Good morning
Quick visualization exercise:
Close your eyes and visualize how you would like to see yourself when you are 65 years old? If you are there or older, change that to a year or more from now. Think about the activities you enjoy, and goals you have for your future years. Open your eyes.
All of our clients fill out a questionnaire and one of the questions is, what does the 65-year-old version of them look like?
Do not read all these studies now but scan the titles as you scroll down.
The fitter you are the more fat you burn
Cells burn more calories after just one bout of moderate aerobic exercise, OSU study finds
Exercising muscle combats chronic inflammation on its own
Want to be robust at 40-plus? Meeting minimum exercise guidelines won't cut it
Exercise and nutrition regimen benefits physical, cognitive health
On average 22.1 percent of Americans meet the weekly recommended US physical activity guidelines. What is even scarier about this small number, the weekly recommended guidelines are not actually sufficient to combat our lifestyle, dietary habits and aging bodies. Yes, the recommended guidelines are better than not exercising at all, but the reality is, if we have a goal of maintaining a healthy and capable lifestyle, meeting a minimum standard for physical activity will no be sufficient.
Scientist are working endlessly to create a (profitable) solution to our poor habits and aging process…
Bariatric surgery and medications for high blood pressure are a couple of helpful options science has come up with to assist us. Both and other such options are great and maybe even lifesaving, but in most cases, science cannot replicate what diet and exercise can accomplish.
Science does…
If you scan the titles of the above science findings, they are just a few of the studies that come out on a regular basis, which clearly find the importance of exercise for improved health and long-term functioning capability.
What does your future look like?
I would guess we all would like positive capability for as many years as possible, yet the harsh truth is, our choices and neglect are not only shortening our lives, but also minimizing our future quality of life, and in some cases sooner.
What is your plan?
My favorite workout technology is the MyZone heart rate system and one of the cool things MyZone does is takes my data and informs me when I have met the US guidelines for weekly physical activity. Sometimes I get an email after only my second workout of the week and I even joke that I can take the rest of the week off! If my ultimate goal for when I blow out 65 candles is to be and healthy and enjoy an active lifestyle, meeting the minimum US standard for activity will not be enough. Being wiser about my diet (which I must be) and getting both strength and cardio training each week, will provide me the best opportunity for a longer and better quality of life into my later years.
So, what is your plan?
I hear often that life got (gets) in the way of finding time to exercise. My answer to this dilemma, is to list out those things which kept them from working out and then evaluate whether those choices were all worth that goal of a better future? I am pretty sure when the future is upon us, we will have wished we had prioritized better.
Start today and know it will not be easy, but the investment will be worth the effort!
Have a great week.
God Bless!
Mike
