Last weekend I walked into a Saturday matinee performance of Burn The Floor, a touring ballroom dance showcase. In front of me was the obligatory elderly couple with their middle age children escorting them to their seats. I wondered at what point in life does the overwhelming fear of walking, and subsequently falling, necessitate the need for a personal escort across a well lit auditorium. I doubted that the dancers in the show, after a lifetime of physical fitness, would succumb to such a fate. I doubted that almost 80 year old yoga teacher B. K. S. Iyengar worries about falling over and breaking a hip.

End Life Goal #1 - Don’t end up with a walker…

At this moment I was determined to revamp my lifestyle to include more physical exercise. It’s ample time to get off my ass and start working improving my health. Lucky you readers, you get to come along on the journey as I decide what is best for me.

To start this off, I want to explore what exercising is, because often it is associated with only one of the three main types. The general definition of exercise is a physical activity that is performed to increase overall health and physical fitness. Exercise is commonly is broken out into three categories:

• Flexibility - activities to improve movement and range of motion
• Aerobic - activities to increase cardiovascular health and endurance
• Anaerobic - activities to increase short term muscular abilities

Over the next few weeks I’ll be examining and experimenting with different options determining the best fit for me to represent each of these categories.