[quote]andersons wrote:
streamline wrote:
And I was pretty shocked at a picture of Arnold published a couple years ago. You could argue that he’s not challenging himself any more, but still! Depressing. [/quote]
This is NOT depressing. I’ve worked out for 34 years and always wanted to have a better body than Arnold. I can safely say that I finally accomplished my goal.
I feel that at 45, I’m at the best time in my life. Sure, I don’t recover as well, my joints ache at certain points in every cycle. But I’m in better shape than all my peers (quite a few much younger), have a better outlook, have a job I always wanted, and thus minimize stress…etc. I’m still the 25-year old on the inside, but look 35 on the outside.
This is a great age because I have to take care of myself so I can be the best for my teenage son and my wife. When you’re a single young man, you do all kinds of stupid things to boost ego, test your indestructibility, and prove you’re something you’re not. I intend to age gracefully, of course. But not before putting up a good fight. 
www.arthurdevany.com. Still doing at 70 what he did at 30. yes - you grow old, but deterioration is not necessarily inevitable.
I think Love2Lift kind of hit it. Whether your getting stronger and/or slowing down the physical aging process to me is secondary to whether you’re enjoying what you’re doing and the results. If nothing else improving your outlook and self image should improve the quality of aging.
I feel this thread needs a rebirth. Now that there are two over fifty years olds competing in the 2008 summer olympics. Plus those in their forties.
I do believe we are slowly learning that we are capable of so much more than what we have been led to believe. Everyday my speed increases. When will I reach my limit. Personally I hope never, but sooner or later I will.
Today I will go for a skate. Once again I will push myself to my limit. At the end I will be exhausted and feeling on top of the world. That is something no one will ever take from me. Time to go and have some serious fun, I do love this shit.
I missed this post the last time it was up.
State of mind? Well partly. Stress can age you more then smoking can.
There is a twin study on aging that found ~22% of aging is genetic, and the rest is environmental. So we do have some control over that aging process.
The state of mind is a good place to start, but there are other factors involved. And aging is best attacked on multiple fronts.
Being mentally and physically healthy is really what the battle is all about. Aging is simply the reverse of that.
It should be pointed out that while exercise is good, apparently there is a limit. It will slow the aging process up to a point, and then change course, and then speed it up. I believe the difference is in people who are exercising for health, and athletes who really cause damage to their bodies. Football players have notoriously short lifespans.
We also need to fight oxidation, and glycation.
Calorie restriction has been shown to turn on genes related to aging, and studies (at least in rats) have been able to stimulate those genes in 4 weeks. So regular intervals of short term calorie restriction might be a good idea, instead of the torturous lifetime form only few can adhere to.
What is most important are telomeres. The short pieces of DNA at the end of chromosomes that shrink every time your cell divides. It is your bodies clock, telling you how old you are. You can do stuff to slow it, or speed it up, but nothing to stop it…yet.
Once those telomeres reach the end, the cell quits dividing, and starts pumping toxins into your body. Kind of a self destruct mechanism.
But we all have enzymes called telomerase that rebuild these telomeres. They kick in for repair, so you can heal without speeding up the aging. In fact they should be at work every time it rebuilds muscle due to exercise, slowing the aging of your muscle.
Telomerase also are at work in fetus development. The key is to get these things rebuilding the telomeres for all your cells, or kicking in for every division of your cell, effectively stopping the genetic aging process. At least in theory. (Longer telomeres works on nematodes at least.)
My goal is to slow the aging process enough for technology to catch up. I believe I know enough that (as long as I stick to my plan) will result in be being healthier then the average 50 year old is now, by the time I am 80. (2047) Hopefully 39 years should result in some technological advances.
Oh, and anyone who understands the power of compound interest, think of what would happen to your retirement fund if you had an extra 20 years before you took out that money.
Oops. I had to rewrite most of the above post because of some internet hiccup, and forgot a portion of my post.
Hormones are another issue. But there have been problems. HGH has either been avoided like the plague, or overused. Either is bad. It should be brought up to normal levels, and maintained. There may be a timing factor involved with healthy HGH also.
Hormone replacement for women has been problematic, though it seems that they have been giving the wrong amounts of the wrong hormones, or bad imitations to women. Again I believe timing is a factor.
Then there is testosterone. Doctors are reluctant to bump anyone up beyond bottom barrel levels.
The key to most of this stuff is getting away from the idea of more is better, or the idea of not messing with things. Instead trying to find the optimum level. This is actually an important factor in most of this stuff. And that optimum level may be different for everyone.
The Big Picture! Thanks Mage!
I often express to others how lucky we are. The knowledge that is available to us now. Compared to the knowledge that our patents had. Is night and day.
I plan to use this knowledge and anything new that comes along. To extend the quality and the quantity of my life. To pass on everything I have learned to my daughter. Mostly thou, I will use it to enjoy life to the max!
How much better can I get. I was told it was going to be all over at 30, then 40 and again at fifty. I didn’t believe them then or now.
Cruising into my early fifties I’m looking forward to gaining in size, strength and speed. I’m curious as to how many personal bests I will have this year. I will be posting these achievments as they occur. I will break new ground with my leg workouts daily in 2009.
My mental state couldn’t be better. After the rough ending to 2008, accident and injuries. I am even more confident knowing I have the ability to recover quickly from a serious crash and or injury. Plus my consistant gains in all three areas, stregth, size and speed have me flying on cloud nine.
With so many other athletes competing in their forties and fifties. It is becoming easier to believe we still have great accomplishments within us. I am dedicated to finding out just what the human body is capable of achieving. It’s not like I have anything else to do. At least nothing this much fun.
Although I’m by no means in a hurry. I can hardly wait to see myself at sixty.
Man - there’s a 70 year old looking to break a 700 lb deadlift (40 lbs improvement for him).
It ain’t over till it’s over, man.
Another point:
Why are some people so scared of being disappointed that they won’t even try?
Maybe you won’t do as well or better than in years past - but why shouldn’t you plan to excel and try to do so?
I haven’t seen a rulebook of aging that says you have to quit because you MIGHT not reach a previous zenith…
[quote]skidmark wrote:
Another point:
Why are some people so scared of being disappointed that they won’t even try?
Maybe you won’t do as well or better than in years past - but why shouldn’t you plan to excel and try to do so?
I haven’t seen a rulebook of aging that says you have to quit because you MIGHT not reach a previous zenith…[/quote]
That’s on the money.
I will improve until I don’t. Then I will maintain until I die. Totally enjoying every moment in between.
This thread is bringing me out of lurk mode and into the fire. Turning 50 in a few months and never been stronger. About this time last year I commited myself to getting more disciplined in my workouts, eating better, and focusing on recovery. I set some lifting goals for 2008 which at the time I thought were pretty aggressive, but I blew threw all of them by August.
I’m 5-9 and started the year at 175lbs and have gained 20lbs of muscle in 12 months. Last week I set a new personal best of 320 unassisted on Bench Press and know I have a lot more in the tank going into 2009. I’m very jacked that I can reach high levels of strength and fitness at my age.
As I go into the new year I’m setting some new goals which once again sound aggressive. I told myself last year that if I could reach my goals I would feel pretty good about myself - Well that’s an understatement. The additional size, confidence, and feeling of well being are things that cannot be artificially produced, they are earned.
Is age a state of mind? - yes and no. If you believe you are too old to feel as good or better than in your youth - then you have allowed your age to determine your actions. If however you challenge the notion, you will be surprised what your body can achieve. There is no doubt as we age that recovery takes longer and gains are slower, but why should that stop us old folks from kicking ass, taking names, and looking good while we do it?
[quote]Bagger wrote:
This thread is bringing me out of lurk mode and into the fire. Turning 50 in a few months and never been stronger. About this time last year I commited myself to getting more disciplined in my workouts, eating better, and focusing on recovery. I set some lifting goals for 2008 which at the time I thought were pretty aggressive, but I blew threw all of them by August.
I’m 5-9 and started the year at 175lbs and have gained 20lbs of muscle in 12 months. Last week I set a new personal best of 320 unassisted on Bench Press and know I have a lot more in the tank going into 2009. I’m very jacked that I can reach high levels of strength and fitness at my age.
As I go into the new year I’m setting some new goals which once again sound aggressive. I told myself last year that if I could reach my goals I would feel pretty good about myself - Well that’s an understatement. The additional size, confidence, and feeling of well being are things that cannot be artificially produced, they are earned.
Is age a state of mind? - yes and no. If you believe you are too old to feel as good or better than in your youth - then you have allowed your age to determine your actions. If however you challenge the notion, you will be surprised what your body can achieve. There is no doubt as we age that recovery takes longer and gains are slower, but why should that stop us old folks from kicking ass, taking names, and looking good while we do it?[/quote]
Now, that’s a success story!
[quote]Bagger wrote:
This thread is bringing me out of lurk mode and into the fire. Turning 50 in a few months and never been stronger. About this time last year I commited myself to getting more disciplined in my workouts, eating better, and focusing on recovery. I set some lifting goals for 2008 which at the time I thought were pretty aggressive, but I blew threw all of them by August.
I’m 5-9 and started the year at 175lbs and have gained 20lbs of muscle in 12 months. Last week I set a new personal best of 320 unassisted on Bench Press and know I have a lot more in the tank going into 2009. I’m very jacked that I can reach high levels of strength and fitness at my age.
As I go into the new year I’m setting some new goals which once again sound aggressive. I told myself last year that if I could reach my goals I would feel pretty good about myself - Well that’s an understatement. The additional size, confidence, and feeling of well being are things that cannot be artificially produced, they are earned.
Is age a state of mind? - yes and no. If you believe you are too old to feel as good or better than in your youth - then you have allowed your age to determine your actions. If however you challenge the notion, you will be surprised what your body can achieve. There is no doubt as we age that recovery takes longer and gains are slower, but why should that stop us old folks from kicking ass, taking names, and looking good while we do it?[/quote]
Happy New Year Bagger.
The sad thing is, everyone could be feeling like that. It’s great to hear someone has seen the light. Good way to keep yourself motivated is to post an online workout log. One gets very positive feed back from others on this site. It’s always a pleasure meeting an Iron Brother. It’s even better when they have a positive outlook such as yourself.
The road lays in front of us. So we should look forward. What is behind us is the knowledge to manipulate the road before us.
The faith we have in our direction motivates us to go forward.
The desire to continue the journey allows us to achieve our destiny.
Our strength in body and mind will determine what that destiny is.
[quote]hel320 wrote:
Uh, I forgot the question. Oh yeah. Of course we age. The real question is how we age and I think that’s what most of the talk is about. It also matters what shape you were in when younger. If you were in terrible shape when younger and great shape now you feel the effects of aging less. If you’ve been in top physical shape since you were young, say 40, you probably feel the affects of lose of physical ability more accutely.[/quote]
I <3 you… in the NON gayest way possible…
Great discussion.
check this article out:
It looks as if within 20 years science will be able to extend our lifespan 50 to 100 years…
Streamline,
Tell me about your children and being a father.
LB
[quote]IronRhino wrote:
Great discussion.
check this article out:
It looks as if within 20 years science will be able to extend our lifespan 50 to 100 years…[/quote]
Looks like our choices are massive vitamin intake (check), antioxidants (check), stem cell organ replacements, and near-starvation dieting. I’ll pass on the last two.
Two out of four ain’t bad, but I think I may be in big trouble. The additional 25 -50 years is going to break the bank.
[quote]streamline wrote:
skidmark wrote:
Another point:
Why are some people so scared of being disappointed that they won’t even try?
Maybe you won’t do as well or better than in years past - but why shouldn’t you plan to excel and try to do so?
I haven’t seen a rulebook of aging that says you have to quit because you MIGHT not reach a previous zenith…
That’s on the money.
I will improve until I don’t. Then I will maintain until I die. Totally enjoying every moment in between.[/quote]
The enjoying every moment is the awesome part!!!Happy New Year Streamline you are forever young brother.