If you’re not in your 20’s any more, this series is for you!
As we start to get older, our bodies become a little different – I’m sure you’ve noticed that since you left your 20’s, things just don’t work quite the same any more.
But, getting older doesn’t mean you can’t do the exercise you enjoy and be fit, strong, flexible and healthy. Often, we can become even better than when we were younger.
This said, there are definitely legitimate changes around how we should approach exercise as we start to get older, particularly the impacts of the injuries you’ve likely built up over time, and the time it takes your body to recover from whatever you’re doing.
There’s also the fact that we likely have more going on than we did in our 20’s – more commitments time wise, energy wise and emotions wise – and this also has to be taken into account.
But, the bottom line is that if you stop moving and looking after your body, you’re going to look and feel older – and that is a fast moving, slippery slope!
So, over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to share some tips for the most important things we can do to look after our bodies now that we’re not 20-something.
Let’s start today with some lifestyle ideas, and I’ll follow with exercise and food over the next two weeks.
First up, remember not to try to be your younger self.
It might feel rubbish, but you’ve just got to accept that things are different now. This doesn’t mean that you can’t lean out or tone up like when you were younger, it just means that the route to that is not via doing what you did when you were 20-something.
Next, you must prioritise your recovery.
Recovery is one of the non-negotiables of ageing. In our 20’s we could do intense workouts day after day, and we could get up and use our brains at full power after a rubbish night’s sleep – but, we can’t do that now. You must prioritise recovery if you’re to avoid feeling exhausted all the time, or being at a higher risk of injury.
And, sleep!
Sleep is a massively important thing. Often, we feel like we have less time to sleep because we have so much to do and think about, but, this is the reason we must prioritise sleep, and not the reason we should sleep less.
Try an experiment – come up with some creative ideas to do whatever you need to do to get enough sleep every day for the next two weeks. Make it an absolute priority, which means that if you need to miss out on sitting on the sofa in the evening in order to get to sleep on time, then do that.
I think you’ll be amazed at what a difference the extra sleep makes to how you feel, how much energy you have and how much more easily your body can recover.