What age do you suppose your relative fitness and energy capability starts to see a downward trend?
40s?
30s?
Certainly not 20s since most people would think this is prime time.
How about 5 years old?
DING DING DING, WE HAVE A WINNER.
As soon as your toddler years are over, things are looking down.
Grim.
Sure you still have many years to build muscle and get more powerful, but your relative fitness is at it’s peak when you are under 5 years old.
This is based on a study that showed the daily activities of active toddlers being equivalent to an adult doing:
- 83 rounds in a boxing match
- Running an entire marathon
- Playing 3 soccer games in a row
- Cycling 82 miles at 12–14 mph
Seem crazy?
If you don’t have kids, I’m sure you think this is stupid and you probably don’t believe it.
If you have kids and they are active, you get it.
The couch is half their height and they climb up and down it 18 times in a row for absolutely not reason.
When is the last time you pulled yourself onto anything 3 feet tall?
Wait, CAN you even pull yourself onto something 3 feet tall?
Or imagine if you could only climb stairs 2–3 steps at a time and you repeatedly did this without slowing down.
And they do this stuff ALL…DAY…LONG.
For a little perspective, a friend of mine tested this the other day on his slightly older than a toddler six year old. Which, according to our study would already mean a decreased relative level of activity per day.
He put a pedometer on both he and his son and compared results at the end of the day.
My friend logged a solid 10,000 steps while his six year old clocked in at 30,000.
The Point
- Stay in shape or your kids and/or grand kids are going to destroy you in 10 minutes. They will be annoyed that you can’t play with them because you were too busy eating and drinking too much for the last 10–40 years that you can barely get off the couch without panting.
- Even if you don’t have kids, never will have kids, and aren’t going to have grandkids, get off your butt and keep in shape. Although your decline in fitness from ages 5–30 is more relative and less noticeable, after that, you step off into the deep end.
No one ever said:
“Wow, I really wish I hadn’t taken care of my body so well”
Slowing down the aging process is tough even when you are on top of your fitness. Deciding at 50 or 60 that perhaps fitness is a good idea is much harder.
I wrote an article on this very subject:
https://jonwalters.co/2015/11/29/how-to-live-to-be-100/
3. Think of your toddlers and kids as elite physical specimen.
Because they are.
Their bodies are in their prime and you can help build them up to feel and perform awesome both physically and mentally.
Check this article out for more information:
https://jonwalters.co/2016/06/26/are-you-doing-your-kids-a-huge-disservice/
If you have any questions, I would be happy to answer them at:
Jwalterspt@gmail.com
OR to learn more check out my website at:
jonwalters.co 