There are things your body does every single day that you probably don’t think much about.

You get up from a chair.

Carry groceries into the house.

Reach into the backseat of your car.

Walk up the stairs.

Get down on the floor and back up again.

Catch yourself when you stumble.

None of these things feel particularly impressive.

And that’s exactly why they’re so easy to overlook.

When your body feels good and does what you ask of it without much thought, you have other things to think about. Careers. Families. Relationships. Errands. Responsibilities. Dinner. Laundry. The approximately 47 things somebody needs from you before noon.

You’re not standing at the bottom of the stairs thinking:

Wow. I am so grateful for my current ability to climb these stairs.

You just go upstairs.

Until one day, something that has always been ordinary suddenly isn’t.

And that’s when an ability you barely noticed can become incredibly important.

The Day I Got Stuck in Front of My Dryer

I tell this story in The EveryDay Athlete Field Guide because it was one of those moments when my own body got my attention.

I was doing laundry.

Nothing athletic. Nothing exciting. Just laundry.

I squatted down in front of the dryer to get the clothes out.

And when I tried to stand back up…

I couldn’t.

I wasn’t injured.

Nothing hurt.

There was no dramatic pop, pull, or pain.

I was just…

stuck.

And there I was with my arms full of laundry, suddenly realizing that this very ordinary movement wasn’t going quite according to plan.

So I put some of the laundry back, used the dryer door to help myself, and eventually got myself upright—with a grunt that I’m sure was particularly attractive.

And I remember thinking:

What in the world was THAT?

Because until that moment, squatting down in front of the dryer wasn’t an ability I thought about.

It was just something I could do.

Until suddenly it wasn’t.

And that’s the problem with so many of the physical abilities we depend on every day.

We don’t realize how valuable they are until they become difficult.

The Abilities That Make Your Life Possible

When we talk about physical fitness, we tend to think about exercise.

Squats.

Lunges.

Weights.

Cardio.

Yoga.

Pilates.

But I think we’re starting the conversation in the wrong place.

Before we talk about exercise, I want to talk about ability.

Can you get yourself up from the floor?

Can you carry something appropriately heavy?

Can you reach overhead?

Can you rotate enough to look behind you?

Can you move confidently across uneven ground?

Can you respond when you unexpectedly lose your balance?

Can you get yourself down into a squat—and, unlike Dryer Heather that particular day, get yourself back out of it?

These aren’t gym abilities.

They’re life abilities.

And because we use many of them without thinking, it’s very easy to assume they’ll simply continue to be there.

But your body doesn’t maintain an ability because you might need it someday.

Your body responds to what you repeatedly ask it to do.

Your Body Is Paying Attention, Even When You Aren’t

I recently wrote about the fact that your body is always adapting—for better or worse.

That adaptation doesn’t stop because you’re busy.

If you regularly ask your muscles to produce force, they have a reason to maintain strength.

If you challenge your balance, your nervous system has a reason to continue practicing those responses.

If you move your joints through varied ranges of motion, you continue giving your body reasons to make those ranges available.

But the opposite is also true.

If you stop getting on the floor, your body becomes less prepared to get on and off the floor.

If you stop carrying things, you stop asking your body to maintain the capacity to carry them.

If you avoid uneven surfaces because you don’t feel quite as confident there anymore, you give your balance system fewer opportunities to practice responding to them.

The body adapts to what you stop doing, too.

And that’s why maintenance matters.

Maintenance Is Usually Easier Than Reclamation

I’ve spent most of my professional life working in what I’ve always called the prevention and maintenance side of healthcare.

I went to nursing school, and while I learned an enormous amount there, I eventually realized that wasn’t where I belonged.

I was fascinated by what could happen before something went terribly wrong.

What can we support?

What can we strengthen?

What can we preserve?

What can we understand about our bodies now that might help us continue doing the things we love later?

That’s been part of the way I’ve approached movement and wellness for more than twenty years.

Because rebuilding something after you’ve lost a significant amount of it is often much harder than continuing to give your body reasons to maintain it along the way.

Maintaining strength is different from trying to rebuild substantial strength after you’ve lost it.

Continuing to challenge your balance is different from beginning balance training after you’ve become afraid of falling.

Continuing to get down on the floor is different from trying to regain that ability once you’ve stopped doing it for years.

Maintain before you have to reclaim.

This Isn’t About Trying Not to Age

I want to make something very clear.

Maintenance doesn’t mean preventing aging.

You’re going to age.

So am I.

Our bodies are going to change.

Illness happens.

Injuries happen.

Genetics matter.

Hormones change.

Thank you, menopause.

Life happens.

There is no movement program, supplement, diet, skincare routine—or amount of Korean goo, apparently—that grants us an exemption from being human.

But the physical capacity we bring with us into those changes matters.

This isn’t about desperately trying to preserve a 25-year-old body forever.

It’s about continuing to give the body you have reasons to remain capable.

The Exercise Isn’t the Point

This is one of the places where I think we sometimes get exercise completely backward.

We start treating the exercise itself as the goal.

It isn’t.

I don’t care whether you become exceptionally good at squats because the world desperately needs more talented squatters.

I care whether you can get yourself off the toilet when you’re 80.

I don’t care whether you can stand on one leg because standing on one leg makes you impressive.

I care whether your body can respond quickly when you step off a curb you didn’t see.

I don’t care whether you can deadlift because deadlifting makes you a superior human being.

I care whether you can pick something heavy up from the ground without hurting your shoulders.

The exercise isn’t the point.

Your life is the point.

We’re practicing physical abilities in controlled environments so they’re available to us when we need them in uncontrolled ones.

Because you know where I unexpectedly discovered that I needed a squat?

In front of my dryer.

Not in a gym.

Not during a workout.

While doing laundry.

Sometimes Your World Just Gets Smaller

Loss of physical capacity doesn’t always arrive dramatically.

Sometimes your world just gets a little smaller.

You stop sitting on the floor because getting back up is difficult.

You start avoiding the stairs.

You stop carrying the heavy bag.

You stop walking on uneven trails because you don’t quite trust your balance anymore.

You stop reaching into that cabinet because your shoulder doesn’t move comfortably that way.

And every one of those decisions can make perfect sense in the moment.

But slowly, the things you stop doing become things your body is less prepared to do.

And your world changes around those limitations.

That’s why I don’t want you waiting until you can’t do something to decide the ability was valuable.

Look at your life now.

What do you love doing?

What do you need to do?

What do you want to still be doing five years from now?

Ten?

Twenty?

And what physical abilities make those things possible?

Those are the things worth paying attention to now.

You Don’t Need to Turn Your Life Into a Workout

None of this means you need to spend your entire life exercising.

Quite the opposite.

I want you to live your life.

That’s the whole damn point.

Walk.

Carry things.

Get on the floor.

Reach.

Pull.

Push.

Move in different directions.

Challenge your balance.

Use your joints through the ranges of motion available to you.

Lift something appropriately heavy.

Give your cardiovascular system a reason to work.

And deliberately train the things modern life no longer asks enough of you.

Because convenience is wonderful.

But convenience can also quietly remove many of the physical demands that once gave our bodies reasons to maintain certain abilities.

Your body needs a reason to keep them.

Give it one.

Maintenance Isn’t Fear. It’s Participation.

I don’t want you exercising because you’re terrified of getting older.

I don’t want healthy aging to become another list of terrible things you’re desperately trying to prevent.

I want you to think about something much more interesting:

What do you want to keep participating in?

Maybe you want to travel.

Garden.

Hike.

Play with your grandchildren.

Carry your own suitcase.

Work in your yard.

Get down on the floor with your dog.

Keep taking the stairs without thinking twice about it.

Maybe there are a thousand ordinary things you do every week that you’ve never even considered abilities.

Those are worth protecting, too.

Your movement practice doesn’t have to be punishment for getting older.

It can be an investment in continuing to participate in your own life.

Start With What You Still Have

We’re often encouraged to look at our bodies through the lens of what’s wrong.

What’s weak?

What’s tight?

What hurts?

What’s changed?

What’s not working the way it used to?

But I want you to look at something else, too.

What’s working right now?

What can you do today?

And are you continuing to use those abilities?

Challenge them appropriately.

Support them.

Practice them.

Maintain them.

Because an ability doesn’t suddenly become valuable on the day you lose it.

It was valuable all along.

You just didn’t have a reason to notice it.

So What Should You Be Maintaining?

Maybe you’re reading this and thinking:

Okay—but what exactly are the abilities I should be paying attention to?

That’s exactly why I created The EveryDay Athlete Mini-Course.

Because maintaining your physical abilities starts with knowing what they are.

The EveryDay Athlete focuses on the essential movement abilities your body depends on in everyday life—the abilities that help you get up and down, carry, reach, balance, move confidently, and continue doing the things that matter to you.

This isn’t another exercise program or another list of things you’re supposed to be doing.

It’s an opportunity to understand what your body needs to keep doing—and why those abilities matter.

When you know what to pay attention to, you can begin noticing where you feel strong and capable, where something may be changing, and where your body might benefit from a little more attention before an ability becomes difficult.

That’s body literacy.

And that’s the heart of The EveryDay Athlete.

Learn the abilities.
Pay attention to them.
Use them.
Work to maintain them.

Because the goal isn’t to stay young.

The goal is to keep living fully in the body you’re growing older in.

Maintain before you have to reclaim.

Prefer to watch the video on YouTube?

Click Here: Maintain Before You Have to Reclaim