Strong enough to lift and entire Leica CL up to my eye...
It's hard to work or play if you don't feel good. And it's easy to get side-tracked by medical issues if you don't stay on top of them. Recent studies indicate that exercise helps not only to prevent sudden medical events like heart attacks and strokes but can also reduce the risk of developing dementia by up to 40% !!!
People often argue that they "hate" to exercise but I can't imagine that living with excess body fat, low energy and the aches and pains caused by being sedentary is any bit more fun. Or that unchecked decay is any less time consuming or less expensive than exercise.
On the advice of my swimming coaches I added a bunch of strength training to my weekly exercise "diet." I've extremely happy with the results. My swimming has improved as has my overall energy level (although I've never been mistaken for a person with "low energy."). I added three days of strength training at a local gym to my usual five to six days of swimming workouts. And, of course, I still try to get out and walk as often as possible. If work interferes I just try to reschedule the work. Or cancel it altogether...
I wondered at 67 how much benefit I would see from both the exercise and the healthy diet that B. and I try to maintain (admitting to an occasional pizza or hamburger...) so I was pleasantly surprised by the second part of my annual physical with my doctor today. Last week I endured all the blood tests, stress testing, an EKG and a bunch of other measures. Today was the "hands on" part of the physical as well as a review of the results from all of last week's testing. I'm happy to see that I've lost 4 pounds in the last year, my BMI is now 23. My A1C is normal and my cholesterol is at a happy ratio with low triglycerides. All testing looked good and the machines that test for things like body fat, conductivity etc. calculated my "metabolic" age as being: 50.
While I don't believe I can turn back the clock or that I've found the fountain of youth I do know that it's much better to spend whatever time I have left to practice photography in the best health I can and with the energy that comes from being pain free and unencumbered by largely preventable maladies. Knowing that I'm on the right track also helps me sleep well.
Once again, I know a lot of you are already doing pretty much what I do to stay in shape, but for the folks who are on the fences I can't emphasize strongly enough that the prevention provided by aerobic exercise and strength training (coupled with good eating habits) is more valuable than all the money or other treasures I can conceive of. Given the choice of being poor but healthy or rich but infirm I'll choose the former any time. Best of both world's? It's something to aim for...
P.S. It's not enough to show up. You have to do the work.
14 comments:
I've never understood why pizza is often lumped in with unhealthy foods. It's bread, cheese, vegetables and some tomato sauce, sometimes some meat. What's wrong with that?
i've been getting the urge to make my own deep pan pizza lately, have been thinking about lower calorie options
I thought swimmers like to keep a little fat on the body, as it makes them more buoyant. No?
You're absolutely right about exercise, though excessive walking through life can be hard on the knees. I've always been a walker, and I now wear trail-runner shoes to help absorb the impact. I believe you when you say weight work helps with your swimming times, but with the amount of swimming you do, I doubt you really need it for physical fitness. Unlike swimming, you can hurt yourself with weights, so take care.
JC, funny you should mention the extra little body fat. My favorite coach is Clark Smith who was an NCAA and World record holder a couple years back in the 800 freestyle. It's a race that I think of as pure distance. The kind of distance that I thought might benefit from some added buoyancy. But he's built like a greyhound and probably had, at the time, about 6% body fat. Still as thin as a rail (except for all the right swim muscles...). He's my defect weight coach and has me hitting the middle ground. No giant weight loads. Just weights that are manageable for sets of 20 repetitions. His experience suggests that the guys who hurt themselves are lifting at the limits of what they can lift for 6-8 reps with a lot of grunting and grimacing. Those guys are trying to build excess muscle mass. I'm just trying to build strength.
On the subject of walking, the one thing I notice (damn aging!!!) is that the pads on the bottoms of my feet are thinner and the balls of my feet get sore after four or five miles. But only with certain shoes. I can walk forever in a pair of Birkenstocks and usually have no discomfort with Keene hiking shoes but regular "trainers" or track shoes absolutely suck for me. YMMV
I'll take care and check in with my coach on a regular basis. But it sure feels good to be faster and stronger.
Your swim tales are an inspiration! Just had to share… maybe more for B. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/01/opinion/locker-rooms-swimming-pools.html?smid=url-share
Robert, depends who you have critiquing your pizza. If Mike Johnston's favorite folks, the Whole Plant People at the Cleveland Clinic, examine the idea of pizza they direct their scorn to the saturated fat in cheese. If you ask the "Keto" people they dismiss the bread as being a carbohydrate poison that will trigger your blood sugar. Me? I love pizza. I just try to eat everything in moderation.
I like cheese. The fat makes you feel full before you eat too much and some of the cheeses are rich in vitamin K2-7. I like the bread because....I like the bread. Altogether it's a "feel good" food to me.
I just ate a chunk of sharp cheddar cheese before I came back to the computer to work. Feels good to me.
In my reply to JC above it should read "De Facto" coach, not "defect" coach. I wouldn't want a coach to teach me to be defective...
Damn Spellcheck
Allen, Thanks for bringing that NYT article to our attention. While I don't currently have any 80+ year olds on our team we do have five or six in their mid-70s who are in fabulous shape, still very, very fast and very fit. In fact, there are one or two 75+ year olds that a lot of the younger guys are afraid to race...
Fitness might not have us living longer but we'll feel better and look damn good while we're still here.
If more people followed your example we'd have more money left in Medicare, fewer people on disability and pay lower premiums for insurance. All of which would mean we each would be able to keep more money in our own pockets. Also, people would lead better, more productive lives. What a nice dream.
R.A.
I agree with those who say that pizza unfairly gets put in the junk food category. Hold the pepperoni and sausage and add extra veggies and you've got a breakfast of champions! ;-)
I'm all in on the exercise, but ya can't beat genetics in a lot of things.
Eric
One concession to The Sixth Decade is that I need greater amounts of rest time to recover after say 2 hours of cycling (usually 25-30 miles in my area, depending on the vertical ascent and the wind). Harder now to keep a full schedule and do that 5-6 days a week.
But then I saw the online video of the Englishman discussing how he was slowing down with his cycling as he aged. And could now only do 4 days of 50+ mile bike rides because he needed more recovery time in between rides.
He was 80 at the time. Motivation level from that video: 10.
Definitely happy that I linked up with the lower impact sport of cycling (provided gravity and errant vehicles are kept at bay) about 50 years ago and never lost the bug.
I walk 4-5 miles 4-6 times per week. The college near me offers vets a free membership in their fitness club. There's even reserved parking. In good weather, I prefer to walk outside but when it is cold, rainy, snowy, etc. I walk indoors on the Fieldhouse track and/or in the hallways & stairs. Past age 50, it is definitely a case of "use it or lose it". Once when my wife had major surgery that kept her from doing anything at all for month I skipped my exercise and spent the time caring for her. It took me almost 6 months after that to get back to where I was before.
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