Can You Be Too Old To Exercise?

Someday I will be this granny. You watch.

I couldn't believe my eyes and yet there she was staring right back at me from a full-page glossy photo spread accompanying an article on fitness. She even had the audacity to accessorize her gray hair and wrinkles with a gigantic smile! Excuse me, but who said old people are allowed to exercise? Certainly not fitness magazines. When's the last time you saw someone who looked a day over 25 in Fitness, Shape, Self or even Women's Health? Even if their cover models are a 40-and-fabulous Faith Hill, they still make her look 25. Which is funny since every piece of fitness advice I've ever read says that exercise should be a life-long pursuit.

And not only did this magazine have not one but several cheeky oldsters gracing their pages doing something besides power walking, but there was more than the token minority! And there were children! And all the people had different body types! And they were all shown being active, healthy and happy. Which really was the kicker for me. After all, in traditional lady mags you can only be non-model-sized and happy if it is you "before" picture. You certainly can't have an overweight woman smiling. Next thing you know women might stop hating themselves just a bit. And then what? Self-esteem from something that goes beyond your body? Does nobody think of the children?? Who will indoctrinate the next generation in the fine art of body checking and body snarking if their mothers are no longer doing it?

Lest you think I don't actually read (I love reading!), once I got over my initial shock at an entire magazine without a single greased-up spray-tanned beauty doing long-legged jumping jacks on a beach, I became completely enamored with the articles said pictures were illustrating. They covered a wide range of topics from canning to goal setting to indoor triathlons (an article written, I might add, by our very own Mama Sweat a.k.a. Kara Thom) and all were interesting, educated and informative. There were no pull-out cards with 10 things to do with a swiss ball on the front and ads for Atro-phex on the back. But there was an article about gaining muscle mass by our beloved queen-o-the-biceps MizFit.

What is this amazing magazine, you ask? Well, now I have to 'fess up: you guys told me about it. Kara, Getting Healthy, and Deprogram all suggested Experience Life to me after my rant about my love-hate relationship with the newsstand health and fitness fare. I was even so fortunate to have Jen Sinkler, an editor at Experience Life, leave me a comment with an article describing the mission of the magazine called "Six Packs & Sex Lives." I'll be darned if I didn't read that and end up screaming to the heavens, "Where have you been all my life?!?" It's that good.

Thursday's Great Fitness Experiment Giveaway: A Subscription to Experience Life Magazine
And I wanted to share the feel-good fitness love with all of you as well. Be warned though, this magazine is not for the faint of heart. You will actually learn stuff. And some of the stuff I had to read several times and then mull it over for a couple of days. There's research involved. Numbers. Homework, even. But you guys have already proven many times how smart you are and so I have no doubt you will love it every bit as much as I do!

To enter this contest, let me know one thing you think is missing from mainstream health & fitness magazines. Do you miss seeing dimpled thighs? Indian women? An article about men that doesn't make them look like idiots? Or tell me what one of your favorite features are. Do you love the underdog stories? The workout plans? All the recipes? Unload one of your gripes or one of your loves and you could win your own subscription to Experience Life.