I’m half joking. But as a 30-something who used to be very active, I recognize I’m over the hill and my joints sound like pop rocks
Quite s bit older than you and I:
- Hike and/or backpack, anywhere from 3-12 miles and up to 5k ft elevation depending on the weekend (and weather, icy mountains are slow going)
- Gravel biking, or on the trainer with Zwift
- Running, though I don’t particularly like it, so not much
- And days I just want to move around, archery
You are not old at 30, your body is just out of practice and your mind lacks motivation. Both can be tough to overcome.
If things are hurting, I highly recommend cycling of some form, as it’s way less impact. Or hiking with poles, helps a ton. Just take it slow to start.
Just walk for everything under a mile. Eat one type of new fruit a week.
The less you weigh, the easier life becomes.
Drop alcohol completely.
Buy high quality shoes, beds, tired & brakes.
Which fruit you got last week?
Gooseberry last week. This week it’s Lychee.
Great choices! Have you tried kumquat?
I have not. Thanks for the tip. I will try this.
Rowing and swimming (in a pool, not because the boat capsized). Both are non weight bearing, easy on the joints. Rowing is excellent for your core.
I cannot stress to people how much rowing is actually enjoyable as someone who doesn’t want to “make time” for working out. It’s so relaxing.
Not how I row lol. I’m trying to get the maximum workout in minimal time. I used to put on nature documentaries and go for longer, slower rows but with a kid I need to be done as quickly as possible.
I’m not talking about rowing machines. I’m out on the water with a crew, hauling on an actual oar. It’s the best thing ever.
Ah dang, that’s awesome!
ITT: One half providing helpful insight into healthy physical activities, the other half total assholes ripping into this person for not being a jock.
Some people have been living sedantary life styles, the reasons for such can range from lack of interest to mental illness. Some people get a good dopamine hit from exercise. For others, exercise is a pretty miserable experience.
If someone is reaching out to seek advice on how to improve their lives, lend a helping hand. Please don’t be an asshole.
Anyone replying “stretching” is basing their response on grade school gym class, not science.
Studies have not shown that stretching has a positive impact on injury prevention, and this has been widely known in the literature for over 20 years. Stretching can improve performance in some sports like gymnastics where increased flexibility is needed, but that is unrelated to injury.
Stretching has a negative effect on performance in other cases because it actually decreases muscle force generation.
Think about it, would you think that loosening all the belts on a machine would automatically make it less likely to break down?
So what does prevent injury?
- Good warm-ups. Walk before you jog before you run. Lift an unloaded barbell before a loaded one, etc.
- Strength. A joint surrounded by muscle is a stable joint. That means doing exercises that strengthen all the muscles, including minor ones. It’s part of why most people who know what they are talking about will try to get you to do compound lifts with free weights over single joint exercises on machines.
- periodization/progressive overload. Basically slowly building intensity and then backing off to recuperate.
Big one is just walk more. If there’s anything near your house that you regularly drive to, start trying to walk there as much as possible.
I have a lot of trouble motivating for the gym and similar self-directed activities, so I find classes or semi-organized sports much easier to do consistently.
Mid 30s, I gym, i’ve gymed for years, but now i have prehab warm up exersizes for the big lifts to activate all the supporting muscles. I havent pulled anything in a while so i guess they are working.
I plateued, years ago, i dont need to get any bigger. Instead i do much more rounded workouts.
From what i’ve read, rowing is super low impact and very good for your health from a cardio perspective and a muscle workout perspective. I keep meaning to give it a try, but my routine works for me. Maybe as i get older.
Not sure your workout regimine but I’ve found compound lifts make for shorter workouts and provide the most benefit as we age, particularly squats, deadlifts and rows.
So many people think their back hurts because they’re old when really their back hurts because it’s weak. I started lifting at 47… that was 8+ years ago. I feel so much better and ache so much less in my 50s than I did in my 40s, and surprisingly you can really add muscle and strength even when you’re older, if you want to push yourself. I never anticipated such gains were possible but working hard combined with eating and sleeping well still pays off.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/382128
Yeah, you are spot on.
Those results are really impressive considering the average age was 90 yrs old. Thanks for sharing.
I still lift weights, although now it is more about staying toned than getting huge gains. I also try to do cardio at least twice a week.
Injuries are harder to recover from so if something starts to hurt in a bad way I stop and do something else.
Over the hill at 30? Damn. I’m 49 and have no issues. Stay active walking, biking, hiking, I work an active job also. I live that I stayed in shape as a younger man and it’s worked well as a middle aged man. I plan on staying active for decades.
20 somethings think 30+ is forever away.
tbf, every decade thinks the next decade is basically game over and will take an eternity to reach
It seems like some people here either never trained hard when they were younger or are deluded about their abilities. If you are in better shape in your 40s than your 20s, I applaud your progress but I don’t know of a single life-long athlete in their high 40s that would say they could outrun, outjump, or outpower their mid 20 year old self unless they’re on the juiciest of stacks. There is a reason we don’t have many 40/50 year olds in the vast majority of pro sports.
I would say that I could over power my 20-year-old self. But honestly I know that at this point I have more muscle and greater strength than I did at that point. In between then and now I trained in martial arts I taught for 15 years I didn’t stop doing that till I was in my early 40s. In my early to mid 20s I was definitely the definition of a skinny little guy. I weigh probably 60 lb more than I did back then at very least. And it’s not fat sure some of it is but overall it’s muscle. When I competed I was only about 8 lb lighter than I am now so I haven’t gained that much weight since then. And I definitely wasn’t a professional but I did compete and win at State levels. And even in the 8 to 10 years since I’ve actively trained I still can hold my own with my kids who are in their early twenties and active themselves.
part of me envys you; my own middle aged body reminds me everyday that i’m middle aged and i curse the american diet & activity levels for it.
You know you can actively change that… You can’t blame American diet and body. Because I am both American and I eat out quite a bit but I make sure to balance it out.
the american diet goes beyond food to include psychological triggers as well as including foods that have been proven to be addicting to some of us. so yes, i’ve changed it several times in the last 30 years; but that addiction keeps making me “fall off the wagon” every time i face diet influencing psychological triggers like layoffs, evictions, deportation, etc.
SWIMMING POOL
When I was that age my main exercise was commuting by running or biking. I got additional sporadic exercise doing miscellaneous sports. Having kids made it very hard to do more than that. I’m not working now and have the time and energy to do much broader and consistent exercise.
Turning your commute into your exercise regimen is great. Be warned though that the human body is great at optimizing and will quickly adapt to that specific routine. When you vary off that routine you’ll find you’re not in as great of shape as you thought. But you’ll be miles ahead from where you’d be otherwise.
Yoga. I started doing some distance running and besides learning to run in the correct zone so I am not maxing out my body everytime I have been doing this Post Run Yoga after most runs. It really helps and allows me to cool down and stretch well. The rest of her videos also rock
As a Lemming, I walk over cliffs.
I turn on a bubble pop playlists and move wildly (sort of 80s aerobics videos style mixed with dance) until I have tired muscles all over. It’s mostly to ensure that weird muscles get worked that don’t with standard exercises, which tends to help with stability and overall strength. It’s also good for my mood. Bubble pop is happy dancy music, and free-form semi-dance movement feels good.
I also practice balance -a lot- such as standing on one foot while I cook or wash dishes. Helps prevent tripping and falling and hurting myself, and helps when I have to juggle stuff because I refuse to set it down. Also impresses the hell out of people when I use my thigh as a table while standing on one foot.
Ping pong / table tennis (depending on how seriously you take it) can be a VERY good way to get your steps in. In a 2 hour session I get about 8-10 thousand steps. This is 4 to 5 miles. It is low impact and you can really get a good sweat on.
Wanted to get into this but couldn’t find a place or community close enough to play- settled for Pickleball. Is good fun, plenty of running around in singles.
