|
 Activity for a Strong, Healthy Body
Regularly enjoying the right amount and type of activity is another key to reaching total vibrancy of body, mind, and spirit.
There are many apt comparisons between a healthy body and an expensive new sports car. When you optimally care for your bodily vehicle, you likely will:
- feel great nearly all the time and enjoy life’s journey much more
- need just a minor tune-up when you don’t feel great, not a complete overhaul, to get you back in the race
- get more ‘miles per gallon’ or vitality out of every moment
- enjoy many, many miles before your engine dies
- look your best and be appropriately proud of that
Jack LaLane is one of my mentors and a remarkable example of how we can look, feel, and function throughout our lives. On his 70th birthday, he swam one mile while pulling 70 small boats containing friends and local residents. Years later, after showing film footage of his latest feat, a TV host gushed, ‘Jack, you’re amazing - I don’t know how you do it!’ Jack quickly interjected, ‘You’re missing the whole point! I’m not amazing. This is how we all can be if we take care of ourselves and use more of our potential!’ Now 93, he’s still going strong and demonstrating what is possible.
I’m no Jack LaLane, but I weigh only five pounds more than when I graduated from high school. I enjoy playing racquetball, lifting weights, biking, hiking, kayaking, or practicing martial arts four days per week. The other three days, I’m in constant motion working with patients. Activity is an integral part of my life and a big reason my life is outstanding.
Benefits of Exercise
Exercise is a prime example of how we can positively alter our lives with relatively little time and effort. Proper exercise need not be time consuming, difficult, or expensive. The many benefits of exercise include:
- strengthening and flexibility of muscles, tendons and ligaments
- looking your best with good muscle tone and posture
- weight loss due to burning calories during exercise and at an accelerated rate for 12 to 24 hours after exercise
- production of brain chemicals that create a post-exercise euphoria (the runner’s high) that makes us feel great naturally
- suppressed and more easily controlled appetite
- deeper and longer sleep patterns
- increased self-esteem and personal mastery
- bone strengthening and prevention or reversal of osteoporosis
- conditioning of the nervous system and reflexes
- a Zen-like reverie during exercise
Are these sufficient reasons for you to exercise and stretch for three to four hours per week?
Maintaining lean muscle mass helps you look, feel, and act better at any age. Young people have much more muscle than fat; this contributes to increased energy, higher metabolism, greater strength and balance, and a more active lifestyle. Without regular exercise and proper diet, older people develop much more fat than muscle. That starts a downward spiral of fatigue, weight gain, weakness, poor balance and a restricted lifestyle.
The phrase ‘make your life a work of art’ has always been motivating to me. Have pride in your physique just as you have pride in your car and home. It’s healthy to feel proud of yourself when you look your best. Post pictures of how you want to look and use them as motivation to create the body you deserve.
Ancient Roman and Greek sculptors often created beautiful male and female bodies with lean physiques and well-developed muscles. The human body is a magnificent creation and a wondrous thing to behold when we are lean and fit. That’s when you look, feel and are your very best. A human incarnation is an awesome journey when you have a great vehicle that can handle the bumps and curves of life’s highways.
If that sounds like the kind of life experience you want, read
Radiant Wellness
by Dr. Pitstick for more
about optimal activity.
|
