Training for my future octogenarian decathlon - what’s yours?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:44F here. Not an 80yo-goal setting mindset, but a preventative health mindset:

1. I am eating as clean as I possibly can to lower my genetically high cholesterol and blood pressure... want to avoid meds for as long as I can. I'm already slender, so I don't actually need to lose weight.

2. I exercise in a joint-friendly way, with aquatic fitness, because I've seen the wear and tear on joints in my relatives and in-laws. So no running or too many lunges and squats.

3. I want to stretch more, because I've seen the benefits my father has received from his lifetime of daily stretches.

4. And I want to improve my meditation practice, because it does wonders for my husband and his brothers.

Peter Attia and just about any of his guests on the subject would tell you 2 is a mistake unless you have some specific predisposition you are trying to avoid. Particularly as a female. You need to load your skeletal system with weight bearing exercise. Avoiding it is a bad plan.

I'm sorry but that is ridiculous. Women need to do weight bearing exercises. We don't have to destroy our joints. I don't care what health guru says otherwise.

Can you read? We are saying the same thing. I wasn't suggesting back squats with so much weight you blow out your back. Did you read this part? "unless you have some specific predisposition you are trying to avoid." People on this forum are so incredibly obtuse at times. Jesus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:44F here. Not an 80yo-goal setting mindset, but a preventative health mindset:

1. I am eating as clean as I possibly can to lower my genetically high cholesterol and blood pressure... want to avoid meds for as long as I can. I'm already slender, so I don't actually need to lose weight.

2. I exercise in a joint-friendly way, with aquatic fitness, because I've seen the wear and tear on joints in my relatives and in-laws. So no running or too many lunges and squats.

3. I want to stretch more, because I've seen the benefits my father has received from his lifetime of daily stretches.

4. And I want to improve my meditation practice, because it does wonders for my husband and his brothers.

Peter Attia and just about any of his guests on the subject would tell you 2 is a mistake unless you have some specific predisposition you are trying to avoid. Particularly as a female. You need to load your skeletal system with weight bearing exercise. Avoiding it is a bad plan.

PP you replied to. Every individual is different. My joints are fragile and everyone in my family who overimpacted them needed surgeries. The ones who were active in a gentler way didn’t. You need to customize your health plan for the genes you have.

I have 2 autoimmune diseases, family predispositions to cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis and breast cancer: that’s what I’m focused on managing. The weight bearing would be helpful for the osteoporosis, but not at the expense of my joints - it can be managed with meds. My mother reversed her osteoporosis with the treatment her doctor prescribed.

Agree 100% - and what you are doing makes complete sense. But for somebody without these conditions, avoiding weight bearing exercise with the assumed benefit of some "joint saving" will end up producing the opposite result.