Rather than making a New Year's resolution I thought about how I want the next 30 or so years to go. At almost 71, with plans / hopes to live to 100, it makes sense to me.

Our finances and housing are already in hand, so I thought about health and wellbeing.

My goals

I want, when I'm 90 or older, to be able to move around in the world with confidence. To walk or bike to the shops and carry the shopping back. To be steady in my walking. To sit down and stand up with ease. To be able to get myself off the floor if I should fall. To be able to reach into cupboards above my head, stand on a step or chair to be able to reach even higher.

I can do all those things now, so with some deliberate attention I should still be able to do them in a few decades. Barring things beyond my control, of course.

What experts agree

All the experts agree that as we age we lose muscle mass and bone density. Apparently that process begins sooner than you might think — at around 30 or 40.

We're also likely to have increasing challenges with balance and mobility. Mobility is both the range of motion of joints (flexibility) and the control we have over that movement, as defined by Will Harlow.

There is also strong agreement that by doing resistance training (specifically) we can maintain or even build muscle and bone. We can also work to maintain both mobility and balance.

Then there's the food choices we make to support our minds and bodies. Consensus is quite simple at a basic level: as far as possible eat unprocessed or only minimally processed foods, such as raw or cooked vegetables, fruits, berries, grains, nuts.

My resistance training

About 18 months ago I started weight training at a gym, but there's a lot you can do with just body weight, items you might have around home, or inexpensive resistance bands.

These days I feel pretty darned good. My posture has improved and I'm feeling stronger, and enjoying my body's ability to move. I feel much more confident that if I were to trip and fall the consequences would be less and I'd be in a better position to pick myself up and recover from any injury.

Recently I've added a Dead Hang and Asian Squat to my regular practise.

Useful resources

I've been watching or reading these folks and finding useful material in their work.

☛ Will Harlow – Over-Fifties Specialist Physio is excellent. For over a year now I've been watching his YouTube channel with its hundreds of free videos with clear explanations and demonstrations of specific exercises. Most of the exercises he demonstrates need no equipment at all.

He's also published books and has a website you can pay to sign up to with even more guidance.

Here's where I'll preach a bit: watch some of his videos and try the exercises.

☛ Clare Johnston is a journalist who interviews interesting people on The Honest Channel. Some videos cover topics such as skincare that I don't personally find so interesting. Of particular interest is her series Rebuilding Mum and Dad where she follows the progress of her elderly parents who took up resistance training and are seeing very positive results.

Having decided to work towards being able to do a comfortable Asian Squat and hold it for some time I've been guided by the free videos on both:

☛ Matt Hsu's Upright Health, whose motto is: Pain Sucks. Life Shouldn't.

☛ Vanja's Movesmethod. She also has a couple of videos about the Dead Hang.

After a few weeks of practice I'm getting on well with the deep squat and I'd say it's almost done away with the lower back stiffness I've worked around for ages now. The stretch in the lower back is amazing.

From not being able to hold a dead hang for even 1 second I've now built up to two sets of 26 seconds each. I feel as though I walk taller.

☛ My latest find is How not to die by Doctor Alex Wibberley, an Emergency Medicine doctor in the UK, who talks about how the body works, food, nutrition and the like. I've never taken so many notes on videos before and am working on changing my eating patterns to support both body and brain health.

Decluttering

It may seem odd to include decluttering in a post about health, but all that stuff we own has a tendency to weigh us down, especially if it makes us feel guilty or as though we're living in a mess we just can't cope with.

After watching many of the videos from the channels linked below I've not only learned about helpful strategies like zoning, but also noticed Cas is also helping us realise we just don't need to buy a lot of what is pushed our way.

In her most recent video at time of writing, she interviewed an expert about sleep. That interview was extremely interesting and useful. Can also linked the sleep discussion to decluttering in the bedroom.

☛ Cas is Clutterbug and also publishes Clutterbug Podcast, both of which I watch every week. One wonderful technique she uses is to urge you (strongly) not to just listen, but to work on an area that needs decluttering while you watch / listen.

I've finally disposed of a number of items that were actually just weighing me down every time I saw them. I didn't know where to put them, and kept thinking I should do something with them. Well, now I have. Just a few stubborn holdouts still need my attention.

So, my goal for the next few decades is to do what I can to stay healthy and well, to be independent and capable, and to live in a home that works for me not against me.

Do you have any (non-work) goals for the next few decades?