Too late to start exercising? Read on….

A recent study in the British Medical Journal has shown that increasing physical activity in middle age reduces mortality risk at a comparable level to quitting smoking. The study followed 50 year old men over a 35 year period and showed that mortality risk was halved over a 10 year period. It was also interesting to note that at the 10 year follow up, men who had reported a ‘high’ level of physical activity at the start of the study had no lower mortality risk than those who had reported ‘low’ physical activity at the start of the study and had increased their physical activity levels to ‘high’ over the 10 year period.

In my time as a personal trainer, I’ve seen many ‘middle age’ people decide to take control of their health and consciously make different choices. In many of these cases, one obvious change for them has been significant weight loss but of even greater importance has been the improvements to their strength, balance, aerobic fitness, mobility and general sense of well being. This has given them a new ‘lease on life’, allowing them to enjoy a range of other activities (and holidays!) that their previous lack of fitness was preventing them from doing.

If this sounds like you, make the decision and just get started!

-Kristin Lewis