Strength Training Past 50

Research clearly shows that strength training is especially effective for older adults. Strength Training Past 50 explains and shows the most effective way for mature adults to work their muscles by presenting specific strength tests; 9 safety essentials; 39 age-appropriate exercises; a 10-week workout plan; and personalized programs for increasing muscle size, strength, and endurance.
Two world-renowned experts, Wayne Westcott and Tom Baechle, team up to present strength exercise information and prescriptions tailored to the needs of anyone over 50 years of age.

With more than 30 years in strength training as an athlete, coach, teacher, professor, researcher, writer, and speaker, Wayne Westcott, PhD, is recognized as a leading authority on fitness. He is the fitness research director at the South Shore YMCA in Massachusetts, where he developed a model strength-fitness facility and training program rated the “Best Buy in the United States” by Fitness Magazine in 1995.

Westcott has served as a strength training consultant for numerous organizations and programs, including Nautilus, the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, the National Sports Performance Association, the International Association of Fitness Professionals (IDEA), the American Council on Exercise, the YMCA of the USA, and the National Youth Sports Safety Foundation. He was awarded the IDEA Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993 and was honored with a Healthy American Fitness Leader Award in 1995.

Westcott is the author of several books on strength training, including Building Strength and Stamina and Strength Fitness: Physiological Principles and Training Techniques, a text used by physical education and exercise science majors for more than 15 years. Westcott has also written a weekly fitness column since 1986 for one of Boston’s largest newspapers. The strength training advisor and fitness columnist for Prevention magazine, he also has served on the editorial boards of Prevention, Shape, Men’s Health, Fitness, Club Industry, American Fitness Quarterly, and Nautilus.

Westcott lives in Abington, Massachusetts, with his wife, Claudia. He enjoys strength training, running, cycling, gardening, and volunteer work.

Thomas R. Baechle, EdD, CSCS, is the executive director of the NSCA Certification Commission, the certifying body for the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). He is cofounder, past president, and former director of education of the NSCA, and in 1985 was named its Strength and Conditioning Professional of the Year. Dr. Baechle also is the chair of the Department of Exercise Science at Creighton University, where he has received several honors, including an Excellence in Teaching Award.

For 16 years Dr. Baechle competed successfully in weightlifting and powerlifting, setting various Midwest records. For more than 20 years he coached collegiate powerlifting teams and taught weight training classes. Dr. Baechle also holds certifications as a Level I weightlifting coach (United States Weightlifting Federation), a Strength and Conditioning Specialist and Personal Trainer (NSCA), and an Exercise Test Technologist and Exercise Specialist (ACSM). He is a member of NSCA, ACSM, the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD), and is the current president-elect of the National Organization for Competency Assurance (NOCA). Dr. Baechle has authored several books, including the very popular Weight Training: Steps to Success and Fitness Weight Training texts, and he served as the editor of Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning, regarded as the most comprehensive text in its field.

Baechle lives in Omaha, Nebraska, with his wife Susan and two sons, Todd and Clark. He enjoys woodworking and doing crafts.