Physical inactivity, one of the major health issues in the modern world, is estimated to cause 1.9 million premature and preventable deaths worldwide annually. How is it that we think we can spend almost all of our days doing absolutely nothing to get our heart rate up or our muscles working vigorously?

Often people view exercise narrowly as a way to lose weight or to look better. These incentives can be effective, but exercise is really about a person taking charge of his or her health to reduce the risk of chronic diseases especially the 'big three' heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Exercise is important to not only allow you to live longer but to live better as well.

The exercise that will give you the most 'bang for your buck' is strength training exercise. It will give you many positive health benefits that will affect your lifestyle greatly. The main thing that sends us rocketing into the aging process headlong is muscle tissue loss.

We lose 3-5 kg, or up to 10% of muscle tissue every decade after the age of 25 if we do nothing about it. This increases to approximately 15% per decade after 50 and 30% after 70. Recreational type activity such as walking, jogging or cycling does nothing to stop the loss and strength training does much to counteract this process.

Strength training not only strengthens our muscles but also the bones the muscles are attached to. When all these moving parts get moving strength and flexibility improves in joint, ligaments and tendons. As we get older these dry out, become brittle, less flexible and can be painful.

People become more injury prone and are not able to physically function properly. It if hurts to move, they don't. This increases the slide down the slippery slope of inactivity and the downward spiral of degeneration.

Strength training is a simple concept - it involves briefly working your muscles, on a regular basis, a little more than they are accustomed to working in everyday life. This causes not only your muscles to become stronger but your whole all-over body strength as well. This strengthening will make everyday tasks easier, such as picking up grocery bags or children, getting up from a couch or going up and down stairs.

Strength training prevents muscle loss from inactivity, and thus maintains or improves our metabolism (our body's engine), burning calories more efficiently. Research shows that adding around just 3 pounds of muscle tissue increases our metabolic rate by 7%, and ups our daily calorie needs by 15%.

Adults who replace muscle through sensible strength exercise use more calories all day long, thereby reducing the likelihood of body fat accumulation which can lead to other health problems such as diabetes, back and knee problems and heart related illnesses.

It is a shame that some people decrease their activity as they age, assuming it is proper to grow old 'gracefully'. Unfortunately, they tend to grow old ungracefully, with significant limits on their mobility, self-reliance, and quality of life often having to rely on family and friends just to maintain daily living.

Research has consistently shown the fitness and health benefits of strength training exercise for older adults. You do not have to decline with age. You can control these declines or even reverse them with strength training. Nothing else will even come close to the impact it will have on the quality of your life as you grow older.

You probably don't realize it but you are so lucky ? you have access to new information that was not available to previous generations. Don't hesitate to embrace the new technology and information and use it your advantage. Toss out those old ideas and beliefs and look forward to the new version of an older adult ? strong, lean, fit and active that can get stuck into living.