Transitioning from a young mans training mindset to a middle aged one.

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CharlieCharlie007
CharlieCharlie007 Posts: 246 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Going back to the gym after a 16 month break due to illness is hard enough. But, knowing that the way you have always trained, with your current body, will not longer work, is even harder. I know how to train to gain mass, bulk, and lifting heavy, but I have to now think of how to train for a sleek body, something that is alien to me. Who out there has faced this necessity for a mind shift in training, and how did you go about making it?

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  • Sarc_Warrior
    Sarc_Warrior Posts: 430 Member
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    After being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, I also had to change. Add me if you want
  • CharlieCharlie007
    CharlieCharlie007 Posts: 246 Member
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    I agree with you, I suppose I should have added that I no longer have full functionality due to the illness that I acquired. Weakened bones and reduced lung capacity. Plus, the issue is not gaining mass, but not being able to train as before due to new limitations.
  • CharlieCharlie007
    CharlieCharlie007 Posts: 246 Member
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    Sarc_Warrior wrote: »
    After being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, I also had to change. Add me if you want

    Let me guess...Rheumatoid.
  • pobalita
    pobalita Posts: 741 Member
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    Feel free to add me, too. I'm 50. I was running marathons and ultras and developed severe asthma two years ago. I've managed to maintain minimal running - if I take 5 medications - since then. I'm making an effort to run more now, but the body will not cooperate. The pace is slow and I can't go very far at once making it hard to stay motivated and hard to lose weight. Just taking it one day at a time right now and looking for small gains that will hopefully add up to big ones.
  • CharlieCharlie007
    CharlieCharlie007 Posts: 246 Member
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    pobalita wrote: »
    Feel free to add me, too. I'm 50. I was running marathons and ultras and developed severe asthma two years ago. I've managed to maintain minimal running - if I take 5 medications - since then. I'm making an effort to run more now, but the body will not cooperate. The pace is slow and I can't go very far at once making it hard to stay motivated and hard to lose weight. Just taking it one day at a time right now and looking for small gains that will hopefully add up to big ones.

    I am there with you. Trying to figure out how to add people. It seems different than I remember.
  • tcunbeliever
    tcunbeliever Posts: 8,219 Member
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    Take it slow, allow for more recovery time, and listen to your body so you know when to back off and when to push forward. If you don't already have alternative exercises for the things you can't do anymore, then maybe find a professional trainer or physical therapist to help - one that is accustomed to working around injuries and age, not someone who has no clue.
  • CharlieCharlie007
    CharlieCharlie007 Posts: 246 Member
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    tcunbeliever wrote: »
    Take it slow, allow for more recovery time, and listen to your body so you know when to back off and when to push forward. If you don't already have alternative exercises for the things you can't do anymore, then maybe find a professional trainer or physical therapist to help - one that is accustomed to working around injuries and age, not someone who has no clue.

    This is what I am doing next week. However I am not holding up much hope that I will find someone good. I go to the canadian version of 24hour fitness.
  • HoneyBadger302
    HoneyBadger302 Posts: 1,971 Member
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    Sometimes we have to readjust our plans. Doesn't mean we can't reach the same goals, but nothing wrong with new goals, either.

    I had an injury (not illness) just over a year ago that turned my fitness/physical life as I knew it kind of on it's proverbial head. Even in good case scenarios for this particular injury they say 2 - 2 1/2 years before you even know where your "new normal" will be.

    I've been back to the gym regularly (~5 days a week with some limitations) since just before Thanksgiving. At first it was just exciting to see progress and be able to even do that much. Now that it's been a couple months, I've hit that point where I'm realizing just how far I still have to go until I even get back to where I was before the injury.

    Still determined to do it, but having to accept that it's another year at least, and even then there may be things I'll never really be able to do (running being a big one, jumping much of anything is a total unknown right now). But, one day at a time, and almost daily have to remind myself to keep working at it and don't count my chickens just yet...
  • CharlieCharlie007
    CharlieCharlie007 Posts: 246 Member
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    HoneyBadger155 wrote: »
    Sometimes we have to readjust our plans. Doesn't mean we can't reach the same goals, but nothing wrong with new goals, either.

    I had an injury (not illness) just over a year ago that turned my fitness/physical life as I knew it kind of on it's proverbial head. Even in good case scenarios for this particular injury they say 2 - 2 1/2 years before you even know where your "new normal" will be.

    I've been back to the gym regularly (~5 days a week with some limitations) since just before Thanksgiving. At first it was just exciting to see progress and be able to even do that much. Now that it's been a couple months, I've hit that point where I'm realizing just how far I still have to go until I even get back to where I was before the injury.

    Still determined to do it, but having to accept that it's another year at least, and even then there may be things I'll never really be able to do (running being a big one, jumping much of anything is a total unknown right now). But, one day at a time, and almost daily have to remind myself to keep working at it and don't count my chickens just yet...

    Yep. Exactly that.
  • Sarc_Warrior
    Sarc_Warrior Posts: 430 Member
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    Sarcoidosis

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