How much exercise should you get once you enter your 40s?

Most of us spend our younger days playing sports, running around full of energy, naturally burning calories like human dynamos and not worrying too much about what we eat. By the time we hit our forties, however, things have changed. We have a family orientated life, there is little time for sport and letting off steam and by the time we get to the end of our 40 or 50-hour working week, all we want to do is crash on the sofa and have an early night.

But around 40 is exactly the time that we need to start reintroducing exercise. As our bodies metabolism naturally slows, it is easy to pile on the pounds and with that comes all manner of health risks, from heart disease to diabetes. But introducing enough exercise isn’t hard and it will leave you with raised energy levels, an improved look, more confidence and a chance to get back into some of your favorite clothes, not to mention plenty of health benefits.

There are plenty of apps available to help set your exercise and weight loss goals. Some are as simple as performing a certain number of steps a day to promote a more active lifestyle, others will take you from gentle walks to becoming an active runner over several months. Maybe take up a sport for Saturday mornings or plan a couple of long walks, perhaps with the family, a couple of times a week.

Depending on where you live you might have access to some more exciting options. Take up horse riding perhaps, you’ll soon find that all the exercise you get from not just learning to ride but getting busy with the deshedding tool for horses, feeding and generally catering for the horse’s needs will do wonders for the heart-rate and therefore really contribute to your new, healthier approach to life.

You might even be able to incorporate your new-found desire for fitness into the workplace. Even if you have a desk job, see if you can grab the occasional extra shift in the warehouse. Stacking boxes, pulling pallet trucks, stacking access mat rentals or loading vans will soon start pulling you into shape and getting the blood pumping. 

It’s easier than you think to incorporate elements of keeping fit into your life. You don’t need expensive gym equipment or buy into expensive programs. You just need to rethink the space around you. You don’t have to move to the coast with moving companies near me to be inspired to walk or jog, even exploring the corners and hidden byways of your home town can be an inspiration. Similarly, you don’t need to sign up for the local baseball team when a kick around with a soccer ball with your friends or children is a very cheap and enjoyable alternative.

You already have all the things that you need around you to build your own fitness program. You just need to look at life from a slightly different angle. Which is often the best way to approach life from anyway.