Before the sore knee I was walking two miles a day with the dog five days a week. Put miles on the bicycle and some time in on the Total Gym. But that seems to take back seat to the dock work, new door framing, and tree removal at the Canoe Club. Hurricane Irma also gave me some trees to remove at the club, home and the sidewalk on the 2 mile walk route. Lifting weights…mine is orange/red and built by Husqvarna. Cardio is good for those times when long stretches of constant paddling against wind and wave are necessary.
Doc said today he wanted knees like mine when he’s 67. Apparently he doesn’t mind pain or he sees a lot of damaged stuff. The shot and pills did make it feel better. You got to keep moving. Elsewise things “rust” up.
Years ago I had a routine of fairly light-duty weight lifting, with machines, not free weights. I gave that up due to too having too many summers where I’d routinely work 60 to 80 hours per week for extended periods of time, and never got back into the weights. Now, the cartilage in my elbows is nearly gone and my left elbow in particular doesn’t deal well with severe strain, so I will never lift weights again (I’m not blaming the weight lifting. It could either or both of two other things, including rowing). I’ve been doing a little lap swimming recently, and I’m back into a fairly rigorous stretching program. I did a little biking this summer for the first time in ages, and I must say it was awesome. I need to do that more.
All the talk here about wearing-out joints makes me think of knees - the one thing that most people eventually destroy. My knees have some wear and tear but they still work really well, and I’m sure that the reason is that I never gained a bunch of weight. Once I saw the benefit of not piling on the pounds I made sure that it never happened later, though genetics has been on my side too. Think about it. Most people who are 50 or 60 years old are carrying around nearly twice as much extra weight as they ever would have considered putting into a backpack when they were young - likely for fear of hurting their knees - but now their knees are stressed by that load during every step they take. Food for thought.
@Guideboatguy Absolutely agree with carrying extra weight. At the young age of 45 I had a lot packed on me, all during 6 prior years of caring for two young kids (or rather lightening my wife’s load). I was beginning to scare me when my 36" waist pants have gotten more and more tight. The worst part is that a lot of that was not relatively harmless underskin fat but fat surrounding internal organs. I could tell how the belly flap was seemingly smaller than the waist size increase. My doctor later confirmed.
The thing is, while it’s probably the scariest gain I ever had,it has happened before and at various times cardio and being active made little difference. I feel that with my body, just energy in/out is not enough. I need to involve more dramatic metabolic processes that take place during constant muscle recovery. Combined with food timing, it proved quite effective and 2 years later I am back to my old self now and a stronger and more consistent lifter than before. Wouldn’t have gotten here with “staying active and eating healthy” alone.
Today the doctor said, One option is the shot or loose weight. I got the shot. The other seems to be more difficult. I can trace weight gain to promotions, desk jobs, time behind the computer, and family sickness. Those are the times when calorie reduction and activity increase should have been applied.
My daughter the DPT says that it is necessary to maintain muscle strength at the joints to prevent further damage. She would recommend the stretching, the swimming, bicycle riding, walking, and low weight exercises to keep strength in the muscles. She would recommend seeking the advise from a physical therapist on specific exercises for specific areas that need improvement. She has routinely shown these to her dad who routinely goes off and does something else…like all of her other patients. I often am reminded that she is talking about “toning” strength and not Mr. Universe.
@Overstreet said:
…desk jobs, time behind the computer, and family sickness…
Yep, had all that too.
My daughter the DPT says that it is necessary to maintain muscle strength at the joints to prevent further damage. She would recommend the stretching, the swimming, bicycle riding, walking, and low weight exercises to keep strength in the muscles. She would recommend seeking the advise from a physical therapist on specific exercises for specific areas that need improvement. She has routinely shown these to her dad who routinely goes off and does something else…like all of her other patients. I often am reminded that she is talking about “toning” strength and not Mr. Universe.
Completely agree on maintaining strength and working with a physio person.
“not Mr. Universe” if that means holding oneself back then I do not entirely agree. “Mr Universe” usually means chemically assisted and very gifted genetically body. With regular folk, genetic limitations will make sure we don’t grow huge. No need to worry about that part. It just has to be done intelligently to avoid injury, but pushing oneself as our resilience increases is not a bad thing.
To that point, in the last couple of years I learned not to fear overtraining. In fact, I welcome it because it’s like a wave you can ride into the right direction. Once the over-training symptoms occur (and it hasn’t happend for a good while now), I just take a week off and come out stronger at the end of it. It can act as a nice boost.
Years ago I interviewed a well-known bodybuilder and he looked at me and said “you never want to get like this”. His life and health were terrible. I never forgot that. I have a brother who became a Hulk like man and he weighs 100 lbs more than me and we’re the same height. Not good for the ticker. Stay slim, muscular and fast. You’ll feel better and paddle longer.
Exercise!!! That’s not Merican!
My progression was running, long distance walking/ hiking, paddling. For the last several months, not much of anything.
Both legs don’t work properly any more and I haven’t found good replacements for walking, mainly because I haven’t looked very hard.
No lectures needed.
@DrowningDave said:
Years ago I interviewed a well-known bodybuilder and he looked at me and said “you never want to get like this”. His life and health were terrible. I never forgot that. I have a brother who became a Hulk like man and he weighs 100 lbs more than me and we’re the same height. Not good for the ticker. Stay slim, muscular and fast. You’ll feel better and paddle longer.
Dave, 100 lb over is steroids and/or hormone injections. Steroids affect heart as well mess up lipid profile. This is an addiction and is indeed unhealthy. A different issue altogether.
When we talk about a rigorous training program applied to an average body naturally, it’s very different. You will grow some mass, lose fat and become way more resilient. In this scenario weights are seen as good for heart actually.
My brothers 100 lbs is not from steroids but from heavy lifting. It’s all muscle but in his early 50s things are changing. His joints are going bad and his health is quickly deteriorating. He’s having problems walking even after the knee surgeries. All I’m saying is that getting big isn’t wise. If you want to live a long active life you should exercise and eat where you stay trim and not gain big muscles. I’m almost solid muscle just 160 pounds of it instead or 260.
@DrowningDave said:
My brothers 100 lbs is not from steroids but from heavy lifting. It’s all muscle but in his early 50s things are changing. His joints are going bad and his health is quickly deteriorating. He’s having problems walking even after the knee surgeries. All I’m saying is that getting big isn’t wise. If you want to live a long active life you should exercise and eat where you stay trim and not gain big muscles. I’m almost solid muscle just 160 pounds of it instead or 260.
And what I am saying is that 100 lbs is not something that happens naturally unless assisted chemically or due to exceptional genetics. It’s next to impossible for an average person to gain that much muscle, that’s why I say it’s a non-issue. I known many who tried and no-one who succeeded without gaining most of that weight as fat. Perhaps your brother is one.
EDIT just so we are clear, I am 160 lb 5’6". That’s hardly huge and I just don’t see getting a whole log bigger all of a sudden. Not my first rodeo. It just ain’t happening
Also age related processes rob you of muscle tissue more than you can gain. Look at those thin legs on older guys.
I run. I neither go far nor fast but I run 2 or 3 times a week for about 3 miles each, sometimes on my treadmill sometimes on the road. My goal is usually to run for 30 minutes with my HR at 85% of max for my age. I also do some weights and stretches, and at 67 I think I’m in decent shape even if losing 10-15lbs wouldn’t hurt.
Also age related processes rob you of muscle tissue more than you can gain. Look at those thin legs on older guys.
Not always the case. Here’s a link to a good article on mitochondria, Check out the MRI image of the 70-year old triathlete near the end of the article. It looks as good as the 40-year old’s.
My uncle is 95 and runs and bikes every day. He is in better shape then most 20 year olds. Sure he’s going to die soon but he kept active and healthy his entire life. I don’t hold a lot to the genetics rhetoric although some is true. I just happen to come from a family where almost everyone is a health fanatic. For that I’m grateful.
This is something I’ve really been trying to work on, having been at home with our 4 year old son, and being locked in the suburbs has been challenging. Was also dealing with a very sick mother-in-law all spring and summer, who unfortunately passed late August.
I used to stay fairly fit by paddling a lot but since the boy arrived, time available to paddle is limited to a few hours a day, and only a day or two a week. And I’m not getting out as much, if at all, in the colder months as I did before. This has always been a challenging time of year, just starting to “finish” getting strong again from paddling, only to have to dial things way back because of the weather.
Have tried crossfit, cardio kickboxing, swimming, yoga, and just plain old going to the gym. I can’t seem to find anything that I enjoy enough to stick with, or else I end up injuring myself and just don’t go back. I’ve never really worked out in a gym, did more over distance training in high school, but have got too heavy for running. Also have a weak knee from an injury playing football in high school, so that seems to limit me as well. My goal is to find something that will help me build strength, flexibility, and stamina, so that when I do get out paddling I can enjoy it and recuperate more quickly. I might try a non-combative martial art, did kung-fu in my early twenties and really enjoyed that, just a matter of scheduling. Or a combination of a rock gym and yoga. Just need to kick the latest chest infection I’ve been dealing with. Because have also been struggling with all the viruses the kid drags home, seems we’re sick every month in the colder months. Looking forward to a few years from now when I can start dragging the kid outside more often.
Welcome to adulthood Johnny. Life becomes a balancing act once we have kids. Looks like you’re doing the right thing - find something you’ll do willingly and then do it. I dont particularly love going to the gym but I love it compared to going to the doctors. Give it time and life will normalize. It always does.
Kids and the viruses they bring to grandparents are as bad . Every time my son visits one of his 2 boys is sick.
They are well in two days, we’re not.
The oldest is I kindergarten, so we get exposed to a bunch of upper respiratory bugs.
Thanks for bringing up this topic. It was a reminder to me that as fall and winter was setting in I was becoming way too sedentary. This weekend has been amazing for early winter outdoor activities. I spend Saturday doing some long distance fast trail hiking and today (Sunday) doing a somewhat shorter paddle. But really, a short paddle this time of year is enough to satisfy the craving and stave off cabin fever.
Unfortunately it looks like we might be getting out first real taste of winter later this week.
In the warmer months, I add some bicycling in with the paddling. In winter I have a mix of skate skiing and Alpine skiing, the Alpine being much less demanding than skate skiing. In the shoulder seasons, I mostly walk. I do stretching exercises regularly - very important for an older gent (turning 77 in a couple of weeks).
The paddling takes about 60 days per year, skate skiing about 30, and alpine skiing about 30. We have a large lake (about 110 miles around} with several islands and two interesting deltas. Our ski area fills 2900 acres of alpine, then plus about 30 km of Nordic track. I also get to the ocean off Vancouver Island for a couple of paddling trips per year.
at just 56 years old, I seem to be paying for my wide open approach to outdoor pursuits for much of my life. Currently recovering from left hip replacement from 4 weeks ago. Unfortunately, my right hip and left knee ain’t so great either and will probably require surgery as well . A goal this year is 375 miles of paddling, 375 miles walking, 750 miles on stationary bike. I find the walking miles by far the hardest for me, the paddling miles are far easier. I’m fortunate to have some great friends who have assisted me at times with getting in and out of boats, carrying boats and loading. I don’t worry about the scratches on my car or on a boat when I load a boat or drag my poly craft.
I try to repay the favor by spending time with beginners. I’ve dropped my own boating down a few notches since the roll has remained elusive with a lack of flexibility- have been struggling to even get in a set up position. Current goals also include boating in all 50 states. I’ve done about half. I figure to be back in boat in two or three weeks- flatwater in a canoe perhaps. It has been several years since I’ve tried crosscountry or teleskiing. Who knows, maybe with enough work by the docs I can get back to some of that. My goal today is to walk a mile, pedal a few miles on the stationary bike, and do some PT. Back to work after christmas.
