Four Reasons to be Fit Over Forty

“Yes, Dick, I get it.  You have been working out.  You are in the best shape of your life.  Good for YOU!”  And the next thought is, “Now leave me alone, I am fine the way I am.  There is no reason for me to care.”

Really?  I think there may be some things to consider.  Let me try because there are at least four good reasons to stay in shape over the age of Forty.

NOTE: if you are looking at the picture on the left...is this person truly 'old' or are they too big?  If this person were at a different fitness level...would they look younger?  Would they feel younger?

The first reason is:  The concept of ‘old’.

The mere “passage of time” does not make a person old.  If you saw a 1978 Pontiac TransAm (black with gold trim and a T-top of course…) that had only 3000 miles on it, it would most likely be in pristine condition.  Time does not make the car “old”.  If you had the choice between that car and a 1999 Toyota with 120,000 miles on it, you would probably take the TransAm (notwithstanding the idea that you might never be able to find parts for it).  It’s not the years, it’s the mileage.  An ‘in-shape’ fifty year old is no older than a thirty year old obese person, and he/she may in fact be ‘younger’…I found that out in Utah in the mountains.

‘Condition’ is what makes a person old.  It ages some before their time and gives others a lot more time.  Being fit over forty means you are in condition for the long haul.  

The second reason is:  Inactivity ‘ages’ the human body.

One of the key reasons that a body shows the symptoms of age is that our lives become sedate.  We stop moving around so much.  We are busy working and have families to monitor and parent.  So we sit at our desks, sit in the car (or train) to get home, eat a fast meal for dinner, plop ourselves into the car to drive the kids to their activities, and then sit there and watch them.  Then we go home to bed.

We sit.  We eat.  And sit.  And eat.

The symptoms of age in a human body are directly related to inactivity.  A human body regenerates most of its cells about every 6-7 months.  The body regenerates through metabolism.  As your metabolic rate slows, so does your body’s processes.  Your cells do not regenerate.  They hang around…literally.  Your skin begins to look older and wrinkled as it loses elasticity.  You retain less water.  You retain more fat.  All of your cells are getting older and staying with you for prolonged periods of time.  This leaves a nice nesting ground for illness and disease.

When you exercise regularly, your body rids itself of old cells and replaces them with newer and (if you are eating right) hopefully better cells.  New cells, and this makes sense to you, look younger than the old cells that you are metabolizing away.  Through proper conditioning, you can put the brakes on that physical perception of ‘old’ because you will be slowing all the ‘symptoms’ of what people think ‘old’ is.

The third reason is:  Inactivity increases the potential for illness…real illness.

Quality of Life.  We all have heard that phrase.  No one wants to think they will spend their last ten years in firmed or in a nursing home being cared for by others.  There are people who are there because they had an illness they couldn’t prevent, but there are many who just ‘let things go’.  As our cells stop regenerating, they become a breeding ground for illness.  They are great places for your body to store toxins that you pick up in everyday life from the food you eat to your environment.  Those toxins hang around those old cells and wreak havoc with the rest of your body’s functions.  Sometimes, those toxins become cancerous and they have to be removed or harshly treated.

A life of activity greatly increases the chances that you can bypass many illnesses that others suffer over the age of forty.  High blood pressure.  High cholesterol.  Type II diabetes.  Acid reflux.  Swelling of the limbs and joints.  Heart issues.  Knee and hip problems.  All of this can be directly correlated to a distinct pattern of inactivity.  You do NOT have to experience these things because ‘time has passed.’  That’s not how it works.  You don’t get these illnesses with the AARP card that you get at age fifty, they come to you because you have stopped moving.

The fourth and last reason is:  Being able to stay in the game.

Have you ever gone on a vacation or some kind of outing where some level of physical activity was required?  How many times do you see people over forty just look at it and say, “No, I think I will just stay here.”  Nothing ages you like simply feeling old.  And nothing makes you feel old like having to be left behind because you can’t keep up.  If you are ‘fit’ you can keep up.  Given the physical state of our nation, if you are ‘fit’ you can probably lead them, not simply ‘keep up.’

Life is a participation event.  You are either in or out.  When you opt for ‘out’ you have charted your own destiny.  We will live longer on average than any other humans before us.  We can either enjoy every minute with a high quality of life or we can painfully sit and watch others participate.

Is there anything worse than having to look at pictures of someone else’s vacation?

That’s what being ‘old’ really means.

Nothing will help you be ‘old’ more than NOT being physically fit.

Thanks for reading.  Have an awesome day.  Have a salad for lunch.  Go for a brisk walk or do a workout.   

You are here for the long haul.