If you’re reading this, you are probably already convinced that movement is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle; albeit, it may sound more familiar said that exercise or fitness is important.
But what does fitness look like?
Does it have to be aerobics or running?
Must it include heavy weight-lifting?
While all of those are legitimate fitness activities, exercise can take many more forms than the average person realizes. Even so, not all fitness programs are equal.
Body Moves owner Beth Pelton writes in her book Active Living: Functional Fitness to Renew Your Strength, Balance, and Energy, “Many exercises are simply not well designed and are often rather dysfunctional with respect to the aging process. Your body’s needs at age 50, 60, and beyond are vastly different than your body’s needs when you were in your 20’s and 30’s. Strength and energy are much more important to you than gorgeous abs and a firm tush. Balance — something you didn’t thing twice about in your youth — is now critical to your safety.” As you age, fitness becomes more critical to support the things you are passionate about doing.
Recently while at the Functional Aging Institute’s (FAI) Annual Conference, we saw a woman wearing a shirt with the following phrase:
…so you can dance at your grandchild’s wedding…
The question then is: what are you passionate about doing?
What do you want to be doing this time next year?
What do you want to being doing ten years from now?
Once you know that, ask, “What am I doing to be ready to do it? How am I preparing??” Are you doing something? Anything?? Because NOW is the time to act.
It’s never too late — and it’s never too early — to start!
At Body Moves, we specialize in functional fitness, and our programs are designed to help you discover and appreciate the power of your own body as you age. You have a lot of control over how you age, and the right kind of exercise can make all the difference.