Are Our Exercises Aging Us?

Do I look younger because I’m black?

To answer this complicated question, it would be cool to let you know why I am addressing this question.

A while back I was asked by a client why I look younger than my age, this client had concluded that me looking younger had to do with my background or race. So, I said that’s interesting because I know quite a few people of the same race that don’t look younger than their years.

She believed that there were always “exceptions to the rule”.

This got me thinking and observing closer and I discovered that this was in fact not the case. If anything it was coincidental that a certain number of black people she had met did look youthful. I even argued the fact that dark skin hid certain blemishes or wrinkles that lighter skin didn’t. Which was true, and she agreed with me on that point but still held the overall belief. Which led me to decide to find the answer and influence the view she had.

1. Life takes a toll

So, I started and for many years I did a subtle recognizance mission. What I have concluded is as follows.

Most people start out the same, we have a youthfulness, vibrancy, and freshness to us. But our life situations and experiences vary and many factors are responsible that makes us age faster. Health issues, socio-economic factors or hardships in life, climate, attitude, and physicality within our lives. Then there is our work and lifestyle which includes activities such as fitness.

I observed that hard or physically driven jobs take a really hard toll on our bodies and overall wellness.

2. The problems of manual work

These are often resulting issues like back problems, joint problems and so on that those jobs cause to people. And just like the physical laborers, I realized that a big majority of people do outdated and damaging exercises all in the name of fitness.

3. Is exercise just like manual labor?

Fitness is more than just lifting, pulling and pushing. Physical labor is basically about pulling, pushing and lifting amongst other things.

I find the similarities very interesting and I believe that the similarities although interesting are the reason people that do well-known and repetitive exercises look and get older in addition to the fact that the results they seek might be very minimal or not existent at all.

4. Aging is natural

I am not saying we should not age or that it’s bad to age. I am saying we are promoting aging unknowingly by some things we are doing. As a society, we pride ourselves in how we present ourselves, specifically on how we look.

We love and often appreciate it when people tell us we look great or younger. It is the height of all compliments for most to hear this and seek it consciously and unconsciously. The need for these compliments or accolades is the reason most of us often invest time and money to make this a constant. We feel great when we feel and look good. Especially when people notice and comment it is rewarding.

5. The cost of preventing aging

People spend lots of money and time on procedures, treatments, and most commonly fitness. The investment in fitness is often the first thing people do. They get a gym membership, purchase exercise videos, start running, start doing yoga. Which is great, but most often they are misguided and are actually working against their ultimate objectives.

6. How to exercise and prevent physical damage

From my many years’ experience as a fitness expert and transformation coach, I have deduced that people focus firstly on losing weight, targeting their bellies, arms, thighs, butt and then they want a new look. A new hairstyle, outfits and so on. But I believe this is often a mistake for these reasons.

Running does not get us fit or make us lose weight. We should run when we are fit already. We damage our bodies specifically joints, knees, ankles to mention a few from running especially with excess weight or lack of proper conditioning and fitness.

7. Is running good for us?

Running is an aerobic cardiovascular function which is mostly good for blood flow and heart-rate. For weight loss, toning or leaning out, doing anaerobic exercise is best. Unlike aerobic exercises, it gradually helps the body peel the weight off and the body continuously burns fat – even at resting. The joints and muscles are not damaged or strained.

The body doesn’t feel the stress like it would from pounding the pavement from running. I believe that the pounding, shock, and damage that occurs in most intense aerobic exercises causes the body to retreat, it makes it unhappy and very much promotes aging in the body.

8. How to run without damage

However, if you like running and want to incorporate it into your fitness regime, try short sprints in a field on grass or proper track. A series of sprints will be quite beneficial and a lot more effective than running endless hours and miles on the hard pavement which destroys joints, knees and improves aging.

Exercises that cause compressions like presses, squats and other high impact exercises cause undue stress on the body which in turn promotes the destruction of the body and the end result is the aging due to the strain, energy it continues to use to repair or try to repair itself. Our bodies need more nurturing, pampering and care than most of us do with it.

Not to say we cannot challenge our bodies, we can. But we need to get away from the constant perception of “no-pain, no-gain mentality”. Because it’s not a fact and it causes more destruction, stress and promotes faster aging.

Exercise to get and stay fit

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