Workout Help For Those Over 50

It depends on your goal, which you didn't state. For general fitness, i think the most important thing is to stay moving. This means walking, cardio, gardening, and other lower-intensity activities.. preferably involving balance & coordination (as opposed to a stationary bike, for example). Strength training is important too, but it can't be done often enough to be the sole form of activity.
A good strength program for your age bracket is New Rules of Lifting for Life. Or work with a good personal trainer.. especially if you have orthopedic issues.

Hi, I'm female and 10 years older than you and on a similar journey.

I have some joint degeneration in my knees & hips and carry some back pain from horse riding injuries when younger... as well as way too much weight - so considering my position and having done as you did researched various recommendations I decided on strength training with resistance bands (you can take them anywhere), cycling (I purchased a Greenspeed Magnum recumbent tadpole trike which folds... can take it anywhere too) and in the warmer months I was swimming daily but now as its colder where I live - the 'no excuses' treadmill is in my living room.

Any exercise I do is preceded with stretching routine.. if we don't warm up and stretch the muscles damage could be caused to soft tissue - I learnt the correct form and methods from attending a group strength training class each week

Living activities..gardening ect I now do not include in my exercise count for calorie gain as only consistent regular exercise is my goal as the weight is slowly but surely being lost.

I had pretty much given up this quest to be slim and fit, but then I took stock in January this year and considered like you what my neglect and ignoring my issues was going to only bring me grief. So since January my bike rides have extended from 5 to 8 miles (approx. 8 to 13kilometers) and I enjoy a bit of hill as it is more challenging and as the weight is coming off am finding it easier each week.

Cheers,
Elle

You should work out doing the thing that you like the most. If you dont know what you like, try different things till something clicks. The most important thing with exercise is to find something you will stay motivated to do and can be consistent with. You will make no progress towards your goals if it doesn't work for you.

You say you want to drop 50lbs, you can do that with almost anything. Weight training, cardio, P90X, swimming, some combination thereof. Like I said, you need to discover what works for you. Try something, when it doesn't work, change it.

While I'm only 41, your age shouldn't matter unless you have some health condition that prevents you from doing something. You can do anything. There are 75 year old heavy lifters with far more strength than I have.

Incidentally its the same thing with food, you have to figure out what works for you. You won't be able to drop 50lbs of fat with an exercise routine, you need to figure out your food too. The answers to both are highly personal to you. I only recommend that you find something that is sustainable and not temporary- no 2 month diets and the like. Those do not work because you're not teaching yourself anything you can live with, and odds are you'll put the weight back on after some time. Same thing with exercise, it can be anything you enjoy doing, but the point is you should want to do it so you keep going back to it for decades to come.

For me my age is irrelevant apart from progress and recovery being slower.

Sure as a generalisation in our 50's we may have had more time to accumulate injuries and in particular degenerative conditions but I detest the idea that I should train in some special way simply because I'm in my 50's. Yes I have to make allowances for mashed up knees and back but that's due to injury and not simply age.

I'm goal oriented and self-competitive the same as I've always been whether it's weights or cardio.

My advice would be the same irrespective of age, try everything and constantly push your limits in a progressive way.

I'm over 5o and tend to avoid high impact activity.
But I walk, cross country ski, bike, yoga, paddle etc.

I'm 49, so not far from where you're at. I'll go over a few considerations that will hopefully help you decide which exercise program best suits you:

1) What are your overall fitness goals? You listed weight loss (which I'll read as fat loss). That is going to come from what and how much you eat. Food only becomes relevant beyond that as a fuel and materials for rebuilding. That means you'll need to focus your macros and meal timing to suit the program you're on. The exercises you do should be geared toward your other fitness goals (strength, muscle mass retention/gain, cardiovascular, endurance, mobility, balance, speed, agility, etc.) What do you want as a fitness goal? Hint: It can be more than one, if you're willing to work harder to achieve more than one goal.

2) What are your current constraints? Do you have health or mobility issues that you'll have to address or work around. I have issues with my ankles, so any court sports will be a problem for me. My current cardiovascular tolerance for hard, medium duration is limited, so I struggle with certain high metabolic sessions. Knowing yourself will help you define what your progression will look like.

3) Are there any activities you love (or hate)? Work in the ones you love and avoid the ones you hate (unless you need them to meet other goals).

4) Do you have a proper time horizon? We didn't get out of shape and overweight in a year, so it is unreasonable to think we'd fix all of that in less than a year. Set achievable milestones, and work hard to get there.

I hope this helps.

There is a big difference in what elite athletes and the rest of us go through. To perform at the levels they do, they push their bodies extremely hard, and as a result, they break (injuries). The cumulative injuries is what causes them to have to retire. You and I are going to train smarter and avoid injuries (at the very least avoid cumulative injuries).

Paint the house, mend the fence, go grocery shopping, and finish reading that book. You can do all of these, but how would you go about it? To get the most noticable results (i.e., accomplishing one of them) you would want to focus on just one until you get there. That said, you may still find it good to be working on two (I paint during the day and read in the evening). Based on your priorities, it sounds like you should focus on the fat loss (and working on cardiovascular fitness coordinates well with that goal). I have a feeling that strength/muscle mass will move up in your priorities as you approach your fat loss goal.

Enjoy!

I am turning 50 this weekend. I need to drop about 40 lbs, but it isn't my focus as much as strength and a healthy heart. I am a big guy (framed) and have pretty much always worked out my whole life to some degree, life just happened and it got away from me for a decade or so. I am focused on this though, this is important to me, so I am investing a lot of time on it. I am doing my best to make it to retirement standing on my feet as strong and healthy as I can be.

I do elliptical (because of knees) bicycling (knees again) and lots of weights. Not heavy like I used to at 20, but I am doing lots of weights. I live in a frozen wasteland that fair weather is only 6 months out of the year so bicycling is going to replace the Elliptical in a few weeks.

FWIW here is what have been doing for the last three months, this is what I can live with, but it isn't for everyone:

45 minutes on elliptical 5 days a week, and 1 day of HIIT also on the elliptical, 1 minute on/1 minute off for 20 minutes.

6 days a week I am splitting my weight training with modest weights, again not competing with my 20 yo self, but the amount keeps going up... those thoughts are hard to dismiss sometimes though and the numbers aren't too shabby for an old guy.

Mon Morning Cardio - Afternoon- Legs+ calves
Tues Morning Cardio - Afternoon- Back and Chest +abs
Wed Morning Cardio - Afternoon- Shoulders and Forearms + calves
Thurs Morning Cardio - Afternoon- Bicepts and Triceps +abs
Fri Morning Cardio - Afternoon- Legs+ calves
Sat Morning Cardio - Afternoon- Back and Chest +abs
Sunday Rest
(Edit sorry needed to check my calendar)

Then do it all over again but I sometimes reverse the weight sets from heavy to light and then light to heavy trying to trick my body into not getting comfortable. I rest between reps and sets for 1 minute to try and get out of the basement as soon as possible. I work out of my house and travel.. so... might as well work out for lunch when I am home, and I work out at night when I am in a hotel.

I am now maintaining around 2200-2400 calories per day eating 6 times per day, and on my day off I don't count, but I am watching. With a Carb=40 Protein 40 and fat 20 Macro Scheme most days.

I do use an HRM to monitor everything because I twitch that way and I measure and weight all my food. There were weeks the scale wouldn't move at all, but my clothes are loose in the important areas and tighter in the other important areas and my strength kept going up.

I am still pretty big, but that isn't my goal, my goal is to maintain as much muscle as possible while losing fat.

Finding your specific numbers and the food that YOU are willing to live with is what matters with consistency, which I think is the hardest part. There is a lot of trial and error involved because all the BMI/BMR/TDEE/New workout of the week guides are just that.. Guides. You are unique and you have to find that zen.

Good luck, you can do it.

justsayinisall wrote: »

Not yet 50, close though. I just wanted to chime in with the story of a woman at my gym. I noticed her when I first started going. I thought to myself that she was probably in her mid to late 60's. She was my idol! I would watch her on the treadmill and then she would go and lift weights. Someone eventually introduced me to her and I find out that, this women I thought was in her 60's, was 89 years old! 89.

When I asked her how long she had been going to the gym, she told me she started at the age of 54. She walks at the mall 3 days a week and then does the gym 2 days a week. She tells me her secret is to just move. Do SOMETHING. ANYTHING.

So it's never too late. Just do something.

I needed to read this! That is so inspiring!

sijomial wrote: »

For me my age is irrelevant apart from progress and recovery being slower.

Sure as a generalisation in our 50's we may have had more time to accumulate injuries and in particular degenerative conditions but I detest the idea that I should train in some special way simply because I'm in my 50's. Yes I have to make allowances for mashed up knees and back but that's due to injury and not simply age.

I'm goal oriented and self-competitive the same as I've always been whether it's weights or cardio.

My advice would be the same irrespective of age, try everything and constantly push your limits in a progressive way.

I agree with this. I am 60 and my highest weight was 260. I got down to 168 and am currently at 190.

Honestly, I have no real advice for how you should reach your goals. I know what I've done, but that's all I could speak to.

However, as far as "keeping your eyes on the prize" so to speak - there is a fellow in my subdivision who is 70 if he is a day and he loops the rest of us runners in the neighborhood. I always feel like "dang it, if he can do this, I have no valid excuses" when I see him. Anytime I need even more inspiration, I go onto the local race timing website and look at the results from recent runs. There are men and women in their 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's out there posting good times. I have decided that I want to be one of those people one day. (Well, I want to have their times. . .I don't/won't race.)

I hit the big FIVE-OH last October and have been doing weight training for somewhere around 3.5-4 years now and I LOVE it. I hate doing cardio, other than when the weather's nice and I can get my handcycle out.... but I'm absolutely hooked on weight training. I definitely agree with what @RECowgill said, though... it's important to find something that you enjoy doing because that helps to ensure that you'll stick with it.

If you do decide to go the route of any form of weight training, I found this site some time back that has various articles on building muscle after 40.... https://buildingmuscleover40.wordpress.com/

If you are confused by all the suggestions, remember that any exercise that combines strength with cardio will give you the fastest overall fitness results. This has worked great for me, and I'm almost 50.
 
Consider buying some workout videos you can do at home.  I highly recommend Jillian Michaels' 30 day shred video.  It is not a new video, but it takes only 20 minutes and includes jumping jacks and jump rope motions for the cardio portions so its really suitable for all fitness levels.  You can burn 300+ calories in less than a 1/2 hour and it's under $10 on Amazon. I have stayed at Level 1 and Level 2 and I am dropping weight consistently while strengthening core and building muscle.
 
Also, an easy way to get pretty accurate calorie counts is to purchase an inexpensive heart rate monitor that will bluetooth to your cell phone.  I use the Wahoo TICKR and it works great (about $60 on Amazon).  If you download a free app like Digifit, it will upload your daily calorie burns to MFP automatically.
 
This way you can actually measure your food and calories, you would get a pretty solid answer for your true CICO numbers.  It has worked great for me... I'm down a steady 17 lbs in about 45 days!

With some daily exercise and calorie counting, you can change your life.  Just remember to be patient and use tried and true techniques. Good luck with your journey!