Most people do not realize that as much as 70% of the 'normal' decay associated with aging such as weak muscles, soft, brittle bones and sore joints can be eliminated along with 50% of all illness and injury with the right exercise program. So, the lifestyle you are leading right now will determine how young you will be in future decades.

Often as people age they experience chronic aches and pains, lack of energy and can suffer from arthritis, diabetes or high blood pressure and prescription drugs consumption becomes a necessity. No doubt both patients and pharmaceutical companies would much prefer a pill with the benefits of exercise without actually having to do it.

Meanwhile, until the magic pill is found the only prescription that should be filled is that people take some responsibility for their own health and wellbeing. But that isn't so bad compared to suffering the ill effects of the downward spiral for years or even decades if you choose to ignore mountains of research that have uncovered how much control we really do have over the aging process.

We used to believe it was just a matter of 'Lady Luck" how well we fared as we got older. But now we know that illness, disease, pain and suffering can be diminished or even reversed by giving the body what it needs to stay healthy no matter what your age.

Most of what we call aging, and most of what we dread about getting older, is actually decay caused by not enough proper exercise. This is critically important because we are stuck with real aging, but decay is optional. It is dependant on what we do and don't do each and every day.

Biologically, at cellular level, there is no such thing as retirement. There are only two signals you can give your body ? growth or decay and your body chooses between these two things based on the commands that you give it every single minute of every day. We were designed to move ? a lot. Vigorous movement tells your body you are alive. Inactivity and living a sedentary lifestyle tells your body you are dying.

Strength building and maintaining exercise is the master signaler, setting hundreds of chemical cascades into motion instructing your cells to renew, repair, replace and rebuild.

Our exercised muscles control the chemistry of growth. Lack of this type of movement signals the opposite, decay, degeneration and sets in place a pre programmed 'shut down mode' as you are telling your body that you no longer need it. Your life force is slowly but surely sucked from you.

Armed with this knowledge it is hard to believe that anyone would choose to continue down the path of 'taking it easy' or 'growing old gracefully' which really means 'idly'. There is such a simple solution ? start and continue a proper exercise program that contains at least 60% strength building and maintaining exercise.

If you are new to exercise it is important that your program is properly set up and monitored by a fitness professional. You not only need to be taught how to do the exercises but how hard (the intensity) you need to perform them at to get the desired results. The program needs to be updated every six or so weeks to keep the results coming.

It may be a hassle to put yourself out to have to do this each week. But how much is the quality of your one and only life worth to you? It is in your hands much more than you realize. Just by adding the necessary proper exercise into your life will let you continue to live like you are 50 years old until you are 80 or even older. That's a pretty fair deal don't you agree?