I’m half joking. But as a 30-something who used to be very active, I recognize I’m over the hill and my joints sound like pop rocks
Anyone replying “stretching” is basing their response on grade school gym class, not science.
Studies have not shown that stretching has a positive impact on injury prevention, and this has been widely known in the literature for over 20 years. Stretching can improve performance in some sports like gymnastics where increased flexibility is needed, but that is unrelated to injury.
Stretching has a negative effect on performance in other cases because it actually decreases muscle force generation.
Think about it, would you think that loosening all the belts on a machine would automatically make it less likely to break down?
So what does prevent injury?
- Good warm-ups. Walk before you jog before you run. Lift an unloaded barbell before a loaded one, etc.
- Strength. A joint surrounded by muscle is a stable joint. That means doing exercises that strengthen all the muscles, including minor ones. It’s part of why most people who know what they are talking about will try to get you to do compound lifts with free weights over single joint exercises on machines.
- periodization/progressive overload. Basically slowly building intensity and then backing off to recuperate.
Big one is just walk more. If there’s anything near your house that you regularly drive to, start trying to walk there as much as possible.
I have a lot of trouble motivating for the gym and similar self-directed activities, so I find classes or semi-organized sports much easier to do consistently.
Walk a lot with the dog, also stretch!!! Before doing any big exercise. It would have been better to stretch when you were younger but it still helps. Also just exercise and eat healthy
Ping pong / table tennis (depending on how seriously you take it) can be a VERY good way to get your steps in. In a 2 hour session I get about 8-10 thousand steps. This is 4 to 5 miles. It is low impact and you can really get a good sweat on.
Wanted to get into this but couldn’t find a place or community close enough to play- settled for Pickleball. Is good fun, plenty of running around in singles.
Yoga. I started doing some distance running and besides learning to run in the correct zone so I am not maxing out my body everytime I have been doing this Post Run Yoga after most runs. It really helps and allows me to cool down and stretch well. The rest of her videos also rock
I still lift weights, although now it is more about staying toned than getting huge gains. I also try to do cardio at least twice a week.
Injuries are harder to recover from so if something starts to hurt in a bad way I stop and do something else.
I am 40+ and I just realized the huge importance biomechanics has in choosing a sport or, in my case, the right free weights exercises to do in the gym: if you get someone who ACTUALLY STUDIED Biomechanics in university or anyway an academic-level course, they can take measurements of your limbs and torso and suggest literally the kind of exercise that would have the most return while keeping the chance of injuries at a minimum.
Of course, personal preference/enjoyment will always have to play the most important role in your choices, but when not having strong opinions reducing your chance of injury so that you can be constant in your practice is the best long-term strategy.
Couldn’t that be easily communicated without individual measurements? Like, people with long legs/arms do this, people with ling arms/short legs do this, etc? Generally curious: my partner is 6’4", and this could be useful for him.
There are several tipping points that are worth calculating abd having a proper measurements of the levers in one’s body allows for proper ranking of the possible movements/exercises.
But yeah, there are general rules one can look at, like when you see Phelps with a 2 meters arm aperture that makes him very fit for swimming.
ITT: One half providing helpful insight into healthy physical activities, the other half total assholes ripping into this person for not being a jock.
Some people have been living sedantary life styles, the reasons for such can range from lack of interest to mental illness. Some people get a good dopamine hit from exercise. For others, exercise is a pretty miserable experience.
If someone is reaching out to seek advice on how to improve their lives, lend a helping hand. Please don’t be an asshole.
Hookers and blow.
My heart is the size of a basketball. I’m going to live forever.
How do you even get back into it… So hard
No joke, progressive resistance training (weightlifting) for older people can be better bc it has cardio built in but takes less time and is more precise so you can really manage exertion well. It signals the body to retain muscle so you can intermittent fast w/out losing ability while on a caloric deficit and w/out inflammation and other crap while on a surplus, making it easier to keep precancerous bodies swept up. I am not actually old yet, but I plan to be old.
Also, people may not realize poor sleep hygiene can reduce your physical strength by 30% (measured by resistance training) or maybe more due to coordination issues
I’m in my 40s and I’m really glad I got into martial arts back in my 20s and kept up with it.
As a 54 year old who has just had two weeks of agony because he forgot his age and tried to deadlift a 225kg motorbike by himself, I’m going to skip this one because I clearly haven’t learned anything.
Mustn’t’ve groaned enough.
A for effort though
I’m 62 and had to be advised to get a few fit young people to assist with moving a piano.
Stretch, start slow, build up gradually. Stretch again. Stretch a third.
Go for a walk (outside) every day. I used to try different posture exercises, running, sprinting interval training, but as you get older, nothing is healthier and easier on your body than just daily walks.
We kinda are walking machines anyway:
Bonus points for mental health if you walk in nature, without any headphones or entertainments.
Also do strength training (you can get hand barbells very cheap if you don’t have a gym close by), starting very light at first, and working up to whatever feels comfortable.
Get a decent set of exercise bands. I have 5lbs all the way up to multiple 100lbs ones. They are relatively cheap, light and highly mobile.
