40 years old- worst shape of my life and the future is bleak

here comes Xfit_guy!

Yeah but he's a goon. I'm not going to join xfit. Looking for some more practical. Id really like to hear from some people that have gone through similar mid life slumps.

Would road biking and swimming be something you might consider?

I've considered swimming but I'm very bad at it. I think making it one length of the pool will be a struggle, though I'm sure I would get the hang of it.

Road biking is out.

Yes. What sort of exercise can you do?

Get a kettlebell. Probably a 25lb one to start at the level of conditioning you described. Tons of videos on YouTube with different exercises. Pick 10-12 exercises for different muscle groups and it should take 15 minutes or so. And walk. If you learn to breath and relax you can get the be hang of swimming quickly. It might help to pay for some instruction.

This might be a good resource for HIIT exercises - http://www.fitnessblender.com/

Personally, I don't think you should give up on the elliptical so easily. Modern technologies like Netflix make indoor exercising a much more enjoyable experience. Plop a TV right in front of that thing and get caught up on your favorite shows.

What do you think of indoor rowing? With your aerobic capacity you could be pretty competitive. Lightweight starts at 165 lbs for indoor, so you wouldn't have to lose much weight to compete there. What does your injury allow you to do in the weight room? Can you squat or deadlift? Learn how to do one or both of these well and you'll gain a lot of strength for whatever other actvities you do. They're both very good for rowing as you use legs and lower back in all.

I can pretty much do everything except go running.

In my immediate post running days I played a lot of sports plus did a ton of lifting (circuits, barbell work, body weight stuff) that kept me in great shape. Then I...... stopped.

Now im probably on year 5 of doing pretty much nothing.

I think if I had an elliptical at home Id be more inclined because of the Netflix option, but I do not.

Thank you for all the responses.

I think what I'm hoping to do is a mix of cardio (swimming, rowing or elliptical) and some sort of muscle building exercises be it body weight, kettle bell, circuit, HIIT or whatever.

One thing I should have mentioned is that I'm so out of shape that yesterday I walked up a single flight of stairs while on the phone and noticed I was very out of breath.

This is quite literally square one. I'm going to go to the gym today and it's going to be really hard.

One thing I should have mentioned is that I'm so out of shape that yesterday I walked up a single flight of stairs while on the phone and noticed I was very out of breath.

This is quite literally square one. I'm going to go to the gym today and it's going to be really hard.

Old fat and slow wrote:

I also have kids, so going to the gym for 75 minutes a day like I did when I was 25 just isn't in the cards.

Are you single? I have 4 kids and my wife and I both make time just for ourselves (workout, run, go to gym, etc).

Old fat and slow wrote:

I can pretty much do everything except go running.

In my immediate post running days I played a lot of sports plus did a ton of lifting (circuits, barbell work, body weight stuff) that kept me in great shape. Then I...... stopped.

Now im probably on year 5 of doing pretty much nothing.

I think if I had an elliptical at home Id be more inclined because of the Netflix option, but I do not.

Why can't you run? What is the injury?

I don't like the stationary bike too much but I just do it for 20 minutes. It's like a warmup for other gym activities. You can also do intervals on it. In Matt fitzgeralds book racing weight, he talks of a study where people did 8 seconds hard 12 seconds recovery (might be vice versa)for 20 minutes and they all had improvements in weight and fitness. Are there local trails you can go to for an hour walk?

Get up at 5:00 am. Be at the gym for 6. Lift hard for 45 minutes then do 30 min of hard cardio. 5 days a week. Eat 6 small meals a day with lots of protein and stop being a little b***ch.

How bad are your legs? Can you run at all? Back before everyone paid $250 a month to do burpees in an old auto collision shop, people would get into pretty excellent shape playing racquetball and squash. The amount of movement is minimal compared to tennis, basketball and distance running, but you do need to be able to move well on your feet. There are still tournaments if you need to be competitive at something.

I played a couple of games of racquetball last year while in pretty top running shape. I am not an expert, but can keep up with a decent racquetball player. I was drenched after an hour long match and felt like I just did 12x400s.

That's Great! Thanks for the post!