Fitness anyone?

[the reel ess]

I'm almost 53. The wife and I joined a gym about 2 months ago and I'm getting in my best shape maybe ever. The wife does Weight Watchers and I just eat what she cooks. I was able to get off my BP med and lower my statin dose. My goal is to eventually get off that one. The only downer is gym time is taking up my free fishing time. I'm curious what others are doing in their middle age to stay or get in better health.

[Captain Phil]

Keeping fit is a good thing.  At 53, you are still a relatively young man.  Going to a gym is not a good idea when you are getting up in years.  I have many 70 plus friends that have broken wrists, messed up their shoulders and otherwise made their life worse at a gym.  The best exercise for an older person is walking.  Stay off of treadmills, they are the worst. Don't go on a crash diet.  If you have been 20 pounds overweight your whole life, you are not going to be svelte now.  If you start losing weight for no reason, get to a doctor fast.

[the reel ess]

6 minutes ago, Captain Phil said:

Keeping fit is a good thing.  At 53, you are still a relatively young man.  Going to a gym is not a good idea when you are getting up in years.  I have many 70 plus friends that have broken wrists, messed up their shoulders and otherwise made their life worse at a gym.  The best exercise for an older person is walking.  Stay off of treadmills, they are the worst. Don't go on a crash diet.  If you have been 20 pounds overweight your whole life, you are not going to be svelte now.  If you start losing weight for no reason, get to a doctor fast.

I'm not without my aches. Shoulder issues are most common with the middle aged people I talk to at the gym. Hip and knee issues come later. Why do you say walking is good but treadmills aren't? Concrete hurts my feet, knees and hips more than the treadmill does. We're doing a boot camp style class 3X a week and I try to do weight lifting twice so I've mostly stopped walking for exercise. Walking is great. I've put many miles on my sneakers, but it does very little for strength anywhere except the legs. It does nothing for arms or core.

[Skunkmaster-k]

The main thing I have changed is cutting the sugar out of my diet. It’s incredible how much better I feel, especially my joints. 

[the reel ess]

13 minutes ago, Skunkmaster-k said:

The main thing I have changed is cutting the sugar out of my diet. It’s incredible how much better I feel, especially my joints. 

Likewise. I started drinking my coffee black while I was trying intermittent fasting (which works, BTW) and never changed. It's water the rest of the day. Cakes, deserts, baked goods, etc. are off the menu except on very rare occasions like high holidays or vacation. When I do have something like a desert in a restaurant it literally gives me a buzz. I limit bread to whole grain and one slice a day and try to get my carbs from fruits and veggies. Low carb is not a great idea if you have to work out. But there are good and bad carbs. Limiting empty calories is the goal.

[gim]

I have a gym membership.  I've had it for about 15 years now.  I try to go twice a week if I'm able to.  Sometimes I'm out of town for work for a week but I'm at a hotel with a fitness room and a pool, so I take advantage of that instead.

 

The gym I go to has a wide variety of activities to participate in.  I use the weight room, tennis courts, racquetball courts, saltwater pool, steam room, and hot tub.  I am not a big fan of using cardio machines like treadmills and ellipticals because I find them to be very boring.  I can get my cardio doing other things like playing ice hockey, racquetball, swimming, or just walking the dog.

 

The pandemic closed the gym I was at for a while.  Then when it re-opened, they required masks, which made it very difficult to breathe heavily when I was exercising.

 

I've generally been a pretty active person my whole adult life because I played a lot of team sports growing up.  My family has a history of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.  I would like to avoid those problems as long as I can, so regular activities and exercise are beneficial in the long run for this guy.

[Bird]

I'm still mtnbiking at 62 and use a Total- trainer DLX-||| frequently.

The best piece of home equipment I've ever purchased.

Also use a Life Fitness elliptical.

Keep it up ?

[TnRiver46]

I’ve been working weekends at a paddling rental place, a full

day over there will drop the lbs right off ya 

[the reel ess]

49 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I have a gym membership.  I've had it for about 15 years now.  I try to go twice a week if I'm able to.  Sometimes I'm out of town for work for a week but I'm at a hotel with a fitness room and a pool, so I take advantage of that instead.

 

The gym I go to has a wide variety of activities to participate in.  I use the weight room, tennis courts, racquetball courts, saltwater pool, steam room, and hot tub.  I am not a big fan of using cardio machines like treadmills and ellipticals because I find them to be very boring.  I can get my cardio doing other things like playing ice hockey, racquetball, swimming, or just walking the dog.

 

The pandemic closed the gym I was at for a while.  Then when it re-opened, they required masks, which made it very difficult to breathe heavily when I was exercising.

 

I've generally been a pretty active person my whole adult life because I played a lot of team sports growing up.  My family has a history of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.  I would like to avoid those problems as long as I can, so regular activities and exercise are beneficial in the long run for this guy.

Yeah, cardio machines feel like walking or biking to nowhere. I don't have a good enough imagination to just mentally check out until it's over.

[Captain Phil]

2 hours ago, the reel ess said:

Why do you say walking is good but treadmills aren't?

 One of the main struggles many older people have is balance.  Falls are a major problem.  If you fall off a treadmill, bad things happen.   Broken wrists are common.  The problem when you get older is you think you can do the things you did easily when you were younger. Your brain remembers, but your body is not the same.

[casts_by_fly]

Finding and consistent fitness routine is one of the best things you can do for your total body health.  Doing 'something' twice or three times a week that you can stick to will pay off in spades and you'll really notice the difference when you stop for a week or two and start to feel sluggish.

 

We started training in 2009 and kept it up at 3x per week until 2019.  This was a mix of training and most of it with a personal trainer. We did a lot of HIIT and a bit of weights.  We did some cardio early but it was mostly to drive high heart rate via a treadmill, bike, or rower.  No sense doing long slogs of cardio and paying a PT to watch you do it.  We ran a few runs up to half marathon length and I did a couple sprint triathalons.  We also put a lot of mobility work and support muscle group work into the mix.  No sense having the strongest quads if all of the muscle and connective tissue in your knees can't support it.

 

All of that is a long way of saying:

 

• find a routine that works for you and that you can do consistently.  If that means a 30 minute walk from your house around the block 3x a week or its 4x 90 minute HIIT sessions.
• vary the specific things you do if you can.  A 30 minute walk around the block is great. A 20 minute walk up and down the hill a block over once a week is good variety.  If you are lifting weights in the gym 3x a week, maybe take a half of one of those sessions and do stretching or yoga. Make sure you're doing enough to get your heart rate up a good bit.  
• Exercise is for everyone regardless of age or body shape.  If you haven't worked out before, I recommend some time with a personal trainer if that's an option for you.  Things like form corrections, exercise modifications for injury, and hitting the right intensity are the things you benefit from a trainer

 

That all said, even more important is your nutrition plan (not diet plan).  Body health is 70/30 nutrition/exercise.  You literally are what you eat.  Find your correct calorie needs and then work to eat a balanced diet of protien, carbs, and fats across a mix of foods, the less processed the better.  Track your intake!  You'd be surprised how much or how badly you eat if you track it all.  Apps like Myfitnesspal are great.  The free version lets you scan barcodes of things you've eaten, has TONS of foods prepopulated in the database, and tells you how many calories you're getting from each of the 3 main macronutrient groups.  Each person is a little different depending on your goals and needs, but if you ate a 30/30/40 balance of fat/protein/carbs every day you'd be in a pretty good place.  The main thing is to find something that works for you and that you can stick with.  Its easy to do something for a month.  Another month is fine.  Keeping that routine up gets hard so find something that works for you.

[the reel ess]

52 minutes ago, Captain Phil said:

 One of the main struggles many older people have is balance.  Falls are a major problem.  If you fall off a treadmill, bad things happen.   Broken wrists are common.  The problem when you get older is you think you can do the things you did easily when you were younger. Your brain remembers, but your body is not the same.

My balance has a head start on being bad

[A-Jay]

So Fitness . . . . Yup.

Besides fishing, nutrition & exercise has been the other constant through my entire adult life.

Started seriously in 1979 at 20 years old and 44 years later I'm still at it.

It was part of my job description in the service for almost 30 years.

Soon after enlisting, I figured out being the best version of me might help keep me alive.

So I stayed with it.  About half way through my career, I was selected to go

to Army Master Fitness Training, which at the time was a big deal. 

Course completion really opened my eyes to the world of fitness and even allowed me to test for and receive a ACE Personal Trainer Certification, which I did.  Very helpful even today.

I retired from the service at 47 years old and after a couple of years of a semi-sporadic gym membership, I'd had enough missing workouts. 

So at 50 years old I added a small home gym in our basement.  

Filled it with some very basic equipment & weights and I was good to go.

Been 14 years (renovated it once) and it's easily The Best Investment I ever made in myself.

Of course, it still takes a special type of commitment & devotion (or crazy) to get down into the home gym every other day, week after week, month after month, year after year.

 

I need to add that this would be virtually impossible without a solid life long nutritional plan to support it.  Along with challenging resistance training, it Really is the secret sauce to staying lean, fit & balanced. 

I have a thread here I started almost 6 years ago that I add to routinely.

Sharing my workouts helps keep me motivated. 

This ones from this morning.

https://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/198637-working-to-stay-lean-~/?do=findComment&comment=2983983

A-Jay

 

 

 

[VolFan]

^^^ This is the way. Consistency and nutrition. You have to make it a habit and consistent part of your life. Weight is about calories in/out. Strength is about challenging your muscles and giving them the nutrition they need. Unlike some gurus would lead you to believe, it’s not rocket science. The important part is doing it.

[gim]

3 hours ago, VolFan said:

Unlike some gurus would lead you to believe

 

[VolFan]

Canseco was a ridiculous hitter, but definitely NOT a rocket scientist.

[FryDog62]

I have a home gym, but when I travel I either take my folding bike and/or Bodylastics. All you need is a door to keep the muscles toned?

https://bodylastics.com/start/

 

The key every day is to M-O-V-E

[the reel ess]

10 hours ago, FryDog62 said:

I have a home gym, but when I travel I either take my folding bike and/or Bodylastics. All you need is a door to keep the muscles toned?

https://bodylastics.com/start/

 

The key every day is to M-O-V-E

My family thought I had lost my mind last week when I went to the hotel gym while on vacation. This room had it all. I told them they could get me all that stuff next birthday. LOL.

[Functional]

For numerous health issues I was born with a few months ago I decided to make some changes. Started following a mostly Mediterranean diet and will sprinkle in a favorite meal (regardless of diet) maybe once every other week. Only have a glass of wiskey once a week at most (more like once every 2 weeks now) and have tea with real honey every night. 

 

Also started in the gym 4 days a week, nothing nuts but treadmill for 30 minutes at a really fast walk and just keep increasing my incline week after week to keep my heart rate in the 130-150 range. With heart issues I was told no exercise that you bear down with. So light weights and high reps was all they really "allowed" me to do. Havent started with weights yet, trying to become a cardio machine first.

 

Between both I'm overall in much better condition and have tons of energy. I also savor the meals I used to take for granted when I do let myself have them. I think a key (or at least mine) to having a diet is sticking to it but dont completely deny yourself of stuff you loved and enjoy or it becomes infinitely more unpleasant. 

[the reel ess]

1 hour ago, Functional said:

For numerous health issues I was born with a few months ago I decided to make some changes. Started following a mostly Mediterranean diet and will sprinkle in a favorite meal (regardless of diet) maybe once every other week. Only have a glass of wiskey once a week at most (more like once every 2 weeks now) and have tea with real honey every night. 

 

Also started in the gym 4 days a week, nothing nuts but treadmill for 30 minutes at a really fast walk and just keep increasing my incline week after week to keep my heart rate in the 130-150 range. With heart issues I was told no exercise that you bear down with. So light weights and high reps was all they really "allowed" me to do. Havent started with weights yet, trying to become a cardio machine first.

 

Between both I'm overall in much better condition and have tons of energy. I also savor the meals I used to take for granted when I do let myself have them. I think a key (or at least mine) to having a diet is sticking to it but dont completely deny yourself of stuff you loved and enjoy or it becomes infinitely more unpleasant. 

Yeah, I'm at the point where a piece of white toast tastes decadent. LOL. We (the wife and I) have a cheat meal once a week or every two weeks if she has not lots enough weight. She weighs in at WW every Friday morning. When the weigh in is good we're rewarded with a cheat. I'm OK with not eating out much. It's getting ridiculously expensive to eat unhealthy.

[steve carpenter]

Not in your situation. Retired and 76yoa. Work out 4 0r 5 times a week. Always have been active. It is a lifestyle decision. I believe it has led to a better quality of life in all respects. Has helped avoid injuries and helped me recover from surgeries I had to have. Also helps in edurance while fishing. Good  for you. Best wishes