Do you think of your body the way you think of your car? When a few lucky individuals buy a sports car that boasts of the best automotive engineering available today, watch them read the maintenance manuals religiously.

They take their car for servicing even when it purrs like a kitten and take it for repairs as soon as something does not feel right. And they’re very worried.

That car is their most prized possession, a representation of all the long and hard hours they put in at work so they could finally own it. It cost a LOT of dollars, so looking after it is logically, their # 1 priority.

But how important is the person that drives that car? Shouldn’t that person – shouldn’t YOU – be the #1 priority?

The average lifespan for men and women is 80 years, give or take a few years. The awful truth is, a large number of men and women look and feel 80 before they even reach 40! You can see the give away signs from their physical appearance:

* drooping dry skin
* bad posture
* uneven and unsteady walk (they need to drag around those extra pounds)
* painful joints
* sporting the “I’m not happy because I look terrible” look

Now, if their external appearance is this bad, just think what the internal workings are like! Most likely, it’s even worse:

* clogged vessels
* inefficient heart
* mounds of fat parked in or around vital organs
* Conditions such as diabetes, nervous tension, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease that are quietly brewing.

If fitness gurus had it their way, they’d introduce legislation to make exercise mandatory as soon as a baby leaves the cradle, not during the teens when obesity is likely to strike.

But fitness shouldn’t be associated with any age limit. You can start at 10 or at 25 – even at 50 and 60 – the principle being that fitness should not be seen as the cure for a condition that’s already come about. As the saying goes, don’t wait for illness to strike.

Brad King and Dr. Michael Schmidt in “Bio Age, Ten Steps to a Younger You” (Macmillan, Canada, 2001) created a questionnaire for assessing physical damage to a body as a result of no exercise. Some of their guidelines include:

Start with the question, “How do I look?” Do any of these apply to you?
* Am I overweight, pear or apple shaped?
* Do I have a spare tire around my middle?
* Has my skin become very dry, almost paper-thin?

Then, ask: “How do I feel?”
Do my joints hurt before or after any physical exertion?
* Am I constantly anxious and worried?
* Do I feel fatigued and sluggish most of the time?
* Do I suffer from mood swings?

Finally, “How am I doing?”
* Are simple walking and climbing stairs difficult?
* Do I have problems concentrating?
* Is running impossible for me now?
* Am I unable to sit straight, preferring to slouch or stoop my shoulders?1

You’ve finished your basic assessment. Note, however, that other exercise or fitness specialists will have created their own parameters or indices for assessing your body’s overall state and one isn’t better than the other.

As long as they include all dimensions of the self – physical, psychological and mental – they are as valid as the next person’s assessment charts.

Now you need to work out your very own ACTION PLAN.

References: 1 Brad J. King & Dr. Michael A. Schmidt. Bio Age – Ten Steps to a Younger You. Macmillan, Canada. 2001.

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