I was at the bank the other day. Now whether going to the bank is indeed a pleasant or unpleasant experience I guess largely de­pends on that all-important critical figure, be it positive or negative in value: your bank balance.

It is somewhat depressing to consider that owning a property by default ensnares one into hefty monthly payments for the rest of one’s working life. The question arises: when am I going to get ahead? When will I be comfortable? When will every last bit of my income cease to be sapped from here, there and everywhere?

As clearly demonstrated by this line of questioning, my mood at the bank is clearly indicative of an undesirable all-important critical figure.

It would seem that for many of us, freedom will eventually come with retirement: freedom from work duties, freedom from debt and freedom from the responsibilities of raising children who are totally dependent on us.

Some of us are closer to this golden age than others, so my next question crops up:

Will I even last that long? After a lifetime of toil and trouble, will I even have good enough health, physically and mentally, to finally enjoy my hard-earned freedom?

If you have ever shared similar concerns, then it’s time to start thinking about another even more important and critical figure: your own.

A sensible health strategy may be one of ‘preservation’. What if we could suspend the aging process, delay it while getting through our working lives as unscathed as possible?

Fighting for our freedom in economically stable countries must not take place on the capital city’s streets brandishing banners or Kalashnikovs, but in the gym, with dumbbells and resistance bands.

Cutting back on smoking and excessive alcohol consumption will certainly help preserve the old lungs and liver.

We don’t stop playing because we get old, we get old because we stop playing

Eating the right foods can help prevent the onset of heart disease and various other conditions. Getting some regular exercise, however, provides my favourite range of benefits of all.

After all those years of wear and tear on the bones, ligaments and tendons, it would seem a little gentle servicing every now and again wouldn’t go amiss.

Regular servicing, in this case, means a basic flexibility training routine consisting of stretches that take all of our major joint structures through their full ranges of motion.

We refer to this concept casually as ‘use it or lose it’, and it could be something as fundamental as losing the ability to reach up over head.

If we hardly ever execute this movement or fail to stretch and mobilise the shoulders regularly, that one fine day may come along when you actually have to reach out for something important and snap, there goes a muscle or tendon.

Also, as we age, muscle tends to gradually waste away. This is normally a combination of a decline in use and hormonal changes.

It has been said: “We don’t stop playing because we get old, we get old because we stop playing.”

There is some truth here when it comes to maintaining strength and muscle mass.

If we keep going, we will retain more of our muscle and strength for longer.

A basic resistance training programme performed before and well into retirement will help maintain the functional strength required to carry things, walk long distances, travel, climb stairs and generally live an active and fulfilling lifestyle.

A loss of muscle will also mean a change in basal metabolic rate. Basically, with less muscle, the body will require less calories, because it is precisely muscle that burns calories when we move around.

This results in a corresponding increase in body fat, particularly if we continue to eat the same or more than we did before, simply because our bodies now need less. Taking in more calories when less are required is a recipe for disaster, and signals the development of what we have endearingly come to know as ‘middle-age spread’.

Along with a loss of muscle mass we also tend to see a decline in bone density, leading to osteoporosis or ‘brittle bones’.

The good news is that training involving resistance and light impact is great for strengthening bones and can significantly delay the onset of osteoporosis.

Stronger muscles and bones means it’s easier to maintain another of those vital components of fitness that seems to fade away with age: proprioception.

Proprioception is a combination of coordination and balance. It is knowing and feeling where our various body parts are located in space, and recruiting the right muscles to effectively alter or maintain these positions when required.

The risk of falling increases with age, but we can lower this risk by including exercises in our regimen, employing movement and split stances like lunges, or even standing on one foot or on unstable surfaces.

The sooner you start, the better, but remember that fighting for your freedom can start at any age if you never got the chance when you were younger.

It’s never too late to start enjoying the benefits of physical activity. If you have any doubts, just take a leaf out of Fauja Singh’s book. He took up running at ripe young age of 81. He ran his first marathon aged 89 and went on to set an over-90s marathon world record of five hours and 40 minutes. He is now 104 years old and still going strong.

matthew.muscat.inglott@mcast.edu.mt

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