FIT AT ANY AGE

Being physically fit is one of the most important conditions for overall health and wellness. Being fit helps keep your lungs, heart, and brain strong. It helps keep your bones and joints healthy. It also helps with balance and mobility.  A comprehensive fitness plan is one that combines aerobic activity with strength building and stretching. Three to five hours a week is ideal for exercising and working out.

Walking is the safest, easiest, and most convenient aerobic exercise. Other good options are swimming, cycling, dancing or an elliptical machine.

Strength training is very important. Everyone naturally loses muscle as they age. But building strength can off-set much of this natural loss. You can use weights, but you can also use your body weight to build muscle as well doing such things as push-ups or pull-ups.

Stretching is another component to good overall fitness because we all lose flexibility as we age unless we work to keep it. And being flexible can help you walk better, do more things and prevent falling. It also is important for your joints, muscles and tendons. Yoga is one of the best ways to achieve this.

However, before starting any new programs, be sure to check with your doctor to see what would be right for you. You can join a gym, your local YMCA or fitness club or look for classes that offered such as Pilates, Tai Chi, Zumba and Yoga. You can always work out at home on your own, but it is usually more fun and you will stick with it longer if you do  it with others or if you are in a class where there is an instructor and accountability. Be sure to take care of your body – because it is not only the temple of God’s Spirit – but also the only place you have to live!

(Source: Harvard Health Publications, January, 2017)