ReThinking Exercise at Age 60

Same. I find that easy long walks every few days is enough. Any more and I hurt all the time.

I had this discussion with a fellow doc the other day. Philosophically, if you work out, you intend to induce adaptations and that requires small amounts of "damage" and one would expect inflammation, then adaptation. Staying in shape clearly decreases CV risk among other things, but you really are walking around with low grade inflammation every day! On some level that aint good, and you feel it after 50. IDK, maybe there is a boring middle ground where we are better off doing hot yoga, a little lifting and long walks or swims? But yes, now that im late 50s, not working out feels way better! But im smart enough to know that after month or so ill feel overall worse, more depressed or whatever if I go couch potato?

Elite level endurance athletes really don't gain much life expectancy. It's very unfortunate. It's about life quality I guess.

to be clear, working out still feels great--thank you endorphins! its the next 2 days. Just never feeling pain free. sux.

Exercise is negatively correlated to almost every health-related comorbitiy.

On the other hand, in the words of celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain: "Your body isn't a temple. It's an amusement park."

I’m like this at 40, always sore. But I’m still improving in some areas of running, strength and flexibility. Just takes more time and recovery and I have to really cut down on caffeine so that my body can relax for me to recover. I figure it like this, I may always live with some pains but it’s like arthritis, not using your joints, tendons, muscles just makes the pains worse. You might be fine initially but the pains come back.

I also hope as I get older I have more time where I can focus on stretching a little more, massages, etc to nourish my body.

Anthony Bourdain? Cindy Williams said a variation of that on Laverne & Shirley in 1978.

I watch the older folks out and about, and it looks to me like they are not feeling so great at all. Virtually all are moving terribly and I know that most everything they do must feel like hell.

Compare that to a well conditioned excesizer, gym rat, runner, etc, and the difference is night and day.

I know this for sure because I often get very sincere compliments on my conditioning, and I am of this age group.

So, to think that the inactive folks feel better is just CRAP. They feel lousy all the time.

You, as an athlete, feel uncomfortable (and very uncomfortable) when you excersize, and here's the important part - then you feel great. Yeah, there's some recovery aches, but that is in part due to learning to dial it in, and in part due to age and can't be avoided,

So, what you felt when you stopped exercising is very deceptive, because you felt good by comparison, but you were coasting on the health benefits you gained from being fit and athletic - which you will soon lose if you don't maintain your activity level, and you will soon also become stiff, weak, overweight, and ache all the time, especially when you move even a little.

So, it is a trade-off. Be inactive and you will be uncomfortable all the time, or stay fit throught bouts of short exercise and then feel really good the rest of the time.

You (and I) will experience pain either way. Do you want to feel crappy all the time or just during intense exercise? I call what we do pain on the installment plan.

I find that after anything hard or long - run or bike, I need several days off to recover. I need 2-3 days between lifting. If i give myself the time, i'm all good. If not, i hurt all the time.

Swim. If you havent done this significantly in your life yet, the new range of motion will greatly benefit you. I have an old friend who played in the NFL for many years as a tight end. He held a large weight capacity of perhaps 300lbs or more because that was his job. But once he stepped down, he took on a post-retirement swimming regimen and is probably down to 220 and looking lean at 40. Most importantly he looks and feels great. There's almost no better feeling than having a 30-60 minute swim in you as the day begins. Low impact on the joints. Plus, to swim early it requires a little bit of preparedness and discipline to make it work, also good for you.

I'm 61 and my running days have probably come to a end. Id trade you in minute to have that good sore feelings back.

Doing anything in it's place, may I ask? Is that in the cards?

Similar to OP I've been a runner for 58 years only tapering off the last 5 or do due to a variety of setbacks. Returning to running has always been difficult after a layoff, but easing back a little at a time doing a lot of different activities is working just to keep fit.

For me the key was shifting to running every other day. It made a world of difference in how I feel generally. On the off day I do the simple & sinister kettlebell routine -- swings and Turkish get ups -- and walk for an hour or so.

The key to keep running as you get older is to drop intensity, duration and frequency. Esp us runners who have been at it for decades ( in my case almost 4). I know my speedy days, such as they were, are long past. Now I want to stay in shape and not hurt.

I try and run for 40min 3 days a week. Mostly slow with a 10min pick up at the end if I feel like it. Sometimes I run 50min to an hr, but again if I feel like it and I have no aches.

Lots of stretching and I do some weight work as well.

ALSO, all my runs are on trails, i never run on roads or concrete sidewalks, I really feel this has played a huge part in keeping me going. In bad weather Im on the treadmill.

In good weather months I bike a couple of times and week and it burns some calories and helps in my running too.

If you ache and are sore and cant sleep you need to back off. Its just not worth it.

This is (a large part of) why I am a devotee and advocate of low-force high-intensity training (HIT). See: Drew Baye, Dr. Doug McGuff, Ken Hutchins, etc.

By training in such a fashion, with (if desired) some additional low-force "cardio" sessions on the side, I maximize the benefits of exercise while minimizing the costs.

That's why I have always run 3 or 4 days a week. 16:24 5k on 25 MPW, age 37.

Never sore never hurt always fit at 69. No drugs. No freak of nature. Nothing complicated. adapt, think, experiment but quit complaining

As you get older, strength training and flexibility become paramount to pre-empt all conditions. Aerobic exercise less so, though some fast walking combined with some cycling or just a little running, something every day, is best.

I’m talking beyond age 50 or 55. Lift different muscle groups every day, and take two days off before you return to the same muscle group. So, like, chest, shoulders, triceps day 2, back, biceps, delts day two, legs and abs day 3, then rinse and repeat.

Walk briskly three days per week, cycle three days per week, and run one. Or run two and cycle two. Or swim as another poster mentioned.