Who's Older, You Or Your Body?

You Reckon Who's Older, You or Your Body?

Could your body's age be older than your chronological age?

Chronologically you're 45, but your body in terms of age, could be 53......

Ah....Your body's already on the verge of "retirement" but you're only 45......

Can you do something about your "aging" body?

Or you're 33, your body's age could be 25......

Whoa! You're already 33 but alas! You've a physical body of a 25-year-old!

Ain't that great? You'd feel estatic and on top of the world knowing that you're the same "body age" as a 25-year-old!

And how do you achieve this "envious" state of things?

Well, for both cases, you undergo the so-called "body age" test which assesses amongst a litany of things, your body fat, strength, cardiovascular condition, flexibility, cholesterol, blood pressure and ...... to determine your "body age".

Many gyms now offer the "body age" test to their members.

Let's say the body age test shows that your "body age" is 53, older than your chronological age of 45.....

You can now do something about your "body age", to whittle down the years so your body could be years younger than your chronological age.......

What's that something you can do?

Exercise, of course!

If the body age test shows that you're high in body fat, weak in cardiovascular system or low in strength, you tackle these weaknesses through eating a healthy diet to trim your body fat, doing effective cardio exercises to build up your cardiovascular fitness and launching into strength training to increase your strength and muscle mass.

A couple of months of consistently following the exercise and eating regime, you'll be able to whittle your "body age" down to the number you want......

The next thing you want to know - how can exercise strip away the years?

OK. Let's take your cardiovascular system to illustrate the point.

If you're sedentary and you don't exercise, you'll lose about 5% of the elasticity of your heart every decade but studies have shown that exercise can lessen the negative effects.

Granted your muscle isn't going to be as good as that of a 20-year-old, but you can still have a healthy functioning heart, even at age 70 or 80, if you regularly exercise, cardio exercise, that is.

The way I look at it - this "body age" test is a kind of motivational tool as it lets you know how "old" your body is and how fast your body is aging and that perhaps by knowing the "age" of your body, you'd do that "something" - exercise, to arrest the downhill disintegration.

You know, a kind of alert system to let you know it's time to exercise, a tried-and-true method of arresting or delaying some aspects of your aging.

And when it's put in "age" term, it can motivate you to exercise.

Still, I think the most rewarding thing you get from this "body age" test is the health status of your body - you'll know whether you're healthy in terms of cardio-respiratory fitness, body fat composition, flexibility, muscle strength, cholesterol levels, blood pressure.......

However, exercise experts caution that there's only so much exercise can do to slow down aging and "body age" test should be taken with a grain of salt.

I agree.

Because some gyms claim that with enough exercise, you can attain the body of a teenager. That's a bit over-stretched the fact since exercise can only slow down your aging but it can't reverse aging.

Face the fact- you'll be aging but it's much slower if you exercise. If you're 60, you might be more like a 50- or 45-year-old but you're not going to be like a 20-year-old!

But have you thought of how wonderful it would be if, when you're 60, your body is fit like a 50- or 45-year-old?

You won't be afraid of being old or bed-ridden with sickness and not able to do the things you enjoy. You'll be able to brag about taking the stairs with ease, run with heart-pumping efficiency of a 45-year-old and sprint like a cat......

Life is beautiful!

I don't know about you, but I think it's the greatest motivation for me to exercise!

Exercise not only slows down your aging process, it's also a great mental tool that sharpens your mind and brain, helping you stay mentally healthy and agile, warding off age-related mental diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

And exercise is also the better way to tackle health issues such as high blood pressure, fibromylgia, diabetes, osteoporosis, lower back pain and stress.

So, you reckon, who's older, you or your body?

Regularly exercise to achieve good health and to maintain it; at the same time to slow down your aging.

Your body will be years younger than your chronological age!

You'll be much more healthier and look much younger than your peers!