40+ Club: Fall Fitness Fanatics

navjhaj, can you ride a bike? I have bad knees and it seems that peddling is easier on them than most exercises. Also, you can exercise in water.

Yes, I ride my trainer. I actually try to do sprints on it, 10-15-20-30 minutes, go all out. I agree that bike riding is the best.

Before my injury, I was actually training for an Iron Man, having already done the century ride and the marathon individually, I figured, how much could it be to add a swim? As I found out, very very hard, much harder than the other two.

Anyway, after my injury, I can't really run extended distances any more, my knee won't take it.

Paradoxically, I am only alive today (I was in a bike accident, got hit by a truck and a car door) because, at the time, I had very good cardiovascular fitness. (I wound up losing like 30 units of blood, and given that the typical body only has 8-9, it clearly wasn't even mine to lose).

Now, a few years latter, following a period of being in a wheelchair, crutches, and extensive physical rehab, I found myself very much inactive, having put on weight and lost muscle. Paradoxically, I can still go to the gym and kill the elliptical for like 2 hours straight, bringing 2000 calories.

But I couldn't control my eating. So, now I'm trying this website, and it's working pretty well. I don't really have gym access anymore, and I need to find stuff I can do at home. I still have my heavy bag and heavy bag stand, but I gotta figure out how to transport it to my house.

Anyway, for me, I need to get back to the fitness I was at many years ago. It's what saved my life, and what will prevent greater problems as I get older.

Sorry for the verbiage, I'm new here, just telling you my story. Cheers!

But

I was searching the message boards and saw your group. I was excited to see a group for 40+, as I just recently turned 48, so I'm most def. 40+, lol. I'm starting my third week of Insanity, and boy is it kicking my butt :happy: I'm involved in a BB group on FB, and I love it, but most of the members are about 25-30, and I just think sometimes I have different issues....takes me longer to build up stamina, and to lose weight, etc. Just wanted to pop by and say "hi"!

Evening Everyone

Chris; Thanks for the support.....It's true, I know what I have to do and how....I just have to do it.

Welcome everyone new! I do find great inspiration here, and need to find more time to keep up with it. I used to go to the gym regularly and cycle to work everyday. I adopted a wonderful son ( he is 12 now) 3 years ago, and my life changed. I have gained too much weight and haven't worked out at all.
I really want to change that and feel healthier for both of us. I eat fairly clean, but waaaaay too much, so tracking here has been an eye opener for me. I hardly ever drank water, but Lady Persia is changing that.....she is highly motivating.
With everyone's talk of workouts....I feel the need to start somewhere........I am open to suggestions.

Thanks for listening,
Mila

Hi all! Great to see so many posts. Wish I had time to respond to everybody, but I'm having one of those busy weeks! But I'm reading it all, and really appreciate all of the input, ideas and such. I find so much inspiration here!

All here is going well. I've been working out hard this week with my Insanity/Asylum rotation. I've added strength training to it, and that is going well. I'm just adding those session in after the cardio I'm doing, so it works well. I generally prefer to do my strength training before cardio but since my primary focus right now is on the Insanity/Asylum rotation, I'm letting it take precedence right now in case I run out of time/energy/whatever.

Swissmiss, I'm glad your daughter's finger looks to be doing all right. I'm glad she saw a doctor and, hopefully, the pain will end soon.

singfree, we're in for some cooler temps as well this weekend, and I'm okay with that. It has been somewhat sticky here this week because of all of the rain we've had. But I don't consider 70+ to be too cool, so it sounds perfect to me!

Enjoy the day!

Hi, great to see a thread for someone in my age bracket, here I was getting frustrated with 25 year olds complaining about their body. Wait until they see mine, then they will have something to complain about.....hahaha
Anyway, lets keep this going, cheers from the middle of Australia


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"Fist pump, push ups, chap stick! Fist pump, push ups, chap stick!"

It is Jersday today!

Good morning--great to see so many posts!

Melissa -welcome! glad you are joining us. Congrats on your first post! It was hard for me to post anywhere the first time--and that was over a year ago, and it will gets easier as you get to know us. I started strength exercises back in January and it took me a few months too to see any visible evidence that something was happening, but eventually I became convinced that it was--- I think you'll start seeing it sometime soon ---patience is essential.

Danderson--nice to see someone else who loves food as much as I do. One thing that drives me crazy about people who are "dieting" is that they think they have to starve themselves or only eat salads and cut out wine. MFP really opened my eyes to the opposite. Still enjoy the things you love, but you have to think about ways to fit it in, and then when you do, you balance the other meals accordingly. It does work and deprivation is not necessary.

navj-- welcome. thanks for telling us your story. that accident and recovery sounds terrifying. it's so amazing that you are here and trying hard to figure out which piece of the exercise puzzle will work for you. We'll be happy to listen and hopefully help. Your story hits home directly as I just lost my father (only 67) to a bicycle accident in June. We do not know if it was medical or if he was hit by someone--but the outcome was awful nonetheless, so I'm a little unsure about how to view bicycling and if it will ever fit into my life or my son's life.....

Aliceguy--glad you found us!

Anyway, not much new to report here. Workouts have been basically the same although I have been getting in some longer hikes because we have been doing some mushroom hunting. YUM!. We have been finding black trumpets, hen of the woods, king boletes (porcini), lobser and oyster mushrooms, so every night has been a feast. Unfortunately we also found a yellow-jackets nest over the weekend and were all hunted down and stung about 6-7x in the process. Not fun..it has been a slightly itchy week since. I'm still dodging house painters--the 1 week job seems to have turned into a 3 week job (I'm guessing...). I put a sheet up on a window in one room so I can do my No More Trouble Zones, but have been trying to keep it outside on the other days

Hi to everyone else I haven't mentioned--so great to see all the updates! Enjoy the day! Robin

Danderson--nice to see someone else who loves food as much as I do. One thing that drives me crazy about people who are "dieting" is that they think they have to starve themselves or only eat salads and cut out wine. MFP really opened my eyes to the opposite. Still enjoy the things you love, but you have to think about ways to fit it in, and then when you do, you balance the other meals accordingly. It does work and deprivation is not necessary.

Anyway, not much new to report here. Workouts have been basically the same although I have been getting in some longer hikes because we have been doing some mushroom hunting. YUM!. We have been finding black trumpets, hen of the woods, king boletes (porcini), lobser and oyster mushrooms, so every night has been a feast. Unfortunately we also found a yellow-jackets nest over the weekend and were all hunted down and stung about 6-7x in the process. Not fun..it has been a slightly itchy week since. I'm still dodging house painters--the 1 week job seems to have turned into a 3 week job (I'm guessing...). I put a sheet up on a window in one room so I can do my No More Trouble Zones, but have been trying to keep it outside on the other days

Thanks, and I couldn't agree more. Just do what you do and deal with it. If you head into the city know that you're going to sacrifice before / after the trip to 'pay' for the caloric-ally heavy meals.

For me, food is life. It nourishes me and is among the top five great experiences I have. I remember great meals like I remember the birth of a child, and how many conversations do you have where you say, "Remember when we went to Texas-De-Brazil and had that Flank Steak on the skewer? Amazing."

I would love to go wild mushroom hunting. That has to be so cool. Unfortunately the only mushrooms we have the Jersey Shore are growing next to the Parkway.

Thanks Swissmiss for the suggestions....my son is extremely active, always outside. We have cycled together, but unfort. he has messed up both his bikes, so we will have to wait until next year for that. We do compete with the wii as well. He probably would love to do weights, but I am not ready for that at home, and he is too young for the gym. He is a complete skateboarder, and I am just too old for that.

I actually pulled out my indoor bike and decided to start with that for a few weeks until I get back into it. I will be lucky if I can do 20 minutes on it,
Plan to start on it tomorrow morning, will let you know how it goes.....

Mila

:flowerforyou: Mila, 20 minutes is a good start. Let us know how the cycling goes.

:flowerforyou: MarlynnM, I still have two girls living a home. But, I have found that if just my husband and I are at home, we eat better. For instance...tonight one of the girls is at work and the other is watching her friend's ballgame. My husband and I are having chicken breasts. Ok...mine will be baked and his fried, but still better than pizza that the girls would want.

:flowerforyou: tladame, good to see you. Have you been away? Missed seeing your posts.

:flowerforyou: TxMs, I have hardly any balance. Others in my classes (and I mean those the same age as I) seem to be able to do the exercises on one leg and keep standing upright. I am hoping that the strength class will help with that.


During most of the day, I feel good about myself. I feel healthy and think that I look rather good. BUT, put me in front of a mirror covering the entire wall and have me wear my dance clothes and I look fat. I have to get rid of weight I am carrying from my waist up.