(BlackFitness101.com) How would you treat your car if you knew you had to keep it eighty years? I pose this question often to the forty to fifty year-old demographic I work with, because too often I see people experiencing the results similar to neglected cars: broken down, bad tires and in need of a tune-up! These are people whose bodies are ‘deconditioned’ or weak – and who are barely approaching mid-life!
It’s time we take our health more seriously and get to work on keeping our bodies strong and vibrant.
But what is a strong body? What does it mean to be ‘fit’? According to the National Federation of Professional Trainers, being physically fit (strong) is:
“…having the energy and strength to perform daily activities vigorously and alertly, with energy left over to enjoy leisure 
activities or to meet emergency demands. Your heart and lungs, and muscles should be strong. Your weight and body fat should be within a desirable range. For women, fat should not exceed 25% of their body weight. For men, fat should not exceed 18% of their body weight.”
Here are three benefits (among hundreds) for getting and keeping our bodies strong.
Benefit#1
You will Improve your Energy and Endurance
Keeping your body strong will improve your energy. Period. Most people have just enough energy to make it through their long day at work. They have energy to meet deadlines, file reports, manage others and attend to all or most of all the tasks associated with work. But when they get home they discover their energy supply has been exhausted. A strong body will keep your body not just metabolically active but also metabolically boosted! You will have energy and endurance not just for everyday tasks, but for extracurricular and emergency demands as well.
Benefit#2
You will Manage Your Weight More Effectively
Getting your body strong will allow you to keep the weight off. Do not focus so much on a weight-loss number. Focus instead on getting and keeping your body strong. A strong body will shed pounds while a weak body will retain pounds. Constantly challenge your body. If you do the same thing over and over, your body will no longer respond. If you are a walker and you’ve noticed a down-tick in your metabolism, for example, put on some ankle weights for your next walk. The point is to do something different to keep your body challenged and strong.
Benefit#3
You will Boost your Mental Power
We are just barely discovering the magnificent connection between our bodies and our minds. Neuroscience is confirming virtually every day what we’ve long suspected: a strong body lends to an even stronger mind! We know, for example, that physical exercise does much to ward off Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. We know that there exists an inverse relationship between exercise and our ability to conduct cognitive assignments. We know that the best way to boost your work productivity is to boost your physical exercise intensity. Most of all, we know that exercise is the perfect catalyst for increasing your personal power – your ability to feel good and look good! There is simply no doubt that strong bodies lead to strong minds!
Let’s get busy to getting and keeping our bodies strong and vibrant!
Staff Writer; W. Eric Croomes
This talented brother is a holistic lifestyle exercise expert and founder and executive coach of Infinite Strategies LLC, a multi-level coaching firm that develops and executes strategies for fitness training, youth achievement and lifestyle management. Eric is an author, fitness professional, holistic life coach and motivational speaker.
In October 2015, Eric released Life’s A Gym: Seven Fitness Principles to Get the Best of Both, which shows readers how to use exercise to attract a feeling of wellness, success and freedom (Infinite Strategies Coaching LLC, 2015) – http://www.infinitefitnesscoaching.com.