At the end of the introductory series of posts, I left the subject of fitness by defining it as “sustainable activity”.

That’s fine, but how do we achieve a level of activity that is sustainable? How do we get fit so that we can go about our daily activities without difficulty, and deal with occasional peaks of demands on our bodies like work stress, viral infections, running out of gas with our cars, etc.?

If you expect me to say there is a big secret that I’m the only one to know, you are going to be disappointed. A lot of people know about this.

If you expect me to say there is no silver bullet, and that it is very difficult, you are also going to be disappointed. Because it is something so simple that it is, practically, a silver bullet.

It’s a no-brainer, really. (Would you have expected anything else from this blog?) And here it is:

We need to move more.

A lot more.

A lot more than what the vast majority of our modern population is now used to doing.

Our bodies are meant to move. The stress and strain imposed on our bodies by moving, be it walking or swimming or taking a heavy object from one place and putting it somewhere else, is the prime stimulus that causes our muscles to develop (or recover), and our bones to remain (or become again) denser.

It is movement and its accompanying increase in blood flow that helps increase heart rate variability, and keep blood pressure in a normal range.

The more you move, within reason (by which I mean without over-doing it), the better you’ll feel (and the more you’ll be able to move).

I’m paraphrasing and glossing over the mechanisms and benefits, but I think you get the point. This blog’s mission will therefore be to bring you the science behind these assertions. And to give you tips on how to get moving more.

For now, I just wanted to put the basic message “out there”:

It’s all about moving.