by Christopher Alan Sweeney

Created on: February 07, 2010   Last Updated: November 22, 2010

You have two choices: get fit or die young. That's all you have. You can't sit on your butt all day and go home and eat cookies and ice cream or drink shots and beers and expect to live very long. Stop with the arguments: "I don't have time!" Yes you do and you must make time.

People used to work at hard manual labor from sunup to sundown. In some countries they still do. They don't need an exercize program.

Most manufacturing and agricultural work is mechanized.  Even construction workers, except for mason tenders, do minimal heavy lifting and no hauling.

The rest of us fiddle around or stare at computer screens.

Everyone needs some kind of exercise program. It helps to relieve stress and it stresses what needs stressing, our cardio-vascular system. A healthy cardio-vascular system makes us less susceptible to disease.

There is no need to wake up before dawn and run five miles either. We just have to do enough to make up for the exercise we don’t get from our jobs.

You'll hear a lot of people say: “climb the stairs.” In most high-rise office buildings the stairs are meant for one use only, as a fire escape. Go into the stairway and you’ll find the only way out is on the ground floor.

If you work in a hospital, a government building or any building where there is only one tenant, the company you work for, that would be a good idea but once a day up to the third floor is not enough. If you can climb stairs thirty minutes everyday that would be great.

Suppose you work in a retail store or an auto repair shop. You are on your feet all day. But your feet don’t go anywhere. You’re standing behind a counter or fiddling with displays. That’s not exercise even though your feet might not agree. How about stopping off at the YMCA for a spin class three or four days a week? Sit on that bike and burn some calories. Get that heart pumping. Sweat a little.

Teachers: there’s a lot of stress working with children all day. You need some time to yourself. You’re off at 4:00, even if you have kids of your own, you could leave them in aftercare three or four days a week and get to the Y for an hour of mindless aerobics and shed some of that stress in the bargain.

Some people just hate exercise. They need a game to play but they’re no good at tennis, too old for basketball and too clumsy for a step class. There’s no indoor pool available and they can’t swim anyway. The only answer is walk. Yes, walk! Whether you live in a big city or out in the sticks there’s always some place to walk and don’t use the kids as an excuse. The kids can walk too or ride in a stroller. Take a plastic bag with you and pick up some of the litter. After all it’s your neighborhood don’t you want it to look nice?

Finally: you retirees who play golf three or four times a week think that’s exercise. No, it isn’t. They make you drive a cart because that’s how the course makes money. A standard eighteen holes is roughly four miles long. Get out of the cart and walk every other hole and let your partner do the same. You’ll both live longer.

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