Play To Get Stronger

 When we were kids, we played all kinds of games that kept us physically active. Played football, baseball in the streets, the different variations of tag and that goofy duck, duck, goose game. It's to help us fine tune our motor skills and establish foundations for how we handle or bodies and our brains in other areas of life. As we get older, we succumbed to the things in life where we utilize certain skills in order to even make a few bucks and at times, have made us miserable and we wish we could be a kid again.

These days, being playful is considered taboo and childish because we have to be hardened and just live through life and roll with the punches because let's face it, as an adult, we can't be child-like. Now, that doesn't mean that we run away from our responsibilities as an adult because we do need to take care of ourselves and do what we can to live a life; with that being said, why can't we still find the time to have some fun and find that level of happiness that we had as kids?

The older we get, the more we need to establish the fact that yes, we don't have the same exact energy and spry we had as kids but we can still be playful and use certain forms of exercise to keep us active and maintain our motor functions because we don't want to be like those old folks who fall and break their hip. Being active can be hard, especially when we reach a certain age and the attributes begin to diminish like our flexibility, our strength, agility and coordination. 

Some people play sudoku to strengthen their brains, others use the gym to help maintain their strength in their muscles and tendons but also make use of their time by gardening, help carrying things and hiking. A favorite exercise I like to do every now and then is flipping and catching something. I would use all kinds of stuff but my absolute favorite is flipping and catching my sandbells. With the 20 lber, I would sometimes do it with one hand or flip and catch with the opposite hand. With the 50 lber, it's a little trickier and takes a lot more strength because it's not like trying to catch a ball, the coordination and strength need to be on point, plus it adds in having solid grip strength and agility cause you don't always know if you'll be catching it with a palm grip or pinch grip. 

Now you don't need to flip and catch with a heavier weight, just regular flipping or even learning to juggle is more than enough. For developing a stronger body overall, playing around with things like Animal Flow, Ginastica Natural, Gold Medal Bodies and other movement protocols are awesome at that. Hell, just being active is a solid start and developing a habit out of it. Age is just a number, it's up to us to defy the aging process and make the most out ourselves to live a quality life and not feel weak as we age.