Physical Strength and Flexibility In 2026

Paul von Zielbauer
Fri, 16 Jan 2026 16:51:36 -0800
Lifestyle

Last year, I wrote a column about "Physical Strength and Flexibility" for 2025. My thesis was that our bodies are meant to move and that, for healthy aging, some form of strength training — which need not be intense or include more than your own bodyweight — is non-negotiable.

My goal, I wrote, was to "get both stronger and faster and leaner and more flexible." (Oh, is that all?) I also said I wasn't after bigger muscles but greater neuromuscular efficiency. Looking back, my 2025 goals bring to mind a childhood admonishment from my grandpa, when I failed to eat what I'd put on my dinner plate: "Your eyes were bigger than your stomach."

In 2026, I'm organizing around a simple mantra:
Updated: Fri Jan 16, 2026

Last year, I wrote a column about "Physical Strength and Flexibility" for 2025. My thesis was that our bodies are meant to move and that, for healthy aging, some form of strength training — which need not be intense or include more than your own bodyweight — is non-negotiable.

My goal, I wrote, was to "get both stronger and faster and leaner and more flexible." (Oh, is that all?) I also said I wasn't after bigger muscles but greater neuromuscular efficiency. Looking back, my 2025 goals bring to mind a childhood admonishment from my grandpa, when I failed to eat what I'd put on my dinner plate: "Your eyes were bigger than your stomach."

In 2026, I'm organizing around a simple mantra:

Move your body. Every day. With purpose.

The simplicity of this 11-syllable mantra is intentional.

A year ago, I wrote about jumping rope, bar squats and box jumps as means to achieve my personal physical strength and flexibility goals. The jumping rope habit stuck, thankfully, but bar squats — one of my oldest and most reliable weighted exercises — no longer work for me. I realized after one too many "uh-oh" setbacks.

On the other hand, moving with purpose for just 20 minutes a day is a goal that each of us can interpret and tailor to our 2026 physical strength and flexibility goals.

What I Mean By With Purpose

Moving with purpose simply means intentionally putting your body into motion and your muscles into positions of healthy stress. For some people, gardening or a brisk walk is sufficient for their goals and bodies. For others, moving with purpose means resistance training, practicing yoga or Pilates, a short swim or bodyweight movements in the living room after lunch.

In other words, purpose means doing more than only the minimum movement required to continue your existence and fulfill your daily obligations and needs. It means doing more than moving your body from bed to bathroom to kitchen to car to desk to car to kitchen to couch to fridge to couch to bathroom to bed each day.

Another way to think about moving with purpose is that it's a want, not a need. And that suggests how much of physical strength and flexibility is really about desire. If you can figure out why you want to work your body for those 20 minutes a day, you're much more likely to end up doing it.

Why 20 Minutes?

For physical strength and fitness, small wins lead to bigger wins. We can't all realistically get to the gym, pedal 10 miles or grind out a run three times a week. But we can all burn more calories by being active in our own homes, 30 seconds or 2 minutes or 5 minutes at a time.

My argument is that while 10 minutes a day is not enough to do much, and that 30 minutes can feel unrealistic to many people, 20 minutes a day of purposeful physical movement is enough to build gains in functional strength, flexibility, balance, proprioception and neuromuscular fitness that you can feel and that gives your body and brain invaluable, habit-forming rewards for long-term strength into old age.

If you're like me and want to be able to walk briskly when you're 80, think about moving your body with purpose now, for 20 minutes a day.

An eminently achievable goal for 2026

Twenty minutes represents roughly 2% of a 16-hour waking day. Can you carve out 2% of each day to build physical strength and flexibility in 2026? I think you can.

In a subsequent column, I'll stake out specific movements and exercises for building muscle (lean or large), cardiovascular endurance (VO2 max), greater balance and core strength (highly correlated to greater longevity) for 2026. All of which are the result of some hard lessons I've learned after 45 years of physical training ... and some unexpected breakthroughs from last year.

Until then, keep going.