Many have the false idea that around age 40 or 50 the body starts to deteriorate -- starts its inevitable, gradual decline into frailty, feebleness, and worse. This is one of the biggest lies ever perpetrated on mankind. In truth, one's chronological age has little to do with one's energy level -- the state of one's body (and mind).   There are many who are showing us the folly of this erroneous belief that "it is natural to deteriorate as we age." One such individual is Sue Ellen Trapp. This mother of one, loving wife, and practicing dentist, from Florida, enjoys long runs -- very long runs! She holds the world record for miles covered in 48 hours of running (and some walking) -- 234 miles. Did she set this enduring record while in her 20s, 30s or 40s? No, this awesome feat was accomplished when she was 51 years old. Recently, at age 55, she won her record-breaking seventh National Title in the ultra-endurance, 24-hour race with a run of 126 miles; and set a new world standard for women 55 and older with 206 miles in the Surgeres, France 48-Hour Challenge -- surpassing the previous record by over 10 miles. Her limits-smashing accomplishments at 55 are all the more remarkable because just 15 months prior, she had the anterior-cruciate ligament of a cadaver inserted in her knee after a tumble over her St. Bernard had destroyed hers. Now, try telling her 20, 30, and 40-year-old competitors that she is slowing down with age.   A landmark study at the Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine at the Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas points to the real culprit in the "aging" phenomena. Five men in their early twenties had their aerobic fitness measured. Next, their fitness levels were checked after three weeks of bed rest. Finally, they were put on an eight-week exercise regime and their fitness was measured once again. Thirty years later these same five individuals were studied again. Now in their early fifties, their average weight was up 25%, their percentage of body fat had doubled, and their aerobic capacity was down 11%. They were put back on the same exercise program they had followed 30 years earlier: an hour of jogging, cycling, or walking four or five times per week. Having gradually worked up to this 41/2-hour-per-week workout schedule, 24 weeks later they had regained the aerobic fitness levels they had attained in their earlier, young-adult years. Most importantly, the researchers concluded that the 3 weeks of bed rest was more detrimental to their fitness than was the 30 years of aging. In other words, it is the sedentary lifestyle, not the passage of years, that causes the bulk of our decline!