Welcome to Wednesday Word, a weekly linkup for everyone, not just health and fitness bloggers. Each Wednesday you will have a single word prompt to write about.  Let your imagination run free and share with your readers your interpretation of that word, or simply use it as inspiration for your post. Today’s word is physical…..  I’d love to have you link up, and if you do, please remember to follow my six simple rules.

WednesdayWordPhysical
 

Physical – Relating to the body of a person instead of the mind;
existing in a form that you can touch or see;
involving or related to sex

~ Merriam-Webster

 

I know that I am totally dating myself here, but yes, I once rocked leg warmers while working out to Jane Fonda’s Original Workout Video. Heck, just using the word video dates me. I can’t remember if Olivia Newton John’s Physical was a song on the video, or if it was added by my YMCA aerobics instructor who, week after week, month after month, lead us in an exact replica of Jane Fonda’s workout, but hearing that song every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 6 AM certainly burned it into my brain forever. So much so, that when I saw that this week’s word is physical, these lyrics are what immediately popped into my head! 

Let’s get physical, physical
I wanna get physical
Let’s get into physical
Let me hear your body talk, your body talk
Let me hear your body talk

 

We thought we were cool in our leg warmers with our ponytails cocked to the side of our heads. Today those dancy aerobic workouts might be something that would make us snicker, but at the time we were impressed with our moves. 

Those repetitive body weight workouts might not have put a huge demand on my body when I was 25 years old, but the physical demands I’ve been putting on my body since I began marathon running has been a completely different story.

As we age, we lose things we need and gain things we don’t (of course we do):

  • Muscles atrophy
  • Bone density decreases
  • Aerobic endurance decreases
  • Recovery rate slows down
  • Joints become worn
  • Body fat increases

 

Even though I’d been running my entire life, I chose to start marathon running just before my fortieth birthday. Just as the above factors were really starting to sink their teeth into my aging body, I started placing demands on it that it had never seen. Some of those demands, though, actually had a positive effect… 

  • I asked naturally weakening muscles to carry me farther, which in return helped keep those muscles strong. 
  • I pushed and pulled against my bones as my running muscles lengthened and contracted and slowed the density loss.
  • I demanded that my lungs and heart pushed oxygen rich blood through my arteries to my working muscles keeping my cardiovascular strong.
  • I pushed my body hard and asked it to carry me for miles at a time, and noticed that in return, it asked for longer time to rest to get back to its optimal working condition.
  • The repetitive pounding has worn some of my joints, but keeping my joints moving seems to keep them happy as long as I don’t overdo it.
  • The calories burned and the muscle built helped keep my body weight down resulting in less of a work load for my heart and less pounding on my joints.

As I’ve learned many of these six factors can be fought off by consistently working out, even as we age. It’s through consistently putting demands on our bodies that we can stay strong and fit.

 

What physical demands do you put on your body?  

 

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Deb Runs
 
 


 

Next Wednesday’s Word: Radiant

 

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