Maybe it's a myth on lifting weights...

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Replies

  • scrittrice
    scrittrice Posts: 345 Member
    Well you might also be incontinent when you're old so I guess we all might as well start crapping our pants now, right?

    Ha--that made me snort-laugh.
  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
    Muscle is muscle Fat is Fat.
    One cannot turn become the other.
    But if you stop doing math problems your brain cells turn into pancreas cells.
  • foreverslim1111
    foreverslim1111 Posts: 2,635 Member
    It is just not true that someday, when you get older, you won't be able to lift weights or maintain your fitness. If you care enough about your health, you will keep working on it. Some older people get weak because of chronic disease. So in that case it is understandable that they are using canes and walkers. Alot of them are trying to do the best within their limitations. Then some older people think it is inevitable to gradually become weaker and soon they have to struggle to get up out of a chair or into a car. They believe that it is part of normal aging.

    Then there are some of us that love to defy our age. I'm 68, female and working on my fitness and controlling my weight. And I enjoy it. I currently am walking 3 days a week about 2 to 3 miles, lifting free weights at home (2 - 10lb dumbels curles and then over my head, and I hope to graduate to 2 - 15lbs next week) and doing 3 Julian Michaels 30 minute workouts each week. I love how I feel so much stronger and can still get into my size 12s. I am 5'9 and weigh 168. My goal is 160.

    I love seeing the changes in my body. So please don't think that it is inevitable that you will get weak when you get older. Its not.
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
    You should never ride a bicycle since there will come a time where you won't be able to ride one anymore.

    You should never paddle a canoe since there will come a time where you won't be able to anymore.

    You should never ______ since there will come a time where you won't be able to anymore.

    See how ridiculous that is?
  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
    You should never ride a bicycle since there will come a time where you won't be able to ride one anymore.

    You should never paddle a canoe since there will come a time where you won't be able to anymore.

    You should never ______ since there will come a time where you won't be able to anymore.

    See how ridiculous that is?
    It's not ridiculous at all.

    Oops I crapped my pants again... brb.
  • MyOwnSunshine
    MyOwnSunshine Posts: 1,312 Member
    Like any other activity, if you stop lifting weights you will gain weight (fat) if you continue eating like you are lifting weights. Muscle does not "turn" to fat. If you are inactive for a long period of time after lifting, you may lose some of your muscle mass. If you eat more calories than you burn, you will likely gain body fat.

    Strength training has been found beneficial in maintaining bone and muscle mass for people as old as 90. Although you may not always be able to lift the amount of weight you can in your twenties or thirties, you should always be able to do some kind of strength training, barring a serious injury or medical diagnosis.

    All people should strive to be physically active throughout their lifetime, as activity level and physical fitness is strongly correlated with health and mental acuity in old age.
  • hmaddpear
    hmaddpear Posts: 610 Member
    Straight from the CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/growingstronger/why/
    That's why you should keep lifting weights.

    Thanks for this link. I've started to panic slightly, as I'm a product of the fat-free 80's and am worried osteoporosis and arthritis is pretty much an inevitability. Glad to see that strength training can have an effect at any point.
  • ironanimal
    ironanimal Posts: 5,922 Member
    Look at it this way; older people (generally speaking) are the ones who place such a heavy stigma on lifting heavy weight -- especially women.

    A lot of older people are fragile, weak, suffer from osteoperosis and so on.

    Think you want to take advice from on your future fitness?
  • Cortelli
    Cortelli Posts: 1,369 Member
    Yeah - you can't really do any intensive or challenging exercise once you get older. I mean, look at Harriet Anderson. She's a friend of ours' mom, lives here in our small town, and works out at the community center gym we belong to.

    http://www.ironman.com/triathlon/news/articles/2013/12/performance-of-the-year-harriet-anderson.aspx#axzz2xUOlm3f0

    She's finished the Kona Ironman 21 times, and holds the record for the oldest woman to every complete it -- at 78 years old last October. She didn't start doing triathlons until she was in her early fifties and retired.

    Lifting not only helps with bone density, it also keeps joints and all the infrastructure that supports good joint health (tendons, ligaments, etc.) in good shape. Start now. Stop only if you want to. Age won't stop you.

    There are a number of late 70s and a few early 80s folks at our community center gym (it skews older than your average gym!) lifting weights and hitting the spin room or pool after!
  • bshot1
    bshot1 Posts: 44
    The body wont build or tear down muscle unless it's absolutely necessary because it's metabolically expensive.

    What will happen, you'll lose 'pump'. If you continue to eat the same amount of calories, you'll eventually get fat. If you eat less than you need, you run the risk of cannibalizing the muscle in the long term.
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
    I've heard of this.

    My family used to tell my built uncle this.

    I think it's actually that if he stopped lifting weights and continued to eat a platter full of potato ground beef tacos with mayo he would naturally gain fat and it would APPEAR that the fat displaced the muscle simply. However it would be that the muscle atrophied due to lack of use while simultaneously the fat gain took it's place on his body.

    Luckily this did not happen to him. I can see how that could easily happen to someone used to consuming giant quantities of calories in their active youth while weight lifting and then continued to eat those cal amounts in their early twenties with less activity levels common to the married and working and then with no time for weight lifting you'd end up pretty plump everywhere you were buff.

    This might be common and thus the myth.
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
    It sounds like you're listening to idiots. Lifting weights increases bone mass as well as muscle mass, two things that you will be grateful to have as you age. And, there's no reason to stop as you get older.

    LOL i guess my family are idiots. OR just repeating what they heard over time.
  • ANDREWBRIAN
    ANDREWBRIAN Posts: 6 Member
    It's just my opinion but one of the problems we have when we get older our muscle turn to mush. It's because we don't to some type of muscle strength exercise. Strength training should be done till the day we die .
  • HeidiMightyRawr
    HeidiMightyRawr Posts: 3,343 Member
    Lifting weights can be done at any age, in fact regular exercise and strength training will help keep you fit and mobile into old age. It'll also help preserve muscle mass, and bone density (lowering your chances of osteoporosis) Just because many people choose not to, doesn't mean they're incapable. Sounds like this person just loves their excuses!

    Do some researching online, you'll find lots of bodybuilders, powerlifters etc that started up lifting, or are continuing their sport/hobbie as they age.
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
    No, muscle doesn't turn to fat. Yes, you can/will lose muscle with age and if you don't lose it. It's "burnt" but doesn't turn to fat directly.

    BUT why can't you lift weights for the rest of your life? I plan to.
  • SunofaBeach14
    SunofaBeach14 Posts: 4,899 Member
    It sounds like you're listening to idiots. Lifting weights increases bone mass as well as muscle mass, two things that you will be grateful to have as you age. And, there's no reason to stop as you get older.

    LOL i guess my family are idiots. OR just repeating what they heard over time.

    Yea. My family are idiots too. But then, I like hyperbole.
  • Branstin
    Branstin Posts: 2,320 Member
    What age would that be?

    Apparently, misinformed people have yet to visit the same gym I attend.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eae3_LDysY8
  • FitnessLover001
    FitnessLover001 Posts: 188 Member
    Thankfully some people have said others have told them this too. And no I don't listen to them, I continue lifting my weights! I was just wondering if anyone had heard that "saying/myth/etc" before. I guess they just meant life will change and you won't have all that time to do all that work in the gym…who knows. People have also told me since I'm in college I have time to work out and look good but once I get out I'll blow up like a balloon because I'll stop working out.. and that right there is exactly why I get up every morning at 6am to get my workouts done before my day even starts…so that I will be able to continue that cycle when I'm out of school. :)
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  • unhinge
    unhinge Posts: 318 Member
    I am 58 and I started weight training 3 years ago and I am just now learning to lift heavy. I have found the fountain of youth, I only wish I had found it IN my youth.
  • 12by311
    12by311 Posts: 1,716 Member
    Thankfully some people have said others have told them this too. And no I don't listen to them, I continue lifting my weights! I was just wondering if anyone had heard that "saying/myth/etc" before. I guess they just meant life will change and you won't have all that time to do all that work in the gym…who knows. People have also told me since I'm in college I have time to work out and look good but once I get out I'll blow up like a balloon because I'll stop working out.. and that right there is exactly why I get up every morning at 6am to get my workouts done before my day even starts…so that I will be able to continue that cycle when I'm out of school. :)

    Life will change. I don't get to run and lift and play sports every day like I used to in college...and even after getting married, prior to having two kiddos.

    But I still make my health for my body and mind a priority at 31 years old. And I continue to do so for as long as I live.

    Sounds like you have some negative people in your life. Oh well, prove em wrong :)
  • Casey45
    Casey45 Posts: 160 Member
    You should never ride a bicycle since there will come a time where you won't be able to ride one anymore.

    You should never paddle a canoe since there will come a time where you won't be able to anymore.

    You should never ______ since there will come a time where you won't be able to anymore.

    See how ridiculous that is?

    This!

    At 51 I started weight lifitng. I'm now 60lbs lighter, reduced my body fat to 24% from 40% and best of all - reversed the osteoporosis I'd been diagnosed with at age 48. Not to mention stronger. :) Lift it or lose it.

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