Advice sought for beginning excercise at 57

[nikorasu95]

Hi. I've recently turned 57. I'm male, 6'0" 217 lbs

I have always struggled to excercise consistently. I know that if I don't shake up in the next year or so, I'll find it very much harder to do so, and I hope to live a long active life.

Things I do do. Walk c 4 miles 2-3 times a week and shorter distances almost daily with my dogs.

Things I used to do:

Run - I started about 10 years ago, kept it up for a year and got up to 5k, got an injury and never got back in to it.

Swim. I used to go a round 3 times a month and did 30+ 50m lengths. Mostly breaststroke (with proper form) with some front crawl.

Weights and bodyweight excercises. I'd get an app on my phone and do whatever, but never really progress beyond the beginning excercises. I have free weights.

Things I might do.

Yoga, all of the above. Climbing - if I lost a bit of weight

Things I won't do.

I'm not a confident Cyclist. I have no interest in team sports. Not keen on joining a gym.

Time...
I own and run an engineering consultancy business. I could take excercise during most working days, but my time is under pressure. I could walk the dogs regularly earlier in the morning and for longer.

Medical.
High blood pressure, under control with medication.

Motivation
I do struggle with Motivation and consistency, partly because of un-medicated ADHD.

Goals. Lose 2 stone. Improve fitness, improve strength and condition.

 

[cat1223]

@nikorasu95 Advice: get moving. It’s that simple. You say you struggle with motivation…you just need to focus on your own words: “hope to live a long active life.” Unless that’s smoke, then get moving so you can turn hope into probability. Put your engineering mind on the back burner as you need not build a perfect program. Just move! And after you’ve moved for a few days over a few weeks, move a little more and maybe a little harder. Oh yeah….food matters now more than ever. Eat whole foods…ya know, real protein, veggies, nuts & seeds. Add in some spices. Just move!!! Good luck.

 

[shemesh]

@cat1223 Agreed. Once you start moving every day, you will likely feel like doing more and more over time. Also agree with food recommendations. I lost 50 lbs eating a ton of food once I went vegan and without dairy, cleared up all my aches and pains too

 

[cat1223]

@shemesh Food makes such a difference. Don’t know where you’re located. But most of us Americans have no idea what healthy eating is. Were sold crap food and marketed stupid diets. Our masses are unhealthy. Real food solves so many problems and once it becomes your lifestyle, you never need to think in terms of “dieting”.

 

[shemesh]

@cat1223 Yes, also in the US. Luckily, I was raised by Europeans and we ate basic fresh food. Wasn’t a straight and narrow path for me, but I’ve always eaten basic fresh food even if also indulging in crappy food as well. My brain and body have always had the awareness for the need for fresh food. I had extreme stress circumstances and was always trying to get back to the good food, and then finally I was able to right before the pandemic. Dramatic improvement in my health and how I feel.

 

[nikorasu95]

@cat1223 I'm in the UK.

I tend not to eat too much highly processed food, and cook daily from raw ingredients, but my diet needs more veg and less meat and cheese.

100% with the idea that diet is what you eat, not what you do.

I tend to comfort eat as a response to stress and boredom. My mental health has been fragile but is improving, and I see exercise as contributing to and reinforcing the ongoing improvement.

 

[shemesh]

@nikorasu95 58f, always been athletic except that extreme life circumstances caused me to not be able to consistently exercise for approximately 15 years. Picked up exercise in earnest again in 2020. Started with daily hikes. 2021 decided to join the gym too. I have two suggestions:
1/ Find the minutes throughout your day to add resistance movements. Sounds weird but if I’m waiting in line for something, I do standing reps with calves. If I have 10 minutes in between things at work, I pop outside and do 50 squats. Etc etc. This is transformative. Now, on the days I do a 90 minute hike in the woods, I do a variety of upper and lower body resistance and core exercises with hand weights all along the way. FYI cutting out dairy and doing squats made my old knee injury on its way to knee replacement heal to almost perfect now. I never miss my squats. I know all of this sounds like a lot, but take what you can and work it into your day. At our age, muscle loss is waiting around the corner.
2/ I know you said you are not interested in the gym, and I’m not a great fan either. However, I decided that no matter how tired or lazy I’m feeling, going to the gym and sitting on the recumbent bike is still miles better than sitting in the couch. Then when I’d get there, my energy would lift of course. I don’t do recumbent bike now, that was just my go-to for early days while building my endurance. Now, almost without fail, if I do no other exercises, I do 30 minutes on the stair master. It’s the best. Hard work and works my whole body. I started with around one minute! It’s hard! Now, 30 minutes is hard but I’m very strong and sometimes increase the speed even higher.
So: 1/ find the minutes through the day for resistance or lifting 2/ 30 minutes on the stair master
Those are my recommendations. Prioritize yourself. Strength training is paramount at our age. Watch YouTube videos to find exercises you like and ignore the ones you don’t see yourself doing. Best of luck finding what works for you.

 

[mythicangel516]

@shemesh This is really awesome. Congrats to you and thanks for taking the time to type out the details!

 

[nikorasu95]

@shemesh

Find the minutes throughout your day to add resistance movements. Sounds weird but if I’m waiting in line for something, I do standing reps with calves.

This sounds like great advice. In terms of time, it's a free hit! Thanks!

How many reps of one thing should I do before hitting a different area?

Would swimming vigorously be as good as the gym?

 

[adiel]

@nikorasu95

Would swimming vigorously be as good as the gym?

yes, I personally believe it is -- I mix them up as one benefits the other

 

[shemesh]

@nikorasu95 Glad you see it as a potential addition to your life. Vigorous swimming is a fantastic choice and mainly because if you see yourself doing that consistently, that’s the ticket. However, resistance exercises and/or weight training are essential for strength, maintaining muscle mass, and as one other commenter said, preventing injury from weak muscles. As you age, injuries can happen literally from the most minor action due to weakness. It is imperative to build whole body strength now to be equipped with a strong body in the event of future injury. Just start adding reps throughout your day as I said. As for how many, I know people follow certain routines, and I have a routine myself, but I just think about which body parts I need to hit and remember to hit all of them with however much I feel like, with no less than 30 per exercise. Since I mostly work out on the trails with hand weights, I do more reps(because less weight than weights in a gym.) I like to push myself to 30-60 at a time because I like to feel the burn and reach the point of failure. (But this is after a year and a half of getting very comfortable with how I can succeed in my own way. Definitely started with 12-15 reps in the beginning, and sometimes do if it’s after missing due to a flu or something.) For example, currently, I do 60 squats at a time while also bringing my arms up with the hand weights, and 60 is where I’m at. Next week, I might push it to 70. Then I continue walking while doing upper such as triceps, biceps etc, then when legs are rested, do 50 more squats, or I also do 110(60, then 50) wide leg squats, and some other glute exercises, walking, exercising, core exercises, walking, running the hills, etc etc. I just do them all in whatever order I feel like. I like to feel the freedom of being on the trail and making the whole experience a strength and cardio thing all the while enjoying the trees, streams, and river. When I feel it, I start adding more exercises. I watch YouTube when I have a bored moment at work to see if I find any exercises I might like to add. I also do floor exercises in the afternoon/evening for core, abs, glutes, and legs. Start by adding one thing daily for a week to train your brain to remember this new way of life, doing exercises all day. Once your brain is remembering, add another, then another. That’s what I did. Now I can’t stand sitting still. Except for naps

 

[nikorasu95]

@shemesh This is so appreciated. Thanks

Start by adding one thing daily for a week to train your brain to remember this new way of life, doing exercises all day. Once your brain is remembering, add another, then another.

YES..

I've found that, when I get into something I try and do too much at once, rather than make a small habit and grow from there.

 

[nikorasu95]

@shemesh So far this morning I have done 30 calf raises whilst brushing my teeth and 10 'good mornings' whilst waiting for the kettle to boil.

Additional time taken. 0 mins 0 seconds.

 

[shemesh]

@nikorasu95 Amazing

 

[_%D7%A1%D7%AA]

@nikorasu95 Ok, what I read above is “got injured and never went back to it”

Injury avoidance has to be a very high priority at our age. Whatever you do, do less and progress slower than you think you need to.

Walk- not a leisurely dog walk. A fitness walk. Walk with purpose at a strong pace, abs right, arms bent. Start on a nice groomed path and occasionally walk some uneven surfaces or grass / gravel paths. Start low and add steps at about 200 per walk until you are up to a 5k step walk (about 3 miles) 3X a week and eventually a 10K step hike (about 5 miles).

Yoga with Adrien on YouTube. 30 day free sessions. Start on day 1 to set your mind and follow through until day 30. Comit.

Now you’re 30-60 days into routine. Start body weight exercises. Squats, lunges, push ups, wall sits for the next 30 days.

Now you’re 90 days in you will be feeling good and getting comfortable with the movements. Your joints and connective tissues are lubed and working. Consider adding a Kettle bell or gym membership.
Have fun !

 

[nikorasu95]

@_%D7%A1%D7%AA Thanks for the advice.

My dogs are large and energetic. I regularly hit 5-8k steps on a walk, about 50% of which is fields. I probably don't have time to walk them and do an additional walk. As we set out, the pace is high. Once they calm down, the pace drops as they need to spend time sniffing around, which is enriching and necessary for them. I could probably add a weighted backpack and / or follow the advice of the lady who suggested to do resistance exercises whilst I'm waiting in line, etc.

Yoga with Adrienne would work. My son (24) is a devotee of her program. The one thing I do have going for me is a reasonable degree of flexibility.

I should add that there were other, work stress related factors at the time, which contributed to not returning to running, but yes the injury was the trigger to stop, and I do take your point.

 

[_%D7%A1%D7%AA]

@nikorasu95 That walk sounds great. If you follow the fitness>30 and fitness>50 groups, injury often comes up as a reason for sidelining fitness. It has also played a role in my progress after a vehicle accident where I was rear ended. It just takes so much longer to heal >50.
Good luck! You are off to a great start with those walks.

 

[steve12]

@nikorasu95 Losing weight and gaining strength is all about diet and consistency. Maybe schedule it in on your calendar and treat it like you would your day job? Or join a fitness challenge? I did the Gravity Transformation 6-week challenge last year and it worked for me. You might need a scale and an app like Cronometer to track your macros and calories. It will calculate your daily calories and protein targets for you.

For strength, all you need is a set of adjustable dumbells and an adjustable bench. I bought mine from Ironmaster and they are great. The dumbells adjust between 5-75 lbs but you can buy accessories that take it to 120 lbs. It will take you at least 6 months to get to 75 lbs and then you can buy the accessories.

Look up "dumbell workouts over 50" on YouTube. I like Live Anabolic and Criticalbench and do a combo of the two. A pullup bar would be useful as well. They make one for the Ironmaster Superbench Pro or you can buy a cheap wall mount one on Amazon.

I recommend finding a personal trainer at a private gym to help you get the proper form down. It won't take too many sessions and will jump start your workouts quite a bit. Commercial gyms typically charge $100+ per session but private gyms can start around $60 per session.

A cheaper alternative is resistance bands. Hybrid Resistance is a channel you might want to check out on YouTube.

 

[reb72]

@steve12 I agree with the dumbbells and resistance bands. You can buy starter sets at Amazon or Walmart.

 

[nikorasu95]

@steve12 Thanks for the advice and channel recommendations, which I will follow up. I appreciate the time you took here.

I also play guitar quite seriously. I have found the challenges my teacher throws out to be actually demotivating because of the added pressure - I'm already under as much as I can cope with in work. This situation got so bad that I went to see a therapist about it, with the result that I accepted that I was where I was and felt OK with taking things at my own pace. I'm hoping that regular exercise will help with my slightly fragile but generally improving mental health.

What has worked for me is a 'no zero days' approach to habit building. I do have some time before work that I can use profitably if I just show up regularly.

I already have the dumbells and resistance bands, but not a bench. Will look into that.