There are product after product out there promising to help us beat back Father Time.
I even keep hearing experts talk about aging like it’s some kind of disease to be conquered.
While I don’t agree with that – I think there’s a beautiful, overlooked experience that comes with aging – I do want to have my best Third Age possible.
How can that be possible?
Exercise, my friend!
Put simply – the more we move, the better we continue to age throughout our lives.
How Does Exercise Impact Aging?
It makes sense that when we live a healthier lifestyle that we’re going to age better, right? It just feels logical.
But exercise has benefits you might not realize, like its ability to bolster immunity, slow our biological clock, and keep our brains young.
You know that I love to stay active. I often talk about my love of cycling, walking, and yoga. But I also know that there are many ways to get fit and we each have our own fitness loves.
I’d love to hear yours! Jump into the Third Age Mojo Facebook community and tell me what your favorite ways to stay active are. I’m always excited to learn new things we can all try!
Getting Fit and Compete at a High Level
For some of us, it’s about staying fit but a little competition is also fun. With the desire to promote healthy lifestyles for adults, the US National Senior Sports Organization began in 1985. The USNSO hosts the National Senior Games that take place every two years (in the odd years) and allows athletes 50 and over to compete in a variety of sports and activities.
I love what USNSO is doing to promote healthy lifestyles and showing that we can be great athletes no matter what our ages are!
Qualify for the National Games
If you’ve always loved some good athletic competition, you too can qualify for the National Games. You’ll need to locate a local NSGA state game near you and you’ll want to check out the rules to ensure that you can qualify (or know what you need to work towards), but it’s open to anyone.
You’ll just need to go through their Qualification information to get involved.
Exercise and Well-Being Resources
True to their mission, the NSGA website includes a bunch of information on how to get started with a variety of physical activities.
You can explore their Exercise and Well-Being resource libraries to get great beginner’s information on a variety of activities and guidance on how to get enough sleep, eat right, and build resilience.
They even have some great fitness videos to show you the proper form for many different exercises.
Living Our Best Lives Through Fitness
No matter what your level of standard exercise, you can stay in shape and do a bit more to help your Third Age be better than it was!
Start small if getting out of the desk chair isn’t something you’ve done a ton lately. Go for a walk – meet some friends at the zoo or park – and start making physical activity a part of your daily routine.
Don’t forget to head to the Facebook group to tell us your favorite ways to keep in shape and then maybe we can all start training for the NSGA together!
