Keep The Stairs!
As many people age, they decide to downsize and move to a home or location without stairs.
It makes sense to want to reduce your footprint so that there’s less to take care of. Also, as you age, perhaps your knees aren’t as strong as they were. You start to develop aches and pains. Then, decreasing the amount of work and load you place on your lower body seems like a good idea.
However, one of the worst mistakes people make as they age is trying to make life simpler and then inadvertently their health deteriorates making life a lot more difficult.
Keep The Challenges
Climb Stairs
If you stop climbing stairs daily, your muscles will atrophy and inevitably, you’ll lose the ability to climb stairs. If you want to keep your muscles strong and healthy and your knees able to lift your body weight, you’ve got to keep them loaded on a daily basis. It’s best to keep climbing stairs, even as you age.
Continue Gardening
When you decrease your footprint so you don’t have to garden or mow the lawn anymore, you’ll find that you are bending and pulling less, and those muscles will atrophy.
Chores Are Important
Doing chores around your house, forces you to move your body on a regular basis and that helps to keep you healthy. If you move to a new home or location so that you don’t have to perform chores on a regular basis, your health will be negatively impacted.
Do Hard Things. Stay Healthy.
We have learned this lesson from Sardinia, a small town in the mountains of Italy, that boasts a high percentage of people who are healthy and live to 100 years.
The town is built into the mountains causing the streets to have steep inclines and the homes to host multiple flights of stairs. Just getting around Sardinia is a workout. Moving around your household in Sardinia is a workout. When your daily activity and effort is high without even having to go to the gym that positively impacts your health and longevity.
So, the message is clear….
Do what you can to make sure you’re not making your life too easy.
Doing hard things keeps you healthy and strong!
Go to the grocery store versus having your groceries shipped to you.
Don’t downsize just to make life easier if you don’t have to.
If you live in a ranch-style house, retirement community or assisted living, be sure to participate in organized sport and activities and/or volunteer to help with the community chores to assure you continue to move your body on a regular basis.
Take the stairs any chance you get.
Park in the furthest parking spot to increase your daily step count.
Yours in health, fitness & business,
Sherri McMillan
Sherri McMillan
Sherri McMillan, holds a master's degree in exercise physiology and has been inspiring the world to adopt a fitness lifestyle for more than 33 years. She has received numerous industry awards including 2010 CanFitPro International Presenter of the Year, 2006 IDEA Fitness Director of the Year, 1998 IDEA Personal Trainer of the Year, 1998 CanFitPro Fitness Presenter of the Year and 2005/2006 ACE Fitness Educator of the Year - Runner up. She is a fitness trainer, fitness columnist for various magazines and newspapers, author of five books and manuals including "Go For Fit - the Winning Way to Fat Loss" and "Fit over Forty" and the featured presenter in various fitness DVDs. She has presented hundreds of workshops to thousands of fitness leaders throughout Canada, Australia, Mexico, Jamaica, New Zealand, Germany, England, Spain, South America, Asia and the U.S. She is the owner of Northwest Personal Training in downtown Vancouver, the founder of WHY Racing Events & WHY Community, participates in various community fundraisers and can be found running, biking, or hiking around the community. Find more information at nwpersonaltraining.com.