If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving. ~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

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After returning home from the hospital in 2010, I went to a class to learn how to live a full life with a compromised heart. The topics included information about how the heart works, suggestions for healthy living, exercises that strengthen the heart muscle without adding stress to it, and facts about the different medications necessary to keep the heart functioning.

The material for the six-week program was delivered by nurses, nutritionists, pharmacists, physical therapists, and other content experts in a classroom setting. At 46, I was clearly the youngest of the 30 or so participants in a class of mostly ornery and impatient 70 and 80 year-olds set in their ways and grumbling about aches and pains.

A 75 year old woman named Ruth had been my seat neighbor for the entire program. She was a nice grandmotherly type who loved cooking, hated exercise, and planned little changes to her life. She half-jokingly told me that she never exercised a day in her life and saw no reason to start. Then she said, “Look at you. You were a healthy young man and still had a heart attack like the rest of us.” She had a point . . . kinda.

When I was a kid, I loved to jump fences, climb trees, and ride bikes with neighborhood kids. We played basketball on my driveway, two-hand touch football in the street, and sandlot baseball at the elementary school at the end of the block. Of course, there was Little League baseball until I was 12 years old, and middle school flag football and basketball. In high school, I earned four varsity letters in basketball and baseball.

Yeah, I was that kid.

After high school, I played recreation league basketball and softball. Obligatory beer busts after each game were standard. That didn’t help much, but I stayed active. Marriage, career, and kids left little time for these activities. I played the last rec league basketball game in my late 30s. I came home dejected because the younger men were just too fast and strong for me. 

My nine year old daughter laughed when I “announced” my rec league “retirement” to Sandra and the girls. “It’s not like you’re Michael Jordan retiring from the Bulls daddy,” Marisa quipped. Over the next several years, I occasionally found time to exercise by walking, working out in the gym, and playing golf. I was in the gym on June 7, 2010, when the opening salvo of heart attack symptoms began.

Despite Ruth’s confidence that exercise didn’t prevent my heart attack, staying active certainly saved my life. My cardiologist assured me that I wouldn’t have survived the June 7th heart attack and surgery if I wasn’t in shape. Later that summer, after a medically induced coma caused my muscles to waste away, I completed an 8-week physical rehabilitation program in three weeks. The physical rehab doctor mentioned that my athletic experience helped me learn and execute the exercises faster than usual.

So what’s the point of all this?

According to the American Heart Association, the second of Life’s Essential 8 for lifelong good heart health is Be More Active. This doesn’t mean that you have to be a formally trained athlete or a gym rat to stay healthy. Life’s Essential 8 recommends that adults should get 2 ½ hours of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity per week. 

Walking for 30 minutes a day, five days per week qualifies as moderate activity. The vigorous exercise recommendation can be done by running 15 minutes a day, five days per week. If you don’t like to or can’t walk or run, the American Heart Association Life’s Essential 8 website has lots of ideas on how to be more active throughout the day.

As I mentioned in my  last post, exercise alone isn’t the formula for a healthy lifestyle. As my old friend Ruth so sarcastically reminded me, it sure didn’t prevent me from having a massive heart attack. In conjunction with eating better and the other six of Life’s Essential 8 (I plan to share them on this blog in coming weeks), being more active will lead to a healthier and more fulfilling life.

Be creative and set goals. Get out there and do your thing, even when you don’t feel like it. I know the kids, job, extended family obligations, and a million other things make it hard to keep going, but you just have to do it. As MLK said, “whatever you do you have to keep moving.” Walk 30 minutes a day. Put it in your calendar. Take the stairs instead of the elevator and escalator. Go whack some weeds. Dance with your partner everyday. You never know if a little smooching might happen next!

Since my heart transplant, I walk four or five days per week, four miles per day. I use light weights two or three days per week. And, I mean light weights. Ten pound dumbbells, body resistance exercises like modified push ups, jumping jacks, squats, and crunches do the trick to get the heart rate up. The days of trying to get chiseled chest, arms, and legs are laughable and long gone. 

My goals now are to walk around the mall with Sandra and the girls, run around with our new puppy, play a round of golf from time to time with old friends, and dance to a few of our favorite songs with Sandra. Oh yeah, and stay alive!

I still often think about Ruth and my geriatric classmates from 2010. I sometimes wonder if any of them ate hot dogs. My guess is that many have passed away during the past decade and a half. It would be a blessing if God allows me to live that long. But that’s His call.

In the meantime, I’m going to be more active and keep moving until I can’t. If you have a little time, come join me.