Joyce L. Vedral - Now or Never: Keep Your Body Young, Fit and Firm with the Weight Training Program That Works Even as You Age

A Note from the Publisher

The ideas, procedures and suggestions contained in this book are not intended as a substitute for consulting with your physician. All matters regarding your health require medical supervision. Please consult your doctor before embarking on this or any fitness program.

Cover design by Jackie Seow

Cover photo by Bill Charles

Black and white photos by Paul Goode

Hair and makeup by Diane Matthews

Cover leotard by Capezio

Workout leotard by Capezio

Gym shoes by Reebok

Gym backgrounds courtesy of Madison Avenue Muscle, New York, New York

Free weights by T. K. Star, made by T. K. Engineering, Mount Vernon, New York

Eagle gym machines by Cybex, Ronkonkoma, New York

Jump rope by Triangle Health and Fitness Products, Raleigh, North Carolina

Dress by Valentino

Suit by St. John

Polka dot jacket by Albert Nippon

Fashion coordination by Dora Franco and Lorraine Garville, Fifth Avenue Club, Saks Fifth Avenue, New York, New York

Copyright 1986 by Joyce L. Vedral

All rights reserved.

WARNER BOOKS

Hachette Book Group

237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Visit our website at www.HachetteBookGroup.com.

First eBook Edition: April 2009

ISBN: 978-0-446-56130-3

To all the women who pick up this book and decide that its Now or Never. Good luck!

Thank you, Joe Weider, for discovering and making available the basic principles of bodybuilding through your magazines and books.

Thank you, Kathy McBride, for your talented editing and relentless enthusiasm.

Thank you, Gus the Comrade Stephanidis, for being my good-natured trainer and cohort.

Thank you, Barbara Vale, Terry Perine, Roberta Robinson, and Ellen Carter, for daring to show women how to become an after.

Thank you, Jackie Merri Meyer, for your creative and sensitive art direction on the cover.

Thank you, Bob Oskam, for your sensitive copyediting.

Thank you, Karen Demilia, for your helpful advice on hairstyle and clothing.

Thank you, family and friends, for your unwavering belief that this book is needed now or never.

It is a simple matter to reverse the physical effects of agingthe atrophy of the muscles which takes place every year after the age of thirty. The method is the creation of more muscle than that which is being lost.

The program presented in this book, when followed carefully, enables one to place firm muscle under previously sagging skin. By using the empirically proven split routine, and pyramid system used by champion bodybuilders and athletes, it is possible to achieve the look of a total body lift in less than a years time, and to see impressive improvements as early as one month after beginning this program.

In addition, the creation of muscle assists in the mineralization of bone, helping to create strong healthy bone so that those who work out with this program achieve better posture and improved bone structure as they age instead of going in reverse and appearing slouched and withered. Since decalcification of bone is a problem for most women as they approach their thirties and beyond, the development of muscle can head off that problem so that it most likely will never occur.

I have been the sports medicine physician of Olympic Champions, athletes, bodybuilders, celebrities, and the general public for the past fifteen years (in Los Angeles, California). During that time, I have witnessed the transformation of the bodies of literally thousands of men and women who were willing to invest a number of hours a week in intelligent split routine weight training.

By working out with weights in the manner described in this book, women will be able not only to replace muscle being lost, but to stimulate muscle which has never previously been developed. This muscle, when formed, places itself under previously loose, sagging skin and creates a tight, toned, shapely body. Instead of becoming weaker with age, women who follow this program become stronger. Instead of feeling as if they are falling apart as they go into their thirties, forties, and beyond, women who follow this program feel as if they are well put togethermore so than ever before. Instead of walking with a shuffle and slumping over, women on this program tend to walk with a spring in their step and an upright posturean athletic stride.

Modern medical science has proven that it is not necessary to wither and atrophy as you get older. In fact, you can become more muscular and stronger and appear younger.

In summary, it is not age that makes us old, but rather disuse. This program provides the most economical method of developing and using muscle groups for every major part of the body, and women who follow it see themselves transformed into looking and feeling ten years younger in less than a year.

Walter F. Jekot, M.D.

Los Angeles, California

Dr. Jekot is an internationally known sports medicine physician who practices in Los Angeles, California. He is a member of the American College of Sports Medicine and is also a National Physique Judge for men and women. Dr. Jekot is the editor of his own monthly fitness newsletter, Healthstyles USA. He has recently completed working with Lou Ferrigno and his wife, Carla, on their video, Body Perfection.

He judges the biggest contests in the world: Mr. Olympia, Miss Olympia, and the World Championships.

I ve tried everything. Nothing works. Its just another come-on. I guess Ill just have to accept the facts. When you get to a certain age

Wrong. You never have to accept a sagging bodydrooping triceps (upper arms), falling, broadening buttocks, cellulite thighs, a protruding abdomen, and declining breasts. Not now. Not ever. And more important, you can begin today to reverse the gravitational pull on your body by developing muscles under now-sagging skin so that your body looks younger and tighter than it did ten years ago. In one year you can create a young, fit, firm body through the proven weight training program presented in this book, which takes only six hours a week. Look at the before and after pictures in Chapter 11 to see the changes that are possible.

Everyone is subject to the gradual wear and tear on the body we call aging. As we age, we slowly atrophy, or shrink. Each year after thirty we lose a small amount of muscle. We also lose a small amount of speed and strength. However, if we work to add on more muscle than we lose and if we practice to add speed, we can actually gain muscle and speed every year after thirty until way up in our sixties. Its true that athletes usually discontinue competition once they are in their thirties, because by then they have achieved peak condition and have no place to go but down. You, on the other hand, have not achieved peak condition or anything near it or you would not be reading this book. You have no place to go but up.

By building muscle, you can offset the aging process, firming up the muscles on your frame that time would otherwise wear down. Muscles serve as antigravity forces to keep your body from hunching over and looking withered. They also keep your skin from sagging, keeping it tight as a drum instead.