Are you aging at the same pace as others your age? (spouses, fighting)

[Escort Rider]

Originally Posted by Happy in Wyoming

That's so true. Perhaps worse, however, is the fact that people are frightened by something so meaningless. One poster is concerned because he can't jog for twenty minutes. So what? Others wonder how they look compared to others their age. Why? It no longer matters how we look; all that matters is that we're alive and independent.

People are frightened. Previous generations that I remember just relaxed. Think about the afterlife if you believe it. That's your only future and it may not be so bad.

Originally Posted by Eddyline

Here in Colorado, I am surrounded by other 60+ hiking, biking, skiing and kayaking.
Don't know anyone that is obese or horribly out of shape, everyone seems to be aging well.
Go back to the Midwest to visit family and friends and it is a completely different story.
A lot to be said for "use it or lose it".

Looking at photos of my parents and grandparents generation at 60 and two things stick out.
They look much older than my generation but no one looks overweight.

Since I am the "one poster" who is concerned that I can't jog for 20 minutes without stopping, I am happy to provide an explanation.

First, poster Eddyline has provided an excellent one above. I'll just jump onto his by commenting that exercise is the key to continuing to be vital and energetic as we age. Even if exercise doesn't give me one single minute of added longevity, it is more than worthwhile in terms of the benefits to the quality of my life. Happy in Wyoming, it is good to be laid back, but if you don't mind advancing the day when you can't climb stairs and/or have to walk with a walker, just continue to be unconcerned about exercise. You don't mind? O.K. for you, but it matters to me.

[old_cold]

Originally Posted by travelhound

I have never understood the running craze or why an elderly person would choose running. .

Check the ages of most that say they jog or run.....I don't consider those people elderly(and I doubt they do either)
I do know that until injuring my Achilles tendon this past year....at 70 (a case of stupiditis)....I did just about everything I have always done and still would be if it wasn't for that.
Condition matters more than does chronological age.

[Ameriscot]

Originally Posted by travelhound

I have never understood the running craze or why an elderly person would choose running. You should all be swimming or doing variations of stretching from Yoga to pilates and light weights. Running has to be the absolute highest risk exercise for an older person, unless you have a local dirt or padded jogging track. I cant even walk on heels anymore without severe consequence to my hips and feet, there is no way I would run any substantial distances on streets and sidewalks. Thankfully they are now coming up with much bouncier jogging shoes that minimize risk, still, my fear of tripping and having a severe injury made me ditch running and most cycling. I'm a swimmer, and I would prefer to swim an hour a day 6 days, but recently decided to try to break my addiction and ad some other exercise, but Swimming is just the best! I got into such good shape I'm now a certified lifeguard. On a recent trip to Colorado I saw women my age (mid 50s) with 25 year old bodies, so aging is relative to how much you put into keeping fit for life. Most people just don't have the time or discipline to put 2-4 hours a day to maintain a fit body, or the discipline to try to eat healthy in a world of poisoned food. I was raised by Obese indulgent people so I really had to work hard at being a healthy eater and just not becoming obese and unfit. Traveling on the road is hard, I wont do Americas highways again without a Camper Van and my own food. In some towns they still have no idea what Romaine or Arugala or uncooked vegetables are. Diet is 90% of fitness and health. You just say no to junk foods, No Mcd s, no Wendys, those foods are emergency foods only.

My main cardio exercises are spin biking, interval uphill walks on the treadmill, intervals on the rowing machine, sometimes power walking, sometimes jump rope. And when the weather is nice I ride my bike. Occasionally I like to do intervals of power walking/jogging just because I enjoy it. My knees are fine and I'd like them to stay that way.

My strength routines involve free weights, resistance machines, pilates for core, ankle weights, abs routines, lunges, squats, etc. Always stretch after any exercise.

Oh, and I'm a long way from elderly. I'm 61 and very very fit.

[PatanjaliTwist]

Originally Posted by old_cold

My husband looked at me with a concerned look and said..."You've got wrinkles!!" Like...where the hell have you been?

PS...I am calling today for an apt for his annual eye checkup

Haha. Months ago, I read an article by an English journalist who said getting Lasik eye surgery was the worst thing she'd ever done & drove her to depression. Of course, the article was slightly tongue in cheek, but the reason for her distress was that with horrible vision (which I have, too), she had no idea her face was so wrinkled, sagging & blotchy. She said she immediately began looking into facial treatments & cosmetic surgery, added up all she'd need to spend & decided it would have been far cheaper & she would have felt better about herself to have left her bad eyesight alone... blindness was bliss.

Just returned from the opthamologist today & with my annoyingly wonky vision & struggling with progressive lenses, he said I might want to explore Lasik. < Screech!!! > I ran from his office like a lunatic.

[Happy in Wyoming]

Oh, but I have the best age tell. You ready? The temperatures are in the 60s and they are looking for a sweater or jacket. Am I right? Biggest age tell to me is people are cold when it isn't cold indoors and outdoors. Not sure about men but definitely women.[/quote]

I've noticed that there's a racial difference. I grew up in the Chicago area, a place subject to terrible humid heat. Several times after temperatures had dropped from highs in the the eighties or nineties one day into the sixties the next day, relatively common in September, I observed that blacks would suddenly be dressed in clothes that I would have found suitable for a day in the forties, maybe low fifties with wind. I certainly wasn't on the lookout for heavy clothing but it was so apparent I couldn't help but notice.

I was talking to a man who had a phone room as part of his business. He told me that his workforce which was about 50% black saw constant bickering about the temperature in the office. Whites wanted the air-conditioning to run full blast on hot days; blacks wanted little or none.

I'm sure there are exceptions. Many Africans live in highlands where the climate is in no way tropical. But the aversion to cold is not my imagination.

Originally Posted by Escort Rider

Since I am the "one poster" who is concerned that I can't jog for 20 minutes without stopping, I am happy to provide an explanation.

First, poster Eddyline has provided an excellent one above. I'll just jump onto his by commenting that exercise is the key to continuing to be vital and energetic as we age. Even if exercise doesn't give me one single minute of added longevity, it is more than worthwhile in terms of the benefits to the quality of my life. Happy in Wyoming, it is good to be laid back, but if you don't mind advancing the day when you can't climb stairs and/or have to walk with a walker, just continue to be unconcerned about exercise. You don't mind? O.K. for you, but it matters to me.

Many years ago my physician told me that no one who weighs over 150# should run. We had been discussing an exercise to build certain muscles for Telemarking (sometimes called downhill cross country [skiing]) when he mentioned it. He told me that the safest exercises were swimming, bicycling, and cross country skiing. They don't jar the body. I never got to like Telemarking (too much work) but learned that parallel turns (Christie) are quite easy even without my heel locked into the binding.

I don't like exercise but I'm willing to do some limited things so I can better enjoy hiking, particularly in rough country and cross country skiing. 'Tis pity there's scarcely ever a day here with enough snow for cross country.

I doubt very much that a lack of exercise will lead me into a life that doesn't allow me to climb stairs or walk without some device. But I know that injuring myself could easily do so.

I only enjoyed swimming the few times I've used SCUBA equipment for underwater sightseeing or HOOKAH for gold diving. To me, bicycles are best used in cities. The road that runs by my place is a steep gravel road with plenty of blind curves.

Oh, there's one exercise I do that's really easy. I hold a very heavy handgun in each hand while raising and lowering my arms. It builds and maintains strength for more accurate shooting and I can do it in a chair.

Folks, limit your exercise to activities you enjoy and particularly activities that are easy on old bodies. Play roughhouse with your dog or dogs as long as everyone is having a good time. You'll stay mobile much longer.

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by Ameriscot

Oh, and I'm a long way from elderly. I'm 61 and very very fit.

Hear hear! I think "eldery" usually applies more to people over 80. When you reach the point that your big exercise is walking the perimeter of the parking lot outside your building, or maybe walking to the end of a hallway in your assisted living unit, you're elderly. I think most people don't reach that point until after 80 or so. And, IMO, I know a guy in my running group who is over 80 and training to run a marathon--I don't care how old he gets, I can't think of him as being elderly.

[PatanjaliTwist]

Originally Posted by Caladium

Hear hear! I think "eldery" usually applies more to people over 80. When you reach the point that your big exercise is walking the perimeter of the parking lot outside your building, or maybe walking to the end of a hallway in your assisted living unit, you're elderly. I think most people don't reach that point until after 80 or so. And, IMO, I know a guy in my running group who is over 80 and training to run a marathon--I don't care how old he gets, I can't think of him as being elderly.

It's who ya know. My mum's 81. She lifts 5-15 lb weights in moderate exercises in twice/wk classes. I use 1-3 lb weights at half her age. She line dances once/wk. She does yoga twice/wk in a class. You may see her gray hair & call her elderly. She won't care because she's too busy walking 1-5 mi/day.

When we lived in Boston, I picked her up after classes... broken, elderly women 10-yrs younger than she shuffled out of classes... I always recognized my 5'2" mum by the way she bounded out of class with pep & a big bright smile... the only one. NO ONE else did that.

Youth is determined by how flexible one keeps the body. Yogis will commonly press on one's spine during yoga to determine 'youth'. If tight & inflexible, they will comment, 'old spine'... if flexible & malleable, they will comment, 'youthful'. My 81-yr old mum is more flexible than those 20-yrs+ younger. She's often mistaken for 60. If she'd let me color her hair (she went gray in her 30s), she'd look 50-something.

Old age is when the body reaches a point in which the mind gave up... imho.

[jean-ji]

As a young woman in my twenties, I worked in a clinic that gave executive physicals. At that time, most executives were male. I noticed not many men in their 40's were physically attractive, a few but they were rare. As far as the 50's and older, they were all unattractive and old looking.

As I got older, my definition of attractiveness and age changed to fit where I was age-wise; it's a sliding scale these days. People go on and on about how much younger they look and all the reasons they believe that to be true, but it seems they are convincing themselves more than anyone else.

There will always be some who looks younger/better or older/worse than me. It's not a competition with winners, just losers that think this is the one of the important things in life.

[villageidiot1]

Originally Posted by travelhound

I have never understood the running craze or why an elderly person would choose running. You should all be swimming or doing variations of stretching from Yoga to pilates and light weights. Running has to be the absolute highest risk exercise for an older person, unless you have a local dirt or padded jogging track. I cant even walk on heels anymore without severe consequence to my hips and feet, there is no way I would run any substantial distances on streets and sidewalks. Thankfully they are now coming up with much bouncier jogging shoes that minimize risk, still, my fear of tripping and having a severe injury made me ditch running and most cycling. I'm a swimmer, and I would prefer to swim an hour a day 6 days, but recently decided to try to break my addiction and ad some other exercise, but Swimming is just the best! I got into such good shape I'm now a certified lifeguard. On a recent trip to Colorado I saw women my age (mid 50s) with 25 year old bodies, so aging is relative to how much you put into keeping fit for life. Most people just don't have the time or discipline to put 2-4 hours a day to maintain a fit body, or the discipline to try to eat healthy in a world of poisoned food. I was raised by Obese indulgent people so I really had to work hard at being a healthy eater and just not becoming obese and unfit. Traveling on the road is hard, I wont do Americas highways again without a Camper Van and my own food. In some towns they still have no idea what Romaine or Arugala or uncooked vegetables are. Diet is 90% of fitness and health. You just say no to junk foods, No Mcd s, no Wendys, those foods are emergency foods only.

Swimming is definitely a good exercise but there is no reason many people can't keep running until their 70s and 80s. Here is a good example.

Lou Lovovico, 89, of Ellwood City nears the finish line during the 22nd annual St. Barnabas Medical Center 5K Run/Walk in Gibsonia on Saturday, August 3, 2013.

If you think he is an exception, I agree, but look at these results from that race.

Men 75 - 79
1 Ray English, 78, Eighty Four, PA 26:20 76.10% 26:23 8:29
2 Vince Neal, 75, Irwin, PA 31:52 59.18% 32:01 10:17
3 Bob Rock, 75, Pittsburgh, PA 34:41 54.32% 34:53 11:11
4 Francis Adamson, 75, Gibsonia, PA 36:05 51.87% 36:32 11:38
5 John Jeffries, 75, Gibsonia, PA 55:37 33.44% 56:40 17:56

Men 80 & Up
1 Gehrett Smith, 80, McKeesport, PA 27:11 76.70% 27:24 8:46
2 Lou Lodovico, 89, Ellwood City, PA 33:45 84.27% 33:47 10:53
3 Rudolph Janosko, 83, Pittsburgh, PA 52:59 42.80% 53:15 17:05
4 Robert Mulkern, 85, Valencia, PA 1:01:45 38.76% 1:02:41 19:55

Women 70 - 74
1 Eileen English, 74, Eighty Four, PA 44:33 52.79% 45:08 14:22
2 Ginny Fletcher, 73, Beaver Falls, PA 51:44 44.63% 52:28 16:41
3 Nancy Jeffries, 70, Gibsonia, PA 55:37 39.29% 56:40 17:56

Women 75 - 79
1 Lillian Kims, 77, Gibsonia, PA 50:37 48.80% 51:32 16:19
2 Judy Duncan, 76, Pittsburgh, PA 51:10 47.51% 51:58 16:30
3 Elaine Brunner, 79, Avalon, PA 1:00:14 43.23% 1:00:25 19:26

Women 80 & Up
1 Margretta Lutz, 84, Saxonburg, PA 39:15 75.30% 39:32 12:40
2 Lydia Emrick, 82, Butler, PA 50:33 54.23% 51:38 16:18
3 Sally Martin, 83, Jones Mills, PA 53:38 53.36% 54:01 17:18
4 Eleanor English, 82, Gibsonia, PA 56:41 48.58% 57:38 18:17

The percent number is their age graded result, which means they did better than that percentage of the population in that age.

[longnecker]

I have aged well. Most people do not realize that I am 73. If I mention it in conversation they are shocked. I think the fact that I fathered a son at the beginning of my 2nd marriage helped to keep me thinking as a younger person.