A few years ago, I wrote a story about stepping in as the boundary umpire at one of my son’s footy games. The official hadn’t shown up—no umpire, no game. So, rising 50 (yep, that’s in the rear view now), I grabbed the whistle and took the job. No warm-up. No stretching. Just got on with it.

The game was fast. The boundary was long. I spent a good chunk of the day sprinting (lol – let’s be serious!!), turning, stopping, and launching the footy back in like I knew what I was doing. It was tiring. The other parents sat in their chairs and heckled.  But I could do it. And honestly, I felt kind of proud—not because anyone snapped a photo or posted a reel—but because, in that moment, my training meant something real.

That’s the kind of fitness I care about.
That’s the kind of fitness I want you to care about too.

The Fitness That Matters Most

We live in a world where training is often performance art. Flexed abs in the change room mirror. Lifting the perfect amount of weight for the perfect camera angle. And hey—no judgment. If that helps you show up, great. But here’s the thing:

Looking fit isn’t the same as being fit.

And being fit doesn’t mean always hitting PBs or smashing yourself into the ground. It means being capable. Capable of living your life fully and independently. Capable of showing up when someone needs you. Capable of staying in the game.

That kind of fitness doesn’t come from posing. It comes from showing up—week in, week out—even when there’s no one watching.

Once You Stop…

There’s something most people don’t realise until it’s too late:
Once you stop doing something, it’s really hard to start again.

Take running.
Once you stop running, your body adapts—quickly—to not running. And when you try to start again, everything hurts. Your knees ache. Your lungs burn. And your brain tells you it’s not worth it.

And that’s the risk. Because if you stay stopped… you might never start again.

The same goes for all sorts of movement. Once you decide that squats or pushups or lunges are “bad for you,” they disappear from your routine. And often, the parts of your body they kept strong slowly disappear too.

But here’s the kicker:
Most of the time, the problem isn’t that you did too much of something.
It’s that you weren’t doing ENOUGH of it—or haven’t been doing it in the right way.

If lunges hurt? That doesn’t mean lunges are the enemy.
It means your single-leg strength might need work.
And that doesn’t mean you throw a barbell on your back and go full send on Day One—it might just mean you start with a supported step-back lunge or some single-leg glute bridges.

Because rest alone rarely fixes anything.  I would basically say rest alone doesn’t fix anything – the most common messages I get are “I want to lose 5kg” and “I just took 2-weeks off because my knee was hurting – I came back to the gym last night and it’s sore again”…I mean…NO S#1T!!.

If your goal is longevity, resilience, and staying active as the years roll on—well, then movement is the medicine.

Train Like Your Future Depends On It

Because it does.

Not in a doomsday way. But in a real, grounded, practical way.

Every session you do today helps you stay in the game tomorrow.

• You train so your back stays strong enough to pick up grandkids or bags of soil from Bunnings.

• You train so your knees can still handle stairs, hikes, and spontaneous beach runs.

• You train so when life throws you a curveball—a DIY project, a surprise game of backyard cricket, or a day chasing your dog through the park—you’re ready.

And you train not because it looks good on Instagram, but because it feels good in real life.

Final Word

Let’s be blunt:
If something keeps feeling sore, don’t ignore it.
Don’t just shrug and say, “Must be old age.”
That kind of thinking? It’s the quickest way to actually becoming old.

Because if you let that one sore knee slide…
What happens when the other one starts hurting?
And your shoulder? Your back?

Don’t let niggles turn into limitations.

Ask questions. Get advice. Modify. Learn.
Often the answer isn’t “do less”—it’s “do it differently.”

Train for life.
Train because stopping might mean never starting again.
Train because you can.
And if something’s holding you back—ask for help before it becomes the reason you stop altogether.

You don’t need perfect movement. You just need progress.
And you’ve got people around you who can help.

Let’s keep moving forward—one smart session at a time.