Athletic performance in your 40s?

**riff** · 06-02-2023, 11:35 AM

I need to know more about sleep. I’m 40, eight years into a fire career with 48 hour shifts. Going two days with minimal sleep has immediate impacts for sure; I wonder about the bigger/sneakier impacts. It’s getting harder to stay lean and fit. Certainly due to many factors, but I should do some reading.

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**zion zig zag** · 06-02-2023, 11:43 AM

Originally Posted by riff

I need to know more about sleep. I’m 40, eight years into a fire career with 48 hour shifts. Going two days with minimal sleep has immediate impacts for sure; I wonder about the bigger/sneakier impacts. It’s getting harder to stay lean and fit. Certainly due to many factors, but I should do some reading.

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I hate the 48’s. We had to go to them to remain competitive with hiring since we were the last department in the state to do it. Enough of our old guys are complaining about them that we are considering some type of hybrid/mixed schedule. About the only good thing in my mind about 48’s is only driving to work half as much and being able to live farther away.

Do you ever pull on your boots at 3am on the third call of the night and seriously wonder if you can hack it for another 12 years?

**Dantheman** · 06-02-2023, 02:17 PM

Originally Posted by phatty

Was doing a trail run today with a buddy who's North of 50 but still crushes hiking/cycling. I was mentioning that I'm not where I want to be weight/conditioning wise. He reads a ton of fitness stuff and told me all about the research he's been reading on the outsized impact sleep plays in weight loss/gain. My sleep schedule is terrible with teenagers at home and early meetings with EMEA for work. Made me realize that I need to put some focus there in addition to my workouts.

Sleep deprivation is a direct cause of insulin resistance. Chronic hyperinsulinemia makes fat loss hard and fat gain easy because insulin inhibits an enyzme called hormone-sensitive lipase that's basically the master regulator of fat metabolism. You also secrete most of your testosterone and growth hormone during sleep and those are the hormones that promote lean mass over fat mass. Sleep loss also causes people to make poorer-quality food choices and reduces motivation to exercise. Pick any angle to look at it and sleep loss puts you on an express train to Chunkytown.

Originally Posted by riff

I need to know more about sleep. I’m 40, eight years into a fire career with 48 hour shifts. Going two days with minimal sleep has immediate impacts for sure; I wonder about the bigger/sneakier impacts. It’s getting harder to stay lean and fit. Certainly due to many factors, but I should do some reading.

Besides staying lean, per Why We Sleep sleep loss wrecks your immune function. IIRC, one night of <4 hrs of sleep reduces your killer T cell count by 70%. Shift work is considered a probable human carcinogen.

**Trackhead** · 06-02-2023, 02:21 PM

Originally Posted by zion zig zag

Do you ever pull on your boots at 3am on the third call of the night and seriously wonder if you can hack it for another 12 years?

No, because at 3am I slip into Croc's when I get called into ER. Steel toe Croc's, OSHA approved.

We work 24 ER call shifts in low volume hospital, only five per month. Usually sleep all night. But yeah, I couldn't do more than five.

**jackstraw** · 06-02-2023, 02:48 PM

As skiers and snowboarders, I think many overlook the importance of ab strength. Aside from conditioned legs, I feel like abs are incredibly important.
I do a 20-25 min ab routine 3 days a week. Ideally, I'd like to go every other day, but I'm lazy and take the weekends off for mtn biking, trail building, and house crap.

**goldenboy** · 06-02-2023, 03:35 PM

It's all about finding religion. Luckily I found the Church of the Seven Day Recreationalists at a young age.

*Basically stolen from Jeremy Jones' Art of Shralpinism book. It's a good one, would recommend.

**zion zig zag** · 06-02-2023, 04:13 PM

Originally Posted by Trackhead

No, because at 3am I slip into Croc's when I get called into ER. Steel toe Croc's, OSHA approved.

We work 24 ER call shifts in low volume hospital, only five per month. Usually sleep all night. But yeah, I couldn't do more than five.

Ha, steel toe crocs would be great.

**bennymac** · 06-05-2023, 11:21 AM

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cq8Tc...RlODBiNWFlZA==

I feel attacked

**riff** · 06-05-2023, 10:13 PM

Originally Posted by zion zig zag

I hate the 48’s. We had to go to them to remain competitive with hiring since we were the last department in the state to do it. Enough of our old guys are complaining about them that we are considering some type of hybrid/mixed schedule. About the only good thing in my mind about 48’s is only driving to work half as much and being able to live farther away.

Do you ever pull on your boots at 3am on the third call of the night and seriously wonder if you can hack it for another 12 years?

Indeed. I love 48’s because it frees me up to get out on the 96 off, but I definitely do feel the struggle during busy sets. 17 years to go!

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**riff** · 06-05-2023, 10:25 PM

Originally Posted by zion zig zag

I hate the 48’s. We had to go to them to remain competitive with hiring since we were the last department in the state to do it. Enough of our old guys are complaining about them that we are considering some type of hybrid/mixed schedule. About the only good thing in my mind about 48’s is only driving to work half as much and being able to live farther away.

Do you ever pull on your boots at 3am on the third call of the night and seriously wonder if you can hack it for another 12 years?

Indeed. I love 48’s because it frees me up to get out on the 96 off, but I definitely do feel the struggle during busy sets. 17 years to go!

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**MagnificentUnicorn** · 06-06-2023, 06:49 AM

Originally Posted by Trackhead

No, because at 3am I slip into Croc's when I get called into ER. Steel toe Croc's, OSHA approved.

We work 24 ER call shifts in low volume hospital, only five per month. Usually sleep all night. But yeah, I couldn't do more than five.

I took call five nights a week for nine years. This was during and after my divorce and trying to be a single parent for the last half of that stretch. I started when I was 41 and pulled the plug on my 50th birthday. It gets harder every year to get up multiple times a night as you age. I’ve observed healthcare providers over the last 35 years at work and the call schedules and work requirements are not good, healthy or safe. I imagine that it’s the same for first responders. It’s got to change.

Again, keep moving, eat well and sleep well. That’s the ticket for staying healthy as we age.

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**Cono Este** · 06-06-2023, 06:58 AM

And limit alcohol, tobacco etc.

I quit dipping again this yr., and eliminated 95% of my alcohol, and the difference in my energy level is monumental. The fucking chemicals they put in that shit was literally wiping me out by noon everyday. I was tired all day and felt like I needed Nap.

Now I’m riding n the early AM and hitting the gym in the afternoon vs feeling like I need a nap.

**Trackhead** · 06-06-2023, 07:08 AM

Originally Posted by MagnificentUnicorn

I took call five nights a week for nine years.

I average normal sleep on I'd say 3/5 call shifts per month. Usually the call-ins are low acuity and take an hour or so. So I'm usually only forfitting nominal sleep. It's a good trade-off to working straight days in a big, urban shithole ER where I end up despising humanity. Our patient population is pretty awesome. Angry at the world and cynical with sleep, vs loss of some sleep seems like a fair trade. I like my job.

But you do question your life choices EVERY time you get ripped out of REM sleep, that's for sure.

**warthog** · 06-06-2023, 07:19 AM

Originally Posted by Trackhead

I average normal sleep on I'd say 3/5 call shifts per month. Usually the call-ins are low acuity and take an hour or so. So I'm usually only forfitting nominal sleep. It's a good trade-off to working straight days in a big, urban shithole ER where I end up despising humanity. Our patient population is pretty awesome. Angry at the world and cynical with sleep, vs loss of some sleep seems like a fair trade. I like my job.

But you do question your life choices EVERY time you get ripped out of REM sleep, that's for sure.

Are you an RN? My sis was at one of those big hospitals you mention. Despising humanity is an understatement. She tells stories about the "regulars" that came in all the time. Drugs and Alcohol are killing more than just the people that abuse them. She got hired on as a consultant for a large hospital group to battle insurance claims, and now works from home, or wherever. The people, the other nurses, and ultimately 3 herniated discs and 2 surgeries made her bow out of hands on, in person nursing.

**Mofro261** · 06-06-2023, 02:34 PM

This thread has turned toward a Gregory Isaacs vibe.

**plugboots** · 06-06-2023, 10:10 PM

I’m Wim Hof’s age. That dude’s a fat fuck.

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**Lvovsky** · 06-09-2023, 05:40 PM

Some upthread asked about beginner workouts (or may be it was in another thread). Stumbled on this recently. I like that it approaches beginners training from coaching basic/fundamental movements. And it’s split into easy program. Each workout can be done in 30min. Simple enough to get the habit going.

https://youtu.be/ixkQaZXVQjs

**gaijin** · 06-09-2023, 06:08 PM

AthleonX is the shit worth watching.

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**Lvovsky** · 06-09-2023, 06:22 PM

Originally Posted by gaijin

AthleonX is the shit worth watching.

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True. With a caveat that not every advice is a gospel and is the one and only true way. Got to fit advice, program, diet to a particular individual’s situation.

Lots of useful material on his channel tho.

**oldnew_guy** · 06-14-2023, 03:55 PM

Dan,

Thanks for posting that Huberman-Galpin series.

Do happen to know if they have that information distilled down into something more manageable? Like, it took me 2 hours into the second podcast to get "exercise 3-5 times a week, and do 3-5 different exercises per session and keep the same exercises in place for a 12 week block".

**J. Barron DeJong** · 06-14-2023, 04:11 PM

Originally Posted by oldnew_guy

Dan,

Thanks for posting that Huberman-Galpin series.

Do happen to know if they have that information distilled down into something more manageable? Like, it took me 2 hours into the second podcast to get "exercise 3-5 times a week, and do 3-5 different exercises per session and keep the same exercises in place for a 12 week block".

That’s just for improving strength. Don’t miss out on the protocols for power and for hypertrophy.

Podcastnotes isn’t perfect, but best I found for a summary:

https://podcastnotes.org/huberman-la...-huberman-lab/

**Foggy_Goggles** · 07-30-2023, 09:15 AM

I'm not expert but this is worth listening to. We all get our motivations from different places. I'm currently on the IR doing PT for a broken collarbone because sometimes I crash my bike. I wrote on the intake from for goals "get back to 110% ASAP". So yeah, I've been focusing on all of it because I don't want to be a mentally unhealthy sack of shit rotting on the couch feeling sorry for myself.