I  know I’m supposed to continue with our resistance exercise program but something came up and I’ve been obsessing about it so I thought I should bring it to your attention as it concerns many of us, male and female, and if we want to do something about it, we should begin immediately.

I was sitting outside a doctor’s office yesterday, the waiting list was pretty long so I didn’t have much to do except play Brick Breaker but that got boring after a bit.  So I people-watched which has always been a very interesting pastime for me.  I saw this one woman of about 28, very good looking, her thick dark hair was prettily pulled back in a ponytail.  Unfortunately, although her black suit accentuated her body, which was in excellent shape, it was obviously not a high-quality suit.  Her legs were long and lean, but her shoes looked inexpensive.  She was probably a med rep because she had a large portfolio.  She walked briskly, with a purpose, confident that she looked good and it seemed like she had drive and ambition, which I appreciate.

After a while, I saw another woman, this time of about 50.  She had a pleasant face and her hair coloring, which was obviously done in a good salon, suited her nicely because she was fair.

She had a long white coat on so I assumed she was a doctor and she wore an obviously expensive, probably Italian, pair of sandals.  Her bag matched her shoes and was new and gorgeous.  She walked slowly, either because she was tired or had nowhere in particular to go or because of her weight.  She was at least 30 pounds over her ideal weight, and her legs and feet in her expensive sandals were swollen, either from water bloat or fat.

These observations brought me to a couple of conclusions which mankind has known all along but you have to be hit over the head with it to understand for yourself.  One is that youth is wasted on the young.  Such a cliche but oh so true and oh so awful.  The other thing is how ironic it all is—when you’re young and good looking and have a lot of enthusiasm, unless you’re blessed with wealthy parents, you’re still striving to get somewhere, so your clothes aren’t all that posh and your accessories aren’t all that well made.  You still walk a lot, you don’t eat that much, you enjoy going out with friends and dancing all night and surviving on a couple of drinks because drinking a lot is costly.  You probably burn a lot of calories and don’t have much in the bank.  But as we get older, we earn more, we get more spoiled with what we become used to.  Our meals are more decadent, our drinks have way more calories in them.  We walk less, we walk slower, we wait for our cars to come fetch us.  Our idea of a night of fun is fine dining, designer coffee, and home to watch a good DVD.  What are we doing?  We’re allowing ourselves to get to the point where we’re too out of shape to look good in all the beautiful clothes and outfits that we can now afford.  The irony is terrible but only a few people do something about it.

Now it’s perfectly easy to make excuses for this.  We’re tired, we have families to take care of, we have to work all day.  It sounds legitimate, and it is.  But the reason we have so little energy is because we lost it.  To create energy, you have to MOVE.  Movement is the key to staying young.  When you want your blood to circulate, do you get a massage?  How about an invigorating scrub treatment at your favorite spa?  That’s all good and wonderful when you deserve it, but how about getting off your butt and going for a walk instead?  Older people complain that as they get older, they have a more difficult time moving.  One of the reasons is that they didn’t move much when they could have, and when they should have.  Why a golf cart when you can wander through a beautiful course?  Why ride to the next mall when you can walk there?  Why use the elevator when there’s an escalator?  Why stand still on an escalator when you can walk up?  We didn’t lose “it” because we got old, we got old because we didn’t use it.

And yes, instead of our youths, our energy, we are thankful for our children, our careers, the comforts we’ve been able to surround ourselves with.  But why are we willing to rest on our laurels?  Why not strive to achieve even more?  It’s not just about vanity and aesthetics.  It’s about being the best we can possibly be while we’re here.  It’s about setting awesome examples for our children and grandchildren.  It’s about having the strength and stamina to enjoy life to the fullest instead of letting go of your youth prematurely.  It’s about having knockout legs when you can afford to wear knockout shoes.

FITNESS BULLETIN: We’re moving back to Olympia Condominiums on Makati Avenue for Yoga sessions.  Please contact us if you’re interested in evening sessions for basic and intermediate levels, 09179613765.