Getting old stinks. I feel like we hear this a lot from the older generations. We hear complaints about back pain, bad knees, trouble getting up, you name it. Now, I realize aging is a natural occurrence in every human life. There is no way of stopping it, no matter how many procedures we have or pills we take. I’ve dealt with many clients who suffered from common age-associated diseases, such as arthritis, osteoporosis, diabetes etc. which got me to thinking. How much of a difference would it have made if exercise was part of their lifestyle years before these problems started popping up?

From my experience in working in commercial gyms, it seem like seniors only hire trainers when they are recommended to start exercising due to an incident with their health or when the disease becomes serious enough to want to do something about it. Why wait until it gets to that point? As we age, our bone density gets weaker, which can lead to serious injuries such as fractures. Exercise has been proven to slow down or even prevent Osteoporosis, which is the weakening of bone density, from simple exercises such as jogging, climbing, and walking and also by resistance training like pushups or squats. Cardiovascular exercises can also significantly lower the chances of heart diseases as you age. Yes, we want to be strong and those buff dudes in the gym want to give off that vibe that they can lift a house, but in the big picture, is that really more important than longevity? Keeping our bones, joints and especially our heart strong, I’d say comes first priority in the long run.

We all want to be healthy and live a long, full life. It’s like investing in the stock market or a 401k, all the money you saved and grew over time should lead to a great pay off down the road when you need it. It is a similar idea when it comes to your own health. I realize what I'm saying are things most people knew already and the idea of turning forty, let alone retirement, is a distant hurdle to jump, but you have to start now to ensure the best health then.

by Neal Henderson