7 ms·

I started working out at 66 this year for the first time since I stopped playing basketball 30 years ago. Even after 6 months I see a difference (I was never ov

I started working out at 66 this year for the first time since I stopped playing basketball 30 years ago. Even after 6 months I see a difference (I was never overweight 6'5" at 212 but now 10 pounds less). But because I had no experience with weight training or even cardio for so long, there is no way to expect I can do triathlons all of a sudden. I can tell who in the gym has been training most of their life and I have no expectations to suddenly look like Dwayne Johnson (he's 6'4"). I wish I had started and continued training at some level 30 years ago (or earlier) instead of waiting until now. I can only exhort people to not wait until they are old, and things start falling apart to start. The author doesn't mention his experience before he turned 70, I think that would have been interesting.

muststopmyths 2y ago
In point 3, "It was never about winning", he says he might have disagreed with this statement "earlier in his racing career". I would read that as he's been actively racing for years.
cmiller1 2y ago
> there is no way to expect I can do triathlons all of a sudden There is no way to expect anyone to do triathlons "all of a sudden", I'm sure this guy spent several years getting up to that level. I tried to look for more info on him to see if he detailed when he started and the path he took but apparently he's a quack and I got sidetracked looking at the time he got investigated and ended up settling for $100k in a wrongful death case involving the church of Scientology, wow.
- IncreasePosts 2y ago
  Yes, it doesn't explicitly say it in the article, but since he mentions he has run 40+ iron mans (iron men?), he has probably been doing it for at least 20-25 years. So he probably started in his 40s at least, and I'm going to guess he was fitness oriented even before that. Random 70 year olds shouldn't necessarily take his advice on how to get off the couch and complete an iron man, though most of it does seem good.
- jajko 2y ago
  People who aren't familiar with (their) physiology think its all about muscle mass, when opposite is true. Muscles are by far easiest to build, but then you have whole world of various connective tissues in various joints (tendons, ligaments, fascias etc) that can make or break any competitive sportsman way before muscles come into play. The problem with all this connective tissue is - training it takes much longer than building muscles or increasing cardio capacity. For 70 year old, that is easily a decade+ of careful preparation / training to get to such level from 0 (which seems wasn't the case for him). Also, there are 2 basic body types when it comes to flexibility - either flexible people (like me), or rather rigid ones. Us flexible can do ie yoga stuff that takes a decade for more rigid folks to achieve. Drawback is, our joints, when under load, tends to move farther and experience connective tissue issues way more. If you don't respect which type you are, you don't utilize your (remaining) potential. And so on, this can be discussed for a very long time, our bodies are unique and fascinating on so many levels. They are also very stupid and completely not built for our modern lifestyles. Ie I broke both of my feet in paragliding accident recently, so wheelchair-bound for a while. It takes only 2-3 weeks of not walking and your feet become completely unusable, you lose basic bending capabilities. I guess this comes from more animal times when broken leg meant almost always death sentence.
- danielmarkbruce 2y ago
  Most people could do an ironman with a year of training. Lots of people do it. It's not that hard assuming you are just trying to finish.
RedlineTriad 2y ago
You may already know this but Dwayne Johnson is pretty obviously on steroids or some other kind of anabolic agent. In Hollywood anabolics are quite common, since preparing for a role can be a very short term thing, testosterone decreases with age, and very low body fat but large physiques are seen as normal. Also, shorter people generally have it easier to have a muscular looking physique because of how the muscle mass limit scales with size.
- oceanplexian 2y ago
  It’s a shame that there is such a stigma around anabolics for training, or even as a medical intervention. If you want to transition to another gender doctors will hand steroids out no problem; I believe you can even get then from Planned Parenthood these days. But if you simply want to take steroids to address low testosterone (Which is a societal crisis), most physicians will treat you like a drug addict. They will say it’s normal if a healthy 30 year old male has the T levels of an 80 year old.
  - mewpmewp2 2y ago
    But aren't those anabolics with a very significant trade off and health implications? I'm not sure if stigma should exist, but if something gives someone a huge advantage over a natural, but at the same time at the cost of life or health and other things, without telling they are doing it, it gives a false impression to everyone who may be comparing themselves to these people. Not to mention the issues some young people get into when they work out a lot and compare themselves to those people and think they are never big enough, and then they get into this state of big, that is only appealing to the very same community, but not average person being misled by groups of celebrities, influencers and other people. And also if you do go on TRT I think there's no good coming back, so usually it would be much better to try to achieve normal test with natural means first, because otherwise you are going a path with side effects and dependence for life. Also young people wanting higher test don't understand life very well yet, they will tunnel vision on their single insecurity and think this is the golden path to solve it, while with a little perspective this understanding can change a whole lot.
tkgally 2y ago
I'm 67. I joined a gym and started strength and cardio training when I was 51. I had no previous sports or exercise experience as an adult other than walking a lot, so I had a lot to learn: what all those machines and other exercise devices were for and how to use them, what exercises work which muscles, how people structure their workouts, how I should structure my workouts, what motivates people to work out, what motivates me to work out, etc. Fortunately, and to my initial surprise, I found that I liked both the process and the results. Once I started, I never had to push myself to go to the gym or to exercise. I also enjoyed the third-placeness of the gym and getting to know people outside of work. I quit the gym when COVID was bad, but I had some extra space at home and gradually assembled a good set of exercise equipment. I take a nerdy pleasure in buying and using various cable-machine attachments, grip exercisers, elastic bands, and, especially, swinging implements (maces, light and heavy clubs, Sandflails, cylindrical and hexagonal steel rods bought from metal suppliers, etc.). Ten years ago I went through a bodyweight period, and I include no-equipment exercises in my workouts, too. YouTube and Instagram have been great resources for ideas about equipment and exercises. Many of the influencers can be a bit too dogmatic, but I can usually learn something even from them. Like the author, I do feel my age more these days, and I also find myself needing more rest than I used to. Unlike him, I have never even considered doing marathons, triathlons, etc. Running hurts my knees, and I feel I can push myself hard enough without having quantitative targets. To each his own. Working out at home is convenient and comfortable, but I do miss the gym sometimes. I have considered rejoining but haven’t yet, as I wouldn’t be able to do swinging-equipment exercises at the public gyms where I live.
- wslh 2y ago
  I can relate to finding your own path. For example, when I run, I prefer not to use earphones and instead adopt a more meditative mindset.
- ourmandave 2y ago
  I quit the gym when COVID was bad, ...but I do miss the gym sometimes. I have considered rejoining but haven’t yet... You should try Planet Fitness, where you won't be able to quit. The monthly fees anyway.
Zelphyr 2y ago
I started training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at 44. I was about 40-50lbs overweight and had never been athletic except for a few seasons of soccer and baseball as a young kid. I was amazed at how my body responded. It helps that I immediately fell in love with the sport. However, I found the most important change I made was in my nutrition, which I changed at the same time I started BJJ. Not only did my body really respond to that, I saw dramatic improvements in my mental and emotional health as well. I'm 51 now and I've easily kept that 40lbs off the whole time.
- Jimpulse 2y ago
  Can you elaborate on your diet changes?
  - Zelphyr 2y ago
    I did keto but people don't need to do that if they eat good quality nutrient-dense foods. Preferably organic and locally-grown, and prioritizing healthy fats, proteins, and complex carbs and avoiding at all costs processed food. I can't stress enough how much modern food manufacturers are poisoning us.
- xiande04 2y ago
  What nutritional changes did you make?
  - borroka 2y ago
    I am not the op, but one should not complicate things. There are no secrets. People have been getting ripped since the dawn of time with chicken/tuna and rice and some vegetables. Eating less (95 out of 100 people in the general population today are eating way too much)--in general, it means ingesting fewer calories, solid and liquid--and keeping protein intake between 100 and 150 g per day is an excellent starting point and likely a final one. What does it mean to eat less? Half of what you eat now is a good starting point. If you are losing weight, go on, if you are not, eat less. Some disciplines, such as endurance sports, require special dietary modifications, but if you are fat (and most of us are), you already have bigger problems. My main legacy, much more than my academic research and my work in tech, will be to have encouraged people to get in shape by telling them that they eat too much and are fat (without fat shaming of course, all to their advantage).
qwertox 2y ago
I started riding bike in my mid 40s. I rode 1 hour a day at minimum, for years, my knees are now fucked up. DON'T PUSH YOURSELF TOO HARD, LISTEN TO YOUR BODY. PAIN IS NOT GOOD, IT'S A WARNING SIGN. Take breaks for a couple of days if body parts start hurting. I'm not talking about sore muscles, but mainly about joints.
- danielmarkbruce 2y ago
  What RPM did you ride at?
  - qwertox 2y ago
    I don't know, but it was/is mostly in the anaerobic range (BPM).
    - danielmarkbruce 2y ago
      It's worth googling around and reading about what the upsides/downsides to different cadence. It's pretty tough on ones legs/knees to be doing 1 hr of hard pushing every day. It may seem too high, but shooting for 80-90 rpm at lower gears is what pros tend to do, and if you try it you can feel the difference (limiting factor quickly becomes cardiovascular system as opposed to your leg muscles).
    - nradov 2y ago
      Did you mean aerobic range? It isn't physiologically possible to get most of your energy from anaerobic metabolism for efforts more than a few minutes long.
      - qwertox 2y ago
        No, i meant anaerobic. This is a 1h bike ride from last week, a bit over 20 km: https://imgur.com/a/MkE3Oqe https://imgur.com/a/MkE3Oqe Bold red line is BPM. Green area is "burn fat", red area anaerobic, in between aerobic, above anaerobic the "warning" area. White line is speed, usually going to 0 when I make a photo. Black line is altitude. The peak you see at 9pm is at 172 bpm, I think I have 180 set as bpm max.

muststopmyths 2y ago

In point 3, "It was never about winning", he says he might have disagreed with this statement "earlier in his racing career". I would read that as he's been actively racing for years.

cmiller1 2y ago

> there is no way to expect I can do triathlons all of a sudden There is no way to expect anyone to do triathlons "all of a sudden", I'm sure this guy spent several years getting up to that level. I tried to look for more info on him to see if he detailed when he started and the path he took but apparently he's a quack and I got sidetracked looking at the time he got investigated and ended up settling for $100k in a wrongful death case involving the church of Scientology, wow.

IncreasePosts 2y ago
Yes, it doesn't explicitly say it in the article, but since he mentions he has run 40+ iron mans (iron men?), he has probably been doing it for at least 20-25 years. So he probably started in his 40s at least, and I'm going to guess he was fitness oriented even before that. Random 70 year olds shouldn't necessarily take his advice on how to get off the couch and complete an iron man, though most of it does seem good.
jajko 2y ago
People who aren't familiar with (their) physiology think its all about muscle mass, when opposite is true. Muscles are by far easiest to build, but then you have whole world of various connective tissues in various joints (tendons, ligaments, fascias etc) that can make or break any competitive sportsman way before muscles come into play. The problem with all this connective tissue is - training it takes much longer than building muscles or increasing cardio capacity. For 70 year old, that is easily a decade+ of careful preparation / training to get to such level from 0 (which seems wasn't the case for him). Also, there are 2 basic body types when it comes to flexibility - either flexible people (like me), or rather rigid ones. Us flexible can do ie yoga stuff that takes a decade for more rigid folks to achieve. Drawback is, our joints, when under load, tends to move farther and experience connective tissue issues way more. If you don't respect which type you are, you don't utilize your (remaining) potential. And so on, this can be discussed for a very long time, our bodies are unique and fascinating on so many levels. They are also very stupid and completely not built for our modern lifestyles. Ie I broke both of my feet in paragliding accident recently, so wheelchair-bound for a while. It takes only 2-3 weeks of not walking and your feet become completely unusable, you lose basic bending capabilities. I guess this comes from more animal times when broken leg meant almost always death sentence.
danielmarkbruce 2y ago
Most people could do an ironman with a year of training. Lots of people do it. It's not that hard assuming you are just trying to finish.

RedlineTriad 2y ago

You may already know this but Dwayne Johnson is pretty obviously on steroids or some other kind of anabolic agent. In Hollywood anabolics are quite common, since preparing for a role can be a very short term thing, testosterone decreases with age, and very low body fat but large physiques are seen as normal. Also, shorter people generally have it easier to have a muscular looking physique because of how the muscle mass limit scales with size.

oceanplexian 2y ago
It’s a shame that there is such a stigma around anabolics for training, or even as a medical intervention. If you want to transition to another gender doctors will hand steroids out no problem; I believe you can even get then from Planned Parenthood these days. But if you simply want to take steroids to address low testosterone (Which is a societal crisis), most physicians will treat you like a drug addict. They will say it’s normal if a healthy 30 year old male has the T levels of an 80 year old.
- mewpmewp2 2y ago
  But aren't those anabolics with a very significant trade off and health implications? I'm not sure if stigma should exist, but if something gives someone a huge advantage over a natural, but at the same time at the cost of life or health and other things, without telling they are doing it, it gives a false impression to everyone who may be comparing themselves to these people. Not to mention the issues some young people get into when they work out a lot and compare themselves to those people and think they are never big enough, and then they get into this state of big, that is only appealing to the very same community, but not average person being misled by groups of celebrities, influencers and other people. And also if you do go on TRT I think there's no good coming back, so usually it would be much better to try to achieve normal test with natural means first, because otherwise you are going a path with side effects and dependence for life. Also young people wanting higher test don't understand life very well yet, they will tunnel vision on their single insecurity and think this is the golden path to solve it, while with a little perspective this understanding can change a whole lot.

tkgally 2y ago

I'm 67. I joined a gym and started strength and cardio training when I was 51. I had no previous sports or exercise experience as an adult other than walking a lot, so I had a lot to learn: what all those machines and other exercise devices were for and how to use them, what exercises work which muscles, how people structure their workouts, how I should structure my workouts, what motivates people to work out, what motivates me to work out, etc. Fortunately, and to my initial surprise, I found that I liked both the process and the results. Once I started, I never had to push myself to go to the gym or to exercise. I also enjoyed the third-placeness of the gym and getting to know people outside of work. I quit the gym when COVID was bad, but I had some extra space at home and gradually assembled a good set of exercise equipment. I take a nerdy pleasure in buying and using various cable-machine attachments, grip exercisers, elastic bands, and, especially, swinging implements (maces, light and heavy clubs, Sandflails, cylindrical and hexagonal steel rods bought from metal suppliers, etc.). Ten years ago I went through a bodyweight period, and I include no-equipment exercises in my workouts, too. YouTube and Instagram have been great resources for ideas about equipment and exercises. Many of the influencers can be a bit too dogmatic, but I can usually learn something even from them. Like the author, I do feel my age more these days, and I also find myself needing more rest than I used to. Unlike him, I have never even considered doing marathons, triathlons, etc. Running hurts my knees, and I feel I can push myself hard enough without having quantitative targets. To each his own. Working out at home is convenient and comfortable, but I do miss the gym sometimes. I have considered rejoining but haven’t yet, as I wouldn’t be able to do swinging-equipment exercises at the public gyms where I live.

wslh 2y ago
I can relate to finding your own path. For example, when I run, I prefer not to use earphones and instead adopt a more meditative mindset.
ourmandave 2y ago
I quit the gym when COVID was bad, ...but I do miss the gym sometimes. I have considered rejoining but haven’t yet... You should try Planet Fitness, where you won't be able to quit. The monthly fees anyway.

Zelphyr 2y ago

I started training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at 44. I was about 40-50lbs overweight and had never been athletic except for a few seasons of soccer and baseball as a young kid. I was amazed at how my body responded. It helps that I immediately fell in love with the sport. However, I found the most important change I made was in my nutrition, which I changed at the same time I started BJJ. Not only did my body really respond to that, I saw dramatic improvements in my mental and emotional health as well. I'm 51 now and I've easily kept that 40lbs off the whole time.

Jimpulse 2y ago
Can you elaborate on your diet changes?
- Zelphyr 2y ago
  I did keto but people don't need to do that if they eat good quality nutrient-dense foods. Preferably organic and locally-grown, and prioritizing healthy fats, proteins, and complex carbs and avoiding at all costs processed food. I can't stress enough how much modern food manufacturers are poisoning us.
xiande04 2y ago
What nutritional changes did you make?
- borroka 2y ago
  I am not the op, but one should not complicate things. There are no secrets. People have been getting ripped since the dawn of time with chicken/tuna and rice and some vegetables. Eating less (95 out of 100 people in the general population today are eating way too much)--in general, it means ingesting fewer calories, solid and liquid--and keeping protein intake between 100 and 150 g per day is an excellent starting point and likely a final one. What does it mean to eat less? Half of what you eat now is a good starting point. If you are losing weight, go on, if you are not, eat less. Some disciplines, such as endurance sports, require special dietary modifications, but if you are fat (and most of us are), you already have bigger problems. My main legacy, much more than my academic research and my work in tech, will be to have encouraged people to get in shape by telling them that they eat too much and are fat (without fat shaming of course, all to their advantage).

qwertox 2y ago

I started riding bike in my mid 40s. I rode 1 hour a day at minimum, for years, my knees are now fucked up. DON'T PUSH YOURSELF TOO HARD, LISTEN TO YOUR BODY. PAIN IS NOT GOOD, IT'S A WARNING SIGN. Take breaks for a couple of days if body parts start hurting. I'm not talking about sore muscles, but mainly about joints.

danielmarkbruce 2y ago
What RPM did you ride at?
- qwertox 2y ago
  I don't know, but it was/is mostly in the anaerobic range (BPM).
  - danielmarkbruce 2y ago
    It's worth googling around and reading about what the upsides/downsides to different cadence. It's pretty tough on ones legs/knees to be doing 1 hr of hard pushing every day. It may seem too high, but shooting for 80-90 rpm at lower gears is what pros tend to do, and if you try it you can feel the difference (limiting factor quickly becomes cardiovascular system as opposed to your leg muscles).
  - nradov 2y ago
    Did you mean aerobic range? It isn't physiologically possible to get most of your energy from anaerobic metabolism for efforts more than a few minutes long.
    - qwertox 2y ago
      No, i meant anaerobic. This is a 1h bike ride from last week, a bit over 20 km: https://imgur.com/a/MkE3Oqe https://imgur.com/a/MkE3Oqe Bold red line is BPM. Green area is "burn fat", red area anaerobic, in between aerobic, above anaerobic the "warning" area. White line is speed, usually going to 0 when I make a photo. Black line is altitude. The peak you see at 9pm is at 172 bpm, I think I have 180 set as bpm max.