You Don’t Need a Gym to Get Exercise

One fascinating thing that was also true across the blue zones was that the majority of elderly people got their exercise through natural movement during their day, rather than at the gym.

In Sardinia, the elderly people walk uphill to church on cobblestone streets. That results in more lower body strength, which prevents them from falling and breaking bones. In Okinawa, elderly people get natural exercise by tending to their gardens and getting up and down from the floor often throughout the day.

In Nicoya, Costa Rica, a man named Ramiro Guadamuz was still riding horses and chopping wood every day at age 100.

It was also common in Nicoya for people to grind their own masa on a stone and then make the dough for tortillas using a hand crank. They used their muscles by doing mundane, daily tasks involving manual labor rather than getting on the treadmill.

Plus, the fact that Nicoya is among the poorest regions of Costa Rica also shows that people can live a long time even without great wealth.