The 'baby boomer' population may be getting older but they certainly aren't letting it slow them down. In fact, statistics show that boomers are more active than other age groups, joining the gym in record numbers and being assertive with trying new forms of fitness like yoga and boxing. The YMCA has really been catering to the 78 million member boomer crowd too, creating programs and classes that focus less on muscles and physical appearance and more on health and quality of life (something we should all do!).

But as motivated and ambitious as the boomers are, they do have their own set of unique needs and wants. Safety is the biggest issue, as injuries can not only sideline current health efforts but can put a serious kink in the plan for months or even years into the future. Here are some good things tailored just for the boomers out there:

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One more reason sixty is the new thirty... As Bethany told you, more and more seniors are getting and staying in shape. And some good news in all this is exercise professionals are starting to design more workout programs specific to older populations, and fitness centers are springing up in retirement communities. Forget sitting in a rocker and reminiscing: retirement is all about setting a new record for your bench press.

The best quote in the article comes from Dr. Walter Bortz, who wrote "Dare to Be 100" and "Living Longer for Dummies." He's 77 years old, for the last 35 years he's run a marathon annually. While cautioning older people not to go all crazy with the workouts, he says, "Obviously, pain is nature's signal, but you can't be a pantywaist about pain." Excellent.

Seniors should work on four different things, according to the National Institute on Aging: endurance, strength, balance, and flexibility. Oh yeah, that's vastly different from what the young 'uns are supposed to work on.

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Anorexia is generally thought of as a teenager's and young person's disease, but more and more middle-aged and older adults are being diagnosed and treated for the disease every day. Increasingly women in their 30s, 40s, 50s, and even older are seeking treatment for anorexia and have often been dealing with the disorder for years. The reasons behind this sudden increase in older patients could be due to a variety of causes, including increased public awareness, increased pressure on women to be thinner, and aging baby boomers who may have been living with the disease since they were younger.

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As the large population of Baby Boomers grows older, and as all ages of Americans become more interested in exercise and activity, a new challenge is being created for fitness companies to create equipment that will not only work for the previously common "average" customer, but for newly growing "aging" group as well.

Recently companies from all over convened in Las Vegas to show off what they've done to make fitness machines not only challenging and effective, but also sensitive to older users and adjustable for things like achy joints. There are all kinds of new ideas out there, click here to see a few examples of what the Vegas trade show had to offer.

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Millions of people, 5 million+ people according to recent estimates, are living with Alzheimer's right now. That's a ten percent increase in the last five years, and with Alzheimer's being an age related disease those numbers are only projected to go higher and higher as the baby boomer population hits retirement age. Some are even using the word epidemic to describe the fact that by the year 2030 experts predict almost 8 million people will have the diagnosis.

Lay the blame on unbalanced technology -- we're keeping people alive longer by treating things like heart disease and cancer more effectively, only to be helpless when they come down with a diagnosis like Alzheimer's a few years later.

Oh, the irony.

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Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School have crunched the numbers, and the results are in: baby boomers are substantially more obese than the generations before them. Experts say that boomers seem to share many of the same habits and traits when it comes to managing their health. For example, according to surveys many baby boomers blame genetics for high blood pressure, think it's already too late to do anything to improve their health, and are even overly optimistic about their health at times.

Doctors stress that it's never too late to start taking care of yourself and improving your health, especially since they often hear boomers say they wish they'd taken better care of themselves when they were younger. One expert suggests choosing one "issue" at a time, and focusing on that before moving on to the next thing.

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