Hasta La Gadget!

SPECIAL FROM Grandparents.com

Let’s face it: We all want to look good and be healthy, but none of us wants to exercise. “It’s too much work,” “It’s hard,” “I don’t have time,” the list goes on and on.

But here’s the bottom line: “The secret to slowing the aging process is to move,” says celebrity trainer Sean Foy, author of the new “The Burst! Workout: The Power of 10-Minute Interval Training.” To get yourself to move, you need to figure out and address what’s keeping you from starting.

Foy works with his clients to write out what he calls a “Fit Card”. On one side of an index card, he instructs them to list the benefits to be gained from being healthy and fit (walk farther, breathe easier, improved circulation, and so on). On the other side, they list the barriers that keep them from exercising (no time, too expensive) and the effects of not exercising (no energy, depressed, etc.).

Doing this helps his clients change behavior, because they are then able to see for themselves the benefits versus the cost. “You’re wrestling with apathy and motivation,” he says, “How do I get rid of one to gain the other?” Once you have the card, he instructs clients to read it daily. “Don’t worry about anything else. Just read the card. You don’t even have to attempt any exercise. In time, you’ll see your attitude shift and those barriers begin to lift,” he says.

If you’re not sure which barriers might be holding you back, here is a list of the most common ones, and how you can address them—most in under 10 minutes.

1. “I don’t have time”
Everyone has time. Break yours into one-minute increments. Start there. Warm up for 30 seconds with some light stretching or running in place. Then jog in place for four minutes. You don’t even have to stand up. Use a chair. Jog while sitting in your chair for four minutes.

If four minutes sounds like too much time, give yourself 30 seconds to warm-up, and then do one fast minute of jogging in your chair. Go as fast as you can for one minute. You can work your way up to 10 minutes of high aerobic exercise just sitting in your chair.

2. “I don’t feel like it”
To overcome a lack of motivation, you have to know your “why.” What is your deeper reason for exercising? To get fit? To be around for your grandchildren’s weddings? To see the birth of your great grandchildren?

Play the dream game and ask, “What If?” Imagine yourself as healthy and as fit as you can be. What do you look like, feel like, think like? What could you do? Think about your own barriers. What’s keeping you from being as healthy and fit as you can be? Write this out on your Fit Card. Then take baby steps to access your motivation—a minute at a time.

3. “I can’t”
People are more apt to tackle things they think they can achieve, so Foy suggests starting off with one minute of exercise and revisiting that same exercise every hour or every other hour. Set a clock so you’ll remember to stand up and move for 1-2 minutes. Try chair squats. Stand up from your chair and then sit back down. By the end of the day, you could have done 50 squats. This will prove to yourself that you can do it.

4. “I’m tired”
If you are too tired at the end of the day, that’s probably because you haven’t been moving. “Get moving,” says Foy. Easy, light movements throughout the day will make a difference in how you feel. Your best bet, says Foy, is to begin the day with a little exercise, even if just a walk around the block. If you don’t want to walk alone, get a dog. Dogs need to go for walks outside.

5. “I’m too old”
No, you’re not. Foy says to read the books “Biomarkers” or “Strong Women Stay Young” to learn otherwise. You can’t dispel research which shows that exercise keeps you young by helping to increase muscle mass, improve heart health, and more. Plus, our bodies are able to gain strength quickly. You’re never too old, he says. Just focus on light resistance if you’re worried about that. He says you’d be amazed at what people can do in just 10 minutes over time. A 65-year-old client of his became a power lifter, and he says his 85-year-old mother can do all of the Burst! exercises.

6. “It’s too expensive”
Again, no. It doesn’t cost anything to take a walk. And some equipment that you can use at home costs under $10. You can get resistance bands for $6, says the Orange County, California, trainer. Start stretching your hamstrings with those by following these exercises.

7. “I don’t like it”
You don’t have to like exercise to do it. But to help you overcome this hurdle, it’s best to exercise with others. “Get a buddy to do it with you.” Then the two of you can argue about how much you hate exercising while you’re leaning against the wall to squat or sitting on chairs doing side bends.To make exercise more fun, try it with your grandkids and watch them giggle as you engage in a friendly competition of Jumping Jacks. Count how many you can do in 30 seconds.

8. “I can’t get back on track”
It’s not uncommon to feel like giving up when setbacks occur and you find yourself not able to do as much as you were doing before. “You don’t have to be perfect to be fit,” Foy says, “Give yourself that grace, that forgiveness” because this is the time when having a buddy helps the most. For check-ins, goal-planning or competitive events, your workout buddy is someone you can use to help hold you accountable, especially when you experience a setback of some sort. No matter if your buddy is a human or a pet, it’s harder to skip out on a friend than it is yourself. A buddy is “your secret sauce,” he says.

If none of this works, Foy says, “Begin with deep breathing and stretching. Work your way up to something else. Over time, pay attention to how your body feels. You should notice that you feel better. Focus on that.”

Read more from Grandparents.com:
The health benefits of walking
7 surprising, immediate benefits of exercise
The easy, 3-minute workout you can do anywhere

An off-duty cop got upset at a woman for cutting him off and allegedly fired his gun into her window, hitting her in the head.

Now Houston Police Officer Kenneth Caplan is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to Click2Houston.

The woman, whose name was not released by the station, said the bullet grazed the left side of her head, allowing her to avoid a major injury.

“I feel like I got a taste of death, honestly,” she told the station. “My heart was slowing down and I couldn’t really breathe.”

The incident took place on Nov. 11. The woman said Caplan cut her off so she did the same to him. That got him so upset, she said, that he pulled out his gun and fired into her vehicle.

Now, she tells KHOU, she’s scared that, because Caplan is a police officer, she could be retaliated against.

“I keep thinking someone is going to come up and shoot me,” she told KHOU.

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ISTANBUL (AP) – His head bowed and hands clasped in front of him, Pope Francis stood Saturday for two minutes of silent prayer facing east inside one of Istanbul’s most important mosques, as he shifted gears toward more religious affairs on the second leg of his three-day visit to mainly Muslim Turkey.

Following in the footsteps of Pope Benedict XVI who visited Turkey in 2006, Francis prayed alongside the Grand Mufti of Istanbul, Rahmi Yaran, who had his palms turned toward the sky in a Muslim prayer, inside the 17th-century Sultan Ahmet mosque.

“May God accept it,” Yaran told the pope at the conclusion of a poignant moment of Christian-Muslim understanding.

The Vatican spokesman, Rev. Federico Lombardi called it a moment of “silent adoration.” Lombardi, who was standing behind the pope, said Francis told the mufti two times that we must “adore” God and not just praise and glorify him.

It was a remarkably different atmosphere from Fran cis’ first day in Turkey, when the simple and frugal pope was visibly uncomfortable with the pomp and protocol required of him for the state visit part of his trip. With President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s mega-palace, honor guard and horseback escort now behind him, Francis got down to the business of being pope, showing respect to Muslim leaders, greeting Istanbul’s tiny Catholic community and later meeting with the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians.

Francis nodded, smiled and looked up in awe as Yaran gave him a tour of the Blue Mosque, famed for its elaborate blue tiles and cascading domes. Francis listened intently through an interpreter as Yaran explained verses of the Muslim holy book.

Presenting the pope with a blue, tulip-designed tile, Yaran said he prayed to God that his visit would “contribute to the world getting along well and living in peace.”

“We are in need of prayers. The world really needs prayers,” Yaran said.

Benedi c t had visited Turkey amid heightened Christian-Muslim tensions and prayed at the mosque in a gesture of respect for Islam that was appreciated by many Turks. The Vatican added the stop at the Blue Mosque at the last minute to show Benedict’s respect for Muslims.

The Vatican also acted to avoid offense to its Muslim hosts by moving up Francis’ visit to the mosque so it wouldn’t coincide with noon prayers.

After he left, Francis walked a short distance – greeting crowds for the first time in his visit – to tour the nearby Haghia Sofia, which was the main Byzantine church in Constantinople – present-day Istanbul – before being turned into a mosque following the Muslim conquest of the city in 1453. The Haghia Sophia is now a museum, although some Islamic groups want it to be converted back into a mosque.

Pope Paul VI, who made the first-ever papal visit to Turkey in 1967, fell to his knees in prayer inside Haghia Sophia, triggering protests by Turks who claimed Paul had violated the secular nature of the domed complex. Francis avoided any religious actions inside.

Halfway through his tour, the Muslim call for prayer echoed off the Haghia Sophia’s marble walls, an evocative moment that symbolized the crossroads of East and West that Istanbul represents.

Museum director Hayrullah Cengiz pointed to a niche with a Byzantine fresco of the Virgin Mary holding an infant Jesus, saying it was his favorite corner because the area also features Arabic writings of the names of the Prophet Mohammed and Allah.

“They are all together,” Cengiz said.

A few dozen well-wishers outside Haghia Sophia waved a combination of the Turkish and the flag of the Holy See. One carried a banner that read: “You are Peter.”

Francis nearly tripped over while walking the carpet from his plane to a VIP terminal at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport. The governor of Istanbul and Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians , helped the pontiff as he tottered.

Later on Saturday, Francis will meet with Bartholomew – the real reason for his visit to Turkey.

The two major branches of Christianity represented by Bartholomew and Francis split in 1054 over differences on the power of the papacy. The two spiritual heads will participate in an ecumenical liturgy and sign a joint declaration in the ongoing attempt to reunite the churches.

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — More than 16,000 people have been infected with Ebola and nearly 7,000 have died, according to the latest figures from the World Health Organization.

The new death toll, released late Friday by the U.N. agency, represents an increase of more than 1,000 deaths since a report from two days before. Most of the new deaths were recorded in Liberia, but the new toll likely includes deaths that have gone unreported over a significant period of time. Data from the outbreak has been spotty and slow to come and often death and case tolls see large jumps when backlogs of information are cleared. Because the data is so hard to come by, the World Health Organization has cautioned that its figures may significantly underreport the actual number of people sickened and killed by the disease.

The current outbreak began in West Africa and has been severely hitting three countries there: Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Friday’s data showed there have been 16,169 cases in just those three countries — an increase of 268 cases since a report two days earlier. There have also been around three dozen cases elsewhere. Most recently, Mali began recording infections after sick people crossed over from neighboring Guinea.

The numbers of people sickened and killed in this outbreak exceed by several magnitudes any previous outbreak of Ebola, which previously broke out in remote areas of east and central Africa. This time, however, it began in a highly mobile region, where Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone meet, and quickly hopped to those countries’ capitals.

Liberia has recorded the highest number of cases and deaths, but the rate of infection is slowing there. The disease is now spreading fastest in Sierra Leone.

Russia might not be known for its innovative and appealing mass-market automobiles but be assured the nation’s military rolls with the best of ’em. With that said, this bizarre “army car” concept from ZiL has got a decent shot at being the Russian army’s next wheeled workhorse, and it could happen as early as 2015.