Keep fit no matter what your age

George 7 years old 

I have always thought it is important to keep fit no matter what your age. My parents started me in Judo some where round the age of 5 or 6, Judo and Sambo have been part of my life and at 65 I can not imagine not being involved. In my house as a youngster the talk was always about Judo and as I got older and better at my discipline I realised that just doing Judo or Sambo was not enough you had to do supplementary training. So I got involved in Weightlifting and found the explosive power of Olympic Weightlifting very important but I still need to run, do shuttle runs and stretch. Part of my training programme would bag work and skipping.

Part of the reason I got involved in Coaching was the realisation that not everyone could be a champion but everyone could keep fit and when I started Coaching in the 1970’s there was not many fat people about and in general young people were fit. That cannot be said of the youth today for whatever reason the majority are over weight and physically inactive or should I say lazy. Obviously I would like them to do Judo or Sambo but time change and many find my two sports to hard, which should not be an excuse not to keep fit. 

There are many ways to keep fit, each town has Fitness Gyms my brother ‘s Nobby’s Gym on Milton Regis playing fields allows youngsters access to the gym, you can take up a Team sport, get a cycle, go for a run or jog, even take walking. Keeping even moderately fit will aid your well-being and prolong your life. Remember “Do not leave till tomorrow what you can do toady”

I am lucky I have a small Gym in my Garden and I train a hour a day 5 days a week. 3 times cardio 2 times Weights, do the stairs and try get out for a walk at least twice a week  and when my 7 year old grandson comes round he has a go at the Bike, Rowing Machine and X Trainer I do not force him into regime and he tells me that to be good at his football he needs to be fit. At 7 he already understands the need to be fit, hopefully one day he will do a real sport but that will be his decision not mine. The important thing is he keeping fit, active and can still play on his tab,

I hope my little outburst has not been a lecture but shows my  concern about the Health and Fitness of our Nation