Phase 1: Walk 30 minutes a day. This can be done at all at once or in 10-minute increments.
Phase 2: Perform 7-10 minutes of strength training of your foundation muscles (abs, back, buttocks, quadriceps, hamstring, and rotators) every other day.
Phase 3: Perform 8-10 minutes of strength training of your non-foundation muscles (chest, shoulder, biceps, triceps, and forearms) every other day.
Phase 4: Perform 21 minutes of stamina or aerobic exercises three days a week.
There is a secret we tell you about early on – all you have to do to be successful is walk 30 minutes a day. Anyone can do that. You feel successful and then begin to do other things like building foundation muscles. Once you feel successful with that, you can move on to other things," Dr. Roizen says.
Once followers nail down the walking part of the plan, the second part of his program involves 10 minutes of strength-training three times a week. According to Dr. Roizen, whether you're age 20 or 90, you should be able to lift a sufficient amount of weight to make improvements, although there are limitations to how much people can do.
The RealAge Workout suggests a variety of strength exercises to improve strength and functionality, and each movement is accompanied by a photo to make it easy for you to use correct form.
"What sets the RealAge Workout apart is its emphasis on how easy it is," says Dr. Roizen. "When I say to patients ‘you should exercise and eat right,’ they all have different conceptions of what [this] is.
"We’re being specific and showing the easy way to get started with working 30 minutes a day. We've proven it works with middle-aged people who used to be athletes or middle-aged people who were never athletes,” he says. “It's really quite an easy step program to get into."
Dr. Roizen practices what he preaches, using meeting times to walk around the Cleveland Clinic campus with colleagues. During phone interviews, he hits the treadmill for a stroll. He seizes every opportunity to take a step in the right direction, regardless of his busy schedule.
Now, he's encouraging people everywhere to adopt the RealAge workout. After all, he says, your life may depend on it.
Learn more about The RealAge Workout.