Fitness is more than just a trendy buzzword; it’s a significant lifestyle worth pursuing at any age! This includes physical activity – both leisure and structured exercise – that targets our health and skills, such as balance, coordination, and flexibility. As we perform physical activity, we achieve fitness over time, which means our bodies work more efficiently and we become healthy enough for our fundamental day-to-day routines, also known as activities of daily living (ADLs). 

Across the human lifespan, physical activity holds several benefits. Not only does it serve as prevention and treatment against conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, it can help boost energy, relieve stress, and bolster our mental health too. Even for adults ages 55 and over, fitness remains more than beneficial – it is necessary for a longer, more fulfilling quality of life!

Fitness can improve our endurance, strength, and mobility, for instance, so we can do ADLs more easily and avoid common issues like those associated with falls. It can also connect us with others, thus building social engagement and support. By incorporating regular physical activity in our daily lives, then, we can gain better, more complete health and well-being.

Being well entails aiming to be active for lifelong health. However, many older adults feel apprehensive or incapable, such that only 1 in 5 participate in sufficient physical activity. There also remains widespread misconceptions that for exercise to be truly effective – that is, we do enough of it to yield healthy outcomes – we need to be athletes who engage in vigorous activity levels for most of the week. 

For older adults ages 65+, for example, the Center for Disease Control recommends at least 150 minutes of aerobic activity a week (amounting to 30 minutes for 5 days a week) with 2 days also dedicated to strengthening muscles and improving balance. While these minimum recommendations are factual and helpful for maximum health, they may not be immediately realistic or sustainable for most of us. 

It is important to remember that physical activity does not need to be as long or intense to generate health benefits. In fact, many clinical guidelines agree that a minimum of 75 total minutes a week (roughly 10-15 minutes daily or 25 minutes for 3 days), even for low-impact activities, is sufficient. This suggests that while we may not all be athletes, we can all move in our own ways! 

We can start small and slow any time, doing the best we can, as any activity length or level is better than nothing at all. At our resort, there are many ways to introduce low-impact activities to our day:

• Start hobbies in your own space.

Finding fun in fitness first can help jumpstart a more active lifestyle. Leisurely activities such as gardening, playing games, or even dancing to a song or two from the radio still use our muscles, get the blood flowing, and can add up! Plus, when we enjoy what we do as exercise, we’re more likely to continue in the long term.

• Try seated activities.

For those with more limited mobility, joint issues, or disability, seated activities are gentle yet effective. They are also easily adaptable and can be done from the comfort of home, whether you want to start the morning with 5-minute stretches or conduct beginner yoga poses throughout the day. You can even do them while watching TV!

• Take a short walk around Roadhaven.

From the Bell Tower courtyard, take a roundtrip walk around to the pool and spa. Start by heading east on Chippewa Avenue, turn right on Kiowa Drive, take a right on Pecos, and another right on Cheyenne Drive back toward the Bell Tower courtyard to the pool & spa area where you can soak in hot tubs for much needed muscle recovery. This beautiful walk is roughly half a mile – but of course, you can choose any block and walk for any length. During this time, you can “walk and talk” with friends, or meet new ones along the way! To protect against the heat, be sure to bring a water bottle to hydrate often, wear sunscreen and sun-protection clothing like a hat, and always listen to your body as to not overexert.

• Use our amenities.

Not only can residents enjoy water-based activities in our heated pools that are easy on the joints, they can also play a variety of sports with others, including golf, pickleball, tennis, bocce, and billiards. For these activities and more, we also have clubs you can join or start! Clubs can be a fun avenue to be more active as you continue hobbies outside your space or explore new ones like art, ceramics, glass crafting, photography, and woodworking with our resort community.

• Visit local events.

Lastly, we can expand our community by venturing out with friends and getting to know local health resources. Events, such as the 2025 Apache Junction Wellness Expo and Fair this coming February 15, can provide us with more information and related classes we can try.

No matter the activity or setting, we can embrace physical activity by ourselves, with others in the resort, and within our Apache Junction community! Aside from amenities and activities we offer, we have resources readily available to us to improve our knowledge and fitness. There is a Chinese proverb that rings true even for fitness, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” Let’s plant those seeds of physical activity today and make progress for our health and well-being!