by Justin Qualler on May 17, 2012
With all the fad diets and exercise information, you’d think everyone would be in terrific shape. But we’re not.
Many people make excuses for why they are not in shape. Genetics. Strange ailments that prevent them from doing anything. They hate exercise. Whatever.
I traveled to Mexico for over a month and what I saw changed my perspective forever.
A popular myth is the myth of retirement sipping drinks on the beach. Well, what I saw in Mexico were people who had been busy sipping drinks all their life and now could only waddle around, relegated to a few senior-friendly activities because they were too out of shape for anything else.
Lest you be one to make excuses, here is a link to some feats performed by our elders that landed them in the Guinness Book of World Records. Let them motivate and inspire you—and eliminate any excuses!
by Justin Qualler on May 9, 2012
A reminder: Get up!
In March I saw quite a few news articles about sitting increasing your risk for dying irrespective of exercise.
As a writer, an office worker, and a citizen of the laziest country on earth! 
I know that I sit too much. Well—I would sit too much if I didn’t do something about it.
But still, I probably sit too much. Get up!
This article over at NPR caught my attention because they had a nice, short video that included some good tips.
Tips to Avoid “Just Sitting There”
The first tip is to walk. If you head over to Bruce Lee’s bare bones fitness advice, you’ll see that he recommended parking farther away and taking the stairs. (Also recommended in this video.)
A tip I thought was creative was to print to a printer farther away. I like that one.
One that I didn’t like was to fidget.
I say, don’t fidget and focus on the task at hand—work. Then, get up. Fidgeting is a nasty nervous habit that makes it look like you’re unstable! The Japanese even have a word for the shaky leg thing that some people do—binbo-yusuri.
This translates literally as poverty shake.
Get More Walking
One of the ways to get more walking in is to live in a walkable neighborhood. That is a highly attractive amenity to anywhere I decide to live and was common before the age of the automobile when we foolishly stretched everything out.
Still, even if you don’t combine walking with errands, you can just simply go for a walk. Walks are extremely pleasurable and teach you to unwind. Read Why I walk for some more info.
Hey—are you still sitting down? Get up!
Which is what I’m about to do!
