Older and fitter

trailingspouse · 5 December 2018 at 3:09PM

littlegreenparrot - well, you learn something new every day!! I'd never heard of inflatable 5k's, but they sound ever such good fun. I did couch to 5k about 4 years ago - managed to damage my hip (which has never been good), so had to stop before I actually got to 5k. My problem was that the hip would be fine when I set off but would then start hurting - and then I would have to get home again. Also, I don't like to be beaten, so I was pushing through a bit more than I should have... The advantage of the treadmill is that if it should start to hurt (and it never has!!) I could stop immediately. Also we never run (or do anything) for more than 4 minutes at a time, so you don't have time to do yourself any damage before you're off and doing something else that uses a different muscle group.

Gloomendoom - go Mrs G!! I agree with what you said about trainers not understanding your wife's needs. It was quite a big day for me when the trainer told me to get the next size weights - no-one had ever told me before that I was capable of doing anything other than the little ones! It gave me the confidence to ask him to show me how to do a proper push-up (ie from the toes rather than the knees). When I was a gal, we weren't expected - nay, we were specifically told not - to do push ups. Not sure what they thought would happen to us if we did... I can remember the PE teacher saying 'Girls don't do push ups'! The trainer gave me a few tips and basically said that the best way to do it was to just try to do it and see how I got on. Needless to say, the first time I did it I couldn't lift myself off the floor at all - but now I can. I can only do about 5 - but that's 5 more than I used to be able to do!!

I've got another session tonight, and the weather is foul. If I was going to any other gym, I simply wouldn't bother on a day like today, but I know that once I get there I'll love it. And before that, I'm meeting a friend for a coffee - I have my eye on a Black Forest Latte. Is that very bad of me??

Gloomendoom · 5 December 2018 at 4:33PM

I think the worry was that exercising with heavy weights would make women bulk up in the most unfeminine way. The truth is that it just doesn't happen unless they take steroid supplements.

If you can't get to the gym but just want to get some exercise, you could try the 100 Push Up Challenge. There is also the 100 Pull Up Challenge. Mrs G has managed the push (press) ups but not the pull ups. They are very hard. Both are easier if you are relatively lean.

There are several phone apps that help keep tally and motivate.

dont_use_vistaprint · 5 December 2018 at 7:55PM

Well done.

As we get older its vital to keep fit , flexible and build / retain muscle. Your approach of moving up levels is exactly right, with strength training its called progressive resistance and its the key to progress. I

I was never into sport and suffered with weight and bad backs all throughout my 20s, 30s and most of 40s, then through multiple back injury's in recovery with a physio I started stretching, working my core, hiking , then 5k runs, half marathons, full marathons, trail and hill running, mountain biking , weight lifting - I'm now the fittest and strongest Iv'e even been in my entire life, but age is catching up!

In 2019 I will master balance and increase strength with hand stands, walking on hands and hand stand press-ups!

trailingspouse · 5 December 2018 at 11:37PM

Thanks Gloomendoom - I knew that really...

don't use vistaprint - oh my goodness, I feel tired just thinking about that!! I was only 24 the first time my back 'went', and it's something that has happened from time to time ever since. But there is definitely a correlation for me between doing some sort of exercise and my back not 'going'. I started at this gym in April, and I haven't had a bad back since then. This makes me very happy.

I was at the gym this evening - there were 14 of us (maximum at any one session is 24), 6 men and 8 women. Quite impressive granted the truly grim weather. That's the highest number of men I've seen at any one session.

I totally agree silverwhistle, it's all down to motivation. The trick is definitely to work out what motivates you and go with it. For me I guess it's all about holding back the years - but I also like to push myself. I like to feel that I've worked hard and achieved something.

fred246 · 6 December 2018 at 1:32AM

I like to follow the NHS exercise guidelines:

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/

I think a lot of people focus on the aerobic exercise but forget the strength exercises. |I think they make a big difference. I do LesMills bodypump but I am sure there will be plenty of similar classes.

EdSwippet · 6 December 2018 at 10:52AM

fred246 wrote: »

I think a lot of people focus on the aerobic exercise but forget the strength exercises. I think they make a big difference.

For me, the lightbulb moment was during an online course on exercise and fitness, which included a section on sarcopenia -- "Age-related muscle loss, called sarcopenia, is a natural part of aging. After age 30, you begin to lose as much as 3% to 5% per decade. Most men will lose about 30% of their muscle mass during their lifetimes". Terrifying.

fred246 wrote: »

I do LesMills bodypump ...

My strength training routine of choice. I expected to dislike it when I started -- more something to grit your teeth through than enjoy -- but now I look forward to it as a great all-in-one workout. (Okay, so some of its music tracks sound horrible to my middle-aged ears, but those I just treat as a metronome!)

Nebulous2 · 6 December 2018 at 7:56PM

EdSwippet wrote: »

For me, the lightbulb moment was during an online course on exercise and fitness, which included a section on sarcopenia -- "Age-related muscle loss, called sarcopenia, is a natural part of aging. After age 30, you begin to lose as much as 3% to 5% per decade. Most men will lose about 30% of their muscle mass during their lifetimes". Terrifying.

I don't think it has to be like that, or you can slow it down substantially. I think I could confidently say my father has never been in a gym in his life. He took early retirement at 60 and has a workshop full of tools, where he makes things.

He was over 70 when we went to a science museum with our children, where there was a thing which measured your grip. My father's one said you have 130% of the grip of an average 25 year old man.

On the other hand I'm a keen cyclist and don't often do much else. However, some of the best long distance cyclists I know see strength training as an essential part of their routine.

trailingspouse · 7 December 2018 at 10:57PM

You're absolutely right Nebulous2 - the decline isn't inevitable. But, I do think that, as you get older, you have to work harder to stop the decline starting.

One of the trainers mentioned a list of key indicators for fitness levels - I can't remember all of them, but it was things like strength, stamina, flexibility, balance. I'll ask him next time I see him. But I think it underlines the importance of covering all the bases. And also the speed at which you can walk is an accurate indicator of life expectancy - so the fitter you can keep yourself, the better all round.

I like to set myself mini challenges - at the moment, my short-term challenge is to get to a point where I'm not needing to take 'unscheduled' rests during a gym session. I'm certainly improving, but I'm not there yet. One of the guys who comes regularly to the gym lives a bit further up the road from me. He jogs down to the gym then jogs home again. I've given myself a somewhat bigger challenge as well - to be able to jog back up the road with him, as far as my house. At the moment I can get about half way (in my defence, it's up hill...).

It's interesting that EdSwippet refers to a 'lightbulb moment' - for me it was getting yet another bad back, to add to the ongoing hip pain, weak ankle, stiff neck and an increasing squidginess around the tummy. I decided something had to be done!! I haven't had a bad back since I started at the gym, hip no longer causes any trouble, ankles are fine and neck is tickety boo. And the tummy is no longer squidgy. What was you lightbulb moment?

Gloomendoom · 8 December 2018 at 12:32AM

We have a pull-up bar hanging from a ceiling beam that my wife uses to practise. Shortly after I put first put it up, my wife could manage about one pull up. Two on a good day. My dad walked in and asked what the thing hanging from the beam was. When I explained, he promptly went over to it and did three proper pull-ups. He was 87 at the time.

I was astounded.

fred246 · 8 December 2018 at 6:08AM

I think you have to look at the whole activity that a person does. I have had a builder say "I don't do any exercise. I spend all day climbing ladders with 12 bricks on my back but I never exercise." The Dutch cycle everywhere but never class it as exercise. Just normal life. Modern living has given people the opportunity to live without doing much at all. I wonder if we are becoming more extreme. If you want a pizza you go on just-eat and sit back while another guy pedals frantically through the streets to deliver it from a box on his bike. Shopping used to always mean walking and now you can just do it online and have it delivered. We went on holiday with another family recently and our hotel was a mile from town. I suggested we wander in for a drink. They wanted to drive but reluctantly agreed. After about 300 yards the mother was saying "This really is a hike. Their children were crying to be carried." When we got home we realized they never walk anywhere. They drive everywhere and never walk at all. There are people who do so little they are really shortening their lives. Not sure that the public realize it. Inactivity is as dangerous as smoking.

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