What Was Your Work Out Today?

AnnPT77

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48635295#Comment_48635295

😆

I get what you're saying, and don't like dismissal - self-dismissal or otherwise - because of age (though I do play an age card myself occasionally 😉).

Still, if a person is a context where they are several years older than most/all of the other participants, I think it's OK to call him/herself old no matter the age range in question. It's even kinda fun to be "old" but still kickin' it in those contexts.

I have to admit, I chortled at @drmwc's post that you quoted, too - not so much the age but the "not very athletic". Modesty is a positive trait, so is wry and mildly self-deprecating humor . . . but jeepers, the stuff that guy does and calls it "not very much exercise" or similar in posts here!

@drmwc, maybe you don't have a long athletic history, I dunno. Your present seems pretty athletic, gotta say. I admire what you do - diverse, working hard at improving all of it. Good stuff.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

I think that would include things like climbing, diving, even endurance walking?

Congratulations on the competition, @drmwc: That's an achievement!

mtaratoot

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48635314#Comment_48635314

Maybe "therapy" isn't the right word. You can improve your mental state without formal therapy. I get it when I go for a hike. There's a concept in Japan about this - forest bathing. It works. Even more than a hike in a beautiful forest, paddling or rowing down a river does it for me. This is especially true if it's multiple days away from roads and news and all the trappings of our workaday world.

Is it possible that you could mask an actual need for therapy by going to the gym and getting those positive changes? Maybe. Same could be said for reading a book or eating fried chicken. There are many many kinds of therapy. Some kinds work better for some people.

If you get positive mental outcomes from going to the gym, just keep that in your wallet as yet another reason to get some exercise!

drmwc

I'm mid 50s, not mid 40s. I was 5 years older than anyone else at the comp, so my age comment was supposed to be comparative (although I probably didn't convey that properly.)

I was certainly relatively unathletic until my (at least) my thirties. I went to a working class state school in England, and athletic ability was pretty much defined as how good you were at football. By that measure, I'm definitely way below average.

I started scuba diving and lifting weights in my thirties; I don't think I ever really got any good at weights. I started climbing and caving in my mid-forties; again I'm definitely not good at either of them, but I'm probably above average.

I used to play the board game Go. I wasn't bad at that; but I definitely wasn't good either. Fortunately, not being bad was sufficient that I won a few national level tournaments. (Online, I typically seem to be in the 0.5% to 1% percentile; there is a clear gap between me and the pros).

I find part of the human condition is to measure oneself relative to those who are better at the activity; when talent and hard work align in someone who practiced at lot from a young age, the results are scary.

My little brother was a very good sailor. He was in a national championship with Ian Percy, who went on (later) to get the Olympic gold. As Percy lapped the group including my brother, he could be heard shouting "Get out of my way, you slow *kitten*." So my brother wouldn't class himself as a good sailor, although from my viewpoint he clearly was.

drmwc

Today was a rest day, so I walked 12 miles and swam just over 1 mile.

My view is that therapy may well have benefits for those with something clinically wrong; that goes way outside my experience and expertise. I'm less convinced there are benefits for someone without clinical symptoms. Exercise, and also not being obese, are shown to have huge mental benefits. So if someone attempts to be active on their rest days, I don't really see an issue. (For example, today for me was very low effort and really unlikely to have adverse impacts. My walk was in a nice park; seeing greenery and wildlife always lifts my spirits. The most unexpected wildlife is probably the camels, which are in a zoo this skirts by the boundaries of. The wildest was probably a few muntjac deer, not in the zoo.)

However, If it leads to extreme tiredness or injury, then it's possible there's something underlying that needs addressing.

chaney3000

Rest day Monday's

mar_sbar

I only had time for a rather short full body session today. It's better than nothing, though.

Deadlift - 2x10

Incline bench press machine - 3x10

Seated leg press - 3x12

Overhead press - 2x10

kinetixtrainer2

upper body #1

DiscusTank5

Even split at the gym today:

25 minutes cardio (Helix, then elliptical) and 25 or so minutes strength training (2 sets free weights for biceps , lats, tris, sit-ups, dead hangs, planks, pigeon pose). Probably another 10 minutes stretching hip flexors and whatnot.

Not many lunges --I'm taking a break from running and also other exercise that hurts my quads.

Thanks for your thoughts on the gym as therapy, everyone who commented. If I could add even 20 minutes of yoga to a "rest day" the way @drmwc does his 12 mile walks, I could be more content with the time off.

nossmf

Push Day

Bench Press 5x5
Incline DB Press 10x10 EMOM
Machine Decline Press 4x10
Smith Seated OHP 3x10 «superset» DB Lateral Raise 3x10 (2s up, 2s down)
Cable Pushdown 4x10, 15, 20, 25
Cable Woodchoppers 2x10 «superset» Pallof Press 2x10s