If we attended a lot of holiday parties, we feel sluggish from too much food, we have no energy, and it is a challenge to get out of that easy chair at home.  We just feel old.

We know this is a temporary condition.  It has happened before.  After the holidays we will just get out, walk it off and renew our gym membership. 

But this is the wrong time of year.  In many areas, it is cold – certainly too cold to go out and walk or go to the gym.

We’ll just stay in until spring, and then we’ll walk it off.  We’ll save our energy. 

We are as young as we feel or as old as we feel. 

When we are in our twenties, our energy seems boundless, and we can do anything.  In our thirties we start to slow down, but it is hidden by the nonstop activities of work and family.  We notice that we can’t eat endlessly any more and perhaps it shows in our growing clothing sizes.

When we pass forty and our lives aren’t really over, we are starting to get the message that maybe we should start taking care of ourselves.  We might join a gym or start running or take up a vigorous sport.  We’re going to have a body like those people on the magazine covers. 

But it hurts to exercise at first.  We used to be able to run like the wind, but now we are more like a wind gust – run, stop, and gasp. 

Now we see our lives as really over.  We see ourselves marching slowly toward the grave, practicing getting old by moving slower, taking our time, being careful about everything. 

We learn to think old thoughts and live in the past since our future is so limited.  After all, doesn’t society expect and encourage us to age gracefully and limit our activity?  Aren’t our same-age friends feeling the same way?  And if everyone thinks that way, isn’t it true? 

No. 

At any time on our life path, there are alternative ways less traveled. 

The main road we travel with others our age leads to weakening and decline in our bodies.  Hardly noticeable at first, we gradually find it harder to stand or walk for an hour, or get out of a low chair or up off the floor.    This is especially true if our work is sedentary and we are the same in the rest of our lives. 

Our far-flung ancestors developed a perfectly functioning and efficient body, which is why their descendents survived.  We only use roughly 100 calories to walk a mile, but few of us walk that far in a day. 

And so our neglected muscles fall into disuse and lose their full function.  We fulfill our own prophecy and slow down because our muscle power has deteriorated.  Ailments come and we associate it with ageing.

But new research shows exercise slows ageing by keeping the body functioning at its top level.  One of the best paths to long life is feeling good about ourselves, and looking good with lots of energy will do it. 

Olympic 14 gold-medal winner Michael Phelps consumes a staggering 12,000 calories per day and trains six hours a day six days per week, without fail.  When asked in an interview how he keeps so fit, he replied, “It’s the exercise.”

What type of exercise is best?  That’s up to the individual.  Although the majority of people don’t exercise enough or at all, it still remains a personal decision. 

If we pick activities we enjoy, we will stick with it longer. 

Make a list — anything we like that involves the components of fitness: motion, endurance, strength, balance and flexibility. 

Aerobic endurance will build heart and lungs and let us keep moving.  Muscular strength, flexibility and balance will help us get out of that chair gracefully.   

And we should keep our muscles guessing by changing activities every month or two. 

We all have a preference for sedentary activities and many of us feel out of place where everyone else seems fitter than we are. 

Aerobic exercise means getting our blood pumping and breathing hard.  It doesn’t mean killing ourselves.  It also doesn’t mean ‘doing it tomorrow.’

Warming up and cooling down are key components to avoiding aches that make us quit and postpone.  Starting at and stopping from full speed is never a good idea. 

Stretching our joints instead of our jeans keeps our muscles loose and improves our balance and flexibility. Mobility and freedom from pain gained from regular stretching is a reward that we feel every day.

What’s a good fitness level?  Forget the magazine covers. It is the level at which we feel good and can get around easily.  We don’t have to be muscle-bound as long as the core area around our trunk is strong. 

The Internet and bookstores are full of suggestions on stretching and exercises that can be performed privately. 

Set some achievable goals to keep, then keep them.

The best exercise is the activity we will enjoy regularly.

Live long and limber!

Command a vital life. Live free.