I know some people on my AIBU thread got fed with my preaching. But I know whereof I speak. I watched what not exercising did to my mum and my grandmother. It wasn't pretty.
My grandmother came to live with us when she was 60. She was fat and immobile. An old woman. At sixty!! My only memories of her are of her sitting and, very rarely, walking, very slowly, as it clearly was a struggle. And her falling down a set of steps on a rare outing. Her only activity was a once weekly walk to the village centre to stock up on her favourite sweets. But even this became too much for her in her mid-70s. She lived to be 86, but the last decade was miserable. She never left her room except at Christmas and Easter, when my dad would exert himself to help her down the stairs.
Now, you might have thought that my mother, who witnessed all this and would get up twice a night to help her to the bathroom, who helped her wash and ultimately gave her bed-baths for many years, who carried her meals up to her room, etc etc...... would have done things differently. Except she didn't. At my urging she went to a few 'exercise for oldies' sessions - in her early sixties. But it was too much effort. She lived to be 90, but the last 18 months were miserable, after she fell and broke her hip. Her hip was fixed, but she didn't have the strength to walk. She never walked again. Her house, which she loved so much, had to be sold to pay for her care in a tiny room in a nursing home. She ended up starving herself to death. Literally. Because life had become totally unbearable.
I'm not sure why I'm telling you all this. Clearly I'm preaching to the choir. But I started that thread in the hope that some couch potatoes might wake up and see what they'll be dealing with in their old age. If anyone has any suggestions of how one might start an exercise revolution, I'm all ears!