Enjoy a brisk, moderately paced walk, or run, in beautiful Lakes Park in Fort Myers, Florida.  Photo courtesy of Charly Caldwell II

The last 18 months have been very different for everyone, with so many struggles and upheaval.

I spoke with a client last week who was just now permitted to leave her home for exercising.

With lots of other things to focus on and the closure of gyms for months on end, fitness and training may not be at the forefront of everyone’s minds.

Now that things ‘seem to be’ slowly going back to normal, personal goals and fitness can start to become a focus again.

It’s important however not to go from 0-100. These 5 tips will help you get back to your best while ensuring that you don’t burn out.

Have a Structured Plan

Set your goals and make them realistic, keeping in mind that your body might have changed in the past months. It is always important to have a major goal that you are always focused on but you can also tick off...

Aim for 10,000 steps a day, make it fun - like walking the beautiful beach in Naples, Florida at sunset! Photo courtesy of Charly Caldwell II

It’s easy to assume that all the changes happening in your body are due to aging.

But, some are not inevitable.

There are measures you can take to ensure you’re fit in your 50’s and well beyond.

First, build some muscle.

Loss of muscle mass starts around age 30 and by the time the average person reaches 70, they could have lost 25 per cent of their muscle mass.

Scientists know that not all loss of muscle mass as people age (known as sarcopenia) is due to aging, some is due to inactivity and disuse.

The good news is that older adults who strength train regularly can regain a substantial amount of this muscle loss, function and strength.

Strong muscles are not just beneficial for carrying groceries, they serve many other functions as well.

Lean muscle burn 10 times more calories than fat tissue, even when you’re at rest.

Angie and Josie working in the Fitness Center - filming for our incredibly powerful Membership Video Library.

‘Functional’ and ‘functionality’ have become popular buzzwords in the fitness industry over the past 10 years.

While isolation exercises (i.e. standard chest press or mid-row) are still common, compound and multi-planer movements (i.e. lunge with rotation) have solidified their place in fitness programing by demonstrating their effectiveness with enhancing everyday movements that would otherwise cause injury to an ill-prepared body.

Our increasingly sedentary lifestyles mean that our genetically engineered highly mobile bodies are immobile for several hours a day (sitting at a desk, watching TV) and thus we develop not only postural weaknesses, but also strengthen deficiencies for activities like gardening, household chores, and recreational activities such as walking the dog, playing sports and family activities.

Traditional muscle conditioning...

A beautiful, stress relieving Florida sunset on Naples Beach (at 5th Ave S) on Thursday, January 23 (Thank you to Charly Caldwell II for the photo!)

Some elements of stress are good for us.

The fight or flight responses that are hard-wired into our nervous system can save our lives. The knee-jerk response of jumping out of the way of a moving vehicle, the sharp intake of breath, our hearts racing, the rush of adrenaline.

This is the rush that those who love rollercoasters, sky-diving or other such intense activities crave.

This is good stress.

Our bodies have a chance to process the increased cortisol released into our systems, and we will often feel a bit of a high afterwards. This same stress can be a great motivator to try new things and to push beyond our comfort zones.

When this same chemical reaction in our bodies turns against us, it is almost simultaneous to when we turn against it.

When our flight or fight mechanism kicks in to situations we have no outlet for.

Cancelled...

We are creatures of habit.

We rely on our daily routines to get us to and from our exercise programs/regimes on a consistent basis.

Anything that disrupts that routine, such as travel, can through that lifestyle into a tailspin.

However, with thought, planning and research you can keep right on track with your fitness goals. Going out of town doesn't have to mean getting out of shape.

Gone are the days when hotels fitness centers needed a little fitness finesse themselves. Nowadays, hotels need to stay competitive with one another, which in turn has led to big health pay-offs for the consumer. There is a fantastic book available in book stores or on line called “The Athletic-Minded Traveler”. It lists and ranks hotels all over the country based on their fitness facilities and/or nearby recreation/workout facilities. In fact, many hotels now offer mini-health clubs that can rival an actual gym in terms of both equipment and service. Additionally, many hotels have personal...