How many flights of stairs can you climb in less that 10 minutes?

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I'm 58 and have always taken my fitness very seriously, so perhaps I can offer a little bit of insight as to what you younger folks can expect as you get older.........!


Good share. One of the horrors of turning 60 is the dire amount of piffle that your mates come up with to justify their drinking, over-eating and lack of condition.

Why people don't realise that their obesity and lack of fitness is limiting their life choices through "the final quarter" and pulling in premature death from cancer and CVD, I don't understand.

One wee question: should we guess that you're ex-Forces?
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Not enough garaging, Dear Boy. You'll need at least £20 million to copy Bill (G) and buy a Holland Park house plus mews garage.

Surely tech guys prefer Beaconsfield ? Easier for the Airport, no complaints about the Chopper, and a bit more space for the cars.

49EFC16900000578-5469805-The_architect_and_homeowner_Adi_initially_wanted_to_create_a_spa-a-86_1520372454315.jpg


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If push came to shove I would be quite happy slumming it in Holland Park. Even if it meant I had to leave the E63 and the 911 on the street.
 
What do you feed your cats that they reach 20...? Only I fancy keeping this one longer than their normal life expectancy in these parts...

View attachment 75253 .

We have a bench outside the house and the cats sat there during the day, all weathers, all their lives. Couple this to a very simple dried food diet, with occasional tuna treats and you have content, but hardy cats.

Sadly, the've now both passed.

What a great post with absolutely loads to think about/try.

I've certainly learnt a lot about my body and my diet in the last 18 months since my wife said "enough!" to my slowly- but ever-expanding waistline and sent me to a trainer

I haven't stopped drinking but have cut right back - beer is now once a week if that, me & the mrs rarely drink wine at home. I try to stuck to vodka and slimeline whan I can as it's one of the least-bad options.

When I'm at home I always have low fat breakfast, lunch and dinner. Nearly all the bread, potatoes, white rice, white pasta and cheese has gone. When I was in the US for two weeks last month I got really pee'd off being force fed all that crap often with no way of getting an alternative.

The two trainers I had had vastly different styles but both were good at different things. Unfortunately the first one injured me but then again that led me to finding the second one who had a much more yoga-centric view on things. He was also a highly trained sport injury trainer - effectively he was a physio and trainer rolled into one. He had me doing simple-looking things with no props that had me quivering and sweating in seconds. Must go and see him again soon.

Anyway, Patagonian, you're inspiring me. I'll be looking into those suggestions.

Good news that you've moved white goods out of your diet. But I can't follow your lead with cheese, which I eat quite a lot of, as well as egg whites, coupled with spinach and mushrooms.

egg_white_pack_NEW_2016.jpg


I had a few alcohol free beers in 2010 and felt the worse for it. Felt very bulky and could taste the sugar in my mouth the following morning. It was this plus reading that the person who originally developed carb cramming as a training method, revoked his advice in favour of fats, and this had me looking in some detail at fats v sugars. And I've decided that anything else other than minimal sugars, unless you have an immediate energy requirement, are borderline bad for us - and apparently promote insulin resistance, which comes hand in hand with diabetes.

I think a lot of this lays at the doors of the corn syrup manufacturers who, in my opinion, have as much to answer for as the tobacco lobby. But for some reason, most likely because eating processed foods doesn't attract the same aesthetic negativity as smoking, despite similar dangers, have got away with peddling insulin resistance as part of their low fat (high sugar) food offerings, for decades. Although thankfully the FDA is finally getting to grips with the problem, although you sense that any measures aimed at preventing sugar induced obesity, will be balanced with the call for food industry jobs protection. "Yeah he's fat, but at least he has a job....".

Interesting to read of your personal trainer experiences. How old are they? To my mind you can't teach middle aged fitness and nutrition unless you've been there :)

Good share. One of the horrors of turning 60 is the dire amount of piffle that your mates come up with to justify their drinking, over-eating and lack of condition.

Why people don't realise that their obesity and lack of fitness is limiting their life choices through "the final quarter" and pulling in premature death from cancer and CVD, I don't understand.

One wee question: should we guess that you're ex-Forces?
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I think the UK generally has terrible health and when travelling in Europe, you can usually tell the Brits from appearance alone. In saying that, there's also a large group of educated (and by that I mean food educated) Brits that look trim and very healthy - much as the population in general did back in the 40s and 50s.

Talking about your mates. I wonder how many MBClub members fall into the same trap. By that I mean getting into the 'why change now?' mindset.

Services? No, but lots of people ask me that, especially in the US where folks assume I am a serving Marine and more than once in business meetings, 'real' ex Marines and Rangers have started meetings by asking where I served.
 
Julius Caesar: Act 1, Scene 2
"Yon Cassius has a lean and hungry look.
He thinks too much. Such men are dangerous."

Your post reminded me of a Tech industry Presentation skills guy I used to know. Ex-Marine, of course.

It's a shame our Schools don't do Physical Education- just a bit of "Games" for the fittest and most able. We pay the price later.

Once again: good post.

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We have a bench outside the house and the cats sat there during the day, all weathers, all their lives. Couple this to a very simple dried food diet, with occasional tuna treats and you have content, but hardy cats.

Sadly, the've now both passed.



Good news that you've moved white goods out of your diet. But I can't follow your lead with cheese, which I eat quite a lot of, as well as egg whites, coupled with spinach and mushrooms.

egg_white_pack_NEW_2016.jpg


I had a few alcohol free beers in 2010 and felt the worse for it. Felt very bulky and could taste the sugar in my mouth the following morning. It was this plus reading that the person who originally developed carb cramming as a training method, revoked his advice in favour of fats, and this had me looking in some detail at fats v sugars. And I've decided that anything else other than minimal sugars, unless you have an immediate energy requirement, are borderline bad for us - and apparently promote insulin resistance, which comes hand in hand with diabetes.

I think a lot of this lays at the doors of the corn syrup manufacturers who, in my opinion, have as much to answer for as the tobacco lobby. But for some reason, most likely because eating processed foods doesn't attract the same aesthetic negativity as smoking, despite similar dangers, have got away with peddling insulin resistance as part of their low fat (high sugar) food offerings, for decades. Although thankfully the FDA is finally getting to grips with the problem, although you sense that any measures aimed at preventing sugar induced obesity, will be balanced with the call for food industry jobs protection. "Yeah he's fat, but at least he has a job....".

Interesting to read of your personal trainer experiences. How old are they? To my mind you can't teach middle aged fitness and nutrition unless you've been there :)



I think the UK generally has terrible health and when travelling in Europe, you can usually tell the Brits from appearance alone. In saying that, there's also a large group of educated (and by that I mean food educated) Brits that look trim and very healthy - much as the population in general did back in the 40s and 50s.

Talking about your mates. I wonder how many MBClub members fall into the same trap. By that I mean getting into the 'why change now?' mindset.

Services? No, but lots of people ask me that, especially in the US where folks assume I am a serving Marine and more than once in business meetings, 'real' ex Marines and Rangers have started meetings by asking where I served.

Loads of good points and questions.....

The first trainer was in his 30's former footballer who very nearly made it but got released. Great fun, great motivator and well respected. Great on the exercise and diet sides of things.

BUT most of his clients were in thee 35-45 year old range and he didn't understand that I, in my 50's, had reduced flexibility. Not helped by lots of cycling and running and years of insufficient stretching. Compounded by the fact that he'd closed his gym for 3 weeks and I'd gone on a run-fest. And made things worse. So he was trying to stretch me out as he might a much more flexible 30-year old and that's when things went wrong. Still, I learnt a lot from him.

The next guy was younger and another ex-footballer. He's suffered a horrendous leg break which ended his career and he was in and out of hospital for months. He decided to channel his energies into helping other people wit rehab and took a degree in it. So his understanding of bio mechanics was infinitely better and he knew how to actually fix the problem. For which I will be eternally grateful.

Re the diet thing. It's shocking what goes into low fat "health" processed food. My first trainer taught me to look out for the hidden sugar in all manner of foodstuffs.

My wife has always been on top of very healthy eating and she's recently started working for a company that part-cooks and part assembles nutritious and easy-to-cook meals. She's been doing some research on what goes on with "healthy" supermarket ready meals and it's pretty shocking.

So breakfast for me today was porridge made with non-sweetened almond milk (my wife introduced me to almond milk). Lunch will be eggs & avocado on rye (learnt this from my first trainer). Evening meal will be "normal" - roast beef with trimmings. I'll treat myself to 2 or 3 potatoes and will have some wine with it.

Like I say I'm not trying to stop everything, just recognise and reduce the most damaging elements.

And I ran 5 miles earlier and will hit 15k steps today so will have burnt more or less what I eat and drink by the end of the day.
 
It's a shame our Schools don't do Physical Education- just a bit of "Games" for the fittest and most able.
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These days, in state primary schools anyway, it's non-competitive sport only believe it or not. They did away with proper sports and times tables in case "it upset some children" or something.

So some parents have set up a running club for all the kids (hugely competitive, hugely popular) and a netball cub for the girls (hugely over-subscribed and successful - they've won the local league twice now).

We taught our kids the times tables ourselves. They have both done very well at maths.

None of this is rocket science, it it........?

PS the kids cooked their mum and dad lunch today. Scrambled or poached eggs & avocado on sourdough. They're taking after their folks.
 
Two days to go and my dodgy achilles has been complaining about the fact that I climbed the tower on Wednesday, did it again on Thursday and then ran 5 miles on Sunday.

So I've switched to pre-hab mode to get everything moving again and reduce the tension on the poor little bugger.

So no more running or steps before Thursday. Loads of stretching in the morning and at night. A few press ups and maybe a swim at lunch time today.
 
Julius Caesar: Act 1, Scene 2
"Yon Cassius has a lean and hungry look.
He thinks too much. Such men are dangerous."

Apart from the usual school diet of MacBeth and Merchant of Venice, my education in this respect is sorely lacking.

Wouldn't it be great if the man was alive today?

It's a shame our Schools don't do Physical Education- just a bit of "Games" for the fittest and most able. We pay the price later.

Yes, what is this about? It's ok to league table them in terms of academic ability - Jenny is top of class etc - but not when it comes to physical activity. Weird and who exactly came up with this pearl of wisdom?

Edit. May have misinterpreted your point. So on the subject of Physical Education, yes why don’t we focus more on this as opposed to touching on the subject in biology - assuming that is, kids even get to take the subject outside of GCSEs and A levels.

BUT most of his clients were in thee 35-45 year old range and he didn't understand that I, in my 50's, had reduced flexibility. Not helped by lots of cycling and running and years of insufficient stretching. Compounded by the fact that he'd closed his gym for 3 weeks and I'd gone on a run-fest. And made things worse. So he was trying to stretch me out as he might a much more flexible 30-year old and that's when things went wrong. Still, I learnt a lot from him.

I've often thought of becoming a middle aged coach for the middle aged (got to be an acronym in there somewhere). But as with everything else with me, because I am far from perfect physically, I feel I'd somehow be viewed as an imposter. I know it's daft, but feel we should all aim for perfection if we intend to lecture on the subject.

Re the diet thing. It's shocking what goes into low fat "health" processed food. My first trainer taught me to look out for the hidden sugar in all manner of foodstuffs.

And not only this, but there's combinations of foods that are equally as bad - sugars and fats combined for example give you that horrible sugar rush, followed up by double calorie fats. Yet we still insist on promoting these combinations as part of a balanced diet.

We taught our kids the times tables ourselves. They have both done very well at maths.

None of this is rocket science, it it........?

I was told off by my kids year head for explaining the significance of negative numbers 'before the class was ready'. And then again for lecturing them and their friends on the Copenhagen Interpretation - which it seemed their physics teacher hadn't even heard of. It's no wonder then that many of the big tech and science related multinationals criticise British education standards in this respect. As @WDB124066 pointed out in another thread, Chinese (and Asian) kids in general are much more highly performing in these subjects. Ok, agreed, we do create some wonderful minds, but you do feel it's the exception these days, rather than par for the course.

Two days to go and my dodgy achilles has been complaining about the fact that I climbed the tower on Wednesday, did it again on Thursday and then ran 5 miles on Sunday.

Oooohhh! Burning sensation? Feeling of slight over stretch?

@Happytalk73 had problems last year too btw.

At a guess; probably a lot more than many people of my age but probably a lot less than Patagonian.

Sorry to burst my own bubble, but I actually follow the route of least resistance. So my peaks and troughs have been removed and I try and keep within a set of upper and lower control limits (as developed by US armaments statisticians in WW2). So rather than setting personal targets and hitting (or missing) them, I tend to set myself on a trajectory of x months of y intensity - be that exercise or food - and keep within a set of upper and lower parameters. Admittedly it still works out as very active and visibly fitter than almost anybody else I've met in my age group, but it does serve to remove the erratic results that come (in my case) with setting over ambitious targets.

Not to say you should slow down though. Fascinating to read your progress and would love to see some hard stats, HR, BP etc over a given time...

Would also be very interested to get an update from @John who also takes his fitness and diet very seriously.
 
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Dont know about the stairs but we decided to walk up Conic Hill at Balmaha yesterday and it has opened my eyes to unfit "we" both are at 50.

It is just 350m high buy took us around 2.5h to complete.

Decided to adjust my gym time from 100% weights to 50 / 50 cardio , no point in being able to bench silly weights if i struggle to walk up a hill.

Kenny
 
Home improvement DIY projects outside this summer has a doubly good effect on the personal situation too Kenny. :):)
 
Home improvement DIY projects outside this summer has a doubly good effect on the personal situation too Kenny. :):)

We planned on doing the back garden last year but the weather was somewhat questionable so we decided to go to Dubai with the garden money instead where the weather was certainly not questionable.

November saw me overhauling the bathroom followed by the living room , i also replaced the clutch in the boys Clio among many other automotive tasks on the remaining three cars in the household . Mutley gets walked for around 5 - 10 miles per day depending on the weather so i should be built like the side of a pound note but alas my liking for grub seems to be winning the battle (of the bulge)

Kenny
 
Ballroom dancing with the Mrs, or failing that try square dancing if you like a bit of C&W.
 
Oooohhh! Burning sensation? Feeling of slight over stretch?

Yup. That's the one. This is how it all started late last January........Still, it's only a 2/10 at the moment so I think I can manage my way round it.

No running or stairs this week, obvs. Plenty of foam roll-rring of the offending calf muscle (it's full of knots...). Plenty of stretching. A bit of swimming yesterday, a bit of minor cycling today. And plenty of walking.

Tomorrow I'll be going to Virgin Active at 2.00 and will concentrate on stretching, rolling and some (walking) warm up. Then back to T42 for the group warm up at 2.45. The climb starts at 3.00 and I'll avoid trying any jogging or double steps at the start and just take it steady.

If I come out the other end the same as I went in I'll just re-start some gentle physio and switch from running and stairs to swimming, cycling and gymn stuff until the achilles is happy again.

Resting heart rate today (according to Fit Bit anyway) is 49.

Rolling monthly average since I started last in late July last year is;

53 bpm July
54 bpm August
53 bpm September
54 bpm October
53 bpm November
50 bpm December
50 bpm January
51 bpm February

October was when my achilles finally started sorted itself. I started running again in November. By January I was going proper distances. Over those last three months I've averaged 50.5. The average for the previous four was 53.5.

Conclusion? Running and stairs are good for my heart. Less so for my achilles*

* but I am a total idiot for not warming up......
 
Yup. That's the one. This is how it all started late last January........Still, it's only a 2/10 at the moment so I think I can manage my way round it.
Resting heart rate today (according to Fit Bit anyway) is 49.

B*gger, and I was satisfied with my 54bpm. Goes to prove, it's all about how you frame any number.
 
B*gger, and I was satisfied with my 54bpm. Goes to prove, it's all about how you frame any number.

54 is still very good.

When I was initially getting assessed by a personal trainer back in August 2016 I would have been there or thereabouts.

They could see I was overweight but were surprised/impressed at my strength and cardio fitness under the blubber.
 
Would also be very interested to get an update from @John who also takes his fitness and diet very seriously.

I haven't checked stats for a while now so I am not sure (I know my SATS are 100%!) - I maintain a set programme albeit I alter what resistance work I am doing. As long as my cardio performance is improving I am happy which it is. I'm not rushing to reach any goal either other than to a point I am happy with.

I'm no angel btw - I do fall off the wagon now and again!

However, I avoid plenty of things (not obsessively so but where it makes sense and where possible) so things like sugar, processed foods, routine dairy (so I take Almond milk over Cow's), foods high in salt or sugar, too many carbs. I aim for a balanced diet most of the time and limit size of portions. If you chip away at it, it makes a big difference over time.

My biggest problem was gradually losing fitness over time which I had from a very very young age due to a lot of cycling. You don't know what you've got until it's gone but I started on a total lifestyle change since 2007.
 

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