Two of the most common New Year’s resolutions are to diet and exercise. However, your doctor will tell you that you should not try exercises that your body cannot handle, especially if you are over 40 (like me). Here are 13 exercises you should avoid, whatever your age.

1. Jumping on the bandwagon
2. Running around in circles
3. Pushing your luck
4. Spinning your wheels
5. Adding fuel to the fire
6. Beating your head against the wall
7. Climbing the walls
8. Beating your own drum
9. Dragging your heels
10. Jumping to conclusions
11. Grasping at straws
12. Throwing your weight around
13. Passing the buck

The Bible gives us a better exercise program in 1 Timothy 4:8 (NKJV): “For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.”

Here are three good and godly exercises we could all use in the New Year: a steady diet of Bible reading, a breath of the fresh air of prayer and a stretching of our abilities to reach out and help others.

Read this column each Thursday for a mix of religion and humor. You can read more “Holy Humor” on the Web page of First Baptist Church of Rincon.