Training, Diet And over 70

[Henryk]

At 71 I've generally been active all my life, work has been fairly physical like manual jobs. I started Yoga in 73, Tai chi chuan in 79 and weights 1984. My diet has been what I call normal British and Canadian influence, with a bit of vegetarian/vegan. It's strange in a way that I don't feel like I'm 71, after retiring at 65 do keep active every day, gym 3 alternative days a week, advanced Tai Chi pretty much everyday including sword and sabre forms, a bit of Yoga and walkabout everyday.

The gym I go to is at Horton Street Senior Centre 50+ so see folks that are older and many different conditions, it's also a social place. Also if that place is closed I can use my apartment fitness room, also have a large area in my apartment for calisthenics and my mat is in a permanent spot.

I'm on zero meds except do use supplements, no pain or joint problems, knees are great and shoulder joints very good. 5' 8" 142 lbs.

 

[graoumia]

Congratulations and thanks for witnessing, it is very inspiring, and give us some hope

 

[lakermrb]

Congrats on your good health at 71. I'm 75 and just had a health scan. Overweight, but have 185 pounds of lean muscle in my favor at 5'9". Having quality muscle and and fitness is directly correlated to longevity. Live long and prosper, brother.

I train at home with bands and belong to Anytime Fitness. I have grown to love working with bands. Training for 20+ sets of 4-5 exercises on a 3-day cycle (push, pull, legs). Loving it! I go to AF to use the machines for some heavy strength training, but I love my bands. They provide a lot of work without any pain or soreness, and I get a phenomenal pump.

Another thing I do that you might be interested in is doing 100 reps each day of several exercises. I break this up into 3 sets (35 reps, 35 reps, & 30 reps) that I do anytime throughout the day, usually morning, afternoon, and evening. I used to use 4 sets of 25, but it became too easy. I do pushups, calfraises, body shakes, and core work.

Remember, to gain more strength and muscle, you need protein (100+g/day) and lots of water (8+cups/day). Sleep is, of course, number one! I use a fitness band to measure my sleep. I have the Amazfit 7 from Amazon. It was cheap and has a great app with tons of info, apps, and watch faces.

 

[Henryk]

@lakermrb I have rubber Lifeline chest expander at home, I use sometimes. My gym workout base is Stronglifts 5X5 and do 9 pull-ups as a finish. I mainly use free weights.

Back in 2003 October I did the Truly Huge / Doberman Dan program, 9 compound lifts and milk. I went from 150 lbs to 174 in 3 to 4 months and my 20 rep squat went from 110 lbs to 230. With that program I added 5 lbs to my lifts every workout no matter what, I could only do it 3 times a fortnight (2 weeks).

Nowadays I don't add 5 lbs to my lifts every workout but do challenge myself. I've been switching between the Stronglifts and Truly Huge. Withe the Stronglifts it's mainly barbell work but with the Truly Huge I go with dumbbells, I do all my bench press with dumbbells.

I lost 15 lbs body weight this year when I logged my saturated fat and cholesterol in an attempt to get it in the green zone from red, and succeeded bypassing the orange zone.

I did track my food and exercise on Cronometer and can get 150+ protein a day easy enough.

Photo: part of my apartment buildings fitness room that I can use, there's a stationary wood frame water rower and cardio machines also a good size indoor swimming pool.