This is not a generation that readily accepts getting old as a legitimate option especially when modern society views it as a downward spiral of neglect, disease and decline. But other people view it as a new phase of opportunity. The difference is one purely of attitude and the important point is that because it is a state of mind, it can be accessed and beliefs changed and altered. So, there is hope as the "Fountain of Youth" begins with the mindset of staying young.

Aging is a process that happens to all of us and at around thirty something years of age, we begin to notice the first telltale signs, less energy, strands of gray hair, the deepening of expression lines, the slight sagging of facial features, the gradual loss of skin elasticity etc. As the years roll by, this aging process continues relentlessly - stiffer joints, declining strength, dimmer vision, gray hair, sagging posture and so on.

When we see the same thing happening to other people around us we accept it as natural and inevitable and start to accept our declining faculties as being nature's way. We start thinking of ourselves as old and that change in mental outlook further accelerates the process. And, as we look in the mirror, year after year, we gradually begin to look, feel, think and act progressively older, our mindset reflecting what we see in the mirror.

However, all is not lost and we don't have to go down this path. While it may be true that we cannot stop the aging process but we can most certainly delay its effects. In fact, research now shows that we can dramatically slow and even reverse the effects of aging while maintaining a high quality of life. And the even better news is that we can increase our life expectancy by as much as 30 years. How about that for reclaiming youth?

If you want to stay young, the number one thing you must do is you have to stay physically strong. A fundamental but highly modifiable part of the aging process is a morphing of your body shape and composition with the loss of 300 -500 grams of muscle tissue every year over age thirty unless you work to keep it. If you are forty or fifty and weigh about the same as you did when you were twenty, you will have a lot more fat and less muscle that you did then.

As people get older, some leisure activities and daily tasks become harder to do so they give them up. By doing less and less, their loss of muscle and bone strength accelerates until even the activities required for daily living become difficult or impossible, and the person becomes truly "old". The only way to prevent this gradual erosion is to stay strong through strength training exercise.

Much of the aging process comes down to just settling for less in life. When you develop an issue like back trouble, the typical response is to accept that you can no longer do many of the physical activities that you used to enjoy. Instead, you should be saying to yourself "What can I do to strengthen this weakness so that I can return to my fully functional level?"

By getting stronger and staying strong, you can break this downward spiral of aging and weakness and enjoy a more active lifestyle with an improved quality of life. Make sure you get your strength training program set up by a fitness professional to teach you the right exercises, the right level of intensity to perform them and the right duration and frequency. This will ensure that you will get the most results in the shortest time.

The Fountain of Youth is inside all of us and to tap into it requires some action and some effort on your part. Although each year we add another year to our age, who says we also have to look our age? You can achieve your own youthfulness by staying young at heart and sticking to your exercise program. You will be able to see the difference as you slow down the aging process within yourself.