ONLINE HEALTH, FITNESS

AND WELLBEING ASSESSMENTS

FITNESS PROFILE

Abraham Lincoln is credited with saying that most people are about as happy as we want to be. Similarly, most people are about as fit as we want to be.

In our community it's a very big ask expecting to become healthy without being fit.

Poor fitness is the key driver of the three major body system dysfunctions

•  metabolic

•  musculo-skeletal

•  psychological

If you're ready to make the choice to be fitter and healthier than you are now, all it's going to take is a bit of time, effort and perhaps a little money, but not much.

FEEL BETTER

In a few weeks you'll notice the difference. For starters you'll feel better. In a few months you'll notice a big difference. I say a few months, knowing that many people dropped out just before they were about to reap the benefits of an exercise program. Our surgeries are littered with the bodies of people who paid for 12 months and only went 12 times!

Years ago, Kenneth Cooper, the man who wrote the original and authentic book 'Aerobics' said, 'I can give you the program but I can't do it for you.' And there are plenty of champion athletes who found that the hardest thing they had to do every day was get their shorts and sandshoes on and get out the front door. Our champions are no less immune from the urge to 'take it easy' than the rest of us. However, the desire to improve their physical condition and the personal rewards of competition, whether it be against others or just against themselves spur them on.

For us mortals, the rewards of regular, vigorous physical activity are compelling. On top of feeling better, all the major systems of your body work better. (It does aerobic exercise a grave disservice to limit its effects to the cardiovascular system.)

If you don't feel well; if there are parts of your body that are dysfunctional; if you feel miserable; if you suffer from headaches, poor sleep, lack of vitality, high blood pressure, adult onset diabetes, a crook guts or a crook back; if you're overweight, there is a good chance you're suffering from motion starvation. Treat these dys-eases and dysfunction as symptoms of lack of fitness.

It's time to haul on your shorts and sandshoes and get cracking. You'll need a copy of the aerobic fitness diary.

When it's all boiled down, you don't need a great deal of equipment or expense to improve and maintain your level of fitness. As a minimum, a brisk walk, shuffle or jog, followed by a few situps and pressups and some flexibility exercises will do you a world of good. In fact you'll become as fit as a trout, lean as a greyhound and toey as a Roman sandal! If everyone in Australia did that every day it would save the country at least $80B in lost productivity and medical expenses. The only cost would be a new pair of sandshoes every now and again.

So what's stopping you: laziness, ignorance, stupidity, attachment to a fixed way of being, or just a lack of desire to be fit and healthy? For myself it's usually laziness and stupidity. I certainly know what to do and know that the benefits are compelling. For starters it's a good way to avoid going to the doctor's!

In the meantime remember that images in the mirror may not be as fit as they appear. Train hard!

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