Fitness for Training Old Farts 55+

Little Rickie said:

Lost 65 lbs on 20 min a day? Impressive.

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If it's the same 20 minutes per day he used to spend knocking off a half-dozen Krispy Kremes...not that surprising.


I love this thread, though. I hope I'm half as active as all y'all when I'm 55+.

Little Rickie said:

Inspired by the other string, who is 55 yrs or older and how do you train?

I exercise 4 hours a week in the 70-80% target heart rate zone but my recovery really sucks.

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I'm 55 yrs. old, but only train if I'm going rockclimbing. I don't need to train to go hiking.

Mohamed Ellozy said:

72 years old. Try to hike a couple of times a week, and am fortunate that I have several roads with various grades close to home (steepest goes up 1,000 feet in 2½ miles) which I walk up another couple of times a week. No gym now that rehab is over.

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God bless you, Mohamed. I hope to stay that active into my 70s too. My Mom is 82 and she still goes to the gym 3 times a week, so I have had a good example all my life.

I am 58 and I have been running on and off most of my life. But a few years ago my knees started giving me a bit of trouble. A regular dose of glucosomine/chondroitin seems to have fixed that problem but as a precaution I have backed off on running a bit. Also, a few years ago my office did a "Go Walking" competition sponsored by Blue Cross. It was basically to see who could walk the most miles in a three month period. But we were also given a conversion chart that converts other types of excercise into walking miles. So I now use that chart and by doing a variety of excercises and activities I try to do at least 40 equivalent walking miles per week. I try to run 5 miles on Mon, Wed, and Fri. I have a bowflex at home so on Tues and Thurs I do one lower body workout and one upper body workout. Then on the weekends, depending on the time of year, I either ride my bike, hike, ski, or do some other kind of outdoor activity.
This gives me plenty of variety and many options in order to reach my 40 mile goal. So I don't get bored with the same routine all the time. This doesn't really get me into perfect "hiking" or "skiing" shape, but it does keep me at a pretty good overall fitness level.

In response to Little Rickey--------

That is exactly it, it is not exciting enough for people. It is way to simple. Just like being on a diet; fewer calories over time and you lose weight. All the trendy diet programs probably work----if you use them.

I always argue with people that if they plan on 1 hour a day and I plan on 20 minutes a day lets see who is still at it in 3-4 months. Remember 20 minutes is the minium. The gist of the study still goes back to the best exercise is the one you do.

I'm 54 but...

... I can't resist chiming in.

I usually hike Saturdays, Sundays and Tuesdays. The other four days I go to gym. All gym days include stretching and abdominal crunches. Three of the four gym days I'm on the treadmill for a total of 65 minutes: 5 minutes of warm-up, 45 minutes at work-out intensity, and 15 minutes of cool-down. (I don't think 15 minutes of cool-down is necessary but it gives me a few more calories burnt). The fourth gym day I extend the 45 minutes to an hour for a total of 80 minutes on the treadmill. I also do tai chi daily and resistance training (weights) twice a week. I go dancing about twice a week but don't count that as a workout.

I will occasionally replace one of the gym sessions with ice skating or a bike ride.

Bigfoot said:

. Remember 20 minutes is the minium. The gist of the study still goes back to the best exercise is the one you do.

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What's the max per day you'd do?

Little Rickie said:

What's the max per day you'd do?

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15 miles in the Whites

50 miles on the road bike

50 miles on the road bike and then hike Cardigan

4-5 hours out in the Kayak

etc

I did Mt Washington & Monroe on Saturday, cross country skied for 1.5 hrs on Sunday. Very Little on Monday and Tuesday this week. Demerits for me.

Then it would be Tuesday and I would leave home to work at 5:30 am and get back at 6:30 pm. Sometimes the 20 minutes was hard to find. I am the cook at home and I try to make a good dinner (1 1/2 hrs to prepare & cook 15 minutes to eat) and my eyes start to "bleed" around 9pm so it is off to dream land. If you do the math 20 minutes was sometimes hard to find.



I am doing this 3-4 times a week now and I need to get back to seven days. We even have the numbers 1-7 on the fridge and turn them over each time we get exercise.

Bigfoot said:

In response to Little Rickey--------

That is exactly it, it is not exciting enough for people. It is way to simple. Just like being on a diet; fewer calories over time and you lose weight. All the trendy diet programs probably work----if you use them.

I always argue with people that if they plan on 1 hour a day and I plan on 20 minutes a day lets see who is still at it in 3-4 months. Remember 20 minutes is the minium. The gist of the study still goes back to the best exercise is the one you do.

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I've been doing 5 x 1 hr min per week now for 15 years. I will mix it up:

During the week, I
- Commute by bicycle or ride at lunch
- Lift at the gym
- Stairmaster/treadmill/elliptical/bike at the gym
- XC or snowshoe at the local city park

On the weekends, I
- Hike
- Bike (1-6 hours, 15-100 miles)
- Ski (XC or Alpine)
- mow (walk-behind, don't use self-propel for extra workout)
- rake
- garden
- other honey-do stuff

Do I enjoy the gym? Nope. But I enjoy the benefits of the gym!

Tim
p.s. I am 10 years below the threshold here...

In response to Bikehikeskifish.....compared to the balance of the population ...you are extraordinary. Compared to this forum you are probably above "normal".

Hmmm--57....Walk the dog...Lift a little...Try to hike everyweek...and watch what I eat...Married a 30y/o

I’m 59 and I’ve been working out in a gym 4-5x/wk for about 22 years now since I stopped playing competitive sports. My current workout consists of 15 mins of cardio warm-up, 35 mins of weights (daily alternating chest, back & shoulders and doing legs nearly every day) and core exercises, 35 mins of cardio, followed by 10 mins of dynamic stretching. I’ve also been doing a yoga class weekly for a few years and I also do some yoga on my own on a non-regular basis. My warm ups and cardio vary daily between elliptical, Stairmaster, bike, treadmill running or elevated walking, and rowing machine.

I still occasionally run and until about a year ago I would walk 3.5 miles every night with my wife but her schedule changed and she now walks during the day. She and I will snowshoe at the local bike path at random times. I have not given up the ghost yet on raking my 1 acre yard or shoveling the 80’ driveway but the pressure is increasing. I do push-ups and core exercises when I watch tv. Anything to avoid commercials and keep myself from going stir crazy.

I recover pretty quickly both from a heart rate viewpoint (which I don’t monitor) and from a muscle/joint/stamina standpoint (I have no problems hiking on consecutive days). I hike as much as I can which is less than half as much as I want to. I don’t consider hiking as training. Everything else I do is training for hiking.

JohnL

I'd like to chime in on the point others have made - hiking isn't training. Neither is road biking. Same thing with skiing. Training is only exercise you don't like to do.

Hiking is living.

Almost 54, so I kind of qualify. I like to view my progression based on my running. These are 5K times, all are approximate

age 20 - 16 minutes
age 30 - 17 minutes
age 40 - 19 minutes
age 50 - 21 minutes

Not a preogression I particularly like, but still moving forward. I've also noticed my recover from a race has gone from a day or 2 to over a week or two. As someone asked earlier I don't recover fast. I try to do one serious hiking trip a month.

For workouts I run 4 days a week (3-4 miles) and do 2 days on the elliptical (I try to take a day off, but that is the hardest day ). I also do weights twice a week and pilates once a week (I've found this really helps).

I tried gloucosamine and friends but found they didn't help. I have found omega fish oil helps general recovery, I take it twice a day.

Biggest concern is knees, and my down fall has always been fast women

Bigfoot said:

In response to Bikehikeskifish.....compared to the balance of the population ...you are extraordinary. Compared to this forum you are probably above "normal".

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FWIW, and most of you don't know this (Dave, perhaps witnessed the transformation)... In 1994 (age 29) I weighed 262 pounds and smoked. 10/31/1994 was a wakeup call for me and the day I quit. By 3/31/1995 I was down 50 pounds and bought my first real road bike. I started racing in 1996 and got down to the high 180s. I went from a 42" waist to a 34". I can say unequivocally that over the 12 years I raced, my recovery time has gone up with my age.

I have a strong incentive to stay active.

Rick is right though - the best program is one you can stick with. The January uptick at the gym is already on the decline and by March 1st it will be back to the static level.

I just rode home from work

Tim

Bigfoot said:

15 miles in the Whites

50 miles on the road bike

50 miles on the road bike and then hike Cardigan

4-5 hours out in the Kayak

etc
.

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Impressive also glad to see you have a busy schedule. I have a lot of stress in my life now so time does get challanging.

What I ment what is the most you do on a daily basis. You said 20 min min. Do you regularly do more than that and how much?

WHO ARE YOU CALLING AN OLD F..... (oops, excuse me) . I don't train at all, but I do work in a big-box store and walk all day long, as well as lifting merchandise, kneeling on the floor, etc. Works for me at age 57.

Little Rickie said:

Impressive also glad to see you have a busy schedule. I have a lot of stress in my life now so time does get challanging.

What I ment what is the most you do on a daily basis. You said 20 min min. Do you regularly do more than that and how much?

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Beyond 20 minutes is more about having time on my side rather than going for the limits of what my body wants or can do.

If a person was in training for something specific, then perhaps longer workouts with specific training would be most approiate. I believe the results of the study were for basic fitness. Of course bringing Newton into the picture ....things in motion tend to stay in motion......the more you do 20 minutes a day the more you will want to do more than 20 minutes a day.

Then along comes that day where you just cannot find the time.....so you find 10 minutes ....twice.

Bikehikeskifish.....I di not smoke but have the same incentive to run fast enough to keep ahead of my past too. It sounds like you are doing exceptionally well. The other wolves will bite your butt if you slow down.

Little Rickie said:

Impressive also glad to see you have a busy schedule. I have a lot of stress in my life now so time does get challanging.

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I'm going to chime in based on the 'it's not the years, it's the miles' option. Not quite 55, but feel like it many days, so...

Rickie - this described me last year. The new job was very hectic and kept me moving and traveling, and I thought I had no time and too much stress to exercise. As a result, my weight ballooned to a lifetime high. Just before Thanksgiving I hit a high (low?) and resolved to improve, and have been pretty good at getting to the gym and getting out now. The best part - the stress factor has improved too, because I feel better.

I know you're busy and harried, but taking some time for yourself is a great investment in time.

See you out there buddy...

Scott

Bigfoot said:

Bikehikeskifish.....I di not smoke but have the same incentive to run fast enough to keep ahead of my past too. It sounds like you are doing exceptionally well. The other wolves will bite your butt if you slow down.

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It's not a diet, it's a lifestyle change.

Tim

Trained.

At 71 I consider my self trained.Also called "Sir Farts A Lot".So I guess I am qualified.There is no training better than just doing it,and at your own pace and enjoyment.Just like snowshoeing the only way to get ready for it is doing it.There are no exercises that will condition those muscles better than snowshoeing,just start with easy days and work up.I made the mistake of climbing Passaconaway on shoes the first outing of one winter and I paid the price dearly.Got massaged for a couple hours to relax the butt muscles so I could sleep.The next year I started easy with 2-4 mile hikes on easy terrain and never had trouble again.
In winter my wife and I climb once during the week and every saturday.We walk 1-3 miles on the other days with one day off to rest the old bones.Of course we are retired so that helps.