Let’s Get Physical: Maintaining Your Strength and Mobility

To rock retirement, you have to have the right tools, and the most important tool you have is your body. To keep up your strength and mobility your body needs to be fine-tuned. On this episode of Retirement Answer Man, we continue discussing your physical health. You’ll learn what you can do to maintain your strength and mobility so that you can rock retirement.  What is mobility? Mobility means having healthy muscles, bones, and joints so that you can freely move about. In retirement, it is important to have the mobility to do all the typical things you have to do and also so you can enjoy your favorite hobbies. Staying healthy and fit isn’t the same now as it was in your 20s. Back then you exercised to keep up your good looks, but now, exercise is critical to maintaining mobility so that you can rock retirement and do all of the things you want to do. Health and fitness can be your job in retirement Many people struggle without the routine of work to keep their life in balance in retirement. In the book, Younger Next Year, the author, Chris Crowley, makes the argument that you should make health and fitness your job in retirement.  This is an interesting idea that I want you to consider since exercise can provide you with not only structure but goals and rewards as well. When you devote time to your health you can see measurable results. Added to that, exercise can provide you with a social outlet and an ability to connect and work with other people. It can even draw you closer to your partner as you both work to attain your goals.  This important job can become the center of your life now that you won’t have the busyness of work life. It may even help give you a new identity to help you transition from your work-related identity. What do you think about making health and fitness the center of your life in retirement? How to build a body to support you to do all the things you want to do You may have heard that you can lose up to 50% of your muscle mass by the time you are 50. However, the aged muscle can be repaired if you are willing to work to maintain it. It is important to build a plan with your doctor and you may want to include a personal trainer and nutritionist to help you build that plan.  You’ll also want to work on increasing your flexibility. Your muscles get shorter as you get older causing your flexibility to decline. This can reduce your range of motion and lead to back pain, joint issues, and bad balance. Listen in to hear what apps you can use to help you maintain your exercise plan in retirement.  Be sure to check out this week’s 6-Shot Saturday email newsletter! Make sure that you are signed up for 6-Shot Saturday this week. Not only can you complete our annual listener survey, but we’ll have a link to a study guide for you to follow while you read the book, Younger Next Year. This study guide will give you a good idea of the kind of work we do in the Rock Retirement Club. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE RETIREMENT ANSWER MAN WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? [1:30] What is mobility? PRACTICAL PLANNING SEGMENT [3:45] You should make health and fitness your job in retirement [7:25] Use exercise for functional health Q&A WITH TANYA NICHOLS [20:36] Tanya exercises to stay sane [21:44] Can you roll over only part of a retirement account? [25:16] The pros and cons of multi-year guaranteed annuities [32:21] Do I take the pension or the lump sum? TODAY’S SMART SPRINT SEGMENT [38:10] Go buy the book Younger Next Year Resources Mentioned In This Episode Align Financial BOOK - The Power of Zero by David McKnight Episode 310 - The Pie Cake Daily Burn app Apple Fitness Plus FitBit Coach Peloton app Strava app BOOK - Younger Next Year by Chris Crowley Rock Retirement Club Roger’s YouTube Channel - Roger That BOOK - Rock Retirement  by Roger Whitney Work with Roger Roger’s Retirement Learning Center