Years ago, a therapist told me that I should include "movement" on my to-do list. "Movement" specifically, not "exercise." At the time, I thought it was semantics, a little trick to get me to start exercising. It took a few years, and I realized that they were right. Movement is what it’s all about. Exercise is a chore, a "big deal", a hard-core plan to be super fit; movement is just the small things we can do to be healthier and stay alive longer.

During Covid every American became a health expert. I know smart people on all sides of every debate; masking, vaccinations, social distancing, viral transmission; everyone became a specialist. Yet, amid all the heated debates, I never found an intelligent person who thought working out, movement, wasn't good for me.

It's a universal truth: moving our bodies is a blessing.

For the first four decades of my life, I didn't work out. Aside from an occasional baseball game, I didn't play sports at school or camp, I didn't even like joining the "elimination" games in the school gym. I had some good "excuses" to give me cover for the choice of remaining stationary, but they were excuses and they didn't do me any good, certainly into adulthood.

In January of 2021, just after my 40th birthday, I realized that I had a choice to make, a choice that would benefit me and my family. Either I hire a trainer and start moving my body or I will be the primary reason for my own demise.  None of us are in charge of life and death, we are at the mercy of hashem and His infinite decisions, but we don't have to make illness and death an easy option by ignoring His guidance to live a healthier life. We can't expect to abuse our bodies and have it as a vessel of good health in return.

we choose what we eat and drink and if it gives sustenance or just serves and emotional/habitual need. Same is with movement. Sitting around for most our life is the source of so many of our ailments. I wanted the ability to hike with my family without feeling like I'm passing out, I wanted to reach for something in t back seat of the car without pulling two muscles, and I wanted to sit with my kids on the floor without displacing discs in my back, cramping up, or hugging and puffin like a big bad wolf.

In May of 2021, I hired Aaron, my amazing trainer. Ever since, we have worked out religiously twice each week. Yup, just twice a week and it's been positively life changing. I am not seeking to be a body builder, not trying to get a six pack, not yearning to run a marathon; I just need to treat my body with the respect that it deserves, and Aaron is my guide to do just that. Maimonides discusses the importance of keeping a healthy body to serve G-d in this physical world, or in the words of Rav Dovber, the great Magid of Mezritch "a small hole (ailment) in the body is a big hole in the soul."