It’s never to late to get started and here is the proof!
By Kathy Olevsky
Some amazing information was released recently in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association). A study was done with over 300,000 participants between the ages of 40-61 about their leisure time physical activity.*
They discovered through their research that starting physical activity in your 40’s can be as beneficial as maintaining it throughout your life. They proved that there was a 32-35% lower risk of mortality in those that started improving their physical activity in their 40’s. It was already well known that people who maintained an active lifestyle throughout their teen years into adulthood, had a 29-36% lower risk of mortality.
But, this new study means that those of us who have done nothing and have just landed in our 40’s, have a chance to live longer by getting active now. It is great to have proof that it is never too late to get started.
We all know those people who have had the discipline to stay active throughout their lives. They have managed it through college, into young adulthood, through marriage and children. The rest of us were just trying to get through our lives and we put our physical activity on the back burner. There are so many adults who took care of everyone else in their family and let themselves be last in the line-up of importance.
We spent our lives thinking about how we should be doing something, but we just didn’t take the step. Or we took the step and quit because we never found that magic pill to help keep us happy and active. Adults need that one activity that doesn’t feel like work and keeps them coming back time after time.
The great news is….it is NOT too late!
We can start now, in our 40’s, 50’s and 60’s and still get the benefits of lowering our mortality risks. So, the only issue left, is to find that activity that gets us active and keeps us active. What most adults actually need is an activity that other adults enjoy and one that makes you feel better each time you do the activity.
A great adult martial arts program can be that solution. If you workout in a martial arts school that caters to adults in the 40-60 age range, then it can be a never ending workout. An Adult Karate program can offer unlimited goals and create a path to stay active, year round, indoors. These are some of the obstacles that face adults in fitness patterns. What most adults don’t realize is that a well balanced martial arts school will offer a variety of different programs that will provide a lifetime of interesting classes.
Martial arts classes are usually taught at different fitness and knowledge levels. Karate is a great example of how an adult can start a program and build continuously. Karate has preset goals that make the learning process gradual and progressive. The colored belts you must earn are the guides and the rewards for your efforts. Since everyone must start at white belt, they all start at a slow pace with a small number of techniques. Each class builds on the next class and each belt level builds on the previous one.
What are you waiting for? There are no more excuses. Starting even after 40 is now beneficial to the rest of your life. If you thought you wasted most of your opportunity to get fit, you have now been proven wrong. Take a step and do something for yourself at the same time! Adult Karate classes in Raleigh are waiting for you at Karate International.
* Association of Leisure-Time Physical Activity Across the Adult Life Course With All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality by Pedro F. Saing-Maurice, PhD
Conducted with the National Institutes of Health–AARP (formerly American Association of Retired Persons) Diet and Health Study. Data analysis was conducted from March 2017 through February 2018.
Data were analyzed for 315 059 adult AARP members living in 6 states, namely, California, Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, North Carolina, or Pennsylvania, or 2 metropolitan areas, Atlanta, Georgia, or Detroit, Michigan. Published in Journal of the American Medical Association.