This week, we’ll look at various tools that can be used to ensure lifelong healthy fitness levels. Let’s start with a bit of an unexpected one: the location of your home. 

You might not see the area where you live as a fitness tool, but it may very well be the most powerful one of them all. The trouble is that moving the location of your home is a huge operation, so this is not something that can be changed on the spur of the moment.

However, this tool is powerful enough that you should definitely keep it in mind as an important criterion for the next time you move.

So, let’s see why the location of your home is such a valuable fitness tool…

Cycling and walking

Last week, we discussed four activities where exercise just happens as a nice byproduct. The first of these was personal transportation by muscle power instead of fossil power.  

If you manage to set up your environment to easily meet most of your personal transportation needs by cycling or walking, lifelong fitness becomes a breeze. 

The location of your home is the most important factor deciding whether this avenue to lifelong fitness is open to you. As discussed last week, many cities are unfortunately built for cars instead of people. And this can make walking or cycling unpractical, unpleasant or downright dangerous. 

Luckily, there are more and more places that recognize the enormous economic inefficiency of a car-based society. These places are gradually banning the car from various city zones and investing in sidewalks, bicycle paths and public transport. 

Becoming a resident in a community built for people instead of cars is one of the best things you can do for your long-term fitness. 

Nature

The second post from last week discussed the awesome revitalizing benefits of spending regular time in nature (with exercise as a nice byproduct). Selecting a location for your home that is close to nature will make it much easier to tap into this huge benefit. 

The ideal is to live within walking or cycling distance from untouched nature, but a reasonably sized inner city park is a good compromise. 

Value these benefits

So, next time you’re thinking of moving, really give this some proper thought. The benefits of a home ideally located for walking, cycling and spending time in nature are tremendous. 

It’s hard to put an accurate value on lifelong fitness. But we must remember the benefits of fitness for productivity, self-image and life expectancy. Also remember the health benefits of spending time in nature. 

The savings from walking and cycling instead of driving your car are easier to quantify. Spend a little time to work out what your car costs you every year and think about all the other cool things you could do with that money. 

Then, when it’s time for your next move, choosing the ideal fitness location will be a lot easier 🙂