I'll take the opinion of a professional over someone like you every single day of the week.
OT: Basement Gym
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I'll take the opinion of a professional over someone like you every single day of the week.
Awesome. Enjoy the benefits of your healthier lifestyle to you and your gal.
FWIW is right!! There are some good take aways from this article but some very suspect information as well. Cardiac rehab is exclusively utilized for patients with known heart repairs or heart ailments. Generally it's a progressive program that does not target 95% predicted heart rate maximums. That's over the top and highly aggressive. Also and I will shout out to our trainer friendly, resident @rutgersal ..."Outside of such (medically supervised) settings, HIIT may be unsafe for people who have or are at risk for heart disease." Begs the question, how qualified are your trainers Al to identify risks, diagnose cardiovascular disease/heart failure and clear clients for HIT?
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For me, the biggest takeaway is that there's no particular advantage for older people like me to do HIIT rather than moderate exercise, and that there may be some degree of greater risk.
Info from Harvard is often very suspect. They seem captured by special interests. Same with medical associations. Just last week I think it was the AHA that published a poorly supported news item that intermittent fasting increases risk of cardiovascular disease. And the American Diabetic Association dietary advice is horrible.
While OP did not ask, diet is equally if not more important than exercise. Protein consumption at 1g per lb of body weight helps fight sarcopenia.
And while not specific to HIIT, even those with known coronary artery disease benefit from exercise.
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got it wrong not lay thinking just keeping fit thinking.
Oh and you’d run a lot faster if I was chasing your ass. Pal
As the OP, let me urge everyone to keep the discussion civil. IMHO, people should try to disagree without being disagreeable. Thanks!
It is interesting when it comes to trainers and different programs.
When my wife and I decided to use a trainer for both of us- our goal were completely different. I used to work weights a lot- not heavy but quite a bit but still just never felt fit and couldn't shake some extra weight. But, I could say I went to the gym 4-5 days a week and worked myself hard.
My wife - she was 5ft9 120 lbs and very rarely went to the gym, she wanted to tone and actually put on a little bit of weight.
So, it was important to find someone that could work with both. First person they suggested was this buff guy that was maybe 25 y/o - and the few times we had been to the gym previously, seemed he always worked with others that were in their 30'2- 40's.
He was a no go
As we were there- we saw this little fit girl working with a gentleman in his 70's and we had seen her working previously with younger buff people as well.
We went with her and she did wonders for us. And even with me- we didn't touch a weight for the first 5 sessions and while I thought I was in pretty good shape- I would be sweating buckets 10 minutes in and a few times even had to stop for a couple of minutes. But she did exactly what both of us were looking for.
When my wife and I decided to use a trainer for both of us- our goal were completely different. I used to work weights a lot- not heavy but quite a bit but still just never felt fit and couldn't shake some extra weight. But, I could say I went to the gym 4-5 days a week and worked myself hard.
My wife - she was 5ft9 120 lbs and very rarely went to the gym, she wanted to tone and actually put on a little bit of weight.
So, it was important to find someone that could work with both. First person they suggested was this buff guy that was maybe 25 y/o - and the few times we had been to the gym previously, seemed he always worked with others that were in their 30'2- 40's.
He was a no go
As we were there- we saw this little fit girl working with a gentleman in his 70's and we had seen her working previously with younger buff people as well.
We went with her and she did wonders for us. And even with me- we didn't touch a weight for the first 5 sessions and while I thought I was in pretty good shape- I would be sweating buckets 10 minutes in and a few times even had to stop for a couple of minutes. But she did exactly what both of us were looking for.
We want pics of you and your bride wearing one of these...
And he is older than you. 💪😎
Well he doesn't swing that way, so he'd definitely outrun you.
100% agree. Exercise for the most part will be beneficial to those with known CAD, but venturing into anaerobic thresholds is risky.
Been reading through people's responses. We're a community that loves to argue. But we also like to help. And that's nice to see in this thread.
There's a fair amount of variability in responses. But I think the most important thing to remember is that the difference between doing nothing at all and getting 30 minutes of low-impact, low-stress exercise every day is enormously helpful to our well-being (physically and cognitively). That difference (from a baseline of no exercise to 30 minutes of mild exercise) represents a massive return on effort if we're just talking general fitness and health.
Combine the exercise with habitually healthy eating choices and everything above and beyond that, while great and all, provides a decreasing return on your effort (when just talking about general fitness).
I'm not discouraging the use of personal trainers, or expensive machines, or pull-ups, or whatever. Those can all be great. I'm just saying it's very easy to overthink the exercise thing. And that can be counter-productive to the goal of maintaining basic fitness as we age.
At 72, doing a circuit of basic lifting exercises that affect all the muscle groups, with 10 pound dumbbells, starting at 10 reps and working up to 25 reps (which can be done in 15-20 minutes), and then going outside and walking at a medium-to-brisk pace for 30 minutes? That's really all a person over 55 needs.
Want to do more? Great, have fun. But nobody who is 55+ years old "needs" to do more.
Sure, if training to win your age group in a 5K run, or in a cycling century ride, or a triathlon or whatever, then you obviously need more time and effort. But you'll still be getting smaller health returns per energy expended than the huge return you get going from nothing to 30 minutes of exercise every day. And, especially as we age, it's not all that hard to cross over into creating health issues if we push too hard.
There's a fair amount of variability in responses. But I think the most important thing to remember is that the difference between doing nothing at all and getting 30 minutes of low-impact, low-stress exercise every day is enormously helpful to our well-being (physically and cognitively). That difference (from a baseline of no exercise to 30 minutes of mild exercise) represents a massive return on effort if we're just talking general fitness and health.
Combine the exercise with habitually healthy eating choices and everything above and beyond that, while great and all, provides a decreasing return on your effort (when just talking about general fitness).
I'm not discouraging the use of personal trainers, or expensive machines, or pull-ups, or whatever. Those can all be great. I'm just saying it's very easy to overthink the exercise thing. And that can be counter-productive to the goal of maintaining basic fitness as we age.
At 72, doing a circuit of basic lifting exercises that affect all the muscle groups, with 10 pound dumbbells, starting at 10 reps and working up to 25 reps (which can be done in 15-20 minutes), and then going outside and walking at a medium-to-brisk pace for 30 minutes? That's really all a person over 55 needs.
Want to do more? Great, have fun. But nobody who is 55+ years old "needs" to do more.
Sure, if training to win your age group in a 5K run, or in a cycling century ride, or a triathlon or whatever, then you obviously need more time and effort. But you'll still be getting smaller health returns per energy expended than the huge return you get going from nothing to 30 minutes of exercise every day. And, especially as we age, it's not all that hard to cross over into creating health issues if we push too hard.
I think you have the right approach. What would be a good source of basic lifting exercises? I have Liz Neporont's Weight Training for Dummies; is there something else I should be looking at?
I love pull-ups. The bicep ones.
The tricep ones have been painful ever since I first tore a rotator cuff in HS while wrestling (and especially after also tearing the other side in my mid-20s, and even more so after tearing one of my A/C joints in my early 40s). But I kept doing them anyway because, as I mentioned earlier, pain is very good for the soul and, as Pat Swayze said, it's just pain and pain don't hurt, and as you just mentioned, we must all be mah-sive like Ahnold!
I started weight lifting in middle-school for wrestling and lifted hard up until my 30s. So I have no idea what's out there today that I could recommend.
But I would imagine that a search on YouTube for "dumbbell exercises" or even "dumbbell exercises for 55+" would produce a ton of examples of stuff you could add in. Just remember to keep it simple and start very low weight and low reps.
If you have pain (while doing a specific exercise), lower the weight/reps or skip that particular one and do another. Muscle soreness the next day (in the very beggining) is okay. Sharp pains in your joints while exercising is not. You'll know intuitively.
I should create a YouTube video called "Dumbbell Exercises for Dumbbells from a Dumbbell". Except I'd probably get sued by the owner of the "... for Dummies" trademark. 😃
Sounds like you would know sweetie. Drink that sissy drink and get swinging.
Hi- there are numerous YouTube channels you can browse to find what works for you. I searched workouts for over 55, and these two channels seemed pretty good:
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I have not watched or used either of these channels. From experience, each person has to find a channel and an instructor that they like or resonate with. Don't get discouraged or turned off because you cannot do something in the video or you don't look like the buff instructor in the video.
I think the advice mildone gave above is solid. Just do something. Even 20 minutes a day. Once you get started, you will feel better and get more comfortable.
Here is an example of something you can do 3 days per week in 20 minutes per day just to get started, and it is free.
Warmup:
1. Ankle and hamstring stretches
2. 5 minutes of Jumping Jacks
3. Core move- hollow bodyholds:
Strength:
1. 3 sets of pushups to failure (do 3 sets of as many pushups as you can).
2. 3 sets of air squats- as many as you can do
3.3 sets of body weight lunges.
This is a very basic starting set of exercises. If you add resistance bands, you can do some "pull" exercises like curls or other band exercises.
That looks interesting. Where did you get it?I got one of these a few years ago and its been very effective.
amazon has them. Works the biceps, triceps, shoulders and back depending on the placement of the handles. The best part is there is less stress on the wrists and hands I feel.
I thought for sure you were gonna say that the best part is the rainbow colors so you can both work on your fitness and support disenfranchised/marginalized persons all at the same time. 😉
The nice thing about pushups is there are variations to work chest, biceps and triceps. Exercise does not have to be complicated or expensive. When I started back on the path to fitness years ago, I could not do 20 pushups. I worked my way up to 150 pushups. I set goals of 3 sets to failure and kept upping the reps.
My next goal is pullups and grip strength.
I got one of these a few years ago and its been very effective.
Excuse my ignorance: what is it?
Is that the same thing as a push up bra?
I'm trying to figure out how exactly a pushup works your back. Looking at that board on Amazon, it's really hard to tell exactly how that would work your lats.
Pushup Board 9 in 1 Home Workout Stand
Ohh now sweetie wants lats!! Lolol. Pull-ups genius get your ass on a bucket if you need help. Must be from Damascus
Just remember first a pre-workout warmup then a stretching routine is very important. Gets the blood flowing.
You don’t want to workout cold muscles.
You don’t want to workout cold muscles.
Looks like I got a stalker now in this thread who is having sexual fantasies about me, hence him referring to me as "sweetie" and making homoerotic inferences.
As you seem to be too mentally incompetent to be able to comprehend what you're reading, I'll simplify it for you. I was asking how a pushup board would work the major muscles in the back, which include the latissimus dorsi, aka lats. My question was purely academic as I have no use for a tool like that. My current back workout encompasses full body weight pullups utilizing various grips, cable pulldowns, cable/dumbbell/machine rows, etc.
As you seem to be too mentally incompetent to be able to comprehend what you're reading, I'll simplify it for you. I was asking how a pushup board would work the major muscles in the back, which include the latissimus dorsi, aka lats. My question was purely academic as I have no use for a tool like that. My current back workout encompasses full body weight pullups utilizing various grips, cable pulldowns, cable/dumbbell/machine rows, etc.
I like pushups as an exercise. I’ve looked at that in the past but I just saw a lot of what I like to call a bunch of “pop up” brands on Amazon.I got one of these a few years ago and its been very effective.
By any chance do you remember which brand you bought. I don’t want something that will break after a few uses.
I would just add as you get older which we both are proper form and flexibility are paramount to avoid injury. Warm up at least a little, stretch a lot when warm (I mix stretches in between sets) and I will repeat make sure you have good form. Don’t overextend anything.
We are supposed to excuse how ignorant you are? 🤣
External rotation of the hands should help reduce workloads of the triceps and pectoral muscles...thus incorporating more of the rear deltoids (shoulder muscles) and the lats to do more of the work.
Right, sounds good. If you need a spot come see me. Leave your push-up bra at home 🤣
