Fitness for Longevity
Fitness and longevity are inseparable
If you were able to package all of the benefits of exercise into a pill, it would be the most powerful longevity drug available.
the three take-aways
that we want you to know about fitness and longevity. Use it or Lose it
Stay Strong
Do what you love
Why is it any surprise that people who are sedentary lose the ability to move without pain?
Young people
move all of the time. They play, they explore, they are curious about and with their body. Their peers engage in play with them. They climb, they run, they try new things, take risks and sometimes are injured doing so.Use it or Lose it. You keep what you train
Becoming
“old”
, this play is lost. Movement is drastically decreased. Curiosity about the body and new activities fades. Stuck in offices, comfortable on the couch, fear of injury creates limitation in movement.
A key component of
fitness
is to understand that your body continuously adapts to its environment. You need to move, to work your muscles, tell your heart to pump harder and your lungs to breath deeper.This signals to your
epigenome
to keep
these capabilities in your body. You keep what you train. Choose the movement and freedom that is important to you and train these capabilities and they won’t fail you.
Stay Strong. Tell your body to be strong and it will listen
As we said in #1, your body is an adaptation machine. Signaling to the
epigenome
via your environment controls the expression of your genome (DNA).
By applying the appropriate amount of
stress
to your body, it adapts to become stronger. This concept is called hormesis,
and is present in all living organisms and is one of the key factors of evolution. This strength within you is within all organisms on the planet.When you tell your body to be
strong,
it will listen. All the way down to the cellular level. A well balanced longevity focused fitness
program stresses the organs, the systems of your body, allows them to recover and then makes them stronger. Through training these systems - aerobic, anaerobic, muscular strength and your nervous system (brain, stability, flexibility), you can be
strong at any age.
If exercise is a struggle for you, you have yet to connect with an activity that you love. Remember from #1 to be curious, to find enjoyment in moving and using your body. Try new things. Think back to your younger years and search for what felt rewarding and meaningful to you and
start there.
We are all unique, and what lights one person up might feel like a soul-crushing activity for another. Your
longevity fitness
routine must be built upon what fills you up and helps get you out of bed each day.Do what you love (and don’t do it alone)
You need to be
moving
to get your heart beating harder and your lungs breathing deeper. You need to do hard things
to make your body adapt and become stronger.
And you don’t need to do it all at once. Take your time, build new habits, start gently and gradually build.And -
don’t do it alone.
One of the most important things about getting fit
is to find something you love and use it to connect meaningfully with others who enjoy the same. This creates purpose and promotes accountability. It also deepens social connections and can drastically improve your mental health.
Love to walk? Join a walking group. Enjoy dance? Find a dance lesson near you. Miss swimming from your younger days? Find a swim squad or local meetup to swim the ocean, lake or river near your home. 
Don’t let pain stop you from exercise
Don’t let pain stop you from exercise
The most common objections to getting fit are pain related.
All too often, there is a conundrum, a quandary at the center of these objections. In order to get out of pain, you need to move more and get stronger.
One very practical example is with arthritis related pain. Joint health is a major longevity issue, and looking after your joints is an essential part of your longevity strategy.
Patients with severe pain due to osteoarthritis stop walking and moving regularly. They often suffer from accompanying illnesses such as depression and cardiovascular disease.
If you’re one of the millions of people who are struggling with arthritis related joint pain, you’ll be excited to learn that there are new longevity technologies for
arthritis.
Namely, red light therapy - and our recommendation to move beyond pain and get back to movement is the Kineon Move+.