I have been focused on being in shape for most of my life. At 44, I am starting to realize just how valuable being in shape is. Being able to have total use of your body to do anything, anytime is part of being alive. We are so blessed with this miracle of life. Our body is a big part of how we define it. I see so many people walking around with a body that is dormant, capable of only basic bodily movements such as walking from point A to point B and only if that distance is less than a quarter of a mile. They are not strong, not alive and not well. Their shape and personality are a reflection of their sedentary habits.
Our fast-paced culture has costs that produce outcomes that are not always so good. When people lead a sedentary life, their body becomes inactive, loses muscle tone, and tends to put on weight through the storage of excess calories in adipose tissue. Eating fast food or processed food for convenience, in combination with stress of work or family life, the body becomes quite a mess in short order. The end result affects their attitude every moment of every day in how they perceive the world and how the world perceives them. We don't have to be world class athletes to feel good about ourselves, we just have to move our body for a short amount of time each day. Movement improves muscle tone, bone density, blood flow, brain development, tendon and ligament strength and most importantly a sense of well being.
Exercise is a modern day phenomenon. Prior to the Information Age, people performed physical labor on a daily basis. They also tended to walk more for transportation purposes than we do today. We drive everywhere in our air conditioned cars and try to find the closest parking spot to the entrance door. Before professional sports started to pay million-dollar salaries, athletes had to work nine-to-five jobs to make ends meet. They trained for their sport before or after work. Exercise is only necessary if your life and job don't require movement. Walking to the coffee machine doesn't count. I'm talking about the amount of movement a postal employee would experience on a day-to-day basis.
I know at 44 how important it is for me to work out so my body is as strong, fast and aerobically fit as it was when I was 18. It is important because it makes me feel good. I don't have to work physically for a living, so I have to make sure I replace work effort with exercise. In my journey with RunTex I have seen so many people who have evolved from having average bodies to having fit bodies. Their whole lives changed, sometimes beyond belief for me.
That first step of 10,000 is the most important. The first stretch of the yoga class, the first stroke of the swim or the first crank of the pedal. Take it. The first one is the toughest but more will follow and they'll get easier with time. The first movement changes one from sedentary to active and from dormant to alive.