EDITORIAL: Going forward, here's a backward suggestion

Before the new year grows whiskers, please take a moment to assess your physical condition.

Chances are, whatever stares back at you sternly in the mirror hints at your emotional condition, as well. Mind, body and spirit seem to rise and fall as one. Pull one of them up and the others tend to follow.

Perhaps the lowest hanging fruit — sorry if that conjures up unsavory anatomical images — is doing something about your physical shape. About this time every year we encourage readers to invest in their health. For 2024 the idea is the same but the message is a little different.

We still strongly support the idea of joining a fitness facility, believing that whatever you spend will be returned many times over if you stick to a good exercise program. Not only will your body get healthier; you’ll also broaden your social horizons, which invariably boosts the mind and spirit.

But if you can’t afford a fitness membership, transportation isn’t consistently available or you simply know you won’t stick with it, please don’t wave the white flag and retreat to the couch with your favorite bag of chips and 64-ounce soda. Boot up your computer or smartphone and find exercises that work for you — for free.

Experiment and be sure to start with exercises that aren’t too challenging, then work your way up. We’ll get you started with one that just about anybody capable of walking can do.

Walk backward.

We’ll admit to a bit of bias here. The writer of this editorial is related to a popular fitness personality who has been promoting this unorthodox exercise for years. He goes by the moniker KneesOverToesGuy, but he was far from the first backward walking advocate.

For many centuries, Chinese citizens have exercised by walking backward. In 1915, a 50-year-old cigar shop owner reportedly walked backward from San Francisco to New York. It’s said to have taken him 290 days to cover 3,900 miles, but afterward Patrick Harmon claimed his ankles were so strong “it would take a sledgehammer blow to sprain them.”

Other scientifically supported benefits of regular backward walking, 10 or 15 minutes at least three times a week, include reduced back and knee pain, improved flexibility, better balance and much more. Those of us who have been AARP members for a while can attest that balance is a bigger deal the older you get.

Research also suggests that backward walking can lead to greater mental acuity, as well.

Here’s a link to a BBC article on backward walking: https://shorturl.at/npGLR

Try it for a month and see if you don’t look and feel better.

Do it for a year and you can ring in 2025 helping others discover the benefits of a life advanced by walking backward.