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I moved after retiring to a place with no gym or pool, so we built a mini gym in the garage for cold michigan winters. I'm overweight and have bad knees, and my interests are as sedentary as they come - reading and playing the piano, so planned, regular exercise is essential if there is to be any hope of good health in retirement. The garage routine involves an hour a day on a machine called a nustep, which is great if you have uncertain knees, plus half an hour with dumbbells every other day. I don't hate this sort of repetitive exercises but don't rejoice in it either, so find I have to make a routine habit of it, or one day is missed, then four weeks later you look back and wonder what happened to exercise. So every morning before I can really think about it, I just head out and get it over with. But man, do you reap benefits every minute of the rest of the day as payback. Someone mentioned the energy and alertness after a couple of months. I second that motion. Having the time to make exercise a habit is one of the great joys of retirement. I know, I should have done it years ago, but the heck with regrets, I'm doing it now.
Oh, and another incentive is, I doubt there is any sensory experience in this world, and I do include the obvious, better than a long hot shower after vigorous, sweaty exercise. Ok, maybe that definition does include the obvious.
No kidding! That puts you in the top 25% - at least - for kids my age (mid-20's). Wish I was kidding, but kudos to you and the rest of us trying to minimize time on our butts. I hope to be like you when I'm that age! My great-grandpa was biking well into his 70's.
(The above post was referring to jogging a mile in 10 minutes - that is, maintaining 6.0 mph for a mile.)
Gee, it would be nice to think that at age 69 I am in the top 25% for people in their mid-20's, but I am a bit skeptical about that. Is that a statistic you read somewhere or is it something that seems true to you based on your observations? Either way, I find your comment interesting.
Let's say it's statistically true, just for the sake of argument (which I would have trouble believing). That would mean that the couch potato status of people in their 20's is much more overwhelming that I had thought. Even though any age group beyond middle school will include some smokers and some obese people, it would be horribly discouraging to think it could be that bad, because a ten-minute mile is actually pretty slow.
In California P.E. is no longer required beyond grade 10. That allows us the following hypothetical case: A high school student finishes 10th grade, gets dropped at school by his/her mother, doesn't do any sports at all and doesn't ever ride a bicycle. In addition he/she is overweight and takes up smoking. Now, fast forward to that person's mid-20's and there have been about 10 years of couch potato habits already! Such a person would not be able to do a ten-minute mile, and I agree there are such people. The question is how many, percentage-wise. Yes, at age 69 I can out-jog the above hypothetical case. (I do not call what I do "running"; I've seen people running and I can't do it).
My point here is that patting myself on the back about comparing myself to a 25-year-old who has allowed himself to become crippled/disabled is meaningless. Deciding whether a ten-minute mile is good, bad, or indifferent would have to be done by comparing it to mile times of people who are active on a regular basis.
How about going to a shelter and rescuing a dog? I love walking my boys and we are out for an hour to an hour and a half two to four times a week. Walking is one of the best things you can do for your body and it's ten times more fun with a companion. You should see how good my Howie looks now. Don't forget exercising your brain cells as well. You do a great job with that Escort Rider. I enjoy reading your posts.
Fitness in old age a cautionary tale.
I keep up as best I can with walking, riding the stationary bike and or swimming.
I get along by moseying down the street.
I say this because my BFF just got diagnosed with plantar f. She's been told no walking for a long
time. She's fanatical walking 6 miles in an hour, swimming miles in the pool and joining fitness groups. Mind blowing to have to stop something you've done forever.
My brother walked extremely fast, too. He got hyper extended issues. So moderation is key.
Older sister walked three miles twice a day. Had to stop or risk a hip replacement.
(The above post was referring to jogging a mile in 10 minutes - that is, maintaining 6.0 mph for a mile.)
Gee, it would be nice to think that at age 69 I am in the top 25% for people in their mid-20's, but I am a bit skeptical about that. Is that a statistic you read somewhere or is it something that seems true to you based on your observations? Either way, I find your comment interesting.
Let's say it's statistically true, just for the sake of argument (which I would have trouble believing). That would mean that the couch potato status of people in their 20's is much more overwhelming that I had thought. Even though any age group beyond middle school will include some smokers and some obese people, it would be horribly discouraging to think it could be that bad, because a ten-minute mile is actually pretty slow.
In California P.E. is no longer required beyond grade 10. That allows us the following hypothetical case: A high school student finishes 10th grade, gets dropped at school by his/her mother, doesn't do any sports at all and doesn't ever ride a bicycle. In addition he/she is overweight and takes up smoking. Now, fast forward to that person's mid-20's and there have been about 10 years of couch potato habits already! Such a person would not be able to do a ten-minute mile, and I agree there are such people. The question is how many, percentage-wise. Yes, at age 69 I can out-jog the above hypothetical case. (I do not call what I do "running"; I've seen people running and I can't do it).
My point here is that patting myself on the back about comparing myself to a 25-year-old who has allowed himself to become crippled/disabled is meaningless. Deciding whether a ten-minute mile is good, bad, or indifferent would have to be done by comparing it to mile times of people who are active on a regular basis.
Aha! You just hit on something. The 25 y/o's of the world who you can outrun, you can outrun because you made a choice, and they made a choice.
So, go ahead. Pat yourself on the back, because you made a phenomenal choice to stay active.
Quote:
Originally Posted by animalcrazy
How about going to a shelter and rescuing a dog? I love walking my boys and we are out for an hour to an hour and a half two to four times a week. Walking is one of the best things you can do for your body and it's ten times more fun with a companion. You should see how good my Howie looks now. Don't forget exercising your brain cells as well. You do a great job with that Escort Rider. I enjoy reading your posts.
I will support this idea all day long! My (rescue) pup definitely puts me to work. I learned very quickly to not say "joggy" once he hit ~9mo. because he got to Usain Bolt speeds. As a baby, I could keep up with him. Now, I'd be on my face in 0.5 seconds flat.
Quick note on running a mile - I forget the details, but the first 10 minutes or so of aerobic exercise just burn up the glycogen stored in your liver, and don't actually do much conditioning and are not effective in burning fat. So a 20 minute run/walk/whatever is 2X as effective as 15 minutes. The first 10 minutes is just to "ante up" so to speak.
I forget the details, but you will see this is true in practice. Way back I was running a mile trying to improve time - around 7 to 6.5 minutes at that time - and was not getting much faster. I learned that I needed to run for a longer distance and time.
I think Dr. Ken Cooper discusses this in his excellent classic books on running for fitnesss. And he has the biochemistry laid out for you where I am just waving my hands, so to speak.
Have to heartily agree with Escort, that doing weights is extremely good for the health of older men particularly.
I don't know why anyone would want to jog when they get older. I ran track in high school and college jogged in my 20's into my 30's and just found it to be incredibly boring after a while. The impact was tough on the knees too. So I took up the bike and find exercise to be a lot easier and much more fun. I'm 61 couldn't imagine jogging at 70.
As long as you add in some weight training cycling should be okay. Even though walking or jogging on a treadmill is dull, it is weightbearing and helps the bones.
With all the walking I do, I get a lot of weight bearing walking.... but doing janitorial it is anything but aerobic. Step step stop, pick up something or wipe something or change a light step step stop repeat.
Quick note on running a mile - I forget the details, but the first 10 minutes or so of aerobic exercise just burn up the glycogen stored in your liver, and don't actually do much conditioning and are not effective in burning fat. So a 20 minute run/walk/whatever is 2X as effective as 15 minutes. The first 10 minutes is just to "ante up" so to speak.
I forget the details, but you will see this is true in practice. Way back I was running a mile trying to improve time - around 7 to 6.5 minutes at that time - and was not getting much faster. I learned that I needed to run for a longer distance and time.
I think Dr. Ken Cooper discusses this in his excellent classic books on running for fitnesss. And he has the biochemistry laid out for you where I am just waving my hands, so to speak.
Have to heartily agree with Escort, that doing weights is extremely good for the health of older men particularly.
By the way--here's a tip for those who like working out in gyms but don't want to pay gym fees: Sometimes gym use is included as a perk for volunteer work. Yesterday I was talking with two retirees at my local firehouse who say they work out in the gym there as much as the firemen. I've heard places like hospitals will let volunteers use their gyms, too.
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A ten-minute mile - good, bad, or indifferent?
I hope to be like you when I'm that age! My great-grandpa was biking well into his 70's.
