Although everyone approaches aging differently, we should stop using the phrase “anti-aging and instead start talking about “healthy aging.” We should take a step back and better evaluate the decisions we make when we’re younger to ensure we will age healthier. Making simple changes to your daily routine – like taking the stairs instead of using the elevator, being active for 15 to 30 minutes, skipping the drive-through, or beginning a consistent supplement routine – will all help mitigate potential health issues down the road.

As a society, there’s this mindset that we fall victim to aging, when in reality, growing older is a privilege. With age comes experience and a heightened sense of self-awareness that you can use to your advantage. As you age, you’re collecting data and knowledge you can use to truly cultivate a life that serves you. Aging, to me, means having greater focus and allowing yourself to go deeper into the areas of life that you love. It’s important to be more efficient and more intentional, based on what you’ve learned, to avoid participating in those activities that aren’t worth your time. 

For me, healthy aging is becoming smarter and more efficient in how I train and learning new, fun ways to incorporate healthy activities into my daily routine. It’s important to develop sustainable, long-term routines that keep me engaged and serve me. This also means analyzing what I’m doing, from time to time, so I can better eliminate those activities in my life that aren’t engaging and serving me. 

Education as a Base

Healthy aging is something I wish I had taken more seriously when I was younger. I wish I would have taken the time to learn about proper nutrition and strength training. While I was growing up, I didn’t have a strong understanding of how food and hydration impacts your performance and energy. When you’re young you essentially eat anything you want and “get away with it.” But as you get older, breaking away from an unhealthy eating habit is more and more challenging. As I noted before, it’s important to collect real knowledge, and in my doing that, I’ve learned that proper nutrition really is simple. But without that knowledge, it can truly be overwhelming. 

Things like strength training and proper nutrition should be taught at an early age. Having basic knowledge in these areas enables an individual to build healthy habits over time. But even if that’s not possible, there’s still hope, although you still have to take proactive steps to change. For example, I wasn’t introduced to weightlifting until my senior year of high school, and this was only because I was on the baseball team. I used this knowledge and education as my base and have continued to build on it over the years. Training and nutrition are simpler than people think, and having true foundational knowledge in these two key areas can have a huge impact on the rest of your life and health as you age.

Get in Quality Movement

Life is movement, and the quality of your life is directly tied to your ability to move. And by no means does “movement” have to be something a professional athlete does to be game ready. However, we can learn from pro athletes and find fun ways to train in our own lives.  As a strength coach, I absolutely want my body to be strong, and to move well as I age.  I want to always make my health and wellness a top priority as I age – when other priorities in life begin to create conflict. Life gets hard as we age; new things come up; you begin to be pulled in new directions by work, family, friends, and more. You risk stepping away from the gym or from other healthy habits for too long, which makes it more difficult, if not overwhelming, to get back into the groove. 

The key to ensuring this doesn’t happen to you is consistency over intensity. If you can be consistent and make it a habit to get some quality movement in each day, then these movements don’t have to be a high-intensity workout or training session. If you miss a day or step away for too long, there becomes a sense of having to make up for it with intensity. Take small steps over a long period of time, establish a habit. Even something like strength training two to three times a week can be a tremendous benefit to how you move and feel as you age. Start early and build your routine slowly and methodically. 

Control What You Can

If you take one thing away from this, it should be that health and aging gracefully are personal and different for everyone. There just isn’t one right away. It’s more important that you find what works for you, and you continue to learn and adjust. I view it as collecting data points: finding what works, what doesn’t, and narrowing things down over time. Early in life, you don’t know what you like when it comes to training styles, food, hobbies, etc., so try to experience as much as you can and be intentional about it. From there you can refine what you’re doing and move toward a life that’s healthy and best serves you.

I’m constantly telling myself, “Much in life is out of my control.” It’s important to control what you can, and healthy aging is something I can have direct influence on. Life is going to be tough at times, and I’m going to inevitably come across unpredictable inconveniences, but being prepared and how I respond is what’s most important. There are going to be many aspects of my health outside of my control, but it’s important I take preventative actions, like training and focusing on nutrition, to reduce my risk of adverse events.

Thorne is thrilled to be partnering up with Joe and excited to bring you more health and wellness content. Be sure to check out Joe’s personal collection and follow him on Instagram @joerodonis.