It's never too late
It's tempting to think of excuses to do nothing - whatever age you are. But it doesn't matter if you've had an active life up to now or if you've always put exercise on the back burner; it's really never too late to get started.
Male or female, single or with a partner, with or without the grandchildren - you can do it. The things you'll get out of it can be obvious, such as improved health, but there are things you might not have thought of too. Mentally tick off all the things in the list below that would be positive for you - then start planning.
The health rewards
More energy. It's odd, but exercise actually makes you feel more energetic. Sitting around not doing much, on the other hand, makes you feel sluggish and unable to do anything.
Improved sleep. The other side of this is that your body and mind feel as though they've done something and are ready for rest at night.
Stable weight. Regular exercise helps to offset the slowing down of your metabolism as you get older, keeping you at a healthy weight.
Protection against heart disease. Not smoking, sensible eating and taking regular exercise put you in line for a healthy later life.
Improved circulation. Exercise can also lower blood pressure and help with other conditions, even clinical depression.
Delayed ageing. Keeping active strengthens your muscles, joints and bones as well as helping with mobility and balance. This is more important the older you get, as it helps to prevent falls, which are among the most common reasons older people have to go into hospital.

Vitamins and minerals are of great interest to the sports world, due to the belief that they will enhance health and improve physical performance. Sure, an adequate supply of vitamins and minerals is necessary for good health - but does exercise increase our requirement? The simple answer - not really!
Do I need extra?
Providing you are eating a healthy balanced diet that's not only adequate in energy but also includes a wide variety of foods, you should have no problem getting all the vitamins and minerals you need.
Furthermore, if you're exercising and not dieting, you'll need to eat more food to meet the increased energy demand. More food - providing it's a varied mixture - means you'll also be getting more vitamins and minerals. Even athletes, providing their diet is adequate in terms of both quantity and quality, do not need extra vitamins and minerals.

Energy fuels
Carbohydrate, fat and protein are the three main energy fuels for exercise. Each of these nutrients is found in differing amounts in foods, and are broken down in the body to provide a certain quantity of energy - measured as kilocalories (kcal) per gram (g):
carbohydrate - 3.75kcal/g
protein - 4kcal/g
fat - 9kcal/g
This means 1g of fat releases more than twice as much energy as 1g of carbohydrate or protein - but this doesn't mean it's the best energy fuel for exercise. The preferred energy fuel for the muscles is glucose, especially as exercise intensity increases.
Glucose is formed from the breakdown of carbohydrates (sugars and starches) in your diet, and is stored as glycogen in the muscles and liver. However, the body can only store a limited amount at a time - a person weighing 70kg (11 stone) will store around 450g, or 1,700 kcal, of glycogen. If you want to keep training efficiently, you need to keep your glycogen stores topped up.

Anaerobic activities only use glucose, whereas aerobic activities use all three fuels - although protein is used to a lesser extent than glucose and fat.
During low-intensity exercise, you use a greater proportion of fat, a smaller proportion of glucose and fewer calories. As you increase the intensity, your body will gradually use less fat, more glucose and more calories - so most of the fuel during moderate and high-intensity exercise will come from glucose.
If you continue to exercise aerobically for a longer period, your body will gradually use more fat and less glucose in an attempt to conserve the limited glucose stores. The fitter you are, the more efficiently your muscles use fat and the longer you can work out.
It's that simple: the longer you work out, the more frequently you train, the more calories you use. But remember, one step at a time - after all, Rome wasn't built in a day!

Energy systems
Three systems in the body create ATP energy. These work simultaneously, but the contribution from each depends on the type of exercise, its intensity and duration.
ATP-CP
The sprint system - this provides enough energy for a five- to six-second sprint and doesn't require oxygen (anaerobic). CP (creatine phosphate) is another high-energy molecule where the phosphate can be broken off very quickly, releasing energy; it's used to convert ADP back to ATP. Muscles don't have large stores of CP, so it's used up fast. This is why some athletes use creatine supplements to maximise their muscle stores. ¨
Anaerobic
The high power system - this provides energy for a 90-second power burst. This system is the fast anaerobic (without oxygen) breakdown of glucose for energy, but only provides two molecules of ATP along with a waste product called lactic acid - too much of this causes muscle fatigue.
Aerobic
The endurance system - how long you can keep going depends on how fit you are! This system is the slow aerobic (with oxygen) breakdown of glucose for energy - so keep breathing in that oxygen. It provides a massive 38 molecules of ATP - that's nearly 20 times more than the anaerobic system. The aerobic system can also use fat to produce ATP energy. Endurance training can make the muscles use fat more efficiently - a good reason to improve your endurance fitness.

Time-management tips
4. Find ways of working, caring for others or studying smarter rather then harder. For example, use your computer skills to save time on a range of mundane activities, then use the free time you've created to be physically active.
5. If you're in employment, make sure you take all your holiday entitlement. Consider taking active holidays such as a cycle tour or trekking trip.
6. If you own a car, leave it at home as much as possible and walk or cycle to the shops for those small things such as milk or a newspaper.
7. As an experiment, don't wear a watch for a weekend to see if being released from this 'jailer' liberates you to do more physical activity.

Time-management tips
Here are some ideas on how you can get more active more often.
1. Make an appointment to exercise - and write it in your diary. You could also record what you did in your workout, so you can keep track of your achievements. You can extend this idea by actually making a real appointment with a friend, colleague or relative to exercise together. Alternatively, if you use your computer on a daily basis, set up a reminder message to take a walk or go for a swim.
2. Keep some exercise kit handy in the places you spend most of your time. This might mean leaving clothes at college, work, with friends or relatives, or in the boot of your car. By having some clothes handy you can exercise whenever you get an unexpected free 15 minutes or a sudden burst of enthusiasm.
3. Practise saying no to people who ask you to do things that aren't your responsibility, or don't even need doing, yet take up valuable time. Protect your free time so you can use it for sport, exercise or physical activity.