Making A Healthy Exercise Choice

So where does a healthy exercise choice fit into our time of life?

I recall reading somewhere about the stages of life being described as 'The Warrior' and 'The Statesman'.

I think it might have been Wayne Dyer. Anyway the point is that it refers to our particular approach to life. Maybe it's also a little bit more of a male thing too in that it relates to 'The Warrior' being the physically dominating, cut and thrust of achievement, my way or no way style. This is commonly seen from adolescence through to middle age.

'The Statesman' refers to the adoption, normally after passing through 'The Warrior' stage' of a more relaxed, wise and thoughtful state of being often seen in those of more senior years with a deal of life experience under the belt.

My reason for mentioning this here is its relevance to healthy exercise choice and its importance to those amongst us who may be partial to abusing our bodies participating in sporting activities that:

We enjoy

Make us feel good

Keep us cardio-vascularly fit

BUT SERIOUSLY DAMAGE OUR JOINTS.

Some doctors have a term for such patients and the word thay use is the strong albeit fitting one of 'abusers'.

I should not complain for I have been paid handsomely over the years for the privilege of treating the painful, inflamed joints of such patients who are seemingly unable to break the addiction to their 'must do' sport.

It may be:

road running

squash

badminton

soccer

There are more we could add to the list but these are amongst the favourites.

So what is it that they all have in common that is responsible for

a) their addictive quality

b) their tendency to damage joints?

The main factor is that they are WEIGHT BEARING. That is the weight of the body is forcibly taken by the body's weight bearing joints (spine and lower limbs) many times. Running apart, they all involve significant stop-start, changes of direction that are very stressful on the joints.

So why am I discussing all this? Well I have enough of a grasp of human nature to know full well that my waxing and waning is likely to have little or no impact on stopping anyone continuing with their favorite sport no matter how damaging. I will leave that to actual experience.

My point is that there are other means of achieving that blend of feeling great and physical fitness, through healthy exercise choice, without the downsides. It's all a matter of attitude to life but (and I will ignore the feeling that I need to duck down here) some great alternatives:

swimming

cycling

rowing

walking

dancing

yoga

Worth considering is the life of a statesman who can enjoy a relatively pain free life into old age and play with the grandchildren and sit, walk and drive in comfort.