While it is the natural human state to be physically active daily it is also the natural state to wear out. Humans relied on moving around a lot for natural bodily functions to stay….functional. The less they could maintain this (age, injury, disease, malnutrition etc) the sooner they would die.

People who aren’t very physical everyday enter into a sick state relatively quickly even at a young age. Interestingly though what looks like fitness in a young active person (sub 40’s) is the result of the natural growth of strength from infancy through puberty. Once that strength starts to fade even the active slide down towards the sick state. It may take a little longer than the inactive types but a lot depends on genetics.

No – being active doesn’t preserve strength. Muscle and joint strength is only maintained through exposure to high resistance external load. Yes that means weightlifting. The activity you do in daily life provides decreasingly useful benefits as strength fades. Your motion literally becomes less stimulating because your actions are weaker and less forceful. If you expose your muscles and body to heavy weight (carefully) on a weekly basis your movements remain purposeful. Furthermore your actions are less stressful in general which also slows aging and disease.

Avoid just “staying busy”. Be well, be strong,

Andrew and Tierney