions—temperature, digestion, and restorative processes—are linked to its exposure to natural light. Research suggests that getting ninety minutes’ less sleep for just one night can reduce your alertness by 30 percent the next day. Can’t sleep? Make a list of worries and possible solutions in the early evening to avoid the fretting that keeps you awake; turn off the bedroom TV; create a soothing pre-bed ritual; get earplugs to drown out distractions, such as your partner’s snoring.

4. Breath deep! Renewing your energy can be as easy as breathing! I’ve always said that energy begins with oxygen. Take a deep breath right now..in through your nose…and then slowly exhale through your nose. Repeat a few more times. With each breath, you delivered energy-giving oxygen to every cell in your body, from head to toe. When you breathe correctly, you can melt away stress and relax and unwind–and of course, it all benefits your energy level.

5. Savor a square of dark chocolate. To rev up and bliss out, indulge in one square of dark chocolate. It’s rich in anandamide, the so-called “bliss molecule” associated with post-workout euphoria, according to research conducted at the University of California — Irvine. Caffeine and another stimulant called theobromine are also at work.

This is adapted from Get Energy! Empower Your Body, Love Your Life by Denise Austin. Copyright (c) 2011 by Denise Austin. Reprinted by permission of Center Street, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

[Read FOF’s complete interview with Denise Austin]


{Excercise} Yoga at age 92!

Think you’re too old for yoga? Meet an inspiring 92-year-old yoga master, Tao Porchon-Lynch (age 87 at the time this video was shot). Neither her age nor a total hip replacement has stopped this FOF from teaching or practicing the ancient exercise.

Video via Huffington Post

{Quiz} Most likely to…?

Can you match the FOF star with her high school profile?

[QUIZZIN 6]

Sources: CNN.com, AARP The Magazine, Huffington Post, WHAS11
Images: InStyle, Celebrity News, Amy Grindhouse, ABC News, Parade, and JCPS History

The Best and Worst of 2010 with the Boomer Broads

This year had its share of heroes and goats from Elizabeth Edwards to Tiger Woods. Our fave FOF video bloggers, The Boomer Broads deliver their “best and worst” of the year list. Do you agree?

{Quiz} Which famous FOF DOESN’T have insomnia?

Fifty percent of middle-aged and older adults complain of chronic insomnia symptoms according to the National Sleep Foundation.

Three of these four FOF stars toss and turn under the stars each night. Can you guess which famous FOF DOESN’T have insomnia?

[QUIZZIN 5]

Sources: The New York Times, Supanet.com, National Sleep Foundation
Images: Katherine McPherson for FabOverFifty, Greg in Hollywood, David Shankbone, The Famous People

{Passion Projects} 3 FOFs Who Gave From Their Hearts (Not Their Pocketbooks)

Babbie Lovett
In 2007, FOF Babbie Lovett helped restore the Ken Theatre in McCrory, Arkansas from an abandoned movie house to a cutting edge performing arts center for children and adults who had little exposure to theater.

“The mayor of our town bought and renovated an old movie house, the Ken Theatre. I told him, you can’t have a movie house in a town our size, it just won’t pay. Let’s put in a stage and I’ll get the lights and the sound and we’ll have a production place where we can introduce theater to children. We started three years ago and it’s doing great. Kids and adults (many who have never been involved with the arts) are writing their own shows and having the best time.  It just proves that it doesn’t matter where you are, the creativity is there, it’s just a matter of exposure and opportunity.”

Sherry DeRosa

FOF Sherry DeRosa had been in and out of medical centers for months after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Frustrated with navigating the often-confusing medical system, she swore if she survived she would make changes so other women facing the same plight would have more choices and guidance. After being told she was cancer-free this past year, she started her advocacy services, Shining Light, to help people navigate the medical system and other life challenges. This past June she was named “Honorary Survivor” by Sacred Heart Hospital in Au Claire, Wisconsin.

“I was ‘the noisy patient.’ I’m passionate about improving care for women. I don’t care what cancer you have, when you walk in the door I want somebody to shake your hand and say, ‘I’m a survivor.'”

Alexis Marnel

FOF Alexis Marnel spent 13 years volunteering as an art counselor in group homes for troubled youth. In 2001 she formalized her volunteer work into an organization called The Artists Collective for Social Change.

“I bring art to people who do not have access to quality art education. I’ve realized I’m a ‘spiritually creative mother’ to these kids, many of whom don’t have parents. When I came to that realization, I just cried. The kids have such distinct memories based on art activities we did together. They send me e-mails and Facebook messages saying they remember cakes we sculpted together when they were 8–and now they’re adults. The other day I got a Facebook message that said, “Is this Ms. Alexis who took me to my first Broadway show?”


{Timeless Style} Thanksgiving at the Governor’s Mansion

Talk about going cold turkey. This fab photo was snapped in 1959 at the Governor’s Mansion in Tallahassee, Florida. The photo is of Florida Governor LeRoy Collins’s 9-year-old daughter, Darby (now an FOF!) on Thanksgiving. Governor Collins and his family were the first to live in the Governor’s Mansion. The 1959 Thanksgiving was the second-ever Thanksgiving celebrated there.

Image via Flickr

{Passion Projects} Win promotion for the charity of your choice!

We want to help promote your passion project in 2011! Have a charity you love? Enter it into your “Fab Faves” by clicking the photo below and filling in the form. We’ll pick one woman’s cause and send an email out to all our members telling them how they can help.

(FOF Carol Auld–pictured above– devotes time to her Passion Project, the Nyaka AIDS Orphans in Africa)

Contest ends December 31, 2010.