[HN Gopher] I was sick, tired and had lost myself until I began ...
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I was sick, tired and had lost myself until I began lifting weights
at 71
Author : Tomte
Score : 224 points
Date : 2021-07-25 16:23 UTC (6 hours ago)
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(TXT) w3m dump (www.theguardian.com)
| armchairhacker wrote:
| I don't feel myself without cardio. I have many passions - food,
| programming, nature - but I just don't enjoy anything if I
| haven't run long enough.
|
| I honestly get very anxious about if I ever get injured.
| Fortunately there are many ways to exercise - I've gotten
| injuries before, and I switched from running to biking to
| swimming and yoga. I feel like even if I can at least walk for
| hours _maybe_ I can get a similar feeling. But otherwise, I don
| 't see any alternatives.
| mbreese wrote:
| I took up running a few years back and it was one of the best
| things I could have done for myself. I did it for just the
| cardio exercise, but it has done wonders for both my mental and
| physical health. My immune system improved. I used to be prone
| to catching colds, but now that is much more rare. I also don't
| get tired as easily. I'm in much better shape, and the exercise
| forced me to eat better (not consciously, but I eat much
| healthier because that's what my body prefers).
|
| But really, I think the biggest benefit is the mental side. If
| you can stay in your own head for 30-60 minutes at a time, it's
| a great way to work out problems. I solve most of my problems
| at work while I'm running. Coding is always easier when you
| have had time to think through the entire plan.
|
| I definitely see a difference pre/post run. My days seem better
| when I start them with a run (as opposed to running later in
| the day or at night).
|
| My rules are simple (got them from a friend): 1) run at least
| one mile a day - every day.
|
| A theme from many of the comments here has been that a small
| amount of work consistently done is a better approach. I
| completely agree. So far, I've been at this for almost 1000
| days. I've also gone from 3 miles to marathons, which is
| another beast entirely.
|
| Streaks are a deceptive motivator with a surprising amount of
| inertia. For me, it's the fear of breaking a streak that is the
| motivator. But, when you don't have the ability to push your
| workout off to the next day, it's somehow easier to do. And if
| you're already running 1 mile, adding another one is also
| easier. And then pretty soon, you've moved from 1-2 miles/day
| to 3-4 miles/day. The key thing is to just start.
|
| Like you, I'm really anxious about what happens if I get
| injured, but afterwards, I'll probably just start over at day
| one.
| retrac wrote:
| Underneath a great deal of unpleasant associations, I did find a
| little inherent spark of joy in motion. Many parts of my mind
| that sometimes bother me don't have to be at work for me to be in
| motion. It's automatic and quite fun to just think about as you
| move.
|
| When did you last put your mental attention pointedly, on the
| various joints and muscles of your leg and foot, as you walked?
| Tried to feel the minute variations in proprioception most of us
| can there. How the slightest shift would cause you to fall. But
| you catch yourself. How far can you lean and still catch yourself
| without moving your left leg? Or either leg and just your hip
| muscles?
|
| I used to do that as a child. I think most of us do? Figuring out
| my relationship to the three dimensions. And gravity. While you
| should probably take care not to break your ankle maybe we should
| try to keep that alive long into adulthood?
|
| From a less spiritual (I guess) angle:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurobiological_effects_of_phy... I
| think it's a "learned taste" for some. (If you're now going to go
| look for the runner's high because you're not sure you ever
| experienced it, please, see a GP first? Of any age, really. I'm
| not a medical prof. in any way. But that does seem to be often
| recommended if you're thinking to switch from light to heavy
| aerobic exercise.)
| JumpCrisscross wrote:
| > _Many parts of my mind that sometimes bother me don 't have
| to be at work for me to be in motion_
|
| Another nugget: your body isn't fly by wire. Powering more
| muscle fibres requires more action potential. It's literally
| more taxing on your CNS, and something your brain must divert
| resources to power.
| machinehermiter wrote:
| I have lifted for 35+ years now. The only thing I don't like is
| how popular powerlifting has become.
|
| Everyone I know that has been into powerlifting for a long time
| including myself is paying the price with disc herniation, bad
| knees, etc.
|
| We really need gyms to get belt squat machines or pit sharks so
| people stop balancing barbells on their spine with huge weights
| and move up and down. Kind of obvious what is going to happen
| over time.
|
| Lifting heavier weights than you have previously is super
| addictive.
|
| I don't think it really helps my mood nearly as much as hard
| conditioning or even long walks but I don't really know what it
| is like to not lift at this point.
| lottin wrote:
| Loading your back with progressively heavier weights will make
| your back stronger and your spine more resilient to injury.
| ardit33 wrote:
| unless you start overloading it too fast, and lift too close
| to failure and with bad technique...
|
| I love deadlifts, but It is very easy to mess up your back
| with them. On the other hand, whenever I didn't deadlift,
| eventually started getting random back pains (from sitting
| too long), and wrists pains (from typing) as those muscles
| were getting weaker.
|
| TLDR: Deadlifting, powerlifting and such are great for your
| back and posture, as long as you don't push yourself to your
| limits (keep it within 80-85% of your max) and watch your
| technique.
|
| Most people want to push their personal envelope, and that's
| where they get injured.
| atomicity wrote:
| I think the larger problem is that everybody expects that they
| have to get better, and they have to get better quickly. That's
| why people injure themselves doing pretty much anything
| requiring physical exertion.
|
| Recovery is important. Maybe it will be better if people see
| exercise as a secondary tool for improving their
| health/recovery rate, rather than the primary tool for becoming
| more powerful.
| bradleyjg wrote:
| Runners screw up their knees too. Tennis players their elbows.
| I guess maybe we should all be swimming but personally I hate
| laps.
| [deleted]
| mikestew wrote:
| "Every runner you know", as with OP and powerlifting? Or just
| a few? Because there's a wide gulf between a subset being
| injured and injury being a foregone conclusion. To miss that
| is to miss OP's point.
| samatman wrote:
| Powerlifting is an actual competitive sport.
|
| My anecdotes (to go with OPs) is that the competitive
| powerlifters I know have injuries, and the 'gymbro' types
| who use the big lifts for health and some light
| bodybuilding, for the most part do not.
|
| Chasing that new ATH is addictive, and a great way to
| exceed what your body can safely handle.
| matwood wrote:
| I'm going to push back a bit on the no powerlifting. Like any
| other sport or exercise, risk vs reward needs to be looked at,
| but increasing strength is almost always useful. I would tell
| everyone to power lift, but also tell them there is zero reason
| to ever do 1RMs (use 3RM or 5RM and just calculate). And if
| people are really conservative, then set sane maxes like no
| more than 2x BW for squat/DL.
|
| I powerlifted for many years, and have only had major injuries
| from sports - a torn ACL (wakeboarding) and disc herniation
| (basketball). In both cases, my doctors/PTs said my base
| strength accelerated my recovery.
| varelse wrote:
| I've been managing my physical and psychological state with
| weightlifting since my early twenties. I've never been really
| ripped but I've always been in pretty good shape. That's more
| than enough for me and it only takes 3 or 4 hours a week to
| maintain along with making sure I do a lot of walking and or
| running.
|
| The rest of my family presents the counterexample and they're all
| pretty unhealthy. Any attempt to persuade them to exercise fails.
| At best, occasionally one of them will try but go extreme and
| injure themselves and then use that as evidence as to why
| exercise doesn't work for them and that I should shut up about
| it.
|
| It's not complicated, it's just consistency. Just like almost any
| other thing actually.
| goodpoint wrote:
| > it only takes 3 or 4 hours a week
|
| Sounds incredible, compared to amount of hours people usually
| spend to be in "pretty good shape".
|
| Care to share your method?
| lm28469 wrote:
| Heavy compound exercises like deadlifts/squats/ohp will take
| care of that. If done properly you can have a pretty decent
| workout even in a 30 min session
|
| Being in shape is mostly a matter of nutrition. If you eat
| like the average westerner no amount of exercise will save
| you. On the other hand if you eat the proper food in proper
| amounts you won't need much to be in shape, even body weight
| exercises can be enough if you don't want to look like
| bodybuilder
| lottin wrote:
| 3-4 hours a week is not uncommon for a strength training
| program, and most of that time is spent resting between sets
| mind you.
| maccard wrote:
| 20-30 minutes of cardio plus 30 minutes of something very
| loosely based on starting strength [0] 3x a week would have
| huge returns on a beginner.
|
| [0] https://stronglifts.com/5x5/
| wrycoder wrote:
| Why not go to startingstrength directly? They have the
| necessary training information in depth, including a good
| book on weight training over 40.
| maccard wrote:
| I just googled starting strength 5x5 programme and shared
| the first link. No other reasons or affiliations!
| ac29 wrote:
| "Pretty good shape" is subjective - going from sedentary to
| 15 minutes of exercise a day is going to make you feel quite
| a bit better, but you wont be winning triathalons or
| anything. Also note the poster said 3 to 4 hours plus "a lot
| of walking and or running". I'm guessing this adds up to
| something like an hour a day of exercise, which is quite a
| bit. Much more than that and you'd need a proper plan to not
| injure yourself.
| [deleted]
| maxerickson wrote:
| I'm overweight, but fairly consistently running 3-4 hours a
| week (15-20 miles) has my resting pulse in the low 50s.
|
| What is "pretty good shape" is the question.
| emerged wrote:
| I've always loved cardio but found weight lifting to be
| impossibly boring. Then one day I decided to do 2-3 minutes of
| power sets, once in the morning and once at night. Every day.
|
| I very quickly became stronger than I've been before. It's such
| a small time commitment that consistency is relatively easy,
| but you still accumulate a decent amount of volume per week.
| xyzzy_plugh wrote:
| 2-3 minutes sounds sublime. What sort of lifts are you doing?
| I only have free weights at home and have struggled to find a
| good routine that doesn't take too much time.
| emerged wrote:
| I do a power set of shrugs, curls, and one other I forget
| the name of. Then I put on a weighted vest and do a power
| set of ab roller, dips and decline push-ups.
|
| My cardio (cycling) includes a mix of sprints of various
| sorts so I don't bother weight lifting for lower body.
| Getting too bulky is also not good for speed in cycling so
| I'm not trying to get super buff so everything is just
| dumbbells and weight vest.
| brightball wrote:
| FWIW, push-ups + rowing will give you a virtually full body
| workout plus cardio.
| popotamonga wrote:
| Proper form is also a problem. I went up to 1k pushups a
| day but started with shoulder pain. No matter you many
| youtube videos i watch i guess i would need a personal
| trainer to teach me.
| koonsolo wrote:
| Why would you want to end up with 1k pushups a day? That
| doesn't add strength but endurance.
|
| Try to work towards the 1 hand 1 leg pushup, or planche
| pushups. Way better and more efficient.
| slazaro wrote:
| That's an insane amount that will most likely destroy
| your shoulders if you don't do any pulling to compensate.
| It might not be the form, but the imbalance between
| push/pull.
| stevesearer wrote:
| The place I go is a structured workout with row, bike,
| versaclimber, and strength stuff (free weights, push-ups,
| core). Agree that row and push-ups would be a great
| combo.
| SOLAR_FIELDS wrote:
| I have a barbell at home and ensure I get at least one
| workout including each of the "big 3" at least once a week.
| If I time it right and don't dally in between sets I'm done
| in less than 15 minutes.
|
| The "big 3" are the core strength workouts of bench press,
| squat and deadlift. These are the workouts recommended by
| Rippetoe in Starting Strength:
| https://startingstrength.com/get-started/programs
|
| For me this usually translates to one day per week of
| "upper body" (bench, abs, whatever ancillary stuff like
| curls or skull crushers) and one day per week of "lower
| body" (squat, deadlift, ancillary stuff such as calves).
| Abs are worked in between on both days, usually with body
| weight exercises. This is enough to keep me in good shape.
| If I do the above 4 days per week instead of 2, it's enough
| to get me into great shape.
|
| All of the above can be done with a set of dumbbells going
| up to 20kg/50lb. You might substitute squats with lunges if
| you don't have access to a barbell.
| jasonladuke0311 wrote:
| As I have gotten older, I have found that I have considerably
| more aches, pain, and movement problems when I stop lifting
| weights.
| 123pie123 wrote:
| I've not done any form of resistance training for sometime, but
| during the lockdown (in the UK) gyms were shut.
|
| so beacause I couldn't work out in a gym and for some unknown
| reason, I started a garden project. I think I've moved over
| 10-15 cubic meters of clay/ soil/ stones in my garden
|
| and boy the delayed onset pain in the few days after is a real
| joy
| stavros wrote:
| I have the same experience when I stop playing tennis for a few
| weeks.
| the_only_law wrote:
| I'm in severe need to put on some weight. Not a small amount
| either, but at least 30-40lbs, ideally more.
|
| Pretty much anywhere this sort of thing comes up, the de facto
| answer is lifting + calorie increase. I'm not too interested in
| paying for and commuting back and forth from a gym so often, so
| is it possible that my goals could be obtained from either body
| weight exercise or moderately inexpensive home gym equipment? I'm
| also concerned about the timeframe as I don't think I could
| manage to commit to a multi year endeavor.
| bastawhiz wrote:
| Home workouts can be effective. Building muscle (usually)
| necessitates tearing up your muscle fibers through anaerobic
| exercise. But that means lifting weights and doing it with good
| form. At home, you'll have limited options, but exercise bands
| and adjustable dumbbells can be effective, if a bit repetitive.
|
| I'd suggest a 3x weekly home workout with one additional
| session with a trainer in a gym. That'll make sure you're
| making progress and not hurting yourself, and it as variety.
|
| Eating enough is likely going to be the bigger challenge. Happy
| to provide supplement recs, but even a meal replacement like
| Soylent will do fine. You'll want to calculate out your
| macronutrient requirements to figure out what you should be
| consuming. A trainer can help with that.
| matwood wrote:
| 40lbs is probably a multi-year thing unless you're ok with a
| decent part being fat. You can build a decent home gym with
| some kettlebells and dumbbells. A door frame pull-up bar also
| helps if your frame can hold it.
|
| Eating will be the challenge. You need dense food that you like
| eating. When I did something similar I drank lots of whole milk
| and ate peanut butter as a constant snack. Two dinners was also
| common. Just be ready to eat on schedule even when you're not
| hungry.
| the_only_law wrote:
| Yea eating is a concern, but it seems that's the approach is
| mostly forward. I love whole milk, but there are certainly
| side effects from drinking a ton.
|
| My big concern though is I'm convinced I have some form of
| IBD due to unique combination of side effects, and eating too
| much quickly will make me nauseous and bloated the whole day.
| b0rsuk wrote:
| Anecdata. I work out pretty heavily - 5 sets of pull ups at a
| time, squats, core muscle exercises for 40 minutes (my disks tend
| to fall out and it prevents that). I used to run about once every
| 2 days, but now instead I'm doing about 30 minutes of hip
| exercises so my joints don't ache. I also have heavy depression
| and anxiety. And exercise is not enough to lift my mood. I guess
| I would feel worse if I didn't. I do it out of habit and because
| on a rational level I know it's beneficial in the long run.
| 11235813213455 wrote:
| You can replace "lifting weights" by many different type of
| exercises that suits you (walk, run, bike, ...). What matters is
| movement, that's why it's harder to stand still than to walk, the
| body use the contraction of muscle to do a lot of things
| CodeGlitch wrote:
| Increased muscle=increased metabolism. Which means it's easier
| to stay at a healthy weight.
|
| I've been relatively active my whole life, and it wasn't until
| I started lifting weights (mostly pull ups and chin ups) where
| I actually started to see a difference.
| inglor_cz wrote:
| I would add that your exercise should strenghten your body
| core. Having strong core muscles is a game changer. Too many
| people chase strong arms and possibly legs while neglecting the
| core.
| beaconstudios wrote:
| That's not true. Weight lifting exists in a separate exercise
| category to cardio and fulfils different roles, triggers
| different endocrine pathways.
|
| Either way, exercise is better than not, but lifting weights is
| also better than running in many regards. Been a while since I
| read about this so I'm struggling to remember specifics -
| hopefully somebody will come along and expand upon this.
| thefurrysquid wrote:
| I'm not sure it's that simple.
|
| If you have weak back muscles, for example, walking is not
| going to do that much for them - but weight lifting will.
|
| If your quads have atrophied because of a past knee injury,
| just walking - even very actively - will not fix them (bitter
| experience here) and the injury may well recur. But gentle
| goblet squats and light leg presses combined with balance
| exercises for proprioception will sort that out.
|
| You lose a lot of muscle when you get older, and if you have
| any injuries you will naturally tend to avoid specific
| movements in your daily life. This _is_ better addressed by
| weight training (ideally with physio guidence) rather than just
| aiming for a goal of "being active".
| blunte wrote:
| As other's mention below, weight lifting really is its own
| special thing. But definitely, just getting moving,
| consistently, is an excellent place to start.
|
| A lot of people in wealthier countries work until retirement
| age and then park their asses on the sofa to spend the
| remaining years watching (awful) TV and getting fat and
| unhealthy. That's not living, and it's a guaranteed path to
| sadness (and frustration for the children who have to help the
| parent). Not to say that children shouldn't give back and help
| the parents, but it's still super important for all parties
| involved to be making effort.
| hondo77 wrote:
| The wooden dumbbells cracked me up. I guess they appeal to people
| who need to feel like they're lifting more than they are (10K
| metal dumbbells don't look nearly as impressive)?
| z3t4 wrote:
| Many people lift weight in order to help improve their self
| esteem, so if they feel stronger/better by lifting a bigger
| weight, then that's good for them. Now if you look down on
| those people in order to feel better yourself - that's also
| good, so win-win.
| platz wrote:
| wood is softer than metal
| phendrenad2 wrote:
| Why not rubber?
| platz wrote:
| Expensive
| shitinmypants wrote:
| Also, it's a lot of wood in the background, in the interior.
| For a warmer and more inviting experience. Rather than a
| concrete room with metal equipment.
| goodpoint wrote:
| It might also smell much better than metal.
| bserge wrote:
| Should've seen mine, made out of concrete :D
| retrac wrote:
| To eliminate the possibility of misrepresentation, I propose we
| construct barbells out of the densest practical material. While
| metallic hydrogen has its theoretical attractions, you'll
| definitely need to buy some new gloves to lift. Uranium is
| reasonably cheap really, but export is a hassle. Perhaps
| something like an organometallic ceramic osmium compound? (Or
| have the aliens not officially released that to us yet?)
|
| Actually a block of wood will do fine. Or vinyl. Brass. Iron.
| Gravel-filled. Water-filled. Lead shot filled. (Not RoHS).
| Weight plates have a few standard sizes used in competitive
| gyms but it's not really standard in any way beyond that
| Olympic sequence. And at the end of the day the best weight is
| a weight you have and you can grip well :)
| bserge wrote:
| Lead sounds great. A bit of insanity goes a long way towards
| them gains :D
| blunte wrote:
| Stop licking the weights when you flex in the mirror. A
| simple bicep kiss should suffice, and you don't get the
| lead poisoning.
| goodpoint wrote:
| > I propose we construct barbells out of the densest
| practical material
|
| It only increases risk of injury to people or damage to the
| floor if it falls down or if you bump into something or
| someone.
|
| The big wooden weights are probably very safe.
| selimthegrim wrote:
| Osmium?
| [deleted]
| scotty79 wrote:
| Tungsten should be fine.
| Axsuul wrote:
| It's meant to match the surroundings
| platz wrote:
| > my development was really early. I resented losing my
| childhood. At 10 years old, you don't want to not be a child any
| more.
|
| interesting
| raffraffraff wrote:
| Very common among girls who end up with anorexia, depression
| and other mental issues (particularly in the internet age,
| where there's porn, face tune and all sorts of social
| contagion). I'd hate to be a kid today. Or a parent.
| blunte wrote:
| Find an exercise/activity that you enjoy or makes you feel good.
| Doesn't matter if it is weight lifting, road cycling, or dancing.
| Once you find it, just keep doing it.
|
| If you get bored, try something else for a while. If that doesn't
| work, switch back.
|
| Since no two people are the same, no exercise plan works for
| everyone. For me, weight lifting and technical mountain biking
| get me going and make me feel great. Tennis used to be a thing I
| lived for. Running and road cycling is a agony for me. Dancing is
| great. But I have friends who love to cycle 100 miles in a
| straight line. I guess there's some mental thing happening, but I
| just cannot do that.
|
| An activity may really wear you out, but if you feel more
| energized the next day, then it's a good one for you. And if you
| start craving that feeling, then you know you found a good one.
|
| Even within one type of exercise, there are many different
| approaches (which work better or worse depending on the person).
| Low rep, high weight is my thing. High rep, low weight (like road
| cycling) is a muscle burn and mind burn killer. So if you try
| something and it's not for you, make sure you try a variation on
| that before you decide the entire activity is bad.
|
| Diet is important, but it can be easier to follow a good diet
| when you already feel better from the exercise. And you may find
| that you have more discipline after a good workout. On the
| contrary, a day which sucks and you can't get up and go to the
| gym is a day you're also likely to order pizza and beer for
| dinner.
| samatman wrote:
| It's true that any exercise is better than no exercise.
|
| It isn't true that no form of exercise is better or worse than
| any other for general health.
|
| If you have to pick one, I strongly recommend compound lifts of
| free weights. The benefits in terms of bone density, joint
| health, tendon strength, muscular power, hormone production,
| are simply irreplaceable with any amount of "cardiovascular"
| exercise. I put that in quotes because it should be called
| endurance training, lifting weights will emphatically exercise
| your cardiovascular system.
|
| I was dancing every weekend and walking a couple miles a day
| when I started lifting. I started lifting because, in my late
| 30s, it started to be the case that when I would knock
| something to the floor, I would hitch up my pants and carefully
| lower myself down to retrieve it, complete with joint pain in
| my knees.
|
| I extrapolated where that problem would take me in a couple
| decades, and decided to do something about it. It worked.
| vosper wrote:
| I think yoga might be an alternative for people wanting to
| maintain their bodies well into the future. I've done
| weightlifting and yoga, I like them both, I think if I was
| picking one for effectiveness and longevity of practice it'd
| be yoga.
|
| But why pick one? You can totally mix in some yoga with
| lifting :)
| samatman wrote:
| I've noticed that I lift easier (and it's not a subtle
| difference) when I do some deep spine-stretching yoga on
| recovery days.
|
| So I certainly agree! I view stretching (calisthenics,
| yoga, Pilates, whatever you want to call it) as a natural
| adjunct of weightlifting, something which most lifters
| discover is useful, even necessary.
|
| But it's not as obvious to a dedicated yogic practitioner
| why they might want to lift weights. So in terms of "pick
| one" I'm going to advocate for the one which naturally
| points in the direction of both (:
| riku_iki wrote:
| What about some form of HIIT with lighter weights? My concern
| with heavy lifting is that it trains only one body's energy
| system out of three..
| matwood wrote:
| You don't have use that much lighter weights. You can do a
| 5x5 and superset it with burpees or opposing muscles. I'm
| on a pull-up kick where I want to do 500 pull-ups over the
| course of a single workout. So in between sets of my
| regular workouts, I do pull ups. HIIT basically happens as
| a side effect...
| samatman wrote:
| Sure, just watch out for CrossFit, most of those crews have
| an unhealthy attitude towards workouts imho.
|
| I deliberately left out the word "heavy" because, while I
| do favor the powerlifting 5x5 style personally, it's not
| for everyone. Just: free weights, and compound lifts over
| isolation exercises.
|
| Putting less weight on the bar and combining it with
| sprints and burpees makes plenty of sense to me, although
| it's not my style.
| goatkey wrote:
| One rule I have for trying new exercises is to try it five
| times before giving up. This is particularly true for classes
| with an instructor.
|
| The first time you have absolutely no idea what's going on.
|
| The 2nd - 4th times you are starting to get the hang of it and
| will see the slight derivations across different classes.
|
| By the 5th time you've probably gotten enough exposure to be
| able to say "yeah ok this really isn't my thing" or "these of
| the parts of this I really enjoy".
|
| I agree with other commenters that there is something important
| about weight lifting, though. Certainly having cardio as your
| main exercise is fine, but I think diversity of exercise is
| important, too.
| wrycoder wrote:
| Every time this comes up, someone shows up to say it doesn't
| matter what exercise program you follow. That's not correct.
|
| There's a big difference between someone lifting weights
| somewhere near their genetic capacity and someone spending many
| hours per week racking up long, slow distance on the road. Or
| someone spending a few hours waving one pound dumbbells around.
|
| If you want to be able to get out of your chair at 95 and not
| develop osteoporosis, you need to engage in load bearing
| exercise. If you want to add cardio to that - do it faster.
| You'll get your HR to 80%, no problem.
|
| I'm 80. I lift about twice a week for about 90 min each time.
| On the off days, I walk for an hour, usually over hills, since
| walking on the flat doesn't get my HR up enough, and I don't
| want to stress my knees by jogging.
|
| I think the lady looks great, probably a lot better than she
| would if she was a runner.
| blunte wrote:
| Relative to TFA, _any_ consistent movement and activity is a
| net gain. In that perspective, it really does not matter what
| program you follow as long as it gets you moving.
|
| This wasn't about optimal. If you ask me personally what I
| think optimal is, I think it's 5 sets of 5 with big weights,
| squats deads and bench. Mix in some other cardio activity 1-2
| times a week, and you'll be a relative superhero.
|
| But we're talking about people who have health problems and
| no history of exercise activity. For them, just starting to
| move is a huge step forward.
|
| This lady probably wouldn't have reached 80 if she had
| continued on her current path. If we tell people like this,
| "you must lift weights", we will lost most of them. I have
| taught a few women to lift, even tiny ones, and of course
| they can learn and be very strong. But there's a serious
| stigma when it comes to weight lifting and women. They either
| think it's impossible, or they think they will end up looking
| like the woman in the article. Now I'm a fan of built women,
| but most women seem to really NOT want to look like that.
| mandeepj wrote:
| > I walk for an hour, usually over hills, since walking on
| the flat doesn't get my HR up enough, and I don't want to
| stress my knees by jogging
|
| >usually over hills
|
| Are you sure that's also not stressing your knees?
| wrycoder wrote:
| It's comparable to walking on the flat.
|
| But, you have to be really careful on the downhill parts -
| that's what gets the knees. I was surprised to notice that
| it takes me longer to go down than up - and I think that's
| good.
|
| Jogging is different. I tried that a few years ago and my
| knees started acting up.
| CodeGlitch wrote:
| Try hiking sticks, it takes the pressure off the knees
| for the downhills.
| amanaplanacanal wrote:
| Try getting rid of the padded shoes. They are an
| abomination. Invented by Nike to make money, but they had
| no idea what they were doing and that they would ruin
| everybody's knees.
| lr4444lr wrote:
| Can't upvote this enough. Also, you don't need to wait until
| old age to see that this is true. I am half your age and even
| though I thought I was "fit", chronic pain from years of
| sitting jobs revealed when I got to physical therapy that I
| had weaknesses in multiple muscles, many of which absolutely
| needed to be worked directly in order to reduce the pain, and
| my gym and calisthenics habits weren't doing it. Our peak
| species health as hunter/gatherers had us doing a wide
| variety of strength maintaining movements that physiology and
| rehab medicine is only just starting to understand. It's
| unbelievable for example how there are guys who can squat
| over 250 lbs. deeply but can't do a single one legged squat
| even near the same depth. Glad I got my wake up call before I
| got too old to do much about it.
| briankelly wrote:
| Running, done properly, builds muscle, joint, and bone
| strength (it seems you are implying that it doesn't). Of
| course, there is plenty wrong in the world of casual running
| where runners try to rack up mileage without ever looking at
| pace or their running form. Serious runners won't disagree
| with you there.
|
| But the same dynamic exists in other sports, including
| weightlifting. Plenty of causal weight lifters focus on the
| weight they are pushing exclusively and never consider their
| bodyfat, go on "dirty bulks" or permanently injure themselves
| with poor form or pushing it too far (also see CrossFit).
|
| For most people, having a couple of different and reasonably
| different physical activities, and sticking to them, is going
| to be enough. The most important thing is that people
| actually use their bodies into old age. Exercise isn't the
| rocket science people make it out to be.
| swader999 wrote:
| Yep. I'm fifty and lifting just so I can still do activities
| like skiing and windsurfing at a level I'm happy about.
| TaupeRanger wrote:
| Some real Nassim Taleb style advice right here. As a guy in
| his mid-30s, I'm glad to have come across this kind of advice
| early on so I can keep up healthy habits for the later
| decades (assuming I'm not hit by a meteor first).
| mi_lk wrote:
| > Nassim Taleb style advice
|
| what does that mean
| TaupeRanger wrote:
| He's a popular author that offers very similar advice as
| far as lifting and walking.
| sershe wrote:
| It's kinda sad that this is the top comment. Why would that be
| true, as in, why would enjoyment mean anything here? Most
| people enjoy eating cake, I sure do, but it's probably a
| negative to their long term health and well-being.
|
| For an example, my understanding is that weight lifting is
| better for weight loss than cardio, contrary to the popular
| perception... if your goal is to lose weight, you'd better do
| what works best and not what you enjoy, or at least choose the
| activity that you enjoy most out of the ones best for the job.
| blunte wrote:
| I'm a huge proponent of weight lifting. I hate cardio. But I
| do know that if you only do lifting and don't do cardio,
| stretching, and the other boring stuff, you will get less
| value from your lifting.
|
| You do the cardio to build more endurance, a stronger heart,
| and apparently a more efficient use of the oxygen in your
| blood.
|
| TFA didn't seem to be about weight loss; it was about
| declining health. And in that case, virtually any consistent
| exercise would be an improvement. Whatever it is that gets
| someone off their sofa regularly is a good starting point. If
| that activity is weight lifting, then perhaps they will enjoy
| the extra benefits of better strength, higher metabolism, a
| feeling of more energy, etc.
| dalbasal wrote:
| That would be good advice if you are 100% disciplined, which
| irl usually means that you're under someone else's
| discipline.
|
| For most people most of the time, running out of discipline
| and quitting is the failure point. The relative merits of
| running vs weights vs judo are trivial relative to the merits
| of continuous exercise habit throughout your life. You'll
| naturally gravitate towards little optimisations and
| improvements anyway, if you keep showing up.
|
| If you're a pro athlete, where showing up is a given, _then_
| the difference between high rep and low rep matters.
| Otherwise, it 's like premature optimisation.
|
| Even for pros, like professional writers, the most common
| advice relates to showing up every day.
| swsieber wrote:
| I believe I could sum up the original comment as "perfect is
| the enemy of good, and enjoyment greatly contributes to
| something sticking". I do think a lot of people (myself
| included) get hung up on doing it the Right Way (TM) that we
| don't do anything it all.
| dalbasal wrote:
| A pathology of our day.
|
| Look at it this way...
|
| (1) Basically any class on offer at your gym, taken daily,
| will get you fit, sexy & healthy. Pilates, weights,
| swimming, wall climbing. They all work good, as long as you
| keep doing them and don't quit.
|
| (2) Quitting is extremely likely. Most of us quit most of
| the exercise regimes we start.
|
| Given these two points, the only thing worth optimising is
| "how not to quit." A good start is aiming for that "sweet
| spot" where you feel satisfaction, but not soreness or
| burnout. If you have to make yourself take a recovery day,
| that's a good place to be. Obviously also life stuff.
| Scheduling, social stuff, etc.
| koonsolo wrote:
| You will never keep doing something if you don't enjoy it.
|
| So it's better to do something suboptimal that you enjoy,
| than not do the optimal thing because you hate it.
|
| And cardio definitely helps with weight loss, because all the
| bodybuilders do it for cutting.
|
| For me it's bodyweight excercises and running. And I don't
| really care if there would be something else that's better.
|
| And about the cake example, you probably want to replace that
| with healthy food that you enjoy, not with the most healthy
| that you detest. Otherwise you will drop out immediately.
| sershe wrote:
| 1) As for replacing the cake with "healthy food you enjoy",
| that is exactly my point. You start with what works. Then
| out of that you can choose what you enjoy. So, you don't
| eat tons of cake because that's what you enjoy - you first
| narrow down to what works, then choose e.g. apples, or
| whatever.
|
| 2) The 2nd part about enjoyment vs dropping I just
| completely disagree with.
|
| 2.1) Enjoyment often builds up with confidence and success,
| especially in the areas where you make rapid progress as a
| beginner, like weight-lifting or cardio or most PT really.
|
| 2.2) In general, this mindset where you only do things as
| you enjoy and don't try to develop any grit is terrible,
| especially for people who don't start out with an advantage
| in a given area (health, financial, smarts, mood, etc). And
| more so for people who have self-inflicted problems in a
| given area - the problems that stem from doing what they
| "enjoy".
| SamoyedFurFluff wrote:
| I think for 2.2 that I eat veggie soups instead of salads
| when I want to eat primarily vegetables doesn't have any
| correlation on my grit or lack thereof. I think this
| might be assuming a much more extreme position that was
| presented. No one is saying "only do things you enjoy",
| only "if you're going to take life choices to improve
| your health, work on improvements that don't give you
| negative reinforcement against improving your health".
| throwntoday wrote:
| Weightlifting in particular is extremely beneficial for men,
| particularly as they age because of the testosterone gains and
| their affect on mood, weight, muscle building, etc...
| dalbasal wrote:
| Also....
|
| Your primary goal (IMO) should be "I will want to do it again
| tomorrow," not a performance goal. Those are secondary. Go hard
| enough to feel achievement, but not so much that your are sore
| or worn out, either physically or mentally. Everything emanates
| from not quitting anyway, and quitting is the reason most
| people don't achieve what they want. Willpower is a scarce
| resource, don't overtax it.
| pferdone wrote:
| Really depends. If you are competitive chasing numbers can be
| motivation. And ofc it's easier if you enjoy what you're
| doing, but you also have to be able to just pull through at
| times. Motivation has to turn into disciplin.
|
| IMO establishing physical exercise as a part of your life
| should be the goal. It's as essential as brushing your teeth.
| And a big problem I see is people are always presented with
| short term solutions. Do this workout for 6 weeks and get a
| Men's Health cover body. Yet the reality is you have to eat
| healthy, consistently work out and keep working out to stay
| in shape and healthy.
| dalbasal wrote:
| Yes. True.
|
| My advice is for the 90% of us, the serial jan-march gym
| goers. If you already have that habit, compete, and
| exercise is a given... don't take advice from me.
|
| That said, I suspect that even for advanced athletes, "Take
| steps to avoid burnout" is probably still relevant.
| 123pie123 wrote:
| top advice, the only two things to add is never underestimate
| the power of some sort of stretching. Before any work out and
| after the work out (if your doing resistance training also
| stretch if you can during the recovery ie build phase)
|
| if you do some sort of workout try and make it symmetrical eg
| if you excercise your chest then do your back otherwise it
| will give you a hunch
| saurik wrote:
| (As far as I understand, the current research is that
| static stretching specifically-before working out is
| contraindicated as it will reduce performance and doesn't
| actually prevent injury.)
| 123pie123 wrote:
| I've never done any form of static stretching before an
| excercise, for resistance training (10+ years) I just
| warm my muscles up (20 reps) with the lowest weight - but
| I do static stretching on the area I've worked on the
| days afterwards
|
| people who are hypermobile may (or will) have issues with
| out static stretching my friend is seriously hypermobile
| - she struggles to do anything without proper static
| stretching - YMMV
|
| I wish I could be motivated to keep doing yoga or pilates
| blunte wrote:
| I have read the same. It does seem that modern advice is
| to just do some warmup movements rather than static
| stretches.
|
| After, however, stretches are really important. Without
| proper post-workout stretching, you can wake up with
| muscles so tight that you can barely stand up. Not only
| is that hard on joints, it seems to slow the recovery
| process.
| blunte wrote:
| That's a good point. And then if you find something you love
| so much that you want to go (and go hard) every day, get some
| advice from someone more experienced. Too much is often
| detrimental, even if you think you feel capable of it.
|
| Ideally you can end up with a mix of weight building
| activities and cardio activities. As people elsewhere have
| mentioned, playing sports can be a really fun way to get
| cardio without "doing cardio". Same goes for dancing or
| regular good sex.
| TulliusCicero wrote:
| > Go hard enough to feel achievement, but not so much that
| your are sore or worn out
|
| Why not? I like feeling sore, means I know I'm improving.
| jimhefferon wrote:
| I'm 63. I know a lot of people who took up running, ran
| hard for a couple of years (maybe won a few races), got a
| lot of injuries, and no longer run. I ran for the first
| time on Oct 1 1971, and the most recent time is 12 miles
| this morning.
|
| I'm for sure not saying I am better than them, because I
| certainly am not. But I am saying that there is something
| to just enjoying yourself. I have little adventures four
| times a week, and still like it. I'm rarely really worn;
| I'm just not going for that. So that is one reason to think
| to stay away from sore.
|
| (Of course, if what you want is to win races then go for
| it.)
| ak217 wrote:
| > there is something to just enjoying yourself. I have
| little adventures four times a week
|
| That's what people often don't get about outdoor
| exercise. You can combine physical and mental exercise -
| exploring new areas, impromptu orienteering, just the
| sheer focus required to run or bike in complicated
| terrain is a huge plus and makes it easier to stay
| engaged.
| emerged wrote:
| I've been cycling for many years and do a careful mix of:
|
| 1) Relaxing recovery rides 2) Long endurance rides
| (50-100mi) 3) Race pace 1-2 hour rides 4) Intense sprints
|
| I'm usually a little sore after 3 or 4, and take a
| relaxed day after. That is when progress happens.
| chrishynes wrote:
| Soreness really only tells you that you've done something
| new, not that you're improving. Do the same exercise for
| just a couple of weeks and soreness will rapidly decrease.
| wrycoder wrote:
| Not necessarily. There is such a thing as overtraining.
| To get consistent results, you have to allow time to
| recover between sessions. The older you are, the longer
| it takes. The more advanced you are, the longer it takes.
| At my age, it takes two days off to recover.
| dalbasal wrote:
| A little sore is ok. Too sore to exercise again is not
| good. There's also a psychological aspect to it. If you
| push yourself to the limits of your discipline, you'll
| overtax it and "run out." It's one thing or another.
| Injuries. Too busy and didn't return. Burnout takes a lot
| of forms.
|
| There's a sweet spot where you really want to go in and do
| it again.
|
| Also, beware of pro bodybuilder regimes unless you are one.
| (1) They're optimising for that elusive last mile (2) They
| often assume PED use.
| matwood wrote:
| I think the problem with people who are new is what's a
| 'little sore'? A person who has never lifted will have
| DOMs that is going to feel a lot more than a little sore
| after their first workout. It's completely normal, and
| not dangerous. In fact, a 30 minute stationary bike ride
| will probably clear it up.
|
| It's actually really hard for someone to overtrain. What
| normally happens is people use it as an excuse to stop
| training.
|
| What I tell people is that long term training _is_ a
| grind - and that 's a good thing. Accept that fact early
| on and find your own enjoyment in it however you have to.
| The discipline that comes to other areas in your life
| from accepting the training grind is a benefit many
| people don't even notice.
| dalbasal wrote:
| I disagree. The enemy isn't not training hard enough. The
| enemy is burnout and quitting. Train to the point where
| getting back into the gym requires as little discipline
| as possible.
|
| There is, especially in weight rooms, a danger of doing
| stuff that's not really exercise. But if you're swimming,
| running, climbing, squats, pushups, pullups, tennis and
| such... it's not really a danger. They're all going to
| put a beginner on a meaningful progression path. Don't
| worry about being insufficiently intensive unless your
| progression has halted.
| Cthulhu_ wrote:
| As long as you don't mind it, if it feels like you're
| suffering or martyring yourself you're crossing a line. You
| can overdo it and end up demotivated (if you're lucky) or
| injured (if you're not). And depending on the injury,
| you'll not be able to do that same sport again.
| [deleted]
| manmal wrote:
| At this age (well, at every age) it is imperative to get enough
| rest between exercise days. The heart rate variability (HRV,
| there are apps for that) is a good indicator.
|
| For muscle growth I can from personal experience highly recommend
| Glycine (available from vegan sources). It can be used as
| sweetener while helping keep blood glucose down. One study found
| it can boost muscle growth 400% in young pigs.
|
| Glycine study performed on young pigs:
| https://academic.oup.com/jn/article/144/10/1540/4575112
|
| Here's one on mouse muscle cells:
| https://academic.oup.com/jn/article/146/12/2461/4589973
| ac29 wrote:
| > One study found it can boost muscle growth 400% in young
| pigs.
|
| The study doesnt say that. It says protein synthesis _in vitro_
| (in a test tube) using cultured pig intestinal cells increased
| by 36-419%.
|
| This doesn't necessarily mean anything at all for increasing
| muscle mass.
| [deleted]
| manmal wrote:
| True, thanks for the correction. I think I got the notion
| about muscle growth from a news article that reported on this
| paper.
| radicaldreamer wrote:
| What is a reputable/lab tested source for glycine? I assume
| that ordering random tablets from Amazon isn't the best way to
| do it.
| manmal wrote:
| I've been buying from a reputable German company, they
| provide lab test results on request. It ships as powder, in a
| 500g bag
| travoc wrote:
| Never put anything from Amazon into your body. Their sourcing
| policies and procedures put all the risk of counterfeits onto
| the customer.
| billh wrote:
| A few years ago I bought some shampoo from Amazon that was
| very clearly counterfeit. The product and packaging was so
| bad that if anyone was paying attention to the supply line
| they should have been able to figure it out.
|
| Since then my general rule has been "If it goes on me or in
| me, I'm not getting it from Amazon"
| bserge wrote:
| Key word being "Amazon". Order from a reputable seller from
| their own store.
| throw0101a wrote:
| > _At this age (well, at every age) it is imperative to get
| enough rest between exercise days._
|
| I've heard it said that there is no such thing as over-training
| only "under resting".
|
| > _The heart rate variability (HRV, there are apps for that) is
| a good indicator._
|
| Can you give more details on this? How does it work, what
| number(s) to look at, etc.
| [deleted]
| CJefferson wrote:
| What study? Weightlifting is full of claims of miracle
| supliments, and usually the best claim much lower improvements
| than that.
| manmal wrote:
| Here's a study on young pigs:
| https://academic.oup.com/jn/article/144/10/1540/4575112
|
| Here's one on mouse muscle cells:
| https://academic.oup.com/jn/article/146/12/2461/4589973
| beaconstudios wrote:
| Examine.com is a good source for supplement info because they
| correlate multiple studies into a meta analysis:
|
| https://examine.com/supplements/glycine/
| wintermutestwin wrote:
| The older you are and the more years of sedentary life you have
| lived, the more you need to moderate whatever athletic pursuit
| you attempt. I also highly recommend combining any strength or
| aerobic activity with joint mobility work (stretching, yoga,
| etc).
|
| I say these because of my own experiences with failing to follow
| those rules and suffering physically debilitating consequences as
| a result. I used to ride 100s of miles a week and now can barely
| ride and hour. Weight lifting is no longer a matter of how much
| can my muscles lift, but rather how much can my shitty joints
| take before they get injured.
| wrycoder wrote:
| Very true. If you notice twinges that shouldn't be there, take
| two days off. Come back easy. If they are still there, back off
| maybe 10% and sneak up on it.
| pengaru wrote:
| Buy some land and build things on it with your own two hands.
|
| Unlike lifting weights you'll have something more valuable than
| just your improved health afterwards.
|
| I also find it's far more psychologically rewarding to see your
| property become more useful, the physical fitness gains become a
| nice side effect instead of the primary goal.
| atom-morgan wrote:
| Lifting provides much more than improved health.
|
| If you're sick and tired, lift or build shit. Whatever gets you
| moving.
| pengaru wrote:
| I doubt I'm alone in this regard. If I spend an hour lifting
| weights my mind will inevitably wonder how much useful work I
| could have gotten done outside with the shovel, pickaxe, and
| wheelbarrow in the same time.
|
| It's a source of depression, for me, once I understood the
| value of manual labor expended on my own property. Lifting
| weights has become kind of a pathetic waste of time if I have
| access to my land where there's an effectively infinite sink
| for such efforts.
| nuclearnice1 wrote:
| what kind of stuff do you do on the land?
| pengaru wrote:
| There's been a lot of digging with a shovel and pickaxe,
| earth-moving with a wheelbarrow, and hauling 100-200lb
| boulders. (driveway cuts, grade adjustments for water
| drainage, septic, retaining walls...)
|
| But I also recently rebuilt an old roof, and turned it
| into a mild climbing+parkour game by not using any
| ladders. This past month I've gotten quite adept at
| jumping off a 1-story roof.
|
| There's plans for burying a geothermal ground-loop which
| will involve digging ~50x10` down to 8', basically
| digging an in-ground pool by hand, only to fill it back
| up again.
|
| You can make this stuff as difficult as you want...
|
| Edit: Wanted to mention one of my neighbors has been
| building underground earthdomes which is very labor-
| intensive, but has the nice property of turning almost
| pure labor into thermally ground-coupled housing. Totally
| unaffected by today's lumber prices for example.
| vore wrote:
| Perhaps there are other ways to maximize economic output
| from lifting weights in a way where it wouldn't be a waste
| of time? An interesting and perhaps a little "out there"
| proposition would perhaps be mixing the appeal of lifting
| weights with the OnlyFans demographic? At the very least it
| seems like there is a far lower capital cost than having to
| acquire land.
| splitstud wrote:
| I supplement weightlifting with big gardening and small
| building projects as well. Fishing can be great exercise as
| well if you figure out a pattern that serves.
| [deleted]
| frompdx wrote:
| While building things is great, it isn't a substitute for
| weight training. If you are training for strength there is no
| substitute for progressive overload with barbell weights. The
| best part is that it isn't a tremendous time investment either.
| I train 3 days a week for about 3 hours at a time. I could
| possibly do it faster. That leaves plenty of time left to build
| things with your hands on your own land assuming you have the
| resources for that.
| splitstud wrote:
| In two weeks I'll need help with 80 bags of cement. Loading
| them, unloading them, humping a barrow to the back of my
| property. There will be mixing and pouring and beer. I've
| already cleared the roots, shoveled Nd rolled the path, etc.
| So don't worry, the hard work is already done.
| frompdx wrote:
| It is difficult to offer a reply to this comment because it
| is hard to tell what the intent is. It reads tongue in
| cheek to me. I apologize if that is not the case.
|
| The work you are describing is difficult, but that doesn't
| mean that it will translate to absolute strength or that it
| is the same as strength training. Moving 80 bags of cement
| won't translate to deadlifting 405 pounds a few days later
| unless the person doing that is already very strong. If the
| person doing that work does not overexert themselves
| they'll certainly be adapted to doing more of that type of
| work though.
|
| Strength training is about making deliberate progression
| through repeated cycles of overloading and adaptation, and
| not about making equivalencies from one type of work to
| another. A bag of cement in the United States weighs 94
| pounds. If you move 80 of them, you'll adapt to moving 80
| bags of cement that weigh 94 pounds. That will not
| translate to the ability to lift four or five bags of
| cement at a time without deliberate effort. Will you empty
| the cement into a container adding a little more each time
| with appropriate recovery periods between until you can
| lift four bags worth of cement? Or will you move them one
| at a time, or maybe two at a time if you are able, to get
| the job done?
| Apotheos wrote:
| I know you touched on it but the importance of consistent
| overload is paramount as well for strength and
| hypertrophy. 80 bags of cement won't cause adaptation
| unless it's a regular occurance.
| splitstud wrote:
| Responding to both at once. Yes, lighthearted comment.
| You're right about adaptation. The point I'm trying to
| make is simple: building physical exertion into your
| daily life is the best way to retain strength,
| flexibility, health and mood as you age. The habits are
| easier to keep. Combine that with physical recreation and
| reasonable habits regarding food, drink, chemicals and
| rest.
| happytiger wrote:
| As someone who has done both weight lifting and foundation
| work (for fun, not profit!), the beat down of concrete work
| is real.
| swader999 wrote:
| Digging a big hole by hand makes you very ripped if you
| do it a few hours everyday. I built a cistern and redid
| my footer drains by hand.
| koonsolo wrote:
| Farmer strength is really amazing. I'm willing to bet they
| have more strength in their hands than you.
| frompdx wrote:
| It's entirely likely they do. However, the work done
| farming serves a different purpose than strength training.
| Farming requires the strength and endurance to do the work
| day after day, but there is no particular emphasis on
| strength beyond what is necessary to do the work. Training
| for strength differs because the emphasis is developing the
| ability to lift more weight each session. Endurance is not
| particularly important because the interval for training
| strength is short. 3 to 5 repetitions, followed by a break.
| Will a farmer be able to outlift a novice or even
| intermediate weightlifter? It's entirely possible. Will a
| farmer be able to outlift an advanced power lifter or
| olympic lifter who is approaching the top of they physical
| potential? Not likely. The farmer is adapted for a
| different type of work.
| pizzabearman wrote:
| My 2 cents: Exercise = hard. I hate exercising but love doing
| almost any sport. Many Sports have side effect of good exercise.
| I think it triggers my instinct to keep it up when I am tired.
| Chasing a soccer ball similar stimulus to run and catch prey, or
| run away from danger. Find a sport you like. Even if your
| terrible at it, you will get better at it. Both physically and
| skill wise.
| BurningFrog wrote:
| I hate running as exercise. It's a painful way to get from A to
| A, and some part of me is always pushing to simplify the task
| by staying at A.
|
| But put me in a team sport and I can chase a ball until I
| collapse!
|
| Team sports are also great for the social obligation. Both to
| help the team win, and to show up each week.
| b0rsuk wrote:
| Running painful? Some find it _boring_ , but it's not
| inherently painful. It can be painful if your form is bad, if
| you run too often, too long, if some of your muscles are too
| weak, if you have an imbalance between right and left side
| (most of it can be corrected with exercise), etc. Basically
| if you do it wrong.
| lostlogin wrote:
| > I hate running as exercise. It's a painful way to get from
| A to A,
|
| Couldn't agree more - and it's so slow. My completely made up
| theory is that some people are the wrong shape. I prefer
| cycling as it's way faster and doesn't hurt.
| mehphp wrote:
| This is probably true now. Originally humans were excellent
| long distance runners but since that's no longer required I
| think you might be right
| eplanit wrote:
| You're right. Also, yard work is generally unpleasant. I have
| found that by approaching yard work as exercise, I then enjoy
| both a lot more (like a _lot_). My whole attitude about
| squatting down, pulling weeds, cutting, etc. etc. is really a
| pile of opportunities to squat, bend pull, push as repetitive
| strength and stretching exercises. I've change my techniques of
| the actual tasks to make them more focused on muscle groups,
| etc. The "two birds killed with one stone" benefit is very
| reinforcing for me, too.
|
| YMMV.
| prometheus76 wrote:
| I do this as well, and I have put some weights in a backpack,
| and I wear that while I'm mowing the lawn or picking up dog
| poop, etc. Really raises the difficulty level and ensures
| that my heartrate goes up sufficiently. Right now I have
| between 35 and 40 pounds of weights in my backpack.
| BurningFrog wrote:
| I do a similar (minor) hack in converting my unpleasant work
| commute to exercise by biking to work/the train station.
|
| 20 minutes a day of not very hard cycling provides a pretty
| decent base fitness. Or at least I like to think that.
| wccrawford wrote:
| Similarly, I can't bring myself to do exercise for its own
| sake, but I am quite happy to actually work to make things
| happen, such as moving furniture for friends or even digging
| ditches.
|
| Unfortunately, I still have the problem of motivating myself to
| get started on my own chores. I have a much easier time helping
| other people with theirs.
| SamoyedFurFluff wrote:
| Have you considered a chore buddy? Where you both cheer each
| other on in doing chores, that way you're doing your own
| chores "for someone else".
| spodek wrote:
| The best time to start is twenty years ago. The second best time
| is now.
|
| I just turned 50 and do calisthenics daily (over 175,000 burpees
| cumulatively, over 50 per day), requiring no equipment, spotter,
| money, or risk of injury. I have bought a few kettlebells over
| the years and a rowing machine.
|
| A couple years ago I accepted a challenge by the rowing machine
| company, Concept2, to row at least 100,000 meters in the month
| between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I made it and felt great,
| though very tired, figuring in my late 40s I'm behind the curve.
|
| Then I read of this 77 year old woman who rowed 100,000 meters
| _per day for a month_
| https://web.archive.org/web/20210306044719/https://www.row2k....
| In one month she rowed more than I had in a decade.
| manmal wrote:
| She looks like she's <60yo. That's remarkable
| maccard wrote:
| 100k a day is just insanity. At a moderate pace (by someone who
| is fit) that's 6 hours solid a day.
| ac29 wrote:
| 100k in a month, not a day.
| maccard wrote:
| OP said 100,000m per day, and the linked article says the
| same thing.
| stavros wrote:
| "100,000 meters per day for a month" is pretty clearly per
| day, 30 times, though.
| blunte wrote:
| Seems a bit much, but who knows. I always found Herschel
| Walker inspiring - https://www.nfl.com/news/football-fit-a-
| look-at-herschel-wal...
| atum47 wrote:
| Lifting weights helps a lot. Ive started out young, at the age of
| 14. I've been off an on again since. I can definitely tell you it
| improves my mood, my disposition, my self-esteem. The only down
| side is that people you call you every time they want to move
| heavy stuff.
| egypturnash wrote:
| Do they say thank you and buy you a tasty lunch afterwards? :)
| blunte wrote:
| But it sure is nice when you have to go pick something heavy
| up, and it's "easy".
|
| I'm on and off of lifting for 30 years. Inevitably I get to a
| big glass office building door and think, "wow this is so heavy
| to open!"... and then I know it's been too long since I lifted.
|
| A couple of months later, and I'm practically looking for heavy
| stuff :). 4U rack server full of drives?... no problem!
| cweill wrote:
| Where would something like Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fall for health
| benefits? Cardio? Load-bearing exercise?
| matwood wrote:
| BJJ is great exercise! Think of it as extreme yoga with a
| little chess sprinkled in ;)
|
| I've seen quite a few people who were out of shape come in and
| start training BJJ and drop weight and get in great shape.
| Eventually, if you keep training BJJ you will want to
| supplement some cardio and weight lifting though.
|
| With all that said, for me personally, the biggest benefit from
| BJJ was mental and emotional.
| [deleted]
| z3t4 wrote:
| It's hard to make gains after 65, having competed with veterans
| at various ages it's sad to see the decline at 65+, but they are
| of course much more vital then their age peers. So don't expect
| to make the gains this lady has done. Try to find a recreational
| activity that increase heart rate, work the muscles, (and if
| possible social), and if you enjoy it - the effects combined will
| increase overall life quality.
| manmal wrote:
| Typical of HN to downvote the one person who actually
| participated in bodybuilding competitions.
| viburnum wrote:
| I hate to be a bummer but she really looks like she's using
| growth hormones or steroids.
| samatman wrote:
| In her 70s: so what?
|
| Hormone replacement is probably a good idea once it becomes
| necessary. That shouldn't be confused with 20 somethings taking
| 10-100x natural levels of anabolics.
| float4 wrote:
| First line of the article:
|
| > shattering preconceptions about what's possible in your
| eighth decade
|
| So if she's using something, this is not giving other people
| a fair idea of what's possible.
| samatman wrote:
| Disagree.
|
| If your doctor won't prescribe some hormones in your eighth
| decade, find another doctor. What she's doing is absolutely
| in the realm of what's possible. She's doing it!
|
| Perhaps the article should be more honest about that part?
| If that's your point I have no objection to it.
| wrycoder wrote:
| It's quite possible she's doing it natural. My wife is the same
| age and has about half of that, but she gets lots of exercise
| outside and has only lifted seriously for a couple of years.
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