Can you get fit after 40?

I think proper exercise can make worthwhile improvements to your fitness at any age. It does need commitment and persistence, though. Weight training will halt and reverse muscle wastage even into your 70s and 80s and can be a real help in maintaining mobility and confidence in old age.

If you have been really fit in the past then it is easier to retrain than to start from a position of lifelong unfitness.

I fixed a date to give up smoking sometime in July 1987 to coincide with a big life change but in the event I stopped a couple of days early.

 

I gave up drinking a couple of years ago. I treated myself to a book ("Beat the Booze" by E & H Tirbutt) beforehand, which prepared me for some of the issues that lay ahead, but also gave me a host of reasons to give up - better than the ones I was already aware of. No doubt there are equally good tomes quitting for smokers

 

Weight training, for some reason, doesn't appear to be widely recognised as cardiovascular (ie general fitness) training. I've never understand why that is.

Apart from the obvious benefit of building muscle strength in the muscle groups being trained, lots of things happen:
* Your muscles, burning a lot more fuel than usual, need an increased supply of blood to get them fed enough for the new load. Narrow arteries can't carry enough blood, so the arteries widen. You'll have seen that happen, with previously invisible arteries suddenly becoming visible under the skin as the stretch to carry the increased blood flow.
* Your heart and lungs have to work harder to supply the muscles with the oxygenated blood that they need
* Your liver and kidneys have to work harder to removing the toxins that are the waste product of your muscles working
* Muscle tissue is metabolically active (burns calories at rest) whereas fat is not, so in effect more of your food is burned instead of locked away as fat

So yes, I'd say weight training is perfectly valid as a cardiovascular exercise.

The only downsides I can see (two of them):
* There's a greater risk of physical injury, because you are pushing muscles to their limit (my view is that the closer you take anything to its limit, the more likely it is to break).
* There's a chance you over train one group of muscles and neglect another group, resulting in an odd shape

 

I really rate weight training, I think it's brilliant for really targeting body parts. Aerobics, pilates and toning classes are fine but it's easy for them not to make much difference if the technique is poor and they are not very challenging usually. It would be hard to avoid working each muscle group properly with a systematic weight work out and you can really feel the difference quickly. I think it is moderately aerobic but still needs to be combined with exercise that consistently raises the pulse to a training level and keeps it there for long enough. (I don't think you are going to get away with staying at less than 100 bpm, Clueless1.) Flexibility exercises are also important even for chunky, hunky blokes.

 

Blimey, Kristen, I would never have thought you'd been a boozer, shows how powerfully you can change your life. Well done!

 

When I said 100bpm, that was just a guess at what would be safe, but I've since found an article that calulates your safe zone:

http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/healthtool-target-heart-rate-calculator

For an unfit 40 year old, it says to aim for 90bpm, but once exceptionally fit, you can take it up to 153bpm. If I aim to stay under 100bpm, I should stay well inside the safe zone most of the time, but knowing me, I'll drift over that, so if I'm likely to go over, I'd rather set the target rate a bit lower to allow for a safety margin.

 

According to the readout on the hamster machine at the gym I go up to about 130 in a 10 minute run. It's probably wrong though. Don't know what it says for my age group as I can't read it without my glasses on.

 

Well, as a generally rule, your peak safe heart rate is 220 minus your age, so for you I expect it is 220 - 21 = 199.

 

Heckin' flip, think I'd keel over well before that.

 

I'm starting to envisage a new way of getting fit by running around with a rucksack full of electronic fitness activity trackers and monitoring gear complete with a laptop (GPS enabled action cam optional). I can remember the days when all you needed was a drink and a mars bar in your bag. I think I'll just spend my money on a new dog.

 

Of course you can get fit when you are older
Last year I attended the funerals of several seventy-year olds from our Gym

The idea is to be fit enough for your age, these seventy year olds, were aiming to be as fit as
twenty year olds, ie Run up Ben Nevis with a 60lb pack on their back, Like a young Royal Marine, rather than walk up comfortably like a fifty year old :-)

Jack McH

 

And that's the nub of it: in a nutshell!

 

Must admit to not reading all the posts in this thread as I've only just found it.

But my thinking is that there are two kinds of fit, I'll never get fit again, my knees ache most days and my back also, so no way can I get fit like when I was young, the body just wont do it.

If everything is functioning OK then there is no reason why you cant get rid of puffing and blowing when doing physical exercise, if that's what you mean by fit.

But you wont bounce when you hit something hard, like you did when you were a kid.

 

Sorry Clue, in my opinion it is just an excuse. Nothing in life is easy I can assure you. I know you love your Mam as I did mine, who sadly died aged 35 in 1956 being a smoker ... she went into hospital on 9 February and died 12 February leaving my sister and I, aged 9 and 7. In 1986 I was diagnosed with cancer and quit smoking immediately and was operated on the following week. You have a wife and two children you love ... please don't let them down ... and the best of luck with the New Year Resolution. xx

 

Clue: I give you my heartfelt encouragement in your endeavours. I trust that you will know the right time for you and the right circumstances for *you*!

I trust you know the difference between an "excuse" and a "motivation". I know you will accomplish whatever you set your mind to do! Do it!