Year-end Reflections on Being Active and Our Wellness

Thoughts on Wellness and Movement Goals …

As the year winds down, do you find yourself reflecting on your wellness journey?

Yes, I write weekly about the importance of movement and balance for long-term health, but … confession time … I have to think about it too!

To help you with your reflection and planning, I’m sharing the changes I made to my personal wellness practice and two recommendations for your 2025 health goals.

So, what did I change this year to uphold what I research and write about?

Here are the four things I incorporated into my wellness routine. (You can read more at the end about each to understand how and why.) The four are:

Strength training: After investigating local options last December, it took me until April to get my act together and get started. The gym currently gets a weekly visit from me.

Running/Walking: I changed up my daily routine to add walk/run minutes more consistently in both the morning and evening, in addition to my daily movement in the office. I strive for 5-6 miles total daily as measured on my Fitbit.

Balance and Speed Training: I intentionally add muti-directional balance challenges into my weekly workouts, as well as a series of quick agility related foot work, similar to jumping rope.

Whole Body Vibration: Bone health is important with a recent realization that all my walking and running didn’t do much to maintain bone density. I use a platform device to blend exercise with helping both bone health and circulation.

And, I have learned to give myself grace on the days that seem to go sideways. I focus on weekly targets with a daily minimum of 10,000 steps. Yes, I will walk around my home before bed to get those last 500!

Of course, there are two roles for Bridging®.

In this aspect of my wellness, I do practice what I preach. There are two reasons I schedule a session with one of my team for Bridging® — either I have an injury that needs clearing up, or my workouts surface movement or coordination which needs help.

Injuries — You’ve already read about my escapades with getting rear-ended in my car, and about getting run into by a bicyclist in the summer. Bridging® allowed me to return to working out much faster than otherwise.

New and improved —Earlier this year after I’d started at the gym, I noticed that my balance in my right leg was wobblier than my left. We assessed how I used muscles in the exercises to identify the instability. Bridging® reset the associated muscle coordination and, voila, both legs are now very stable.

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Two Recommendations for your 2025 Wellness

To keep it simple … these are my two top thoughts for you heading into a new year:

1. Strength Training

Muscle is your wellness bank account. You need regular “deposits” to draw on for balance, mobility, metabolic health, and recovery from illness or injury.

• Why it matters: Muscle burns glucose which keeps blood sugar balanced. Too little muscle + too much glucose = Type 2 diabetes risk. And that’s the real long term risk.
• What to do: Start small, but start. Lift weights, do resistance work, or even focus on bodyweight exercises.

2. Consistency is Everything

Daily movement doesn’t have to be complicated.

• Walk, garden, dance, do yoga, or play with tikes.
• Start with what you can do every day. Build the habit first, even if it’s just 5 minutes of walking.

My daily walks began as a check mark on my calendar for walking 20 minutes that day. My goal was to cover every square on the monthly calendar. Once I had a daily habit, I added more time, and then added am/pm walking.

There was a limit! I tried 20k steps per day this summer and found that goal became consuming. I dropped it.

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Can Bridging® Support Your Wellness Goals?

Absolutely! Bridging® helps you recover and improve movement so you can stay active and confident:

Injuries or Medical Procedures: Bridging® resets muscle coordination for safer, more effective workouts.

New Movement Goals: Whether it’s starting a new sport, improving balance, or lifting heavier, Bridging® fine-tunes your muscle function.

Take the First Step for 2025

Don’t wait for January to roll around — schedule your Bridging® tune-up now and set yourself up for a strong, confident year ahead.

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More about what I’ve been doing in 2024, and why

Strength Training Although I feel like I’m lifting weight all day long, I realized my long-term health needed more structured weight lifting. Starting in April, I’ve consistently made it to the gym one day a week. There are studies that show this can be effective for maintenance or building muscle. Favorite exercise for longevity: The Farmer’s Carry — holding weights in each hand while walking for a minute. The goal is to carry at least 50% of your body weight. The Farmer’s Carry improves grip strength, balance, and builds leg, core, and arm muscles — big benefits wrapped into one. I started at 40# and worked up to 88# after 8 months going once a week.

Whole Body Vibration (WBV) Over the past 15+ years the sports and fitness world has integrated vibration for injury rehab, neuromuscular reaction training, and general recovery. Many studies have also been done about the role WBV can have on our bone health. The stimulation to the bones is a non-pharmaceutical way to strengthen your bones. Bone health is important to me given family history, so I’ve added ten minutes on most days. The vibration also serves as a warm-up for exercise. You can also do a series of body weight exercises on the vibration plate to get more out of your time.

Balance and Agility The dots I’m using in this photo provide multi-directional targets for my leg work such a lunges, or single-leg balance reaches. I also include jumping movements to help with quick reactions. As we age, we lose more fast reacting muscle mass than postural stabilizing muscle mass.

Walking and Running I admit that I log a high number of steps daily. Higher amounts of activity have a positive impact to my family’s cardiovascular risk, so I prioritize the time. Getting steps has become a non-negotiable part of my day. For 2025 I’m likely adding a weighted backpack, known as rucking.