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Thoughts on getting old vs aging
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I am currently reading “Older Faster Stronger” by Margaret Webb. I found out about the book from the link below, which was sent around by a friend whose husband, nearing 50, was concerned about facing physical decline as he aged. Although the book was written by a woman for female runners, it has a lot of interesting information about how much fitness slows a significant amount of the decline that comes with getting older and being less active.
https://www.outsideonline.com/2010156/age-irrelevant-when-it-comes-fitness
Great video. Between that and the book, I feel I should take up running again.
Turning 45 this year. Being active is so beneficial to my psyche. My dad spent his whole adult life practising being old. I plan to fight it every step of the way. I don’t want to end up a doddering lump in an old age home, and I’m gonna do whatever I can to mitigate that horror.1 -
Saw this tonight and it made me think of this thread:
https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/meet-the-86-year-old-soaring-to-great-heights-as-the-world-s-oldest-trapeze-artist-1447580739682
I kept telling my hubby, "There is no way that woman is 86 years old!" Aside from staying active and a great attitude towards life, those have to be some award-winning genes!
My wife and I are just sitting here jaws hanging open. Wow...thanks for posting that!!
Unbelievable! I need to step up my game!!
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I think it's great your staying young! You're only as old as you feel! One reason I'm trying hard to get my body mind and spirit right! I'm not ready to be old lol I'm hitting 40 and feel blah...I want to feel less old and age a little more graciously! I want to live as active as possible till I can't kwik? I want to be the grandma running and playing if I can be! Still have a few years for that but still....I know things happen out of our control that can cause you not to be at your peak physical and mental best but I'm gonna do what I can from now until.1
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I am currently reading “Older Faster Stronger” by Margaret Webb. I found out about the book from the link below, which was sent around by a friend whose husband, nearing 50, was concerned about facing physical decline as he aged. Although the book was written by a woman for female runners, it has a lot of interesting information about how much fitness slows a significant amount of the decline that comes with getting older and being less active.
https://www.outsideonline.com/2010156/age-irrelevant-when-it-comes-fitness
Great video. Between that and the book, I feel I should take up running again.
Turning 45 this year. Being active is so beneficial to my psyche. My dad spent his whole adult life practising being old. I plan to fight it every step of the way. I don’t want to end up a doddering lump in an old age home, and I’m gonna do whatever I can to mitigate that horror.
I'm going to look up that book...wife and I will both get something out of that
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Saw this tonight and it made me think of this thread:
https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/meet-the-86-year-old-soaring-to-great-heights-as-the-world-s-oldest-trapeze-artist-1447580739682
I kept telling my hubby, "There is no way that woman is 86 years old!" Aside from staying active and a great attitude towards life, those have to be some award-winning genes!
My wife and I are just sitting here jaws hanging open. Wow...thanks for posting that!!
Unbelievable! I need to step up my game!!
Right?? I thought I was doing alright 😂 Nope got a lot more to do. Yep1 -
The iron man video was so cool....thnx for posting it 👍👍2
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I just simply love this! I’m 34 right now, but hope to carry the OPs philosophy with me as my chronological age advances, so my emotional and mental (and physical!) age will continue to thrive and play and be silly! 😊4
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I love this thread. Avoiding health complications later in life from being sedentary is one of my main motivators to trying to stay active. I have watched too many family member's health decline because they weren't active, and were very overweight. Or they retire, and just stop. Throughout my life, I have heard older coworkers, or family members put limits on themselves simply because of thier age. In regards to working out, or staying fit I've heard things like "Oh, you're so young! Wait til you get to my age, you wont be able to do that! " "Yeah, that's great for you, but I'm too old". It's almost become a pet peeve of mine. I realize I have a ways to go to be able to relate to thier plight. (I'm 31 now). But through observation of other people, the only reason so many people become "old" is because they set self imposed limits on what they can and cant do. Barring health problems, you only get old and can't do things, if you quit doing things. My 85 Y/O grandpa-in-law is a prime example. He lives on a retirement golf course in Florida. He goes out every morning for a walk, and then he plays the morning round of golf, the afternoon round of golf, and then he goes and plays more golf on his own. He rarely drives a golf cart from hole to hole too. He walks each hole, and drags his roll-cart of clubs behind him. He doesn't move very fast, but he easily outpaces some people 20 years younger just because he has remained so active. That's how I aspire to be.5
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Crafty_camper123 wrote: »I love this thread. Avoiding health complications later in life from being sedentary is one of my main motivators to trying to stay active. I have watched too many family member's health decline because they weren't active, and were very overweight. Or they retire, and just stop. Throughout my life, I have heard older coworkers, or family members put limits on themselves simply because of thier age. In regards to working out, or staying fit I've heard things like "Oh, you're so young! Wait til you get to my age, you wont be able to do that! " "Yeah, that's great for you, but I'm too old". It's almost become a pet peeve of mine. I realize I have a ways to go to be able to relate to thier plight. (I'm 31 now). But through observation of other people, the only reason so many people become "old" is because they set self imposed limits on what they can and cant do. Barring health problems, you only get old and can't do things, if you quit doing things. My 85 Y/O grandpa-in-law is a prime example. He lives on a retirement golf course in Florida. He goes out every morning for a walk, and then he plays the morning round of golf, the afternoon round of golf, and then he goes and plays more golf on his own. He rarely drives a golf cart from hole to hole too. He walks each hole, and drags his roll-cart of clubs behind him. He doesn't move very fast, but he easily outpaces some people 20 years younger just because he has remained so active. That's how I aspire to be.
Preach it! LoL, I bolded what I did because that, right there almost verbatim, is my families playbook. My dad started with the "Wait until you're my age" when he was about 40 lol, no kidding. That's about when he started to decline too.
It's a little dramatic maybe..but all I can think is "who would want to die such a slow, needless death?" Not me. Not today. 4 -
Idk maybe it's just me but at almost 54 I'd love to be in the "best shape of my life" but my body just doesn't want to cooperate. I think it is easy to look at sedentary older people and blame them - but since I have turned 50 I have had 2 frozen shoulders and now dealing with severe knee arthritis. I am still running and kayaking and trying to push through it but it is a struggle and pretty demotivating to have to constantly push yourself through pain every.single.freaking.day. I have always been a runner, but now I am dealing with terrible shin splints (I think from the imbalance caused by the OA). It would be easy to give up and I wouldn't blame anyone who did that. I do a lot of physio but not everyone has access to that. FWIW I have never been sedentary so it isn't from that.
I used to kind of have the attitude that if you take care of yourself and stay active you will stay healthy and kind of "blame" older people for "letting themselves go". I am rethinking that.9 -
Idk maybe it's just me but at almost 54 I'd love to be in the "best shape of my life" but my body just doesn't want to cooperate. I think it is easy to look at sedentary older people and blame them - but since I have turned 50 I have had 2 frozen shoulders and now dealing with severe knee arthritis. I am still running and kayaking and trying to push through it but it is a struggle and pretty demotivating to have to constantly push yourself through pain every.single.freaking.day. I have always been a runner, but now I am dealing with terrible shin splints (I think from the imbalance caused by the OA). It would be easy to give up and I wouldn't blame anyone who did that. I do a lot of physio but not everyone has access to that. FWIW I have never been sedentary so it isn't from that.
I used to kind of have the attitude that if you take care of yourself and stay active you will stay healthy and kind of "blame" older people for "letting themselves go". I am rethinking that.
@33gail33 oh no no, there's no blame at all. Quite a few of us mentioned several times throughout the thread folks who just run into physical issues that slow them down or stop them altogether. If anything at all came across as blaming anyone I do humbly apologize. I assure you that was never my intent.
The two groups I had in mind when I made the thread were those who expect, and sometimes pressure older folks into slowing down based on age, and those who truly use age as an excuse to stop living, like my dad did.
As far as people like you who try, but problems develop and/or persist - I can only say that I consider myself extremely fortunate to be able to do what I can do and count my blessings every day.
No blame, none at all.
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The iron man video was so cool....thnx for posting it 👍👍
I saw the guy who failed in his first six attempts several times while we were on the run course. That dude pushed himself to suffer for over 16 hours, but he had a BIG grin on his face the whole time!! Made me forget my pain every time I saw him. 2 -
The iron man video was so cool....thnx for posting it 👍👍
I saw the guy who failed in his first six attempts several times while we were on the run course. That dude pushed himself to suffer for over 16 hours, but he had a BIG grin on his face the whole time!! Made me forget my pain every time I saw him.
How could that not bring a smile to your face. I've met guys like him who just will. Not. Quit. Love being around them 0 -
Idk maybe it's just me but at almost 54 I'd love to be in the "best shape of my life" but my body just doesn't want to cooperate. I think it is easy to look at sedentary older people and blame them - but since I have turned 50 I have had 2 frozen shoulders and now dealing with severe knee arthritis. I am still running and kayaking and trying to push through it but it is a struggle and pretty demotivating to have to constantly push yourself through pain every.single.freaking.day. I have always been a runner, but now I am dealing with terrible shin splints (I think from the imbalance caused by the OA). It would be easy to give up and I wouldn't blame anyone who did that. I do a lot of physio but not everyone has access to that. FWIW I have never been sedentary so it isn't from that.
I used to kind of have the attitude that if you take care of yourself and stay active you will stay healthy and kind of "blame" older people for "letting themselves go". I am rethinking that.
@33gail33 oh no no, there's no blame at all. Quite a few of us mentioned several times throughout the thread folks who just run into physical issues that slow them down or stop them altogether. If anything at all came across as blaming anyone I do humbly apologize. I assure you that was never my intent.
The two groups I had in mind when I made the thread were those who expect, and sometimes pressure older folks into slowing down based on age, and those who truly use age as an excuse to stop living, like my dad did.
As far as people like you who try, but problems develop and/or persist - I can only say that I consider myself extremely fortunate to be able to do what I can do and count my blessings every day.
No blame, none at all.
No worries I didn't read the whole thread, and the parts I did were probably read through the filter of my own frustration.
That said there are probably still things I can do better - weight loss is one of them. Working on that.4 -
Same hereIdk maybe it's just me but at almost 54 I'd love to be in the "best shape of my life" but my body just doesn't want to cooperate. I think it is easy to look at sedentary older people and blame them - but since I have turned 50 I have had 2 frozen shoulders and now dealing with severe knee arthritis. I am still running and kayaking and trying to push through it but it is a struggle and pretty demotivating to have to constantly push yourself through pain every.single.freaking.day. I have always been a runner, but now I am dealing with terrible shin splints (I think from the imbalance caused by the OA). It would be easy to give up and I wouldn't blame anyone who did that. I do a lot of physio but not everyone has access to that. FWIW I have never been sedentary so it isn't from that.
I used to kind of have the attitude that if you take care of yourself and stay active you will stay healthy and kind of "blame" older people for "letting themselves go". I am rethinking that.
@33gail33 oh no no, there's no blame at all. Quite a few of us mentioned several times throughout the thread folks who just run into physical issues that slow them down or stop them altogether. If anything at all came across as blaming anyone I do humbly apologize. I assure you that was never my intent.
The two groups I had in mind when I made the thread were those who expect, and sometimes pressure older folks into slowing down based on age, and those who truly use age as an excuse to stop living, like my dad did.
As far as people like you who try, but problems develop and/or persist - I can only say that I consider myself extremely fortunate to be able to do what I can do and count my blessings every day.
No blame, none at all.
No worries I didn't read the whole thread, and the parts I did were probably read through the filter of my own frustration.
That said there are probably still things I can do better - weight loss is one of them. Working on that.
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"You don't stop playing because you grow old, you grow old because you stop playing". I think we all know those who seem to have thrown in towel when they reach a certain age. I'm looking at 60 this year, and because of a very active lifestyle, I've had to change up a few things. Bad knees stopped me from running, but not from biking. As we age, anything we do to keep moving and stay healthy will have a positive effect. It's just a shame too many people give in and give up.7
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Aging and fitness is like a dance. Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow, but you always keep moving...7
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Idk maybe it's just me but at almost 54 I'd love to be in the "best shape of my life" but my body just doesn't want to cooperate. I think it is easy to look at sedentary older people and blame them - but since I have turned 50 I have had 2 frozen shoulders and now dealing with severe knee arthritis. I am still running and kayaking and trying to push through it but it is a struggle and pretty demotivating to have to constantly push yourself through pain every.single.freaking.day. I have always been a runner, but now I am dealing with terrible shin splints (I think from the imbalance caused by the OA). It would be easy to give up and I wouldn't blame anyone who did that. I do a lot of physio but not everyone has access to that. FWIW I have never been sedentary so it isn't from that.
I used to kind of have the attitude that if you take care of yourself and stay active you will stay healthy and kind of "blame" older people for "letting themselves go". I am rethinking that.
I hope my comment didn't come off as blameful either. I totally understand how hard it can be to work through chronic pain in your daily life. I was just referencing people who appear to hit a certain age, and then, they just seem to quit. Not due to health problems, but just because they don't want to do things anymore. Or they just prefer not to.3 -
Idk maybe it's just me but at almost 54 I'd love to be in the "best shape of my life" but my body just doesn't want to cooperate. I think it is easy to look at sedentary older people and blame them - but since I have turned 50 I have had 2 frozen shoulders and now dealing with severe knee arthritis. I am still running and kayaking and trying to push through it but it is a struggle and pretty demotivating to have to constantly push yourself through pain every.single.freaking.day. I have always been a runner, but now I am dealing with terrible shin splints (I think from the imbalance caused by the OA). It would be easy to give up and I wouldn't blame anyone who did that. I do a lot of physio but not everyone has access to that. FWIW I have never been sedentary so it isn't from that.
I used to kind of have the attitude that if you take care of yourself and stay active you will stay healthy and kind of "blame" older people for "letting themselves go". I am rethinking that.
This is kind of like comparing me to my wife.
I've been morbidly obese at 330+ lbs. I've lost more than 1/3 of my weight, am running and way more active with far fewer aches and pains (my back still hurts most days) and, at almost 54 am in the best shape I've been in for 35 yrs.
My wife has always maintained a healthy weigh at 135-140, can "feel" when she is getting a bit too big and just eats less without counting or anything and gets back into that range. But she has some serious physical issues that sideline her for weeks at a time. Right now she has shoulder issues so she isn't running, hell she isn't even sleeping well.5 -
12??? 3 -
(From your article that you mentioned)
"Do you know any 75 year-olds that act like they’re 35?"
Yes, the Rolling Stones, and more specifically Mick Jagger. I'm a big Stones fan, and Mick actually inspired me to start exercising. He has a very impressive fitness regimen thanks to his dad who was a gym teacher. (there's a video on YouTube of a 15 year old Mick Jagger in his dad's fitness instruction video- it's pretty funny!) Google "Mick Jagger fitness regimen" and you'll find a handful of articles of what he does to stay in shape. The man dances and prances 12+ miles on stage every night. When he's not performing, he's taking dance classes, goes jogging, lifts weights in his own personal gym, etc. The list goes on. When I read about this, I thought "well I just ran out of excuses not to exercise!" (that counts as cardio, right?!
) I mean, the man is 75 years old with the body and spirit of a 20-something. If he could do it, then so can I.
There's also an 86 year old woman bodybuilder named Ernestine Shepard whom I just adore. Omg, this woman just inspires me every single day! She started bodybuilding at 72 and has gone on to win so many awards and fame. God bless her, she is amazing, truly an inspiration to me.
These are the kinds of people that I look up to. That's how I want to be someday- fit, healthy and energetic!
"Do you know any 40 year-olds that act like they’re 80?"
Yes, I've personally known some people in their 30's that act like they're 100! They don't realize the youth and vitality that they still have, let alone use it. It's actually sad to witness. They are not living life to their full potential and unhappy.
Phirrgus, age is just number. Those people who said hurtful things to you are hurting on the inside- they're jealous and wish they could have the energy, zest and health that you have. You're getting a reaction out of people because you are doing something right that makes people notice you. That's what happens when you take care of yourself- suddenly people notice you!
I know this because I was morbidly obese- 6 feet tall, 355 pounds and NOBODY noticed me... ever! People would actually walk right into me. You see my profile pic? How could anyone possibly miss me, the big fat bright pink blob that I was?! Now that I began leading a healthy lifestyle, people move out of the way, hold doors for me, greet me with a smile, salespeople notice me, etc. Trust me- if people are taking notice and saying stuff, it's a sign you are doing something right!
So screw the haters and just keep doing you- your body will thank you for it, and you'll be so grateful that you did! Keep eating healthy, keep working out and exercising, keep showing 'em how it's done! DO NOT give up, DO NOT QUIT! Screw the haters! You do you! You got this!
Stay awesome, sir!4 -
I think age is defined in the "mind's eye". If you feel old, you act old. I too know people who seemed to have slowed right down and they haven't even reached 50 yet.
I also know some people who are in their 80's that still have a vigorous life.
I have a renewed sense of staying "young" because I just lost a brother. He was 55. Way too young to have died considering he was not in ill health. He was a kind and decent person and his passing was a complete shock.
I'll be damned if I don't try living "younger". When something tragic like this happens you really start to get a better perspective on the way you live.
Very sorry for your loss, my condolences!
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The most depressing conversations in my life occur when a group of people my age (late 40s) and younger sit around moaning about aging, especially the people who do absolutely nothing to mitigate it. The insidious “my metabolism is slowing down” syndrome –unless you have medical conditions, slow-downs are generally self-inflicted from lifestyle choices.
Pain and inconvenience as you age are inevitable – how that manifests itself is up to you. You can choose the chronic, lifestyle impairing pain associated with being sedentary and having your body atrophy or the temporary pain of exercising regularly. You can choose the inconvenience of neglecting your diet (impaired energy levels, high cholesterol, heart problems, type 2 diabetes, etc. and the associated dependence on prescriptions) or you can choose the comparatively minor inconvenience of eating according to a plan. What you choose is entirely up to you, but don’t’ complain about the consequences of choosing to do nothing will have on your “golden years”.
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Haha 😆1 -
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@Kimmotion5783
I love it. Don't ever stop 🙂
Here's another for you. Enjoy
https://youtu.be/uKJaZDGVNWA
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That video of Sonny the bodybuilder is brilliant in its simplicity. He is living proof that there are no "secrets" to succeed, just a daily decision to make the effort.
Here's another one of my favorites....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuPLxQD4akQ
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I turned 67 two weeks ago. I just got a call from my doctor and my blood work came back as normal. My BP was 112/62. When I was in my 50s I was obese, drinking every day and not careful with my diet. My kidneys were failing after being on blood pressure meds for over 5 years. I’ve had issues with my weight since I was 16. I’ve learned that you are what you eat and exercise is the fountain of youth. While my hair is white and my laugh lines are deep, I’m in the best health ever. I’ve lost 45 lbs but still have 30 to go. I will say this to you youngsters, it’s harder to take off when you get older. It’s a lifestyle change. Do it while you’re young. I consider myself very blessed and want to travel while I’m still able. Add me as a friend if you wish. I just got back on MFP after being absent for a while. I’ll be happy to help in any way I can.15
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That video of Sonny the bodybuilder is brilliant in its simplicity. He is living proof that there are no "secrets" to succeed, just a daily decision to make the effort.
Here's another one of my favorites....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuPLxQD4akQ
@Djproulx ..fantastic video thanks. The guy going down that sharp ridge...I wish I could run. I would love that 🙂0
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