You need to be healthy and fit to be able to practice sports, play with your kids, and be pain-free. Physical wealth or health is the glue that holds all the other types of wealth and one’s life together. Without the health and physical vitality of our bodies, we can achieve none of the other types of wealth, or at least not in a wise and long-term way.
The majority of people fail to understand that health is true wealth. They fail to invest in their bodies and minds and aren’t even aware that this is even a worthy goal in the pursuit of the good life.
Parents should be teaching the fundamentals of eating and moving in a healthy manner to their children. Unfortunately, I don’t see this happening often enough, especially on the eating side.
In your teens and twenties, you might feel invincible, and rightly so as your body is in its prime. But it won’t last, so think about how you can invest your time in long-term health.
Our bodies start losing muscle in our early forties and into old age. The only way to slow down the process is to lift weights. Start young if possible and learn the correct techniques. It sucks to get injured when you’re older, so take your time, learn how your body works and how it adapts to physical stress, and train right.
If you like sports, that’s great. But if possible don’t practice just one sport, do several complementary ones. That will help keep balance in your body and in your head. Pushing too hard at any one sport eventually leads to physical and mental breakdowns. Keep things in perspective and think long-term. You want to be able to move well in your sixties, seventies and eighties and not just in your twenties and thirties.
Middle-aged athletes – men and women – are used to facing criticism or skepticism from our sedentary peers. It’s a midlife crisis, vanity, an attempt to recapture our youth, a way of denying that we’re getting older, and the list goes on. What they fail to understand is that we don’t train to hold on to the past, but rather to live our best lives now and to prepare to lead healthy and active lives for decades to come. And research shows that the training you do in your 40s and 50s can add years to your life and life to your years.
Throughout your life, eat healthily. The Mediterranean diet works best for me. You can ignore practically all diets, including veganism, vegetarianism, and meat-only diets. A balanced mix of food is always best unless you have a specific condition that can be ameliorated using a particular diet. You can, of course, make your own decisions on the macros and protein sources, for example. Ideally, work with a nutritionist, it’s well worth the investment.
