It\u2019s no secret that the current craze is fitness. Everyone wants to be fit with solid abs and biceps. This is easier at 20 and 30. But it becomes more of a rarity at 40 and even more so at 50. At 60, it\u2019s almost unheard of!<\/p>\n
Even though I was always active in sports as a kid, I decided to work out more regularly while in dental school. This may seem ironic since the most common excuse for not exercising is \u201cI don\u2019t have the time.” But dentistry is psychically demanding. So, unless I exercised daily, my back, neck, and shoulders were constantly in pain. The more I worked out, the better I felt. So, I just kept it up for the better part of the last five decades.<\/p>\n
\u2022 I got married and had three kids.<\/p>\n \u2022 I was working 60-hour weeks and transforming the smiles of many of Hollywood’s brightest stars.<\/p>\n \u2022 I wrote what would become a New York Times best-seller, titled Billion Dollar Smile: A Complete Guide to Your Extreme Smile Makeover.<\/p>\n \u2022 I founded Discus Dental, the makers of the world’s leading tooth-whitening products NiteWhite, BriteSmile, and Zoom.<\/p>\n \u2022 I founded my nonprofit LEAP Foundation to help high school and college students succeed in life.<\/p>\n \u2022 I appeared on ABC\u2019s Extreme Makeover and CBS\u2019 The Doctors, the latter of which I still appear on today.<\/p>\n \u2022 I helped raise $42 million for children’s charities.<\/p>\n \u2022 I earned 18 lifetime achievement awards.<\/p>\n Instead of making excuses, I make going to the gym a daily priority\u2014whether I\u2019m traveling or not. For the past 40 years, I\u2019ve averaged a 60- to 70-hour work week, as many Americans do, and still made time to exercise daily.<\/p>\n When my kids were growing up, I got up at 5:30 a.m. and exercised before work so I could be home with them every night. Now that they\u2019re older, it\u2019s a bit easier to make time. So, I often go after work. No matter where I am or what I\u2019m doing, my gym time is one thing that never gets bumped from my schedule.<\/p>\n I usually alternate my workouts between lifting weights one day and cardio and abs the next day. Even though a lot of people have a rest day, I tend to work out every day for at least an hour because it helps me feel more alert and productive at work. In addition to feeling physically fit, I also lead a physically \u201cpain-free\u201d life.<\/p>\n Choosing a lifetime of fitness has prolonged my career and has enabled me to live adventurously. I swim, run, hike, scuba dive with sharks, and water and snow ski on a regular basis. I don’t need a personal trainer every day. But every four to six months, I use one to mix up my routine so I don’t get bored.<\/p>\n When beginning a fitness journey, there are three key things to consider:<\/p>\n 1. Diet.<\/strong><\/p>\n 2. Exercise.<\/strong><\/p>\n 3. Genetics.<\/strong><\/p>\n We control two of these three components. But you should hold yourself accountable and take responsibility for all three of these factors. For diet and exercise, it may be obvious what you should do. And for genetics, there are a plethora of tests that can help you in overcoming obstacles. Master these three key things and you\u2019ll be well on your way to a successful, and fit, lifestyle.<\/p>\n To my peers who are looking to maintain a healthy lifestyle while aging, I say make diet and exercise a priority, eat well, and do something active daily. Get annual checkups from your doctor and, when it makes sense, do genetic testing to prepare yourself for a long and healthy life!<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just about getting fit. It\u2019s also about staying fit. It\u2019s not easy, but it is necessary. And it does pay off!<\/p>\n Dr. Bill Dorfman shares his secrets for a healthy lifestyle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8102,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99,100],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fall-2018","category-fall-2018-features"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7992"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8422,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7992\/revisions\/8422"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/photo_Per-Bernal-600h.jpg\")
<\/a>As I got older and my schedule grew more and more hectic, it became increasingly difficult to find time to exercise. Here\u2019s a snapshot of my life:<\/p>\n<\/a>I consider myself fortunate to have everything that I have. But I also acknowledge that none of it would have come without the diligence and dedication that I\u2019ve exercised over the last 55 years.<\/p>\nDr. Bill is\u00a0a celebrity dentist from the ABC hit show Extreme Makeover and the CBS Emmy-winning daytime talk show The Doctors. He\u2019s been featured nationally and internationally on numerous talk shows and national magazines. See more on his Instagram page<\/a>.<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"