Ways to Keep Youthful Strength

“Use it or lose it” is the old adage; but how true it is. If you don't use your body, you will lose what it was meant to be for you. So, how can we keep strength? It's a simple one – Exercise. Were not just talking exercising the body. I believe physical strength is directly related to mental and spiritual health. It starts with the mind.

Essentially, I believe in order to have a strong mind we must first have a strong spirit to start with. Then we must strengthen or train our mind before we can strengthen or train our body. I believe Matthew 11:29 sums it up fairly well when Jesus says, "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am meek and lowly at heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls." Strength of spirit requires our submission to God and our fellowship with Him.

Our mind is where we battle it all. We can strengthen our mind through meditation on God's word, forming healthy thought habits (thinking on good things rather than on negative things) and essentially communing with God on a daily basis, giving to Him our troubles and praising Him for the good things He has done.

Let us talk about bodily strength. When we hear the word, exercise, what comes to our mind? Happy, delightful, anticipated thoughts? Or do we feel weary, unmotivated, and maybe a little lazy? Is it hard for us to exercise regularly or do we tend to get excited one day and very doubtful we can make it through the next? Maybe we’ve never tried to exercise beyond the long walk to our car coming from an event.

I believe exercise is simply moving our body. It can be any form or type, but getting up from the couch or bed and moving around is always good for our body and can be considered exercise. Our body needs to move for healthy blood flow and proper functioning. The heart, muscles, and bones all depend on our movement to strengthen and function properly. What if I told you that once you see the results of your effort towards exercise, you will become a lover of exercise? What if I told you that once you get going it becomes easier?

Could we just start something that will make us want to exercise? What I like to do is put my workout clothes on, that really gears me up for something a little bit more intense than cleaning my house (then again, cleaning the house can be a very intense workout especially while carrying a baby in the front carrier while sweeping and mopping! Wow, what a sweat). This is something we want to aim for a handful of times throughout the week. We want to get our body in a mode of sweating, that way we are sure we are pumping enough blood to really get it moving beyond its sitting point and our heart pumping a bit more than usual for its health, as this vital muscle will strengthen when worked. Sweating is also good for the release of those toxins we are getting (hopefully not from the food we eat, but from our atmosphere and stress). When I am in exercise clothes, I also tend to make smarter food choices.

If we don’t have workout clothes or if putting on our workout clothes seems too “official” as it sometimes does me (sometimes I just need to jump in or I won’t do it at all if I have to get all fancy about it), then let us do just that, let us jump into it. We are going grocery shopping? Maybe take a walk around the neighborhood first, or make it a regular thing to walk after dinner as me and my family do most nights. While I believe movement is good for us and can be considered exercise, exercise should be an effort, more effort than just a slow, timid walk. With that being said, I still believe as long as we are moving our body, we are doing ourselves a very great advantage.

Want to hear even better news? How about if I told you that what you eat can have an even larger impact on your lifelong health than exercise? Yes, it is found to be true and I believe it has been true in my own life. Eating a plant based diet rich in living foods and limiting fatty foods with no hard exercise will help keep you in shape more so than eating what you please all the time and exercising until your legs feel like they are going to fall off. Do I think we need to sweat a few times a week and lift some dumbbells for bone and muscle strength? Yes, I do, unless we are plowing the farm and tending to animals, then we may bypass the whole “new civilization exercises.” Our body needs this effort put forth as we grow up or else our muscle mass will decrease, our strength and health internally will be futile, our bones and joints will become fragile, our heart will become weak, and our body will take upon an unknown shape; no form, no tone. That’s just to name a few disadvantages to not working out. Throw in there heart disease and poor blood circulation, overall fat increase and/or hanging skin! Let me just throw this in there too – having muscle mass burns fat even when we are not working out as the body naturally burns calories to maintain just one pound of muscle than it does to maintain a pound of fat. Therefore, the more muscle we build, the more overall calories our body will burn every day even while we are at rest; what a reward!

Now do you see that exercise isn’t just for certain people; we all need to strengthen this incredible machine! This is all for our benefit, for our immediate and long term health, and for the health of our family because when they see us dedicated to living in honor of our body, they will be more inclined to do so. Something else we need to be thinking about is, besides things we cannot control, we could be here for them longer if we take control of our health. We don’t just want to be here for them but we want to be joyfully and fully and actively alive for them not diseased and struggling with our health.

Not only does exercise improve our health and help reduce our risks of cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, it also improves our mental health in many ways. When we put effort into the movement of our body, it will reward us with the release of good feeling endorphin's that the Lord has so marvelously designed to give us that extra edge in life. Our brain interprets these endorphin's giving us a feeling of strength of will, strength of mind, and self-esteem; confidence in our ability in life. Endorphin's also act as an analgesics, providing us with a sort of numbing of the pain. And if getting our body trim and toned isn’t exciting enough, our exercising will help to set our mind at ease, reducing our stress and anxiety.

I encourage us to find something we like to do and look for ways that it can become a regular exercise during our week. We can do a workout DVD like I do a few times per week. I enjoy the Firm Classics. There is an aerobic (or cardio) portion in the beginning that also incorporates weight training into the cardio and floor work (muscle toning) exercises at the end. Besides finding it fun to do, I enjoy this workout because it combines aerobic exercises with weights and this builds a long, lean body in the shortest amount of time possible and because I have a family, time is of the essence as I am sure is the story with each one of us. The workouts are about an hour long, so sometimes what I do is the beginning portion one day and the floor portion the next day, and I keep alternating. Other times I do the entire hour a couple of times per week and designate another couple days of the week to focus on specific areas I want put extra attention on such as arms, legs, back, flexibility, or core strength. Maybe you can do something like this with a workout DVD you find or have found that you like. Other exercises may be fast walking, dancing, biking, hiking, some people like Yoga or Pilates, isometric exercises using your own weight, jogging at a moderate pace (I personally do not recommend daily running as the likelihood of joint health is usually compromised sooner than later), and swimming. This is not an exhaustive list.

With any exercise, you will want to incorporate some weight “training.” You will want to create a habit of training your muscles to break it’s tissues down and rebuild them up; in this they will become strong, shapely, and toned. This is important because every year that we age, we lose muscle mass. Make sure you are eating sufficiently for your increased energy output. Make sure it is full of living nutrients to provide your body and those muscles with what it needs to repair and rebuild. 

Do not over worry about your exercise, if you see it as your biggest struggle and a roadblock to getting yourself healthier. Worry is the opposite of what we are aiming for, which is a strong, healthy body and mind. Stress and anxiety is neither good nor healthy. What we can do is start with a simple exercise we all are comfortable with, walking, and turning it up a notch to a faster walk. Come home, lift a 5 lb dumbbell in various movements, stretch your muscles all out, then go eat yourself something nourishing (and the word nourishing should remind us that it should be healthy as healthy foods nourish our body).  Of course we all want a trim and toned outer, but keep in mind that at the same time, you are encouraging your body to cleanse and rebuild strong tissues, blood, muscles, cells, and keeping your organs healthy. What a beautiful thing! You are a unique individual. Your body is unlike anyone else's and its shape like anyone else's. Be patient with yourself. As you incorporate some of these ideas, learn to love your body as it is. This is mental strength. Love it as the days pass by and take good care of it. Love where you are right now and enjoy your journey. 

A healthy lifestyle does take a constant attention to and a conscious effort, but it will pay itself back in big rewards. We all want to enjoy our life. Most of us do not think ahead into the future of what our current choices will make of our future. Leading a healthy lifestyle strengthens not only our body but the discipline and self-control that leads it makes us stronger people. Exercise your mind towards the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. In doing so, we can keep our youthful strength; a youthful mind and spirit too! Let us exercise our mind and strengthen its ability towards self-control and perseverance. 

For those who are unable to move their body, you have a beautiful advantage and purpose. Every creation of God has a purpose. Maybe you can indulge your time into creating a beautiful mind and harnessing the power God has built within you to seek His blessings and receive wisdom and revelation from. God has many things in store for those who seek His face, and the rewards all look different for each of His children.

Note - If you are new to exercise, please consult your doctor before starting.

On this journey together,

Kari