Regardless of your relationship to your body, we are all physical creatures. We live in a physical plane for the duration of our human life. And because we only get one body, we need to learn how to take care of it so that it will run smoothly.

Yet it amazes me how few people seem to consider what they are actually putting into their bodies. If your body was an automobile, it would be as if you never cleaned it out, never changed the oil, poured sugar in the tank, never did any routine maintenance, and still expected it to perform.

If you want to make it to the end of life and still have your body’s engine running smoothly, then you need to start caring for it. This baby can easily make it to 300,000, but our bad habits make it unreliable at 150,000.

Among a few of my bad habits in my 20s, I didn’t stretch enough. Now that I am in my 30s, I’m beginning to feel the wear on my body. I love to move and I want to be able to continue to move with ease, comfort, and grace well into my 90s (or beyond), so I had to ask myself what habits I can invest in today so that my future self will be better off?

To answer this question, I often look to the exercise routines of fit older role models like Ben Moon (still crushing 5.14d at age 49), Chuck Norris (still Chuck Norris at 75), Jack LaLanne (died at 96 after working out every day for decades), and Miranda Esmonde-White (kicking my ass at age 66—more on her to come).

I hear amazing stories about old hardmen, guys in their 50s and 60s, still crushing 5.14s. I want to be like these guys! Not like so many people I meet who think the finish line is retirement. The body will go harder and longer than most of us realize, but only if you care for it and maintain it. Our bodies are extremely adaptive, and can do amazing things, but you have to believe that it can, and then you have to institute daily habits that support going the distance.

Life is a marathon and it’s worth considering how you want to finish.