This past week I am making a concerted effort to workout an hour every morning to get into the habit for the coming school year which looks to be rough on a lot of fronts. Bottom line is - I am getting older and less physically capable of dealing with people constantly, doing end runs around educational bureaucracy to get things done, long hours staring at a computer screen entering data and working on lesson plans, and constant multi-tasking. Plus I teach physical skills and have to be able to do what I am teaching. I have to stay mentally and physically fit.

On the plus side, I am in good health physically, I look younger than my soon to be 58 years, and I can still do physical stuff. I'm not going to tell you I'm the best built, the strongest, or the most enduring, but I can do a lot of things most folks my age can't.

So what is the point? The point is Charles Atlas and tension style exercise. First - Charles Atlas. If I were in a survival situation and could only bring one health and fitness book along; it would be the Atlas course. Yes it is dated and not always clear in it's direction, but it is simple, effective, and a basic blueprint that could keep you fit and strong without wasting your joints and vital energy.

Second would be tension style exercise of which I include the Atlas exercises in that group, It's joint friendly, and after an hour with the emphasis on tension, a few bodyweight exercises, and some martial arts training - I feel good, have energy for the day, don't have joints that have been over worked, and have strength and flexibilty for daily tasks, which is what it should all be about.