Aging Gracefully – And Actively
Living an active lifestyle can be fulfilling and beneficial for people’s mental and physical health. However, studies show that physical activity tends to decrease as people age. So how can people make healthy improvements to maintain an active lifestyle later in life?
On the Ingrained & Balanced podcast about practicing a well-balanced lifestyle, hosts Lonnie and Marty discuss aging, physical activity, and overall. On season 1, episode 9, they interview Micah Nickens, founder of Uncle’s Movement, who advocates for active lifestyles at all ages. Together they discuss how changes to diet, mindset, and habits can enable people from all walks of life to achieve an active lifestyle and the mental and physical benefits that come with it.
Micah’s Story
As a former professional surfer, Micah spent his youth and young adulthood getting plenty of exercise among the waves. Although Micah's love for the outdoors never changed, his once-active lifestyle did when he stepped away from professional surfing.
Micah's professional transition into a surf brand's team manager and marketing director meant less time focusing on fitness and more time in the office. As he aged in a career that demanded less physical activity, Micah noticed that maintaining his fitness wasn't as easy.
Fortunately, changes to his diet and lifestyle helped him regain control. Today he aims to encourage others to incorporate healthy choices into their lives and experience the benefits of physical wellness.
The Uncle’s Movement
The Uncles Movement is a brand that aims to promote an active mindset and encourage physical fitness for people of all ages.
Micah was inspired to make the organization when he realized that the middle-aged consumer is a forgotten demographic, with few fitness brands targeting a middle-aged audience.
This, coupled with his personal health journey, led him to develop the mission behind Uncle’s Movement, which was to encourage people to adopt an active and healthy lifestyle of mental and physical awareness, regardless of their age.
“You can continue to live the life you'd like to live”
Today Uncle's Movement has become successful, with celebrity endorsements and a strong consumer base. The brand sells merchandise to encourage healthy living and active involvement and promote a mindset of perseverance in continuing the activities you love.
Diet and Exercise for an Active Lifestyle
Micah's own physical health journey largely inspired his success with Uncle’s Movement.
While Micah has always enjoyed staying active, aging and his career change have required him to be more mindful about staying in shape. However, exercise wasn’t his most significant hurdle in maintaining his physical fitness.
On the podcast, he discusses how his relationship with food and alcohol changed as he grew older. While his body could quickly bounce back as a young adult, he began noticing the adverse effects of unhealthy habits as he aged.
Eventually, Micah began a diet that was transformative for his mindset and overall health. By adopting healthier practices later in life, he noticed improvements to his physique – and his quality of life.
“It's really liberating, and I wasn't sure if I would ever achieve that.”
By making dietary adjustments and changes to his alcohol consumption, Micah was able to balance his drinking, sugar, and caffeine intake. Through these improvements, he found he could more easily participate in the activities he enjoyed.
He also discusses how incorporating healthy practices into his everyday lifestyle led to changes in his physical and mental health.
Mental Awareness and a Mindset on Wellness
“It was like a game changer, and it just really reset my mindset”
A core aspect of the Uncle's Movement is encouraging people to change their perspective on physical activity.
Throughout the podcast episode, Micah shares his thoughts on maintaining a healthy perspective and being mindful about living an active lifestyle. Changing his perspective on fitness activities allowed him to think of exercise less as a chore.
As people age, they can become less likely to involve themselves in fitness-centric exercise activities. For example, Zippia data shows that on average, Baby Boomers (born 1949-1963) make up the lowest generation of gym members at 6%, compared to Gen X (born 1964-1979) at 14%, Millennials (born 1979-1993) at 45%, and Gen Z (born 1994-2022) at 35%.
Although aging generations may be less inclined to participate in high-intensity exercises in gym classes, this doesn’t mean that they can’t live active lifestyles. As such, Micah’s mission focuses less on specific exercises and more on encouraging people of all ages to do the active hobbies that they do enjoy and find fulfilling.
Micah explains that rewiring his mind to reconsider his perception of exercise helped him more easily identify enjoyable physical activities. Micah found that he could accomplish a healthy lifestyle at any age by fostering a mindset dedicated to persevering with the activities he loves.
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To learn more about how Micah Nickens encourages people to live physical lifestyles through Uncle’s Movement, tune in to the Ingrained & Balanced podcast!