On Wednesday, May 30, an estimated 100,000 older adults will participate in local fitness activities throughout the country as part of the 19th annual National Senior Health and Fitness Day(NSHFD), the nation's largest health promotion event for older adults.

Older adults at all levels of physical fitness are encouraged to participate in National Senior Health and Fitness Day. The goal is to make exercise fun, increase awareness of the benefits of a regular exercise program for older adults, and to encourage all older adults to take advantage of health and fitness programs offered in theFlorencecommunity.

The McLeod Health and Fitness Center will host a special event to recognize the senior community on Wednesday, May 30. The event includes fitness walks, low-impact exercises, health screenings and information, and much more. National Senior Health and Fitness Day is open to both members and non-members of the McLeod Health andFitnessCenter.

Below is the McLeod Health & Fitness Center schedule of activities from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. May 30. (The schedule is subject to change.)

7:30 a.m. Registration Begins

7:45 a.m. - 1 p.m. Cholesterol Screenings

8 a.m. Rail Trail Walk (meet in the H&FC front lobby)

8:15 a.m. Working out H2O Style

8:30 a.m. Fit For Life Senior Fitness

8:45 a.m. Aqua Blast

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National Senior Health and Fitness Day to be held at McLeod Health & Fitness

I'm one of those women who likes reading men's health and fitness magazines. Though they all promise bodies and sex lives that most of us will never have, I'm drawn to the funny, self-deprecating tone, the functional workout tips and the emphasis on sweat, competition and strength training.

Yes, women's magazines have these elements but on a vastly diminished scale. They're fluffier, in part because beauty products and clothes are considered health-related, but also because women are still plagued by the irrational fear of "bulking up." We won't get huge without added testosterone, but some magazines still perpetuate the notion that men should build insanely huge muscles and women need to lose fat.

A recent Muscle & Fitness magazine cover, for example, promised "75 of the Best Muscle Building Exercises." By contrast, Muscle & Fitness Hers, the female counterpart to the bodybuilder mag, featured thinspiration, including "The Skinny on Fat Loss" and "The Best Natural Appetite Suppressants." The majority of advertisements touted fat-burning supplements, stimulants and weight loss products.

Men's Health and Women's Health magazines have plenty of overlapping content. Both recognize that both genders compete in marathons and triathlons, want great abs in 15 minutes and need nutritional guidance. But the editors use considerably different voices to reach their male and female readers.

"For Women's Health, it's a confiding, challenging, sisterly thing equal parts encouragement, sympathy and advice. It comes from a place of 'just us girls,'" said David Zinczenko, editor-in-chief of Men's Health and editorial director of Women's Health.

"Guys tend to be a bit more bracing with their counsel, with a healthy dose of humor plus self-denigration thrown into the mix," Zinczenko added. "First we laugh at ourselves, then we laugh at you, then we deliver the goods straight up, with an expert chaser."

Women's Health also uses a larger typeface than Men's Health. Though it may be simply a design decision, larger fonts can elicit stronger emotional brain responses, according to a study by German researchers.

The direct "male" approach is what I find appealing. Men's workouts are usually cast as a way to build a stronger body. Women's exercises are given cute, superficial names, such as "The Wedding Dress Workout" or "The Bikini Body Booty routine." Rather than sending the message that exercise builds muscle, confidence and improves mental health, the emphasis is on looking good. If your workout goal is to fit into a swimsuit, you're using an unsustainable approach to fitness. But if your goal is to get healthy which means incorporating it as a lifestyle you'll have a body that you want to show off.

Still, some women and magazines are catching on. At Details, where 32 percent of the online readership is female, there's a growing recognition that "the gender boundaries in fitness studios and gyms have been blurred," said Details senior editor Sheila Monaghan, who edits the health, fitness and nutrition section. "Fitness has become this sort of equalizer between the sexes," she said. "Everyone wants the same results."

TAKING CUES FROM THE OPPOSITE SEX

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Column: Health and fitness magazines take different approaches when motivating women and men

Long commutes to work may be hazardous to your health. Longer daily drives are associated with decreased fitness and increased weight, a recent study from Washington University suggests.

While other studies have examined the amount of time spent in the car, this study looked specifically at driving distance, said Christine Hoehner, the study's lead investigator and an assistant professor in the division of public health sciences at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

"It's an important part of people's daily routine and it affects a lot of people," she said. "Unlike TV viewing, which has gotten most of the attention when you think about sedentary behavior, commuting distance, or time you spend commuting in a car, isn't something you can change as easily as just turning off the TV."

Researchers looked at the commuting habits of nearly 4,300 residents in Dallas-Fort Worth and Austin, Texas. They used ArcGIS9 software (a geographic information system, rather than relying on self report) to calculate commuting distances, measuring the shortest route to work. They also compiled information on participants' CRF, body mass index (BMI), and metabolic factors including waist circumference, cholesterol levels and blood pressure.

The study determined that people who drove 10 or more miles to work were more likely to have higher blood pressure, while those with commutes of 15 miles or more were less likely to participate in physical activity and were linked to having a greater waist circumference and a higher BMI.

These outcomes were true even when researchers accounted for physical activity, which suggests that there may be something about the commute itself that leads to poorer health.

"We can hypothesize that if two people are equally active but one person has to commute a further distance than the other, they are perhaps burning fewer calories, so that might be over time, leading to higher weight," she said.

Hoehner pointed out that there may be other mechanisms at play that the study didn't measure, such as longer commutes may equate with getting less sleep, which has also been linked to increased weight gain, or they may be snacking more in the car.

Why the higher blood pressure? "People who commute longer distances might be faced with more daily stress, especially if they're faced with traffic congestion on a daily basis," Hoehner said.

Although these mechanisms - sleep, diet, stress - were not included in the study, Hoehner said it's still important to note that "longer commuting distances is associated with higher weight, lower fitness levels and higher blood pressure and all these are strong predictors of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and some types of cancers."

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Is your commute hurting your health?

SAN DIEGO, May 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --CKO Kickboxing, one of the fastest-growing health fitness franchises, will open its first cardio kickboxing gym in California on June 1 at 7094 Miramar Road, Suites 115 and 116 in San Diego, to provide high-quality cross training in a friendly, comfortable home-like setting in the Mira Mesa area.

Grand Opening festivities are in the works for Saturday, June 2 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., according to CKO Kickboxing of San Diego owners Trisha Virga and Joe Virga.

"You can work up a sweat and burn calories without worrying about getting a black eye or breaking a bone with cardio kickboxing," Virga said of the cardio kickboxing gym that will serve residents of San Diego, Mira Mesa, Scripps Ranch and UTC. He and his wife, Trisha, who is certified in pre-natal training, will be the head trainers of CKO Kickboxing in San Diego. "We specialize in making everyday people reach their fitness goals and their full fitness potential through kickboxing."

The Virgas also own and operate a CKO Kickboxing franchise in Brooklyn, N.Y., but have relocated permanently to San Diego.

"We went on vacation to San Diego last December. I said to my wife, 'I want to live here. I would like for my kids to grow up in a place like this,'" he said.

"We're real excited about offering cardio boxing classes in San Diego. We were looking for a location a year ago in Los Angeles and I wasn't feeling it. Then we came to San Diego. I found a real estate broker. We negotiated the lease in an hour. It was unheard of. It usually takes months," he said.

CKO Kickboxing, whose franchisees include many former military members, is offering a 10 percent discount to current and former service personnel as well as police and fire personnel. Students and teachers also receive a 10 percent discount.

To make the gym stand out from competitors, members can work out by themselves at any time the club is open. Most kickboxing gyms are open only for classes or for private instruction, but not for drop-in workouts.

"People lead busy lives. We want to work around their schedules, not the other way around," he said. "We always strive to make CKO like your home, not like a gym."

"My goal is to put together a unique gym, a functional training gym, not just a gym with dumbbells," he added.

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CKO Kickboxing Health Fitness Franchise Continues Rapid Growth with New San Diego Gym Opening on June 1

AUSTIN, Texas, May 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --MapMyFITNESS, a health and fitness technology company powering the Internet's largest and fastest growing community of fitness enthusiasts, today announced the launch of a completely rebuilt platform with several new features for its portfolio of online fitness websites, including an innovative feature called Courses, advanced integration of Google Maps API for Business, and a fresh look and feel. Courses will span five primary categories of sports, including cycling, running, walking, hiking and winter sports, as well as hundreds of subcategory specialty activities like cross-country skiing and unicycling.

(Logo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120522/SF11456LOGO)

Courses now provides both elite athletes and casual enthusiasts an unprecedented leaderboard and "check-in" technology, and will be available initially through a private beta test for the first 100,000 users who sign up at new.mapmyfitness.com/maps/courses. The new site, which provides fitness enthusiasts five-times-faster performance, is now available to everyone at new.mapmyfitness.com, and widespread access to Courses will be offered later this summer.

"As the largest online fitness social network community with more than 9 million users, we are excited to expand the functionality of our product portfolio to our rapidly growing base," said Richard Jalichandra, chief executive officer of MapMyFitness. "Our goal is to enable athletes in the 40-plus sports supported by MapMyFITNESS to benefit from this enhanced level of product capability and functionality."

In addition to the introduction of Courses, MapMyFITNESS' new features include the latest mapping technology from Google. MapMyFITNESS enables users to create new Courses directly from their iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Mobile or iPad. The Google Maps API v 3 integration also provides route details like traffic patterns and temperature in real-time, which will help users better plan and experience activities.

"MapMyFITNESS is integrating their applications with Google Maps to help top athletes and beginners easily visualize their routes," said Dan Chu, Google product manager. "We're always excited to see people using Google Maps in new, innovative ways."

The Courses feature does real-time processing of MapMyFITNESS' database of over 50 million routes and 30,000 event courses to produce a fun, engaging and motivating experience that helps users plan activities, measure their fitness and track their progress in real-time and over time.

Specifically, Courses includes:

"The new MapMyFITNESS websites and applications were designed to support a user base that ranges from casual beginners to ultra-competitive athletes," said Robin Thurston, co-founder and chief product officer of MapMyFITNESS. "The Courses feature, powered by our integration with Google's latest mapping technology, is a big differentiator for us, and we think users are really going to enjoy tracking their workouts and competing against others."

MapMyFITNESS has been recognized by some of the world's most credible authorities as the premier fitness application, including TIME's "50 Best Apps list in 2012" (the only fitness app named this year), Runner's World UK's "Best Running App of 2012," About.com Reader's Choice "Best Running App" in 2012 and a consistent top five ranking in iTunes' Health and Fitness category. More than 200,000 health and fitness activities are logged each day by MapMyFITNESS users across 40 different sports not just running and cycling.

Continued here:
MapMyFITNESS Launches Groundbreaking Applications and Redesigned Website

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Chatham Partners recognized Transamerica Retirement Services sales team among the top retirement services providers in its 2011 Advisor/Distributor Satisfaction Analysis. Transamericas sales force was recognized for its knowledge, responsiveness and availability, and earned 10 Best in Class ratings in the survey.

In the survey, Transamericas external sales team earned Best in Class ratings from advisors and distributors for overall satisfaction, point-of-sale assistance and support, presentation skills, problem resolution skills, knowledge, responsiveness and availability. The companys internal sales team also garnered Best in Class ratings for responsiveness, knowledge and availability.

The survey results are a testament to the quality and value that Transamericas sales force brings to the advisor community, said Peter Starr, president of Chatham Partners. The ratings from advisors and distributors exemplify Transamericas dedication to providing Best in Class service to advisors and the retirement plan sponsors they serve.

Transamerica remains committed to helping financial advisors through all phases of selling and servicing retirement plan clients, said Jason Crane, senior vice president and national sales director of Transamerica Retirement Services. In this years survey, financial advisors have recognized our efforts in helping grow their practices, and in providing unparalleled support to advisors while working with prospective and current clients.

For more information about Transamericas retirement plan sales support, please call (888) 401-5826, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. - 8 p.m. Eastern Time.

About Transamerica Retirement Services Corporation

Transamerica Retirement Services Corporation (Transamerica or Transamerica Retirement Services), which is headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, designs customized retirement plan solutions to meet the unique needs of small- to mid-sized businesses. Transamerica and its affiliates have more than 17,0001 retirement plans totaling more than $20 billion1 in assets. For more information about Transamerica, please refer to http://www.TA-Retirement.com.

About Chatham Partners 2011 Advisor/Distributor Satisfaction Analysis

Chathams independent third-party research helps isolate Transamericas key strengths, weaknesses, and gaps in delivery of client services, and benchmarks Transamericas standing relative to other small-market defined contribution providers. By identifying the most important drivers of advisor satisfaction, Transamerica uses these findings to help provide the best possible retirement planning solution for its clients.

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Transamerica Retirement Services Sales Team Ranks “Best in Class” in Chatham Partners’ 2011 Advisor/Distributor ...

(MoneyWatch) As a proponent of planning ahead, I've written previously about three strategies you should learn about that will "recession-proof" your retirement paycheck. One of my earlier posts showed how you might have fared if you had used one of these strategies -- drawing down interest and dividends only from a portfolio balanced between stocks and bonds -- during the "lost" decade of 2000 to 2009. Since a few years had passed, I wanted to update that analysis to include 2010 and 2011.

There are two simple, cost-effective ways for you generate a retirement paycheck from interest and dividends on a balanced portfolio. You can invest in one of the following two funds:

- Vanguard's Wellington fund (VWELX), which is invested about 65 percent in stocks and the rest in bonds and cash investments, or

- Vanguard's Wellesley fund (VWINX), which is invested about 40 percent in stocks and the rest in bonds and cash investments.

IRAs and 401(k): 3 ways to generate lifetime retirement income Recession-proof your retirement savings IRA and 401(k): Generate retirement income with just interest and dividends

Of course, there are other low-cost, balanced funds available; most likely your 401(k) plan at work has an investment option that could also could fit the bill.

So let's see how you would have fared if you had invested $200,000 in each of these two funds at the beginning of 2000, and then withdrew just interest and dividends each of the 12 years through the end of 2011.

Vanguard Wellington Fund

By the end of 2011, your initial investment of $200,000 would have grown to $227,266 just on the appreciation of the fund's share price, for a modest total gain of 13.6 percent over the course of 12 years. During your first year -- 2000 -- your interest and dividend payments would have been $7,739, for a yield on investment income of 3.9 percent. Over the next dozen years, you would have received a stream of income with a modest roller-coaster ride, as shown in this graph:

During those 12 years, you also would have received $53,002 in capital gains distributions. You could have used these distributions to boost your retirement savings by the end of 2011 or to fill in the dips in the dividend income stream (or some combination thereof).

The rest is here:
Recession-proof your retirement income

(MoneyWatch) This post starts my series on various retirement income offerings that are being introduced in 401(k) and other defined contribution retirement plans. Today we'll take a look at Income Solutions, the online annuity bidding platform offered by Hueler Investment Services that's available on the platforms of many 401(k) plan administrators. It's also available to customers of Vanguard through its Annuity Access program.

Do you long for the good old days of company pensions, where you're paid a monthly retirement income for the rest of your life, no matter how long you live and no matter what happens in the economy? You can get that with a simple "immediate annuity," a product that's been available for years from insurance companies. But don't confuse these time-tested products with "deferred variable" annuities, which can have high expenses and poor investment returns -- they've given annuities a bad reputation.

What happens if your insurance company fails? 401(k) Retirement income options coming your way Retirement income scorecard: Immediate annuities IRAs and 401(k): Maximize retirement income with immediate annuities

If you don't want to pay a lot of commissions to an insurance agent, consider buying an immediate annuity with the help of Income Solutions, which competitively bids fixed and inflation-adjusted immediate annuities among a panel of highly rated insurance companies.

It's pretty easy to use. Go to Income Solutions' website and answer a few simple questions, including your date of birth, sex, state of residence, and whether you want to cover your spouse or beneficiary to have a joint and survivor annuity (and his or her date of birth and sex). You'll also need to tell the system how much money you have to purchase an annuity.

You can also tell the system whether you want an annuity that's fixed in dollar amount, increases at a specified annual rate, or is adjusted according to the Consumer Price Index. The inflation protection will cost you more, meaning that a given amount of retirement savings will produce a lower initial monthly payment with an inflation-adjusted annuity.

The system then gets bids from Hueler's panel of top-rated insurance companies, and it shows how much of a monthly paycheck each insurance company would provide. For each insurance company, the system also shows you their credit ratings from A. M. Best, Moody's (MCO), and Standard & Poor's.

Non-commissioned telephone representatives can answer any questions you may have about the transaction, help you understand the terms, and guide you through the tools on the website. However, they won't give you financial planning advice, such as whether an annuity best meets your goals and circumstances, or how much of your retirement savings to devote to an annuity. The phone representatives will also be glad to work with your financial planner, if you're using one.

If you elect to apply part or all of your 401(k) account to an annuity, you'll want to make sure you buy a tax-qualified annuity, so you don't have to pay income taxes on the part of your savings that's applied to the annuity. Instead, you'll pay taxes on the income that you receive each year. The representatives at Income Solutions can help you execute the transaction in compliance with the IRS rules in order to maintain this favorable tax treatment.

"Our program gives consumers a fair shake when buying an immediate annuity," Kelli Hueler, founder of the Income Solutions platform, told me in an interview. "We obtain institutional pricing for individuals, compare the bids from the different insurance companies, and then transparently disclose all transaction costs. This helps put your mind at ease about buying an annuity."

Link:
Retirement income review: Hueler's plan

ST. LOUIS, Mo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

For thirty-five years Thomas Helbig, founder of the Retirement Advisory Group, has watched several trends in the retirement planning market come and go. But one thing has always remained consistent with all of his clients over the years, not one of them ever lost a dime in principal or gains as a result of following his advice. That is a statement not many financial advisors can make. Helbig, an Independent Advisor and Certified Senior Advisor, is a specialist in all aspects of retirement planning and has been educated so thoroughly in this niche market that he is one of the most knowledgeable authorities in the country. He is also an approved Financial Advisor through the National Ethics Bureau and has been named a Five Star Best in Client Satisfaction Wealth Manager three years in a row in the St. Louis Magazine. This is an honor less than 7% of all Wealth Managers in his area have achieved.

Helbigs book, The Boomers Guide to a Worry-Free Retirement, has proved to be a valuable resource to retirees as well as professional financial advisors. With chapters like The Variable Annuity: Wall Streets Famous Lemon; Safety Meets Growth in a Fixed Index Annuity; and How to Turn Your IRA into a Family Legacy, Helbig has succinctly defined the real risk in securities and outlined a safer path with above average returns. Earlier this year Baseball Hall of Fame inductee and record-breaking shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals, Ozzie Smith, joined Helbig at his book launch event attended by many of Helbigs clients. The book is now available through Amazon.

In addition to his role as an author, he is also a sought after speaker to audiences across the country at industry and public events. He was the keynote speaker at a conference attended by the top producers at Brokers International in Dallas, Texas. He has been featured in Newsweek, St. Louis Magazine, and the St. Louis Post Dispatch as being one of the leading retirement planning specialists in the country. Because of his expertise and significant contributions to his industry, he will soon be featured in the Wall Street Journal and USA Today as one of the countrys leading Trendsetters in the financial services and retirement planning world.

Learn More at http://retirementkey.com/about.html

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Retirement Planning Specialist Thomas Helbig is Educating America

NEW YORK, May 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report is available in its catalogue:

Global Adult and Retirement Communities Industry

http://www.reportlinker.com/p0152426/Global-Adult-and-Retirement-Communities-Industry.html#utm_source=prnewswire&utm_medium=pr&utm_campaign=Medical_F

The global outlook series on Adult and Retirement Communities provides a collection of statistical anecdotes, market briefs, and concise summaries of research findings. Illustrated with 56 fact-rich market data tables, the report offers an aerial view of adult and retirement industry, highlights latest market trends, and key market drivers. Regional markets briefly abstracted and covered include North America, United States, Canada, Japan, Europe (including Finland, Monaco, and UK), Asia-Pacific (including Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan), Latin America (including Mexico), and Africa (including Morocco). The report offers a compilation of recent mergers, acquisitions, and strategic corporate developments. Also included is an indexed, easy-to-refer, fact-finder directory listing the addresses, and contact details of 206 companies worldwide.

1. OVERVIEW 1

Retirement Communities - An Introduction 1

Location & Design - Key Factors for Retirement Units 1

Lifestyle Demands - Vital for Retirement Community Setting 1

Geriatric Living Solutions - An Overview 2

Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs) 2

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Global Adult and Retirement Communities Industry