Old is not any specific age, it’s a mindset, and an ability (or lack thereof) based on what your body will allow.
I’d like to see 2100.
I’ll be 123 when it happens.
This is not impossible.
But I do have to start logically thinking about the things I am doing right now.
For instance, I have to consider the absolute beating I put on my body in the name of building muscle and being healthy.
Exercise is an important of living a long and functional life, but exercise can also be a detriment if done too excessively, or with massive injury as a consequence.
(Yes Jack Lalanne lived well into his 90′s but then George Burns lived to 100. Anecdotes are fun like that)
So being able to be ‘healthy and active’ 8 decades from now is just another reason to take pause and evalute why you do what you currently do right now.
Are there distinct measureable benefits?
Are there distinct measurable Disadvantages?
And finally, (and this one is tough) you need to evaluate whether or not you have enough information to answer the first two questions.
When I went through this practice I found I was STILL doing some exercises for no other reason that “I’m supposed to”. I was also doing things that weren’t really in-line with my goals (setting a goal of a 225 standing shoulder press, while admittedly would be really cool looking, didn’t really help my long term goals…it was really more of an ego thing)
So point for today, every so often take a break and critically evaluate what you have been doing. I’m guessing that a lot of times we do things because we’ve been told it’s a good idea, but without any true results and even with possible indications that there may be more harm than good being produced from those actions.
BP
PS – I’m still convinced that living a long and functional life has a lot to do with maintaining a adonis / venus ratio that is as close to golden as possible for as long as possible.
Brad,
Great post.
It seems like studying fitness and nutrition often raises more questions than it answers.
If I had to be brutally honest, I think I would say that once a person quits smoking and gets his or her weight within +/- 15 pounds of “ideal” range, then the benefits of everything else are highly speculative.
The benefits of, for example, big muscles, great strength, low cholesterol and/or large cardiovascular capacity appear highly speculative, with many contradictory indicators.
With specific regard to muscle and longevity, many older folks I see have problems with a) getting up out of chairs, and b) falling and breaking hips (from which they never seem to recover), so strength exercises targeted to these issues might actually be the most beneficial. What would you recommend for those issues, some form of squats?
Thanks,
–Jim
I guess with old(er) age comes wisdom and more injuries from lifting. As I approach 40, I’m starting to ask myself how to keep lifting intelligently, so that I hopefully will be lifting into my 80s and beyond. Definitely getting injured more often when I push it these days. Maybe not a bad thing as it’s forcing me to train differently. Also, being a chiropractor and looking at thousands of X-rays, I’ve noticed people who lift have a lot more degenerative arthritis. Probably due to injuries that affected their biomechanics and being heavier than mere scrawny mortal non-lifting types. But I think if you train smart and have long term goals (ie. staying lean and strong as you age), pro-actively look after injuries, eat a clean, “non-inflammatory” diet, keep your weight under control and of course practice intermittent fasting, you’ll do very well in the long run.
My plan is to live to age 126 (which will be achieved in 2079) and I do think seriously about what I am doing now as far as exercise and nutrition is concerned. I also think a big part of living a long and healthy life is to expect to, and to believe it is possible. I have many friends in their 60s, just a few years older than I am, who truly believe there is no choice but to become decrepit and die of something awful. They think I am crazy. Well, I don’t expect them to live long and healthy lives. And that is a shame. My example will be too late for them, but maybe not for others coming up.
My baby brother told me recently that he expected to get to 120, and since I am 6 years older, we could go out together in a blaze of glory – that would be something, eh? So in 2079, Brad, look for stories about me in the news – the oldest woman in America!
Totally hear where your coming from.
I have been tapering off the muscle building for the last 18 months now. I now only train twice per week for about 15 minutes. And need to re-evaluate that to be honest.
Have been reading “Body By Science” would love to hear you thoughts on that HIT style super slow training, haven’t implemented it myself yet. But makes some sense in relation to injury prevention, and aslong as it keeps muscle definition..I’m happy.
Also have been eating more or less vegan for the last 5-6 months. Shocked that I actually have energy and can keep up with the meat eaters.
But Brad, getting stronger in the shoulder press can still lead you towards your ultimate physique goal. You can set a main goal and some other smaller goals. If you increase the weight, you build muscle. So is that detracting from your goal?
Told ya not to do deads!
Nice. I think about this a lot as well.
Similar thinking got me to ditch long-distance running – what’s the point?
A few pretty intense strength sessions a week (of varying volume – feel it out), play some sports here and there, do some walking – all feels really good + gives great results without speeding up the aging process (opinion…).
G
“It seems like studying fitness and nutrition often raises more questions than it answers.” <== so true.
Re: older folks, I think you have to assess on an individual basis. As much as I love them "squats" they can't be a blanket solution for everyone…
Steve,
All Excellent points.
B
Love it Sue!
When I met with Aubrey DeGray, he said the one thing that was common among the supercenturians was a positive attitude.
B
Re: Body by Science – the only way to know is to accurately track measurements and strength and then assess against your current goals.
Any other arguments are invalid if it’s getting YOU to where YOU want to be.
B
Not at all, the issue arises when I ignore common sense in the name of said goal… ie ‘tweaking’ my shoulder pressing 205, then trying 210 anyways 5 days later…
However after writing that, I’m wondering if it’s a goal issue as much as it is an ego issue…
Drat.
B
Vote Ramos for President
what a great answer on Body by Science… i followed that book for about 3 months during a downtime in my training where I had a lack of energy due to caloric restriction. While my strength went up a lot during that time and I did see some size gains, I did eventually plateau to where size and strength gains became very slow, counter to the book’s proposals. So I just treated that extra-long TUL training as a type that I can rotate in.
That’s almost my exact approach. I know I can go a couple months of training twice a week and not lose substantial size or strength…it’s good to know for when life gets hectic.
BP
Personally, I set my goal to live 130 years long, so we will see. People tend to live longer and longer as human kind gets older, so I don’t think it’s impossible goal, what do you think?
If you keep eating low calories, training properly, keep your mind working everyday and your sex life active I don’t see why it would be impossible.
I always said 125, but I’ll go an extra 3 years to hang out with you in 2100!