Live Longer – It’s YOUR Choice
When the ball drops on New Year’s Eve and the new year begins, it always brings in the hope for positive changes and fresh starts. For many people, this includes the resolution to become healthier, lose weight, feel better, and look better. Unfortunately, the majority of these good intentions fail within the first six weeks of the year as life becomes too busy and motivation fades.
What if you considered what actually happens inside your body if you exercised regularly as compared to not exercising? Steven Blair, a physician from the University of South Carolina, studied over 50,000 people and found an increase in physical fitness will reduce the risk of premature death. The effect appears to be graded such that even small improvements in physical fitness are associated with a significant reduction in risk of death. Would this fact make you more likely to follow through with your resolution?
Exercise is a form of preventive medicine. Exercise is prescribed by physicians more than any drug in the marketplace. Physicians, dieticians, physical therapists, nurses, and a host of other medical professionals all unequivocally agree that exercise is the most important aspect of any individual’s care. Just look at the stats and statements of fact provided by Doctor Mike Evans in his popular 23 ½ Hours whiteboard video. When an individual takes part in physical activity or exercise for just 30 minutes a day, three times a week the results below clearly show the benefits (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUaInS6HIGo):
· Reduced risk of chronic diseases
· Arthritis pain and disability is reduced by 47%
· Increased brain health and memory functions
· Alzheimer’s and dementia progression are reduced by 50%
· Reduced blood glucose levels
· Diabetes progression is reduced by 58%
· Higher level of sleep quality
· Depression and Anxiety are reduced by 47%
· Reduced risk for heart disease
· Women who went from no activity to exercising one hour a week reduced their risk for heart disease by almost 50%
· Lower blood pressure
· Improved cholesterol levels
What do all these statistics and benefits mean to you? It means you and your family are significantly more likely to live a longer and healthier lives with some sort of exercise incorporated into your weekly routine. Your kids will grow up with fewer health ailments and reduced obesity. You will live to see children and grandchildren graduate. You will enjoy a more active retirement. Healthcare costs and dependency on prescription medications will be reduced.
With this in mind, Sportsclub Fitness & Wellness has created a step-by-step program to help people transition into a healthier daily routine. The Road to Wellness is an opportunity for you to change your lifestyle in a comfortable, pressure-free environment.
Step 1 – It’s Your Decision
Step 1 starts with you. It is your decision to want to live longer and healthier. If living longer is a priority in your life, then your decision is made.
Step 2 – See Your Doctor
Please see your doctor. Tell your physician that YOU have made the decision to live longer and healthier by becoming more active. Your doctor will be able to advise you on the next steps to take based on your current medical situation.
Step 3 – Enroll in a Program with Accountability
Now it is time to get active. We all know that taking this step is the hardest and doing it alone is not easy. Find a program or person who will hold you accountable to ensure you follow through with your new lifestyle decision.
Physician Referred Exercise Program
Sportsclub’s Physician Referred Exercise Program (p.r.e.p.®) is the perfect place to start. p.r.e.p.® is one of Sportsclub’s premier programs designed to take down all the barriers to exercise and welcome participants in a comforting and unintimidating environment.
Who needs p.r.e.p.®? Someone who just needs to get off the couch! Someone who has borderline diabetes or help controlling their diabetes. Someone who has blood pressure issues and cholesterol issues. Someone who is preparing for joint replacement surgery or has finished physical therapy. Someone who is preparing to have a baby or just had a baby. p.r.e.p.® is an excellent program for just about anybody who has been cleared by a physician for physical exercise.
Sportsclub’s p.r.e.p.® medical fitness professionals will work with you to design a workout that addresses specific goals you and your physician would like you to accomplish. Then our p.r.e.p.® nationally certified trainers will meet with participants twice per week in small groups for the next 60 days to guide you towards meeting these goals. The best part, p.r.e.p.® is just $60 for 60 days and membership is not required. In fact, for the entire 60 days you are in p.r.e.p. you will have access to the amenities at all three of Sportsclub’s locations.
Step 4 – Maintain your Lifestyle Change
Now that you are well on your way to making that healthy lifestyle change, you just need to continue your routine of exercising with friends or a personal trainer. It cannot be emphasized enough; how important it is to have a workout buddy to keep you accountable. A group fitness class, personal trainer, or friends are all great tools to use to keep you accountable to your new healthy lifestyle.
YOU have made the choice to live longer. YOU have put in the work to become healthier. Do not let all that hard work go to waste. Maintain and live the healthy lifestyle you have chosen and created for yourself.
Written by Kevin Dehlinger, Executive Director & Jane Reynolds, p.r.e.p. Coordinator
Sportsclub Fitness & Wellness, www.sportsclubsc.com
