ReThinking Exercise at Age 60

When it comes to senior/middle-aged athletes & a high level fitness that they've achieved, many will brag about their accomplishments as well as training program. Many will also try to instill their trainjng regime, nutritional program & dietary supplement use on others. You see this a lot on YouTube with a bunch of showoffs & grifters. Lol

What is not known is if these guys are using TRT/HRT (I believe most are) or are just genetic outliers. 🤔

I think one thing we have to be happy with is how healthy we are compared to the average person our age.

A couple years ago I was at the award ceremony for a local 5K and I was lamenting to some of my friends how slow I am now compared to my old self.

This one guy goes- How old are you? (I said 64). He said- my father is 64 and he can't get out of his chair, you're awesome.

That hit me and I've been able to change my mindset. I've realized that it's not really the speed and mileage I miss, it's the day to day motivation to do it.

^^^^^^^ 'a random person' what a good response! 54yo here and still getting out as much as possible. Live right by lakefront in Chicago, and just love running next to the lake. Definitely have to stretch more and watch my diet, but would rather be out there than trapped in a gym..

Genetics are huge, lucky to have a 93yo father still around who loves to get out and walk. Cook for myself, and it's pretty easy to watch your calories. Baking or grilling chicken is not to tough.

I thought for sure this was leading into the story of the guy pounding on the table 😉 No offense Sir

My Vo2 max is 59 or 60 according to my Garmin and it's been there for decades.

58 years old. Just ran a 5:19 mile.

Could be higher...I don't use GPS for track workouts so the Garmin formula doesn't know about some of my fastest running.

I turned 70 earlier this month. One of the birthday cards I was given read, “remember when waking up stiff was a good thing!”

Recently I started doing run/walks 3 to 4 times per week. The runs are up tempo and walks vary from 30 seconds to one minutes. The off days I spin, swim or row. However if your knees are truly arthritic (lack of cartilage) you may want to move away from the pounding and bike more with walks in between.

wait, is that a thing? does caffeine negatively affect exercise recovery?

The thing is, TRT won't repair bone cartilage in your knee or a torn meniscus, or a bad Achilles.. So while those guys are liars and grifters, they are still putting in the workouts, they just A LOT more out of them than the unjuiced mortals.

I would never take testosterone just to run faster, but if I thought it would repair my bad knees, I'd shoot up in a heart beat.

It's been interesting reading this thread this week. I'm about to turn 76 next month, 5'8", 125 lbs. I have been running consistently since high school, other than my 4yrs of Vietnam era active Navy service. I was a very mediocre college mid-distance runner at 130 lbs, and have never gotten more than 10lbs above that weight. A busy career and family kept me at 25-45 mpw for most of my life until my mid-50s when adult children and dialing back my work hours allowed me more training time. Since then I've been at 40-50 mpw on 6-7 days a week. I hadn't experienced any sudden drop off in my times until two yrs ago when I got Covid. At 60 I could still run 6:00/mi pace for 5k and ~6:20/mi pace for 10k. Two and a half yrs ago before I got Covid at age 73 I ran a 10k at 6:52/mi. I have gone through some long Covid symptoms of fatigue and exercise tachycardia that have been slow to resolve. I have gotten back to where I can run about 7:25/mi for 5k, but I still believe I can take 0:15-0:20/mi off that pace with several months of uninterrupted training.

My "running" for the last 5 years or so has been trying to get in a VO2 max workout (400s, 800s or 1ks), a threshold workout and a 10-12mi long run each week with my recovery days being about 75min of brisk walking with an ~150m stride thrown in every 1/2 mi. I do a modest amount of body weight exercises for core strength and flexibility.

I have steadily improved my diet over the last couple of decades to be mostly fresh foods, which does include dairy, red meat and a modest amount of sugary desserts. I take multivitamins, and whey protein as part of my breakfast to get enough protein. I like racing USATF sanctioned events. If I needed to take any banned substance for health reasons I would quit racing. I know I have been blessed to get this far with no significant orthopedic problems and plan too keep training and racing until some body part breaks or wears out to stop me from running.

In answer to your question, no I don't use any of those performance enhancers you mention, not of any kind,

I heard them being hyped a few years ago on here and elsewhere so I asked my doctor if they were a good idea. Yeah, in retrospect, that's kind of brainless, but frankly I wouldn't do anything the docs said to avoid... And some were saying they got them prescribed through a clinic.

The doc, a new resident guy, started going into this stuff about shrunken nads, sweating, etc., and when he got to the pimple outbreaks I threw in the towel and asked him to stop. It was that bad.

As for supplements, I use about a half dose of creatine daily and protein powder. Herb stuff is garlic oil capsule and ashwagandha (sp?). Multivitamin and collagen. But I make sure that each day I eat certain foods that get my RDA for things like magnesium, iron, zinc, etc.

I've developed systems that streamline all this so there is absolutely no effort to pull this off everyday without fail and its freakishly easy and fast.

Diet: nothing special, clean diet, tends to be Mediteranean type diet, limit meat/fish to about 4 ounces per day - fish or white meat prefered. No sweets nor deserts, but a miniscule amount of Stevia in tea and coffee only.

As for the exercise - frequency and avoiding soreness: I go by the slogan that just showing up is 90% of the challenge. I do workouts always by feel and I just promise myself that I'll start, and from there if the workout comes to me, I hammer it, and if not, I don't. I run once a week with a running group - fast intervals, and this is very good on several levels.

If I can offer any insights, perhaps it is this - stay light (weight wise), since it so much easier on effort and the weight bearing calamities.

Also, pounding is not your friend, so I tend towards the bouncy and cushioned running shoes. I find that this becomes more necessary as I age and there is less absorptive tissue over the bones and in the joints, etc. Running on grass would probably be a good idea but I don't find that i need to do that.

And back to what I said before - those drills and range of motion exercises, going for walks, stretching, body weight exercises - these directly address the the plethora of old age setbacks we all hate so much. As I said, sometimes I do them in lieu of weight lifting workouts I used to do, and sometimes in addition to, according to what the bod is telling me I need and can handle, and frankly as time allows sometimes...

And then just accepting that this is the best I can do, so live with the results, no complaints.

I turned to Easy Interval Method a couple of years back, when I was 65. I'd do an EIM session with either one or two days of four miles at about 7:45-8:15 per mile for recovery.

With 6x1000m giving just over an hour of near continuous running with the warm-up, I didn't need a long run.

I've always loved track work so this suited me.

I ended up with 19:45 for 5k and 11:32 for 3000m which I was happy with.

Incidentally, I've run competitively since high-school and need competitive goals to motivate me to get off the couch.

What Would I Say to My Younger Self?

1. Consistency trumps heroism.
“Do the workout that you can recover from not the workout you can do.” Constantina Dita, Olympic marathon gold medalist in 2008
Constantina Dita: the oldest marathon gold medalist at 38 years old. Why did she finally win? She learned how to avoid injuries!
It’s okay to feel good after a workout.
I’m not talking about high intensity days; they should feel uncomfortable.

2. Our bodies need rest to produce adaptations from our training.
Greater volume and intensity do not always lead to greater improvements.

3. “The older I am, the faster I used to be.”
I can assure you: you will take longer to recover from workouts, heal from injuries, and get back in shape.
What’s the only thing that gets faster? You will get out of shape faster.

4. Run on grass or trails as much as possible.
Your joints will thank you.

5. Do at least one high intensity workout per week.
Speed work helps running economy.
The absence of a high intensity run strongly limits how much you’ll improve. The gains, however, from multiple high intensity runs per week are way less than from the first one (diminishing returns).

6. Listen to your body.
If your legs feel like lead, your breathing is heavy, or your pulse is higher than usual, then slow down, cut your workout short, or take a rest day. These factors are often a sign of overwork or impending illness.

7. Stay trim: A healthy weight is free speed.
Excess weight slows your time about two seconds per pound per mile. It adds up quickly. Some of the slowing down with older runners is due to weight gain.
Obviously, there is a limit to gains in speed from weight losses.

8. Lift weights: You’re only as strong as your weakest link.
Your weaknesses will find you. Work on overall body fitness.
One-legged squats have worked well for me, which probably shows my specific weaknesses.

9. Keep age-specific PRs.
It’s encouraging because you get to set new PRs every year.
For instance, I now have yearly PRs: “my fastest 5k at age 57” and even something like “my fastest mile in my 60s.”
Also, mix it up periodically to keep your motivation; try longer or shorter distances, or even a different event.

10. Do something (vs. nothing): Think in terms of deposits.
Even a relaxed run or a bad workout is a deposit that will add up and pay off in the future. Stay active.

I've moved from HM and 5ks to mile and 800 in my 60s, which has been fun.

Wow! You smoked a 5:19 at 58? Track or road? Also, what's your weight & BF%?

I'm pleased with my result but take a look at the Fifth Avenue Mile results in the age groups.

In the M60-64 10 people broke 5:30!

I'm 5'10" 145 pounds. I don't know my BF numbers but I'm very lean and have no trouble keeping weight off.

I bet if you went to a "low-T" center or men's clinic, they would tell you how safe TRT is & pressure you to sign up. Lol.

I have a 66 yr old friend at my gym (former pro cyclist) who went to a men's clinic here to inquire about TRT (this is a heavily advertised clinic). His office visit included lab work with results available within an hour. The doctor told him everything looked good on the labs & that he's candidate for TRT, and if he signed up that day, the office visit & lab charges would be waived, and a 20% discount would available for the first month's cycle. My friend he said told the doc that he wanted to think about & the doc seemed a little annoyed reiterating that no discounts will be available if he doesn't sign up that day. Lol. This in no surprise since TRT through a men's clinic/low-T center is a lucrative business with $2 Billion in annual global sales.

Couple more questions: What is your testosterone levels if you've had it checked? And what's your height, weight & BF%?

the secret is sleep/recovery.

So many people think they can cheat the system and "get by" on only 6 or 7 hours of sleep.

Look at the best athletes in the world and they do a few things right.

1) sleep - they get it

2) diet - they eat actual food

you get these two things right and you'll find better results.

you don't have to win the genetic lottery to do these 2 things, but if you want to blame something for your inability to recovery as you age that's a good one. The other one is to claim athletes who recovery well are cheating (drugs etc.) and you would probably be right (about 50-90% of the time). But there are some who recovery fine without it. So ask them what they do?

they will probably check two boxes: sleep 8+ hrs and eat right.

Interesting....

Haven't had the T tested, so don't know. The height/weight/body fat - I can say that I just talk into the "normal" category on the BMI charts, though on the high end of the normal category. I can easily slip into the overwieght category on BMI metric, but the line of demarcation there became a goal for me and I managed to just make it... on a good day... most of the time.

The BMI category does not favor those with even a moderate amount of muscle, and that's my take on that.

To each his own... guy i coach just turned 60 and ran the 400m under 60"....

I've turned to a 9 day training cycle instead of a 7 day cycle with 1 track workout, 1 threshold workout and 1 long run. It allows me to rest or do some strength training, stretching 2 days a week. I keep the easy runs really easy and even the workouts aren't that hard. I'm just trying to be consistent. I still have some Achilles issues that have been ongoing for years, but the 9 day cycle lets me get what I need done without trying to force everything into 7 days. I'm 59 years old.