Why To Exercise Today: This Is The Body Your Future Self Inherits

Finally, his doctor sat him down and said: You know, what you do now determines the body you'll have when you turn 50. Whether you'll be healthy as you age depends on you. No more free rides. The body you have at 50 will be the body you inherit from the choices your current self makes.

These days, Steve, who is Boston University's vice president for marketing and communications, is known to be reachable on the elliptical at 4:30 a.m. Like many of the exerciser species, he looks a good decade younger than he is. And he can't imagine stopping — even on a drippy day like this. He writes: "However crazy it is to be working up a sweat before the sun rises (even behind cloud cover), it does mean that I get to start every day with a sense of accomplishment — and that’s pretty important, because I never know what’s going happen after I walk out the door."