Athletic achievements

NothinSpecial65

Hi, all!

On again/ off again member of MFP. Almost 59 y.o. and work out 4 days a way. I see a lot of young bucks at the gym doing things I used to do (or never could!) and I was reminiscing about the good old days when I was an avid runner and weight lifter and was wondering what some of your personal best achievements were?

Used to BP 405#, run 5K in just over 20 minutes. As recently as 4 years ago leg pressed 1250# and BP 320# for 5-6 reps. My fitness goals have changed and I would like to start getting more into calisthenics and
core work.

ninerbuff

Since I was more into bodybuilding, I really never pushed poundages to 1RM. So I really have no idea because I never really attempted them.
But today at 59 I can still box jump 30-36 inches, break dance and run pretty fast (last treadmilll sprint I got up to 12 mph).


A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 35+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

NothinSpecial65

ninerbuff wrote: »

Since I was more into bodybuilding, I really never pushed poundages to 1RM. So I really have no idea because I never really attempted them.
But today at 59 I can still box jump 30-36 inches, break dance and run pretty fast (last treadmilll sprint I got up to 12 mph).


A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 35+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Very impressive at any age, let alone 59! Good stuff!

UtahDon

My lifting numbers were probably not far from yours, I was stronger by far at 45 than at 25. I'm 56 right now. I'm a big guy, 6'6" and over 400 today, but I'm still pretty strong. I'm a big fan of Peter Attila and have switched to more of a functional training. I no longer lift what I would consider heavy weights (over 220) as I worry more about injury as I get older. My main goals are to get my weight back around 280 (college weight) and to maintain strength while increasing flexibility and endurance. I've learned a lot about core and balance and my current exercise program is very different than what I did when I was younger. More stretching, more compound movements. I do have a trainer who comes to the house once a week, I've learned a LOT from my trainers and physical therapists. I've never been a runner, but I swim and hike a lot.

I'd recommend Peter's new book "Outlive" for anyone our age.

NothinSpecial65

UtahDon wrote: »

My lifting numbers were probably not far from yours, I was stronger by far at 45 than at 25. I'm 56 right now. I'm a big guy, 6'6" and over 400 today, but I'm still pretty strong. I'm a big fan of Peter Attila and have switched to more of a functional training. I no longer lift what I would consider heavy weights (over 220) as I worry more about injury as I get older. My main goals are to get my weight back around 280 (college weight) and to maintain strength while increasing flexibility and endurance. I've learned a lot about core and balance and my current exercise program is very different than what I did when I was younger. More stretching, more compound movements. I do have a trainer who comes to the house once a week, I've learned a LOT from my trainers and physical therapists. I've never been a runner, but I swim and hike a lot.

I'd recommend Peter's new book "Outlive" for anyone our age.

Good stuff, Don! I'm right there with ya on the whole heavy lifting thing. I find a weight I can handle 12-15 reps to be a good guideline with occasional days of 6-8 rep sets.

I'm 6', 225#, not looking to drop much below 215, so my goal is not as lofty as yours.

evileyefirefly

DarrylBurrows4773 wrote: »

Hi, all!

On again/ off again member of MFP. Almost 59 y.o. and work out 4 days a way. I see a lot of young bucks at the gym doing things I used to do (or never could!) and I was reminiscing about the good old days when I was an avid runner and weight lifter and was wondering what some of your personal best achievements were?

Used to BP 405#, run 5K in just over 20 minutes. As recently as 4 years ago leg pressed 1250# and BP 320# for 5-6 reps. My fitness goals have changed and I would like to start getting more into calisthenics and
core work.

So I've never been a weights person, but my 2 achievements I've stuck to is running a half marathon averaging a 9min mile, and running 1.5mi in 7:30. While I enjoyed it at the time I really have no desire to repeat either so I'm doing the other end now and hitting the weights.

AlphaHowls

Hoptown Half Marathon over weekend
Age 52
36th Overall (out of 162)
8th Place Gender (out of 86)
1st place Age (50-54) (out of 11)
1:55:57
Over all Pace 08:51

AnnPT77

@DarrylBurrows4773, might I suggest you consider finding age-group norms for whatever activity you decide to pursue? It's more realistic, and probably will feel more positive.

It's been a long time now, but as an athletic accomplishment, I think my best was right after losing weight from class 1 obese to a healthy weight (50+ pounds), so dropping into the machine rowing lightweight category just as I aged into the 60-69 class. This was just in time for the first annual World Indoor Rowing Sprints, a virtual rowing machine race sponsored by World Rowing and Concept 2.

I'd been rowing (on water and machine) for over a dozen years at that point, having started being routinely active (at all!) in my later 40s after cancer treatment. I had age-group medaled in a couple of in-person regional indoor races as an open weight, where the strong/tall women compete (but mostly in other regions). Because it was the the first year of this particular world/virtual race, some of the really strong lightweight women my age didn't enter, luckily for me.

I was stunned (and thrilled): I placed 3rd. In the world. (In my age/weight class, mind.) I haven't rowed it again, but my best times would be middle-of-the-pack now, since the very strong rowers now compete in the event.

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I've rowed on-water in multi-person boats in Masters Nationals and Head of the Charles, some of the biggest US events. That was thrilling, too . . . but the results were non-fabulous.

I'm only a couple of years out from aging into 70-79, though, and still a lightweight . . .

nossmf

As a teenager, I earned my letterman's jacket as both a sprinter for track and running cross country. My best achievement from that time would've been running a sub-5 minute mile. (This was a split time from running the 5km cross country race...imagine how low I could've gotten had I trained specifically for the mile race, where I didn't have to reserve energy to keep going.)

In my 30's I turned to powerlifting. My bodyweight while lifting has never topped 200#, so I don't have the individual numbers from some posters above. But I felt pretty good that I topped out a 3-lift total of 1195# with a BW of 195 (6.1x BW).