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Forums › Trooper’s Training Forum – In memory of Col. James “Jim” R Tirey, USA › Let’s Discuss Aging
Let’s have a chat about getting old and how you do things differently so you can keep doing the things you like, whether it be climbing, riding, your wife or whatever.
The first thing I did was HRT. I turned 38 at the end of July, and I’ve posted elsewhere about going on HRT towards the end of year 37. In short, I had a number of symptoms and had twice tested ~400 or lower and the HRT doc said that’s low enough we could try clomid since I’m under 40 and don’t have kids and that we’d see how I felt in a few months time.
It took about 3 months before I woke up and took stock of everything and realized how much better I felt. Better workouts, better performance with the girlfriend, better mood, slightly leaner without really trying, better bicep veins even though I’m weak on the weights now and overall more energy.
I walk on average ~15,000 steps a day and I’m never dragging anymore. This often includes stretches of battling difficult dogs that are over aroused, large, and sometimes have aggression issues, but I’m holding up great.
On my workouts, I do more bodyweight and band stuff when I’m not feeling great, and I’m planning on doing more hypertrophy work instead of higher end strength work. I’m following the hypertrophy plan starting on Monday from Greg Nuckols and the Stronger by Science crew. It’s a “pay what you can” pricing structure with a $10 minimum if anyone is interested.
So I guess for me, even though I’m not
outside of my prime, I’m still making adjustments to keep up with life, look as good as I can, and do the work I need to do so I hopefully don’t work til I’m 72 like my dad did.
Sounds like you’re doing well and HRT was a big help!
I’m 42, surf around 5 days a week and lift 2-3 days. If I have the luxury to travel, then surfing gets replaced with mountain biking, rock climbing, and so on. Basically I try to do something physically fun almost every day, and lift every day or two. Diet, sleep, and workouts are fairly consistent with what I’ve been doing for the past 10-20 years, with two major changes.
Overall, I’d say I’m more confident in the power of the basics, and more likely to trust my body when it needs rest. As well as realizing that fitness and health are important, but merely components of a good life.
I’ve actually gone the other way and consume more animal fats and generally more animal products. I eat a ton of fruit, not as many vegetables and less starch.
After reintroducing barbells again this last week, I realized it’s not just the bodyweight skill exercises (pursuing the planche or whatever), but anything too intense at low reps 80% for 3 or whatever, or planche leans, that leave me feeling rickety.
Nudging the weights, autoregulating, and chasing the pump more often always feel good and progress doesn’t have a deadline.
First off. I’m now low 50s. The last few years have hit me hard with regards to shit like osteoarthritis, which was the cause of most of my shoulder issues.
1) Have long term joint pain? Get it checked out as soon as you can, thoroughly. There are some interventions that will help if you get on them right away. Collagen supplementation, Glucosamine/Chondroiten, training modifications. The other thing here is lose weight. If you have zero need for being a heavyweight, then lose the fucking weight. Better is to never have gained it in the first place. All those little fucks I knew who never got strong, still aren’t strong, but they also don’t have joint issue from walking around at 250lbs+ for 25 years. They are also still back squatting and benching their little weights, unlike me, who can’t bench or do regular back squats anymore due to the shoulder OA. Small Dogs Live Longer. Do this before it becomes hard to do.
2) Like Joe Doe says above, HRT. I kind of think you are doing something wrong if you need HRT at 38, but whatever. Mine tested low (300s) in my mid 40s pre-sleep apnea treatment, but it shot up to above normal levels after I started using a CPAP. But this has been such a game changer for so many guys I know. I have yet to go on. I am going to get my levels checked with an upcoming physical, and I’ll go from there.
3) Cardio: If you have never been a practitioner of long duration, low intensity cardio (LISS or Maffetone) then pick it up. Those CVS adaptations can be gotten in under a year of regular LISS work, and they are durable and persist for a decade or more. You want your dick to work better, improve your aerobic capacity and circulatory system.
4) Don’t be a hero when it comes to exercise. Err on the side of keeping a rep or two in the tank.
I was hoping you’d contribute to this one, Shaf.
I was out buying a new bench yesterday and was talking to the lady who owned the store and she, unprompted by me, said she’s had a ton of people come in for exercise equipment of all types in an effort to age better than their parents.
re: HRT at my age. I asked the doctor if it was simply stress related with the accompanying lack of sleep, or if it might be past concussions or even environmental. All he could say is that sleep wouldn’t hurt, but T levels have been dropping for decades and nobody really knows what will bring them back up outside of certain supplements and/or pharmacological interventions.
Mine was pretty low for my age, but the symptoms had the doc more willing to treat than the numbers.
I turned 37 last week. Aging and birthdays are so horribly depressing for me I took solace in that it wasn’t a “milestone” one. Still I am grateful I got to see 37 years and hopefully many more.
A friend of mine has been saying one of the “perks” is now we can go and get prescription Test. I definitely felt like I could have used it last year. Now I don’t know whether I’d qualify. I feel great most of the time these days and it seems to be down to more sleep, shorter and lighter workouts, being sure to put away more food and vitamin D (being outside).
That seems to be the formula. I also have noticed that more volume, reaching a state of fatigue at slightly higher reps may leave me a little more sore, but not as drained systemically, if that makes sense.
I could do 3rms all day when I was in my 20s and early 30s, and then started to notice that anything less than 6 at an RPE of 8+ or 0-2 reps in reserve left me feeling sluggish and rickety the next few days.
Even 20 rep squats, which suck as hard as ever in the set, leave me feeling better overall than sets of 5-8 at a high perceived intensity.
I’d also add that some sort of accommodating resistance is useful, especially on bench press. Bands or Mark Bell’s Slingshot are super useful for overloading the strongest position while preventing excess stress in the weaker, lengthened position. They work differently, but have a similar effect.
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