Dedicating a thread to the geezers still lurking this shit hole (30+)
Right now I lift 4 days a week but I'm finding my time is increasingly being consumed by work and other matters. I'm also discovering although my lifts are increasing my overall 'health' seems to be subpar since I don't do cardio. Injuries seem to be increasing as well. Is it time to move on from lifting? I really only care about health and want to maximize my general well-being.
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Fellow boomer here (35).
While I don't take care of myself as much as I should I can't relate to the other oldgays here who say I falls apart in your mid 30s or injuries increase. Are you over-exerting yourself?
My advice is cut booze as much as possible, because it impacts your cardio and protein synthesis the most.
Then:
>Cardio daily
>Swimming is the patrician choice
>Cycling
>Running
Walk five miles a day in addition. Get a kettlebell and do a kb program that suits your schedule and needs. This is all you need for health, functional strength and fitness. You know the drill with diet.
>While I don't take care of myself as much as I should I can't relate to the other oldgays here who say I falls apart in your mid 30s or injuries increase. Are you over-exerting yourself?
That's part of it. I'm also finding that sedentary office work is destroying my body even when I exercise and walk regularly. Much better than manual labor but still part of the deterioration.
The biggest issue is nagging and random injuries. Part of getting old I guess. I'm not even a fatty and never have been.
honestly i keep on my cardio quite well but i simply do not have the time to do that as well as walk 5 miles a day. avid cyclist though. its my primary form of transportation. probably get at least 5 a day in on that in addition to my actual rides.
Lifting with heavy kettlebells and calisthenics had me feeling and looking better than I did when I trained with barbells
I took the lean pill at the beginning and I haven't looked back. I now work out for fun, no more very heavy weights, don't follow a strict workout routine, eat well and intermittently fast every couple of days for fun. I'm still making some gains while staying lean, I have more fun doing it and I don't injure myself. I took up MMA for my cardio and that's a lot of fun as well. I'm 37, 6', 175 lbs. Don't become a gymcel.
>at the beginning
Meant at the beginning of this year
Nice job anon
Mirin
Also I'm a 36 yr old massage therapist. The healthiest old people I see are swimmers. Low impact, excellent cardio etc.
massage my penis woman
I believe it.
Since you don't follow a routine what does your average workout look like every week?
Glad you found something that works well for you bro
Definitely DON'T quit lifting.
Check out the B. Rad (Brad Kearns) podcast and the Over 50 Health and Wellness (Kevin English) Podcast for relevant info
34 year old here.
Started lifting about 10 years ago. Had a few spells of low motivation and shit diet. Currently at the end of almost 6 months without lifting because the 2 good gyms near me closed down within a month of each other. Finally biting the bullet and signing up to the expensive Fitness studio type shithole that is the only gym left. Doesn't have anywhere to do heavy deadlifts.
Please don't stop lifting. I have been off it for 6 months and my back and joints feel a lot worse for it.
Definitely don't ego lift or push absolute 1RMs all the time if health is your primary aim. But keeping up with compund lifts to a decent standard and doing as much calisthenics as you can will be massively helpful to your health going forward.
And yes, get cardio into your routine asap, and do it regularly.
Take up some kind of sport that has impact as a common factor too if you can. I still skateboard at 34 and honestly believe it keeps my body more resilient to injury as I know how to fall and distribute impacts. I also took up trampolining last year and have been learning a lot of flips and shit. Something I never could do but always wanted to.
2 years ago I jogged in doors because I’m super insecure. Always 30 minutes with the wrist tracker(I know they are inaccurate when jogging in place) always hitting 3.5-4 miles. Watched that AthleneX vid where he said men don’t need cardio if they lift heavy. I know have a gut despite not drinking beer and keeping carbs low. I started my pre “enlightened” routine up again yesterday and my calves and legs are so sore on top of losing ten minutes of my endurance and a mile and a half off my “distance”. Frick myself for being so dumb and frick Jeff Cavalierathlenexdotcom.
>men don’t need cardio if they lift heavy.
I'm calling bullshit. I only lift and never do cardio and I still really out of shape
Yeah, that's bullshit. Cardio is important.
34 yr old here. Still making gains but don't go for 1 rep maxes or anything anymore.
Do any of you guys do LISS / Zone 2 cardio? I keep reading that it's the big thing now and probably better for you than high intensity cardio. All I do now is ultimate frisbee and tennis once a week each.
>Injuries seem to be increasing as well
take care of yourself anon
baby those injuries until they get well
you don't heal as well when you get older
I fricked up my wrist doing decline push ups when I was 44 and it's still fricked up at 55
33 here
Lift 2x a week
Sauna 5x a week
Life’s been getting busier and busier and ting away from self care activities seems to be the only way.
Got married, honeymooned, hosted in laws, and gained like 15 lbs from all the eating out, drinking, and shit food.
Wife hasn’t been putting out from the stress of everything and her family staying with us.
Started drinking as a result of never having any alone time as an introvert. Now don’t even enjoy drinking, but keep trying it because I have fond memories of getting goofy and silly and having a good time. Feel my wrist starting to bother me more. Sleeping in beds that are too soft make my lower back hurt.
Want to start dieting again because feeling fat feels like absolute shit.
Stop drinking, Anon. This shit might just be responsible for most of your ailments.
Stop the alcohol abuse, and take up activities outside of the house. Try to connect or find new friends to enjoy them with. This will also improve your wifey situation. From personal experience, I can tell you that women hate nothing more than a boring house cat. They shut their sex drive down if they don't feel like you're an exciting person with prospects.
Will be 32 in a month - I was pretty consistent until covid, company I worked for at the time had a gym in the basement. Since rona, I have a different job and a gf, and mainly having the gf has sucked away most of my time for lifting since she lives across town. I try to lift when I can but between seeing her, my friends and family and various weekend social things, I bet I'm only lifting half as much as I used to. I haven't gotten weaker but definitely a bit pudgier. Not super flabby and my gf compliments my muscles so I'm not very broken up about it. I work a desk job in IT so I already mog all my coworkers.
>mainly having the gf has sucked away most of my time for lifting
women, the eternal gains goblin
33 here
Keep lifting bro. Our bodies will inevitably fail but we don't have to be miserable when they fail. I just wish I started lifting long before I did, I would be so much better off now.
Man, I need to get more cardio in my life 🙁
When you say "move on from lifting" - you could leave almost everything about the lifting lifestyle, but you'd be a fool to quit working out completely. It doesn't take a lot of working out to maintain muscle, it's vastly harder to build the muscle and vascularity in the first place. I've seen people on this board many times regret how they stopped lifting completely and lost their strength.
Didn't mean stop working out entirely just moving onto something else. Something easier in the body
>push ups
>pull ups/chin ups
>weighted lunges
>isolations for arms and core
>running
At the end of the day I know these are boring when compared to lifting so it'll probably fail.
I think weighted calisthenics are basically optimal for strength, health and aesthetic balance and too many people are out chasing numbers with a barbell. Cardio is also a game changer, wish I hadn't neglected it for so long.
If I could start again I'd switch out the rack and barbell for rings, dumbells/kettlebells and a good weight vest and I'd get to running 3x a week right off the bat.
Lean is king for everything too. Feel better, move better, LOOK better (massively better)... I can still indulge in beer once a week and keep losing weight, love handles are gone, vertical separation of abs starting to show... Just a few more lbs and I'm sorted.
It'd be nice to have a full head of hair but I've been shaving it all off since my mid-20s so at 33 I've finished mourning. It'd just be fun to look 10 years younger.
Is cardio enough for legs or do you supplement with other exercises?
Bulgarian split squats and step ups are my go to. Running is enough for my calves though, but I've always had decent calves genetically.
30
Lift 3-5x a week nowadays, feels like it keeps me sane. Still 25-30lbs overweight (heavy weed smoker and munchie all the time). Weights been about the same for the past year, but added ~350lb to my total, and my body has changed a lot. Hank Hill ass to a dumpy now.
Strongest I've ever been by a longshot though, and most "in tune" I've ever felt with my body. All my joint issues are gone and my mobility is so much greater. It really wasn't until I got this old, that I really started to feel the effect of eating & sleeping on my body, and realized how important it all is together.
I have friends that do more cardio like running, and a lot that do active stuff like paddling, rock climbing, snowboarding etc. I'm the strongest by a decent margin, and seem to have the fewest issues with injuries / joints, etc. Even without dedicated cardio, lifting has given me a huge increase in aerobic capacity for when I do stuff like that too.
30 year old here.
Had sex with my wife. She came fine after foreplay and we fricked. I couldn't bust any nuts. Day 2 of Nofap and you frickers lied to me. Now she is making food thinking she is the problem.
Frick you IST
I can never make my wife come.
30, so just hit boomer status. 300 lbs in high school dropped to about 180. lifted in my early 20s. had to quit because my back just couldnt take working on an ambulance and a consistent gym routine. fell into a rut of faffing around and not taking exercise seriously for a few years. started cycling after a surgery that precluded lifting for a few months. got really into that during covid. beginning of this year decided to cut the bullshit and focus up when i did a check up and found out i was over 200 lbs. lost 30 lbs. my current routine is pretty loosey goosey but ive never felt better. as far as nutrition, just try to use common sense and only eat what i cook with good portion control. after years of autistically counting macros i know all my ingredients macro profiles by memory anyway.
routine is as follows: (M-Su)
1 hour bouldering
Run (5+ miles)
Cycle 20-30 miles
Full body calisthenics routine + 30 minutes bouldering
Rest
Full body calisthenics routine + 45 minutes bouldering
Run/Hike/Cycle for long distance depending on how i feel or other responsibilities that come up.
sometimes i leave to do backpacking trips which is actually a great way to cut down on the pudge if you are at a sticking point. i dont stretch as much as i should but ideally should be every day.
none of my routine feels like work because i genuinely enjoy doing all the activities and i give myself flexibility.
33 here. I switched from focusing on lifting to martial arts in my mid 20s and haven't looked back. Now I just lift once or twice a week, and it's mostly kettlebells (Girevoy sport) and functional movements. Don't do power lifting anymore.
>I really only care about health and want to maximize my general well-being.
Functional resistance training, stretching, yoga, steady state low impact cardio, meditation/breathing exercises.
How did your physique change after switching to combat sports as your main workout? I'm thinking about doing this as well.
Lost a little mass in those muscle groups that have lower functional purpose, e.g. chest, but otherwise got leaner, thicker forearms, stronger grip etc. I'm a heavyweight so I'm no ottermode Calvin Klein underwear model but I'd consider my physique now to be more aesthetic than before.
>steady state low impact cardio
what would be low impact?
Swimming, rowing, crosstrainer (elliptical machine), cycling etc
Anything where the knee joint doesn't have to absorb much impact
>’functional’ training
I would have said the same in my early 20s tbh. When you get over 30 you start to pick up injuries all the time and you have to reassess your approach and listen to your body
yup, healing factor goes down with age, until it's so low when you're retired that one slip starts the downward spiral to ICU and pulling the plug
the more in shape you are, the slower that going down goes iirc
most in shape not meaning overdoing it and damaging connective tissue and shit, progressive overload within reasonable limits is the key
35 anon here. dropped cardio a few years ago and it was the best decision in my life, never really did anything to me other than interfering with my lifts. I think I found the optimal amount of lifting sessions for me personally and its around 3 per week. I dont really have any goals anymore other than keeping myself in my peak shape for as long as possible, maybe gain a few more lean muscles but thats about it.
33 y/o here. Strictly kettlbell / cardio training. Trying to dig myself out of a rut, considering I put back on the 35 lbs of the 70+ I lost last year. I lost the weight got comfy started pigging out. Lame as it might sound I’m planning a sober October: need a break from the bottle. Ideally I need to lose 30-40 lbs and keep them off, and so much of it is tied to drinking and the ursine munchies they inspire (throw weed in the mix forget about it). I’m sure there’s some other boozing cardio gays who lurk here as well.
Damn I thought millennials would have realized we were fed a lot of bullshit about ‘functional’ training and doing gay stuff with kettlebells. I guess not.
Kettlebells have great crossover to martial arts. Power lifting not so much
>t. Gets winded walking up the stairs
old gay here - I’m 46 and feel it. BJJ and wrestling 3x a week, weights 2x, knock-off peloton bike 3x, and core/abs 3x. I only lean up to visible abs May-Aug. I’ve got 3 kids and have been married for 16 years, so my diet isn’t as important as it was in my 20s and early 30s. Multiple knee surgeries and two herniated disks a few years ago (doing heavy 3 rep squats), keeps me in pain a lot…lots of ice and Motrin. I drink too much as well.
Just turned 30 and I took a 2 year break from lifting because the only good gym in my shithole demanded shifts and masks. So anyway, I'm doing a LP program until I get used to working out again but I feel bummed about the baby weights I'm having trouble with now.