I heard this one a few weeks ago:
"We don't become weak because we get old....we get old because we become weak"
Sorry, but that just is not so. We get old no matter what we do. But when the debilitations of age strike me (and they will), I want to be as fit as possible so that the long downhill slide starts from a higher elevation. (This was brought home to me when I had cancer in 2018--I was close to fighting weight and reasonably fit going into that major surgery, and there is no doubt that being fit vastly improved the recovery and the outcomes.)
My goal is to die young...
...wait for it...
...as
late as possible.
So, I don't focus on muscle mass or excess strength. I focus on mobility and the strength that mobility requires. I use dumbbells for upper body for two reasons: 1.) they look more like the things I want to be able to lift and carry, and 2.) hotel gyms have them.
I've always been a cyclist if I've been anything athletic. Yes, I swam miles at a time when I was training for the Ironman, but swimming laps is hard and time-consuming, plus the chlorine kills my sinuses. And I ran long distance at times (and still my regular run is five miles), but in the last several years I've started to get running injuries of one sort or another. I think I build the most useful leg strength and fitness running and cycling, rather than lower-body lifting. Plus, my legs routinely carry my 195-pound body, and when I walk, I do it vigorously (
nobody keeps up with me at airports, and I can walk fast enough to keep up with my wife's jogging, at least before her foot surgeries put an end to that). I can carry my luggage (35-40 trips a year through airports) and I did not buy lightweight stuff. I carry my tubas to rehearsals and gigs and my big tuba for wind ensemble weighs 45 pounds in its gig bag with all the associated accoutrements--I carry it over one shoulder. I don't complain about moving amps and speakers. The strength to do those activities is what I wish to preserve as long as possible.
But stuff happens. My wife has a cousin who is the picture of fitness and health. But three years ago he stepped off a curb and his leg broke. WTF? He used to be able to stand up from sitting crosslegged with a Volkswagen engine in his arms, but all that ended after his knee and leg surgery. But there is no doubt that the fitness he carried into that ordeal is the reason why most people still think of him as the picture of fitness and health, even though he is keenly aware of what he can no longer do. These sorts of unexpected debilitations are on the agenda for most folks no matter what they do to stay fit.
Many focus on strength, but I daresay balance is a bigger issue for aging. I also have a Bosu in my home gym, and my PT has given me exercises that use the Bosu to sharpen my balance and stability, mostly to prevent falls or self-injury while doing other things. Fine control is also an issue for many, so I've taken up a new hobby (watch repair) to give me a reason to practice fine motor skills (and patience). Tremor is a real problem for me playing the tuba, and no amount of fitness training could have prevented that, so I know what age-related disability looks like.
But for me working out is
not the hobby. (Cycling is to some extent, but I prefer to do that in groups for hobby purposes, and invariably that diminishes the workout quality.) Working out is a means to an end for me. I don't really have passion for it, and doing it is a matter of commitment. Many in this thread identify working as the hobby, or, if you like the formulation better, the target avocation. It is an end unto itself, done for its own sake. That is a fundamental difference in outlook. It's a bit like people who are into audio but don't really listen much to music except to demonstrate their audio stuff, versus people who are into the music and want the cheapest system that does not get in the way of that enjoyment. I have been both of those audio nuts at various times. A better analogy might be a musician playing scales. Musicians have to learn that playing scales has to be enjoyed for its own sake, because there will never be a time when they won't need to play scales, so they might as well enjoy it. I play scales, but I've never really enjoyed doing so for their own sake. That's why I'm a second-rate amateur musician who only gets the occasional pro gig by hanging around pros. (That's not the only reason.)
Rick "would be more diligent if working out was the passion" Denney
P.S. I was once asked, while running laps around a fairgrounds at week-long RV rally, what I was running
from. "Old age!"
