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Optimizing Profits

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Who relies on you?

Who relies on you?

Set your goals to get Regular Physical Activity

Why?

Your life depends upon it! If you don’t think that makes it important enough for you, how about for your family. No matter what you think, they think that you are important. They may not say it often or even act like it often – but it’s true. You are important.

So take care of yourself.

More than ever we see the effects of stress, obesity, tiredness, anxiousness, depression, sluggishness, bloatedness, fatigue, constant pain, and lack of sleep or restless sleep, to name a few. You may or may not have a huge dose of any of these things but the sum of the parts create a very unhappy, unhealthy whole.

Fitness leads to less pain, better moods, improved decision making, longer life, more happiness, and stronger relationships! M.L. Rose writes in Why Is it Important to Keep Fit & Healthy?, “ The Centers for Disease control and Prevention reports that someone who is physically active for seven hours per week is 40% less likely to die early than someone who is active less than 30 minutes per week. Remaining fit reduces your risk of suffering from heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis and many types of cancer.”

And if that isn’t reason enough, A 2012 study by the University of Texas-Southwestern and the Cooper Institute examined the health care costs of 20,000 middle-age men and women over a 10-year period. The study concluded that the healthiest participants had 38 percent lower medical costs later in life than participants who were not fit.

How?

No it doesn’t take a gargantuan effort! My sister found that after her children left home she became sedentary and gained weight and became sluggish. To her credit she finally said enough was enough and went to her local recreation center and asked for a fitness analysis and faced the truth. After she got the news she decided that she would go to the gym every second day for 30 minutes and on the off days she would go for a 30 minute walk around the neighborhood.

She did this for a month and before long it became a habit that she enjoyed so much that she increased her time to 60 – 90 minutes. Her mood, outlook ,and life enjoyment has increased manifold. She watches what she eats but doesn’t go crazy on the diet thing. She looks and feels great.

I on the other hand was involved in a severe head-on crash with my wife and two other friends. It was and still is a difficult period. My dear friend is a quadriplegic and I had a broken leg, dislocated heal, crushed knees and broken sternum. I wasn’t able to walk for a long time and the pain still resides. I had 9 operations in 18 months including two knee replacements. But I resolved not to let it beat me. Being “A” type and motivated by goals I planned my recovery.

Yes, I have goals for my weight, strength, duration and cardio. I started small and have been slowly building up. The key to my goals is the end product – not the goal itself. The end product is to be there for my family and to be able to participate in our various family activities, like walking my daughter down the aisle, dancing with my son’s new wife at their wedding, and travelling with my wife. My ultimate goals is to lace on my skates again and possible play hockey and definitely play golf.

We all have our stories, we all have our reasons, we all can do it. Do it now!