I can only speak from experience but I have found with maturity I’m considerably more intune with my body, especially as you mentioned when it comes to recovery times. Conversely I seem to be making more progress more quickly than I did when I was younger. Also I’m increasingly shortening the recovery time between sets which does take self discipline but well worth it! I’m also using more weight more effectively in some respects, especially when it comes to hitting my legs!
No definitive answers from me I’m afraid but as ever the key thing is enjoying it!
Oh…and getting the proper nutrition at the right time.
A caeisin protein drink at bedtime for a slow release fix for example
I swim for 45 minutes every day but after reading this thread I don’t think I’m doing enough. I have a multi gym and free weights in the garden but haven’t used them over the winter. Thanks everyone for the inspiration, I’ll get back out there next week when I get back from my holiday.
I like what you’re doing Chilliboot. We never, ever lose the capacity to get stronger and in better shape - at any age. Maybe we make progress more quickly now because we’re smarter about the whole process. I cringe at some of the stupid mistakes I made in the gym when I was younger.
Hi Mad-Ralph! Swimming 45 minutes a day is a heck of workout! I’ve finally come to accept that cycling on and off certain workout programs is just the natural course of life. I’ve finally stopped beating myself up over falling off any certain program. Enjoy getting back to the free weights and multi gym. They pay big dividends!
Regarding beginning to exercise when over50 or indeed over 40. My strong advice will always be, start slowly and gently and build up slowly and gently. Never go out of your front door and start running fast. Start slowly and aim to get warm and not hot. In fact maybe even have a word with your Doctor first and then follow his advice
EZ-Rider.
The saying in the US medical community for what you’re talking about is: “Start low, and go slow.” (Everybody loves rhymes)
Quick story,
I have 4 children. All through their lives my boys wrestled and my daughter has done Jiu Jitsu. They’re in good shape. So last year my oldest studied abroad for a semester and did not work out at all. He was too busy sight seeing and learning the new culture. He told me that when he got back to the US, he went back to the gym to start back up with a “moderate” work out. He said for the next 3 days he could barely move, and he’s 22!
Start low and go slow should be for everybody, but double for us!!!
How many days a week do you exercise versus having days off?
I weight train 3 days a week mostly. I can get away with 4 days in a week, but if I do that too many weeks in a row, I start to break down.
Two of my off days are no more than 20 minutes of jump rope, punching bag, or interval sprints. The other two days are just rest.
My eldest son (of three) was a London Firefighter for 32 years so had kept himself super fit. On his retirement he was diagnosed with Cancer and after a major operation lasting nine hours and the removal of one kidney and a large part of his bowel he now has to wear a Stoma bag. The moral is, no matter how fit you keep yourself or you think you are, life has a habit of taking you down one way or another.
I use my local swimming pool quite a lot and it has a Gymnasium up stairs with lots of equipment overlooking a main road. When I look in there the only people using the equipment are those using the ironmongery in the window so they can watch and be watched by passers by. Posers!
It is often said pumping iron is men’s equivalent of anorexia in women. It is true for many men and women body image is too important.
Fitness does seem to be a modern western society activity.
Aside from a tiny number who might get a running scholarship to a US University most people in poor contries spend their days scratching a livng from the soil or the water and very few if any are overweight.
So fitness is essentially a rich people’s privilege.
We are contantly reminded of how unhealthy we are and assailed by stories of older out of shape men who turned into super athletes by embarking on a punishing regime of cardio, lifting weights, diet changes and are now dating women half their age.
We do not hear the stories of the 50% who stop their training in the first 6 months and found the whole business intimidating and boring.
For me just getting to the gym 3 times a week for 75 mins or so doing light cardio and light weights is for me at 68 years plenty.
Its just a time out session seeing new and familiar faces with a range of age groups and different fitness levels and some amped up music.
And its only $4 a session, less than a cup of coffee.
So my advice is enjoy your programme but remind your self occasionally to not take your training too seriously because probably no one else is noticing.
Ha! you all think that’s good. I get up early in the morning and run 5 miles with the dog on my back. Return home for breakfast of porridge and vitamin pills, then ride 10 miles on the bike with a concrete saddle. Then off to the gym to break a few bits of equipment that aren’t built strongly enough for me. A quick shower and home for lunch and a few more vitamin pills. After that comes the 7 mile speed walk wearing a backpack full of stones. At 79 I think I have slowed a bit. I’ve stopped a previous exercise of lifting the car up and down by the towbar. Still not bad though.
Apart from the dedicated lifters who have been interested in body building from birth, we seem to have gyms springing up everywhere, and the car park at my local one is usually packed to the gunnels when I drive past. I have always thought that because jobs are so sedentary these days and manual labour is a thing of the past gyms tend to replace the fitness one would have acquired doing a physically demanding job.
That might be true. I’m not a big person but I think lugging those big old colour TVs (especially the console models) about for years gave me a core strength that seems to have lasted into old age. Get my troubles these days but still have a good energy level.
Waimiha, I have been in the medical industry for 30 years, and it is not often said. Actually, it’s never said, because it’s ridiculous.
Anorexia is medically accepted diagnosis of distorted body image causing people to hate their bodies, think they’re fat, and severely restrict calorie intake.
All of the medical science in the world says anorexia is very bad for your health, and can even cause death.
There are many ways in which the medical community is trying to treat, and stop anorexia.
“Pumping Iron” is NOT a medical diagnosis - anywhere. People who lift weights are interested in getting stronger and looking better, because they LOVE their bodies, not hate them. These people are generally into being healthier, and improving the quality of their food intake.
All of the medical science in the world shows resistance training has a myriad of benefits to people’s mental, emotional, physical, and medical well being - these studies have been reproduced and are everywhere.
The entire medical community is PROMOTING resistance training “Pumping Iron” due to these benefits.
Anorexia and pumping iron are worlds apart, and no one is saying they’re equivalent.
Something we agree on NoSup4U, and you could rank running alongside people who lift weights. I have spent a lifetime (it seems like it) trying to go further and faster. I have studied diets, the things I needed and things I didn’t, and I’m still plodding on at 73 and although going further still stands, there’s not so much of the ‘Faster’ now. Being healthy and proud of the way I look has always gone hand in hand with the work I put in on the roads and I agree when you say that anyone who lifts weights or whatever they choose to do will love their bodies. I certainly do…
I had to take five days off from weight training, that annoying thing called a work schedule and other matters too.
I seriously became demotivated, worrying that I’d let myself down and that I’d fade away and diminish.
Well, not so, back into training ( three consecutive days) and the break has done me the world of good… actually feel stronger.
I cycled to my brother’s (R.I.P.) house, tidied it up and made the wooden front door open properly by chiselling a bit of wood away from the frame. Cycled back home again. That’s enough exercise for me. OK, it’s an e-bike these days but I did my time on the mountain bike trails.
I find it hard to exercise to just stay fit. It’s better if I’ve got something to do for a purpose that exerts me. There’s usually something or another.
