It’s hard to believe that at nearly 55 years old, I am in the best shape of my life.

Just making that statement seems strange.

But it didn’t happen by accident. It started when I lost a lot of weight between 2017 and 2018. You can read about that here.

But losing weight was only part of the equation. I wanted to get fit, too.

My first big accomplishment was completing the Gobbler Run 5K in 2017. Prior to that, I had never run an entire mile at one time. Once I did that, I decided to sign up for a half-marathon.

I mean, why not, right?

And while running was great, I knew I needed to do something more. I had been a member of a gym before, but it never really stuck.

Then I met Kenny Ragsdale at FrontLine Fitness.

He had just opened a small boutique gym down the street from my house, so I decided to pay him a visit. He was encouraging and friendly, and he did a physical fitness assessment. Then he told me that now that I had lost weight and had started running, I also needed to work on strength training.

That went on for several months, but unfortunately, he had to close his shop. (Note: FrontLine was able to re-open again later and is very successful.)

What he left me with, though, was a routine.

So I made the decision to join a gym.

Again.

This time was different because I had already started building the habit. I went three days a week. I went early in the morning because otherwise, I knew I would never go. And even when I traveled, I had a routine I could take with me.

Around that same time, I had heard about this thing called F3. I tried it out once a week. Then one day became two, and here we are eight years later. I just celebrated my eight-year maniversary, and I am consistently working out five to six days a week.

I have actually started two workout sites: one that focuses on rucks and sandbags and another that focuses on kettlebells.

Talk about strength training at its core.

Last year, I believe I finished my last long-distance running events with the completion of the Blue Ridge Relay and the Bourbon Chase.

Maybe.

I am going to focus more on rucking and strength training than cardio. Although, I did just start swimming again in the last two weeks.

Maybe I’ll do a triathlon.

Hmm.

The point of all this is that while it is never too late to start exercising, particularly strengthening, there does come a time when late might be too late.

I recently read an article in Verywell Health that inspired this post. It cited long-term Swedish research showing that fitness and strength can begin declining around age 35, not 65. The study followed participants over decades and found meaningful declines in aerobic fitness, grip strength, and muscle endurance over time.

Again, the study also noted that adults who start exercising later can still improve physical capacity.

So it is not too late.

Harvard Health makes the muscle-loss point even more directly: age-related muscle loss, or sarcopenia, can begin around age 35 at roughly 1% to 2% per year for a typical person. After age 60, that loss can accelerate.

Again, it is never too late.

Until it is too late.

Current CDC guidance says adults should aim for 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity each week, or 75 minutes of vigorous activity, plus muscle-strengthening activity at least two days a week. It also reminds us that some physical activity is better than none.

You don’t have to be a gym rat to improve.

You honestly don’t even need a gym.

The kicker here is that your body is one of the few assets you cannot replace. The earlier you start maintaining it, the better chance you have of carrying strength, mobility, energy, and independence into the next season of life.

At the end of the day, I know that I can’t live forever here on this earth.

But I want to be useful, present, strong, and available for the people and work God has placed in my life.

And as someone who has spent his entire career helping organizations stop waiting until something breaks to fix it, you know I am going to handle this asset the same way.

Because deferred maintenance is not just an organizational problem.