Athletic performance in your 40s?

[Buzzworthy]

Not everyone is built like weapon x, dantheman
Lol


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This. Comparing one’s self to Dan is a mental recipe for disaster. Different worlds. He’s not human.

[AK47bp]

In my 40’s now when my legs start getting squirrely due to fatigue I have to consciously remind myself to take it slow, otherwise I turn less (due to being tired) and go faster.

I need to get a song in head at this point to regulate myself. Slow and Low is perfect.

https://youtu.be/hh_aQZw6AtE?si=QZSzbYA030Jac4iO

Or if you’re a classic rock fan Slow Rode is good but the temp is too fast.

https://youtu.be/GcCNcgoyG_0?si=Jgc8JMbA7a3tv5Se

[BaseFloopy]

Many of the worst injuries I and people I know have had happened while "taking it easy" when they let their guard down.

Yep, for sure.
I do take some solace from, in the past, being able to ski away relatively unscathed from some pretty serious rag doll action...
But it's a bitter moment whenever realizing one isn't bulletproof after all.

[criscam]

there are 2 voices i hear when it comes to skiing and biking. my inner voice is saying, "you're gettin older. dial it back some. an injury now will put you out for months. it's ok."
the other is the external voice of my 13 yo who seems to double his skills every few months saying, "you can hit this jump you just need a lot of speed" or " follow my tire thru this sketchy rock garden".
i usually just respond by telling him if i get hurt we don't have a ride home but i do find myself pushing it for his (my?) sake more than i probably should at my age....

[Trackhead]

there are 2 voices i hear when it comes to skiing and biking. my inner voice is saying, "you're gettin older. dial it back some. an injury now will put you out for months. it's ok."
the other is the external voice of my 13 yo who seems to double his skills every few months saying, "you can hit this jump you just need a lot of speed" or " follow my tire thru this sketchy rock garden".
i usually just respond by telling him if i get hurt we don't have a ride home but i do find myself pushing it for his (my?) sake more than i probably should at my age....

I have a 12 yr old, you just literally read my mind on all of it.

[Buzzworthy]

I have a 12 yr old, you just literally read my mind on all of it.

Mine was polar opposite. Not sports oriented. Mom had a bad deal happen with her ankle years ago so stoped skiing after that. Just couldn’t.

It’s much more difficult to stay in shape at this age when your household does none of it. That’s my biggest issue currently. It’s a conundrum as I want to hang with my family but knowing those activities are not active per se. But I need to get exercise and play and that takes me away from my family. I guess I really like my family these days as I’d rather hang with them. I just wish we all could still ski together. I miss that immensely.

[EWG]

Playing with some of the younger kids at breaks during games is what made me come to terms with where I'm at and post that.. lol.

I feel like being in a 360 degree sport, having to react to defenders, getting knocked down and bouncing up, and intermittent sprinting for 90 minutes with 23 year olds is a great way to stay young. But yeah, gotta watch out for injuries. However, when I went to the PT I had to fill out a form that asked how many times I'd fallen in the last year. I thought about it for a while, thought about the 50 or so indoor and outdoor games I play over the course of a year, plus all the skiing and biking and general fucking around, and decided to type in 500. But their online form would only take two digits.

People need to fall more. It's good for you.

Attachment 469686

That was fucking funny. Well done.

[J. Barron DeJong]

That was fucking funny. Well done.

I shouldn’t throw stones. I got my deadlift up to 300 this summer, but don’t think I can bench 185, and my arms are like pipe cleaners.

But I did think it was funny.

[Trackhead]

It’s much more difficult to stay in shape at this age when your household does none of it. .

I have always climbed/hiked/skied with kid/wife. But cycling there was a big gap in ability/motivation. I got my wife/kid ebikes now we are doing 20-40 mile mountain rides, them with motors, me without, it's so much fun. Best $$ I've spent on family exercise stuff.

[EWG]

I shouldn’t throw stones. I got my deadlift up to 300 this summer, but don’t think I can bench 185, and my arms are like pipe cleaners.

But I did think it was funny.

It was. In fairness, though, I was saying those were rep weights - so like 5-7 reps for 4-5 sets. I haven't done a max 1 rep lift in quite a while. Seems like an easy way to hurt myself doing that for squats or deadlifts.

But again, that's just a baseline. Gotta ramp it up for ski season, especially if you are landing things.

[Gepeto]

I keep my opine’ to my lonesome here as there are plenty of good answers/solid recs made every day by daily practitioners or primary intel.

Not going for the terrain you need a mouth piece for or hanging out on your version of the edge all the time – checking down/taking it down a notch... most-all of your answers lead to this end for me; ……..

…over time what has developed is a .Two.Lines.View. I see the softer path as well as the fgb/Apath. Throughout the day I gauge what percentage of the softer line I chose to take. Some days it’s 85%, and sometimes its 60/40. On a super solid the orbs have aligned days, its <20%.

Then there’s those days when 100%line B should be all I do. When I can’t make shitfuck snow feel smooth and I feel like I’m chasing a greezd pig or scurrying around and finding nothing but band-aids when I need compression for and open wound. Wrapping my head around the softer line 100% can be a challenge. After all, if your in the air 50% of the time, you're only exposed to your own shortcomings half the time... right?

All the variables invariably factor _ in setting the gauge. Fitness, nutrients available onboard, recovery status, last night’s activity level = sound sleep & rested or dumped loads of semen in every hole I could find. It just all blends in to a focus based on how I’m feeling after some burn-in first thing at the start of the day.


Fitness and how it helps you Not Get Old

Story Time: My path lent itself to a decent result… at 18 I was 74” and could pass through a door without opening it except the mop of hair to my shoulders. At 22, when I got home, I was 208 with a consistent 7-12% body fat deep into my 30’s. Then floated into the 215/218 zone for a few years with less than a healthy nutritional path with everything else being the same - high activity zones when it was cold and too.much.golf. Eventually rolling over to 205ish low density stagnation/chair mode and injury prone.

Jump forward 15yrs. Lost 2.625” in height and 18lbs of mass. Age Baby, it is built-in to your future. It’s such a slow creep you can’t see it until it has passed. Lest you become nothing but that huge tumor between your moobs and stinky finger sized pecker and sagging nuts with spindly legs attached.

Always nutritionally sound with moderated abuse to keep life fun with others. Low meat, no alcohol, and no prescription drugs. Stay away from processed foods the best you can. I live in rural.suburbia past exurbia and know it’s harder and pricier the nearer you are to metropolis. Farm fresh eggs, food co-ops for fresh veggies and fruits. Paying extra at the market when there isn’t enough time to gather your own. Consistently filtering the shill studies and opaque info come ad campaigns for what’s truly effective.

I have been injured consistently over decades and mostly very fit heading into a wreck and intensely trying to get fit on the way out. It has kept me closer to fit than not through time and made me dig for more homeopathic concepts to good health. Beginning with a friend who became a nutritionist (after being a chiropractor for a few decades) 30yrs ago.

I am proof positive/empirical evidence (https://my.standardprocess.com) that it works.

So what changed worked out in my favor. The loss in height & weight has me in a smaller frame. A lighter, more agile, more advantageous power to weight ratio, smaller person.

It took a long time for me to come round to understand it. I still think and look at things like I’m 208n6’2”, but my perception has a lot more nuance from the feedback.

Father time will continue to chip away at things I can only hope to keep at bay. Recovery went from biotch to bitch and to often not just a day. Altitude adaptation always sucks. Now it's the slow deafening cone of silence - sucks moarer.

Gonna be fun watching yall getting old - or not

[Gepeto]

One more little diatribe

Drugs - from nsaids to thorazine and everything in between. Whatever your dependency, find a path to throw them away.

Lipitor, Meclizine (for vertigo), Metformin, and Nexium all prescribed in two doctor visits was a turning point for me. WTF... all this because I feel off lately. Go jump on a knife.

What I accomplished should work across a sprawl of medication regimens.

Work hard at improving your Lymphatic System. Drill down on fitness methods and sound nutrition that work for you that targets your predisposition or diagnosis.

Sympathetic Nervous System – again, drill down on it as if your life depended on it

[carlh]

What’s everyone’s lifting routine. Ski, bike and general functional strength are the goals, currently lifting 1x per week but probably should up to 2x. My routine now is squats, deadlifts, bench, pull-ups, straight leg rdls and bent rows. Aiming for 3x10 reps for each. I also do some single leg work on another day for stability.
I feel like I’m hitting the big movements with this set but if I add another day it seems worth switching up the movements. I have a 2 post rack, bar, bench and pull-up bar but don’t have dumbbells.

[J. Barron DeJong]

What’s everyone’s lifting routine. Ski, bike and general functional strength are the goals, currently lifting 1x per week but probably should up to 2x. My routine now is squats, deadlifts, bench, pull-ups, straight leg rdls and bent rows. Aiming for 3x10 reps for each. I also do some single leg work on another day for stability.
I feel like I’m hitting the big movements with this set but if I add another day it seems worth switching up the movements. I have a 2 post rack, bar, bench and pull-up bar but don’t have dumbbells.

I don’t have good advice on a routine, but can offer some advice on sets/reps:

If the goal is growing muscle size, you want to to about 15-20 sets on that muscle each week. Rep range of 9-12 is good, with each set ending 1-2 reps shy of muscle failure with maybe the last set going to muscle failure if it’s safe to do that. Don’t do consecutive days on the same muscle. Increase volume 5-10% a week (increased reps, increased load, or combination).

If aiming more for max strength not muscle growth then 3-5 exercises, 3-5 reps, 3-5 sets, 3-5 times per week. Increase weight 3-5% a week.

(Just re-listened to the Galpin/Huberman podcast yesterday….)

Edit: remembered something for routine - recommendation for strength routine was to do big compound moves, and make sure you do at least a lower body (deadlift, squat, etc.), upper body push (bench press, overhead press, etc.), upper body pull (row, etc.), and upper body rotation (don’t recall which specific exercise was mentioned).

[bennymac]

I feel like with running, biking, upper body weights (2x weekly), skiing, rest days, life etc I can get one day in the gym as a leg day (for 1 to 1.5 hours max with warm up)

If I do:

Squats
Deadlifts
Dumbbell split squats
Calves

Do I *need* to do anything else? I understand that you can always add more/different exercises - I’m looking for functional strength and endurance and do not care about hypertrophy at all. I don’t want to neglect anything major - but also don’t want to do redundant movements.

[EWG]

Barron is not wrong, but I'd submit that it barely matters. Studies have shown that the difference between low reps/heavy weights and high reps/low weights are quite minor, and I'd bet none of us non professional athletes would notice. Personally, for legs I like high weights low reps because it conflicts less with my hobbies (less fatigue builds up in my experience.) I like the same for upper body cause it's faster.

Minimal exercises just to keep things solid (variations in parens are optional but it really helps things to mix it up):

Upper Body:
Bench press (incline, dumbbell, bar, push ups)
Curl (million variations)
Arm raise (sides, front etc)
Lat pulls (raises, pulls, rows - anything to hit lats)
Overhead Press (bar, dumbells)
Tricep (extentions, push downs, pull downs, etc)

Lower Body:
Squats (back, front, heel elevated, split, kettlebell, single leg)
Deadlifts (bar, dumbbell, single leg)
Lunge (front, back, side)
Hip Thrust
Calf Raise (single, double)

Don't forget abs.

Once a week is better than nothing, twice a week is great. You'll get 70% of the benefit of a full-on weight program by doing these exercises and variations thereof twice a week. That's massive and each routine can be done in maybe 20-30 minutes if you are set up and focused. Full program is more like 5 days a week and an hour per day which I don't have time for. I'll take the 70% solution - and it's probably more like 80-85% if you do it really well.

And you can add a million other exercises, but for me these are the ones you have to do to not lose function and to stay strong.

[J. Barron DeJong]

Barron is not wrong, but I'd submit that it barely matters. Studies have shown that the difference between low reps/heavy weights and high reps/low weights are quite minor, and I'd bet none of us non professional athletes would notice.

I’d guess that’s right, as long as you get enough sets in. You’re not going to have enough volume of work to really grow muscle if you’re only doing 6 sets a week. But 15-20 sets at 5-7 reps? Probably.

(Assuming growing muscle size is a goal here.)

[EWG]

I’d guess that’s right, as long as you get enough sets in. You’re not going to have enough volume of work to really grow muscle if you’re only doing 6 sets a week. But 15-20 sets at 5-7 reps? Probably.

(Assuming growing muscle size is a goal here.)

For what it's worth, there have been a bunch of studies showing 3 days of 3 sets and 6 reps a set works great at building strength. Which I like as it's a huge time saver. But if you do 2 days per week of 3-4 sets of really good hard work at 6 reps per set, you'll get stronger for sure. It's more about recovery. And different muscles can take different workloads. Legs need (and can take) less because we are all already biking, skiing etc with them. Bench press we do a lot less day to day with our arms.

[J. Barron DeJong]

For what it's worth, there have been a bunch of studies showing 3 days of 3 sets and 6 reps a set works great at building strength. Which I like as it's a huge time saver. But if you do 2 days per week of 3-4 sets of really good hard work at 6 reps per set, you'll get stronger for sure. It's more about recovery. And different muscles can take different workloads. Legs need (and can take) less because we are all already biking, skiing etc with them. Bench press we do a lot less day to day with our arms.

Yes, to get stronger, but not as much muscle size increase.

3 days of 3 sets is right in the range Galpin is recommending to build strength, though he says you only need 3-5 reps, but not like 6 is going to ruin it.

But I still think that number of sets is unlikely to grow muscle size much unless maybe you’re just starting off. (Though your 9 sets is better than Carl’s 6.)

[californiagrown]

I feel like with running, biking, upper body weights (2x weekly), skiing, rest days, life etc I can get one day in the gym as a leg day (for 1 to 1.5 hours max with warm up)

If I do:

Squats
Deadlifts
Dumbbell split squats
Calves

Do I *need* to do anything else? I understand that you can always add more/different exercises - I’m looking for functional strength and endurance and do not care about hypertrophy at all. I don’t want to neglect anything major - but also don’t want to do redundant movements.

One thing to think about adding in are nordic hamstring curls. youre currently hitting hammies, but through a hip hinge- the nordic curl will hit hammies through knee contraction. a Cheap underdoor attachment can be bought off amazon for $20.

REally though, if you are running and biking a few times per week and lifting legs once or twice, it sounds like you are 90% of the way towards ideal and going further is when diminishing returns happen in regards to the time and money needed. YMMV.

[Danno]

Just started doing crossfit 2x/wk to help me get in shape. Primary goal is to avoid getting injured.

[Foggy_Goggles]

I'd suggest kicking the tires on the cult of crossfit at the box you chose. At best, it's a good workout. At worse, it is an recipe for injury.

Others can speak more to this. but be careful. I've had a lot of really fit friend s get hurt crossfitting

Sent from my Turbo 850 Flatbrimed Highhorse

[californiagrown]

I'd suggest kicking the tires on the cult of crossfit at the box you chose. At best, it's a good workout. At worse, it is an recipe for injury.

Others can speak more to this. but be careful. I've had a lot of really fit friend s get hurt crossfitting

Sent from my Turbo 850 Flatbrimed Highhorse

Crossfit is a sport. It is not training. Treat it as such. Lots of better methods for training, but for many the draw of competition and box culture outweighs the risk of injury. Nothing inherently wrong with crossfit, the same way there is nothing inherently wrong with playing in a pickup soccer of basketball league to get/stay in shape.

[Danno]

I'd suggest kicking the tires on the cult of crossfit at the box you chose. At best, it's a good workout. At worse, it is an recipe for injury.

Others can speak more to this. but be careful. I've had a lot of really fit friend s get hurt crossfitting

Sent from my Turbo 850 Flatbrimed Highhorse

Crossfit is a sport. It is not training. Treat it as such. Lots of better methods for training, but for many the draw of competition and box culture outweighs the risk of injury. Nothing inherently wrong with crossfit, the same way there is nothing inherently wrong with playing in a pickup soccer of basketball league to get/stay in shape.

yeah, I am only doing this because it is convenient, affordable, and I suck at motivating myself to work out, especially something like weights. I am being careful AF and intend to continue that.

[2FUNKY]

yeah, I am only doing this because it is convenient, affordable, and I suck at motivating myself to work out, especially something like weights. I am being careful AF and intend to continue that.

Crossfit is affordable in your area? It’s $200+/mo around here.
Be very careful Danno, pretty much anyone I know who joins crosstwit ends up hurt at some point. You do need to work on your crosstwit acronyms and out them into every conversation you have as much as possible.


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