Boost your fitness, regardless of age

Small changes, huge results

It’s very important to do all you can to keep supple to improve your fitness, specially as you get older. Joints tend to stiffen up with age, and the tendency is for that to continue unless you take measures to change things. And the good news is you don’t have to do an enormous amount to see some real positive changes taking place. You don’t have to do the kind of fitness workout that would leave an Olympian gasping for breath and begging for a break, and you don’t have to do things that are beyond your capabilities. All you have to do is start a regime of regular training and make a few small changes to your diet and your overall routine, and most importantly, do it gradually.

Exercising early puts a whole new sparkle on the day!

One of the most important things you can do for your general wellbeing is to start exercising early in the day. I know it’s not an attractive proposition – no-one particularly likes the idea of springing up out of bed and getting busy immediately on a workout (well, we all like the idea of it in a way, it sounds so ideal, but the harsh reality of it isn’t so inviting when you start to actually put it into action).

The way to go about it (as with most things) is to just do a bit at a time. For the first week or so just do a few minutes’ stretching after you get up. Nothing extravagant. And you don’t have to do t’ai chi or yoga, just stretching, the way Nature intended. When you’re ready to move on, add a single exercise. And make it a single set if you like, or even a single rep. Seriously! It doesn’t matter how little you do, just as long as you do something. One press-up or one attempted sit-up is infinitely more valuable than doing nothing. It can give you the feeling that you can actually do some exercise if you really want to, even if it feels a bit alien at first. And you can even bask in the warm fuzzy feeling that you’ve at least made a start! And anybody knows that the hardest part of any venture is taking that first, tentative step.

Every venture you might ever take must start with baby steps, not just improving your fitness. So don’t regard them as unimportant. Even the grandest of Man’s achievements have started with just the idea in mind, followed by the first faltering steps. It’s just the way things happen.

Work on creating good fitness habits

Make it a point to create a few good habits. We are what we habitually do. If we laze about and do nothing, that’s what we are … lazy good-for-nothings. If we start to exercise regularly, no matter whether it’s a full session or a lightning flash of exercise, that’s what we are … people who exercise, regularly. And we can build on that. We’ve started, and we can strengthen the habit we’re forming. You can imagine it like a giant steel hawser strong enough to tow a cruise ship – even that giant steel hawser is composed of thin steel strands, each adding to the strength of the others. And as you build up a habit bit by bit, you’re constandly adding new strands and making the whole thing that much stronger. We can do it stealthily too, it needn’t be a shock to the system, or enough to put you off exercise for life.

Drink more water!

One of the good habits we can work on is drinking more water. Water is easily the most important nutrient we take in. It doesn’t have the sexiness of protein, or certain flashy fruits or vegetables (settle down, Avocado, take a bow and sit yourself down on that bench over there!), but we can get by without any of them, at least for quite a while. Try to get by without water and you’ll find you won’t last a day. Your body is largely composed of water, and as soon as dehydration sets in you’re on a slippery slope. If you’re dehydrated and you don’t do anything about it, you’ll end up far worse that thirsty, you’ll end up dead!

Start drinking a glass of water first thing in the morning, maybe with a dash of lemon juice in it, or a tablespoon of cider vinegar. You can add a tablespoon of honey to boost the value of the drink and counteract any bitterness, and once this has become habitual you can start to have a glass with each meal. This is an important addition to your fitness regime, make no mistake.

Carry a small water bottle with you all day and use it for frequent drinks, or even little sips. And remember, you can refill it from any tap, anywhere, you don’t have to depend on expensive bottled water. That’s really not necessary, and nothing more than a waste of time and money.

Drinking more water will benefit you in many ways, from helping you control your weight to improving your complexion. Practically every bodily function will be improved with a plentiful supply of water, and people who drink plenty of it will happily tell you they don’t often suffer headaches, constipation, cramps, mood swings or any of the other dozens of common complaints that most people just accept as part of life. You don’t have to suffer these ailments! Drinking plenty of water will sort many of them out, and without the need for medications of any kind.

Time to tidy up your diet

Still keen to create some good habits? Excellent, now you’re on a roll! So determine to start cleaning your diet up, that should keep you busy for a while, but remember, take it easy! Don’t try to create the perfect diet and stick to it rigidly, that’s just not going to end well. You don’t have to become obsessive about it (please don’t!), but you can easily start to cut right back on the foods that you know aren’t doing you any real favours. And, at the same time, concentrate on adding more of the foods that you know will nourish you properly. You don’t have to be a nutritional expert, but you can read up on diet (proper diet that is, not fad diets), and learn which foods are really worth eating and which are well worth avoiding.

Improving your diet, even if you take it ever so slowly, will be a real boost to your fitness. Every morsel that passes your lips is either going to be beneficial to you, or it’s just dead weight. Keep that idea in mind and you’ll soon start to improve your diet, with hardly any effort at all.

Affirmations can keep you motivated

At this stage you might already be seeing some progress. You’ll be exercising a little more in the mornings (which, by the way, will boost your metabolism and make you feel good for hours afterwards), and you’ll be eating a healthier diet and drinking plenty of water. Now make sure you stay motivated so you’re able to keep up the good work you’re doing. How you do that is up to you.

For example, you might want to use affirmations. If so, write them carefully so they’re entirely positive, and written in such a way that they ‘feel’ right. You have to believe that what you’re saying makes sense and is attainable. You might also want to record them and play the recording on a loop while you’re exercising, or while you’re using the computer. Why not use a recording of a stream trickling or gurgling along (there are plenty of them on YouTube) and run it alongside your recording of your affirmations. You can use an audio program called Audacity (it’s free!) or some other audio software to create a recording combining two or more tracks, and the result can be very, very effective.

Images might work far better for you. You could create a slideshow of lots of images that inspire you. Images that embody fitness, exercise, fresh air, deep breathing, success, suppleness or whatever you aspire to. You can even run a music track alongside the slideshow to make it more effective. It could be something classical, or something upbeat, your choice. Try FastStone Image Viewer, it’s free and packed with all kinds of options to make your images more effective, including the option to add a music track to a slideshow.

Harness the power of your subconscious mind

Assuming you’ve got this far, and you’re keeping yourself motivated, one way or another, you’re well on your way to levels of fitness you might not have experienced for years. Now make sure you motivate your subsconscious mind to work on your behalf. Keep visualising yourself as young, supple, energetic, motivated, and anything else you can think of that is positive and powerful. It doesn’t matter if you’re not so young, or if your joints are stiffening up. It doesn’t matter if your energy levels are low right now, or you suffer from a chronic illness. That’s reality, and reality’s the last thing you need concern yourself with. You’re faced with that virtually all day, every day. Now, when you’re using your mind creatively, leave reality behind and create your future reality, the you you really want to be. See yourself as younger, more supple, highly energetic, free from any disease, and eager to exercise.

The more you think of yourself this way, the more you will actually become like this. Focus only on reality and all you’ll achieve is having more of what you’ve already got. So if you’re stiffening up, you might find that process is actually accelerating. If you don’t really care to do a workout, then accepting that reality will just make you feel fed up and less eager to train. If you totally accept that you have a disease, then get ready to have more of it, because you’re affirming that this is your reality, and it’s what you want, or deserve.

Focus only on your envisioned future!

Focus only on being younger, being more relaxed and confident, moving more easily and without any restriction, and having excellent health overall. See this constantly as your new reality, and ditch that other image that you’ve been hanging onto for so long. Welcome this new self-image and fully immerse yourself in daydreams of being that younger, more energetic person, the one who enjoys exercise and is always calm and relaxed. This new approach can have truly astonishing effects, if you just try it, and resolve to stick with it for at least a few weeks.

If all this sounds a bit ridiculous to you, and you’re insistent that you want to stick with your current reality no matter what, just consider the possibility that this might be a sign of mental stiffness setting in. This stiffening of attitudes can happen with age as well as physical stiffening can, and it can be just as dangerous, and probably more. Try to take a more relaxed and open minded view of things and you might find you’re more willing to try this approach.

Drastic and overwhelming changes can take place in a relatively short time, if you go along with this plan of action. Although it can result in amazing changes, it’s a relatively easy approach, and it’s more of a stealth attack rather than a full-on, all-guns-blazing attack. That doesn’t make it any the less effective; in fact it means you’re more likely to last the course and see long-term benefits. It’s definitely a more laid-back approach, but the results can actually be little short of truly amazing.