Who’s Older, You or Your Body? Tests Suggest Answers

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September 28, 2006

Who's Older, You or Your Body? Tests Suggest Answers

By ABBY ELLIN

WHO marooned in middle age hasn't daydreamed about once again having

the limberness and heart-pumping efficiency of a 30-something body?

Two years ago, Whitney Connor, then 41, took matters into her own

hands.

How, pray tell, did she turn back the clock? First, she had her so-

called " BodyAge " assessed at an Equinox gym in Manhattan. Her body

fat, strength, cardiovascular condition and flexibility were

determined according to a test created by Polar, a maker of heart

rate monitors. She was told her BodyAge was also 41.

Then over four months of tackling her weaknesses, Ms. Connor

whittled her BodyAge down to 33. She already had sinewy arms thanks

to weight lifting. But she added two-mile runs to boost her

cardiovascular shape and eliminated white bread and junk food from

her diet to trim her fat.

" I became somewhat obsessed with getting that number down, " said Ms.

Connor, a gemologist, who had been disappointed to learn that her

BodyAge matched her chronological one.

How does she feel now that a second evaluation revealed her body is

eight years younger?

" Ecstatic, " she said with more than a dollop of pride. " It just

makes me feel healthier to know that I'm the same physical age as a

33-year-old. "

Doctors have long used an unholy cholesterol count or sky-high blood

pressure to scare their patients into taking advantage of exercise's

ability to delay some aspects of aging. But in an effort to boost

their revenues, health clubs are now using the Polar BodyAge test to

goad legions of gym-goers — and potential members — into finding out

how old their bodies are.

Next week, Bally Total Fitness will begin offering another test

called RealAge nationwide, contending that with enough exercise

anyone can attain the body of a teenager. But fitness experts

caution that there's only so much that activity can do.

As a motivational tool, having a ballpark sense of one's physical

age resonates more than knowing one's vital statistics, test makers

say.

Dr. Roizen, an anesthesiologist and an internist at the

Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, spent decades trying to persuade his

patients to stop smoking and become active. He had little success

until one day when a 49-year-old patient about to undergo surgery

asked about his chances for survival.

" I said, `If you were only 49, you wouldn't have much risk, but your

smoking makes you at least eight years older,' " Dr. Roizen

recalled. " `If you stop smoking you can get one year younger in two

months, and two years younger in five months.' He did. That taught

me that if we put it in age terms, we can motivate patients. "

More than 16 million people have taken his RealAge test online since

1999. After the publication of " The RealAge Workout, " taking his

questionnaire to more than 400 Bally gyms seemed like the next

logical step.

Nearly twice as many gyms nationwide, including chains like Equinox,

Gold's and Liberty Fitness, use the BodyAge system to ensnare new

members during orientation. (Equinox charges $195 for the 90-minute

assessment; Liberty Fitness, $125.) Roughly 168,000 assessments were

taken in 2006, up from just a few thousand in 2003.

When first created in the 90's, it was known as the TriFit system.

In an effort to win more customers about two years ago, it was

overhauled to focus on aging.

Unlike the gym-goers of the 80's, Ms. Connor doesn't toil in the

name of looking good. Her modest aim is to slow her body's

disintegration. And to live to brag about taking the stairs at 90.

She is not alone. " Twenty years ago people exercised for vanity, to

get the six-pack, " said Dr. L. Schneider, a professor of

medicine and gerontology at the University of Southern California in

Los Angeles. " Nowadays it's because the baby boomers are worried

about whether Medicare will be there for them and whether they'll be

healthy. "

Even some recent college graduates like Su, 24, say they

exercise to ensure a healthier future. " It's really horrible to be

old and homebound and not be able to do the things you enjoy, " said

Ms. Su, an associate producer at Court TV. " Some of my relatives

have such health problems and it creates a strain on the rest of our

family. I don't want to be like that when I get older. " That concern

is enough to motivate her to run and lifts weights three times a

week.

Gyms are all too eager to tap into people's fear of decrepitude.

Walk into a Bally in the next month and you may be asked to fill out

a RealAge questionnaire about everything from activity to

cholesterol count to blood pressure. Then comes the bad news: Your

body is on the verge of retirement though you're actually only 45.

The good news for horrified test-takers? A personal trainer would

love to help chip away at that ghastly number.

In October, Bally will also run commercials featuring " before "

and " after " scenes of clients who have taken the RealAge quiz and

lowered their " age " with regular activity.

How can exercise strip away the years? Take the cardiovascular

system. Sedentary people lose about 5 percent of the elasticity of

their heart every decade, but studies have found that exercise can

diminish many of the negative effects.

" The muscle of an 80-year-old is not going to be as good and clean

as that of a 20-year-old, " Dr. Schneider said. " But you can still

have a wonderfully functioning heart. "

Yet, tests that estimate bodily age should be taken with a grain of

salt, doctors say. " You can slow down the clock, but you cannot

reverse it, " said Kerry J. , the director of clinical

research and exercise physiology at s Hopkins School of Medicine

in Baltimore. " There's always a decline but it's much slower in

people who are athletic. A 60-year-old might be more like a 50- or

45-year-old but they are not going to be like a 20-year-old. "

Both the BodyAge and the RealAge assessments compare the test-taker

with other people in their age range as determined by

epidemiological data from the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health, among others.

These tests' claim to be able to pinpoint one's physical age is

suspect, said Dr. Schwartz, an internist in private practice

in Manhattan: " Do I believe as a scientist that anyone can predict a

number? I have my reservations about it. We are all individuals, and

statistics never address individuals. "

And only the BodyAge test requires people to answer questions about

their habits as well as have their fitness gauged on the spot. The

RealAge test makes it easier for people to lie about whether they

can touch their toes or complete a dozen situps.

Still, for some people, being told a body age, even if there is no

particular validity to the number, can spur them to get serious

about their health. During a 2000 physical with Dr. Roizen, Bruce

, an executive in the automotive industry, took a RealAge

test, which set his age in the mid-50's. He was 44 at the time. " I

thought I was in great shape, but when someone says mid-50's, it

sounds old, " he said. " You think, `Am I going to die?' "

He started walking a half hour a day and lifting weights. Today Mr.

, a 51-year-old who exercises for 90 minutes five mornings a

week, is 38, according to RealAge. " Everybody who sees me says I

look nowhere close to 51, " he said gleefully.

Beth Furman, a magazine publisher in Wellesley, Mass., plans to take

periodic BodyAge tests. " I don't weigh myself, but it's just like

women who get on the scale, " said Ms. Furman, 51. " This test is like

that for me. I use it to see how I'm doing, if I need to change my

workout or not. " Her first test said her body was 46 and that her

chief problem was a lack of strength.

She has since been using the hydraulic machines and free weights,

and doing Pilates. " I'm going to shoot for under 40, " Ms. Furman

said.