AIBU to wonder how non-exercisers cope with aches as they age?

[secretgoose]

This is a curiosity post not a judgemental post.

But those who don’t go to the gym and don’t do any exercises, what kind of ailments are you living with and how old are you?

I’m 32 and I’ve been going to the gym for 4 years. I have some problems with my health occasionally such as hip tightness. I went out with my friends who don’t gym and after so long walking they both complained their legs were aching and I wondered how they will cope when they’re 40,50,60…

this isn’t judgemental because I think we have a real huge problem with exercising for aesthetics rather than how it makes us feel (as proven by the uptake of weight loss jabs). My bmi is currently in the overweight category. To look at me, I don’t look like a “gym person”. But I know I feel 10x fitter than I did in my 20s and for me, that’s what counts. Just wanted to add a little explainer so people don’t roll their eyes at me.

Maybe having a gym free/weight lifting free life isn’t as bad as I think it would be in terms of health but yeah, judging by how some of my friends are in their 30s, I really worry about it.

The only exercise I get relatively regularly is walking, with the occasional short lived flurry of kettlebells (for a few weeks before I get fed up.) I’m 59 and no aches at all in the normal run of things. I would say though, that both my parents were physically very robust with strong bones, so I think there’s an element of genetics. At 86 my mum had some building work done and the builder commented that he couldn’t believe how well she clambered over the rubble😂 I had a period of stiff joints when I first hit menopause, but that seemed to resolve itself after a few months.

Agree to disagree. The whole concept of "reps" in strength training is inherently flawed. Repetitive moments by their very nature do not work out a healthy variety of muscles in the way that an ordinary active life does.

Yes people injure themselves if they suddenly do activity having had an inactive life, or as you say if they have lazy asymmetrical habits. But you aren't comparing like with like there. You're comparing a perfect gym regime with slobby living.

You need a wide variety of natural movement like you need a wide variety of food in your diet

That’s not how weight training works, @Kingdomofsleep - the whole point is that different moves target different muscles. Additionally, compound moves form an integral part of weight training.

Yes, we need a wide variety of natural movements, but ordinary daily activities are unlikely to give us that - which is why exercising is so important.

That depends on your ordinary daily activities! I do have sympathy for people with sedentary jobs because that's so many hours in the day when they can't be active. But things like climbing, housework, gardening and active playing with dc are better than reps on the cable machines. Muscles aren't supposed to be isolated individually and done reps with.

I know a very agile fit 85 year old.
He doesn't do any excuse at all , he drives everywhere is slim and looks amazing

He bounces out of chairs etc !

Moderate drinker and smoker

I mean to say, even with a sedentary job I think there are better things you can do in your evenings or weekends than sit at a cable machine. My DH for example has a computery job (I don't) but all weekend long he's got kids climbing over him... pretending to be a horse with a child on your back works out basically all your muscles at once as well as your balance. Shaking out a duvet does your back, chest and arms... just two examples of everyday (or every week) activities you can do with a sedentary job.

It's an instinct as well, like I mentioned upthread, some people sprint up stairs even when they aren't in a hurry, or dangle off the monkey bars when no kids are on them, etc. Some people just have that urge to be active all the time and they don't need a gym program.

I've been gardening all afternoon. Lifting rocks etc.

It's need nowhere near as intensive as the gym classes I do. The only time gardening came close, was when we remodelled the whole thing and we basically spent every weekend digging and lifting like convicts in a chain gang!

I'm one of those annoying people who can't keep still. But it's the actual gym, where I have to work hard, or running, where I have to get home, that has improved my fitness. In fact, given I've been running since covid and stayed fairly similar, I would say it's strength and cardio classes that have made the most difference to me.

But the aches I get from the gym are good aches. The ones I get from driving/ computer are bad aches.

Ha ha, I used to be obese but took up strength training alongside WLI. I never used to have any aches and pains but was recently showing DH those videos about training so you can run with your child, lift them from a burning building etc. and laughed because there is always something that hurts when you are training!

we need resistance training and to challenge our muscles, especially when getting older. An anecdote of one person who worked out and died anyway doesn't refute science. Strength training significantly improves your daily real-life functioning, and it's very much wishful thinking to believe light dusting or doing the dishes is enough.

I’m disabled. I can’t exercise. I walk when I can. When I can’t I use my chair.

I cope with the aid of morphine, gabapentin and other prescription painkillers.

I get what you mean OP. Our lives are a lot more sedentary than older generations and I really worry about the impact on the NHS in the future. I am not judgemental as I have done plenty of things in my life which aren't healthy, including obesity. I did use mounjaro to get my weight down and continued to go to the gym throughout. It's got a lot easier since I've lost weight and changed my diet/upped exercise.

I go to the gym and focus on strength and cardio as I want to be healthy as I WFH and don't move as much as I should when working.

The cult of the gym is mad. It’s crazy that people think that going to the gym is how to protect yourself in old age. I look at the elders in my Asian family. They all live modest lives with a good diet, no drinking or smoking. They walk everywhere and are very active. None of them have set foot in a gym in their lives.

I aspire to be as fit and healthy as them when I am old, by avoiding a sedentary lifestyle, not drinking or smoking, walking everywhere (including up the Tube escalators!) and without killing myself at the gym 💪😏

I may have a nasty shock for you. I am 67 and I am the world’s worst couch potato - I am allergic to exercise. However, I am in a group of 20 or so schoolfriends the same age (both genders) who all stayed in contact. About half of us are couch potatoes and the other half are fitness freaks (one even does the Iron Man regularly, one is a ski champion, and two do solo yacht races). And guess what? There is absolutely no difference in the number of us needing hip replacements, suffering lower back pain, taking heart pills, etc., between the two lots of people. And the fittest one of all dropped down dead at 63 from a sudden heart attack. In fact if anything the extreme fitness brigade are in worse condition because their joints are more worn. So no smugness is necessary - as you age you will be surprised at how little correlation there is between bodily wearing-out and lifestyle.

This is it though, walking is excellent for your health but most people don't do nearly enough walking these days. Our lifestyles are quite sedentary (talking about the masses here not individuals).

Beautifully put - the reason I hate exercise is because it is so boring. My brain races like an unbraked engine, and I can’t wait until it is over and I can do something that actually engages me. I tried clipping a book to an exercise bike, but tbh it was just a very uncomfortable way of reading, and the exercise biking was so massively secondary to the reading that I couldn’t be bothered with it.

I have been strength training for fifteen years and that's not the strength training I see, but yes we can agree to disagree!

Also I don't think anyone is advocating that formal exercise in a gym is the only way to exercise. But for those of us working full time, often in desk jobs, WFH or commuting by car, and needing to drive to for the school run to be at our desks in time, either don't have a garden or pay for a gardener because we're time poor - physical movement becomes a luxury, and gym or a swim or similar become the most time efficient. Modern life doesn't allow most of us to spend our days hiking up hills or gardening and decorating!
Strength training (as opposed to bodybuilding) doesn't involve trying to isolate muscles, it replicates the movements we should be doing - being able to squat down, to lift weight overhead, to pick things up from the floor, to push our weight up (eg being able to push ourselves up from the floor). In the last few years there has also been a big push for mobility work alongside strength training too.

Also I don't think anyone is advocating that formal exercise in a gym is the only way to exercise.

I think op is tbh.

I think a lot of aches and pains are down to luck. I do 7 exercise classes a week plus swim and walk a lot and don’t have any (I’m 57). My DH plays a lot of golf and tennis once a week and always seems to be rubbing ibuprofen gel on one part of his body or another.

I do think the concept of the gym being time efficient is the most scammy thing about it actually and is the reason why both dh and I quit the gym (him even longer ago than me). Once you factor in getting there (usually by car!), maybe getting changed, often waiting about for the machine you want... that's like a good 2-3h in which you've done very little actual exercise at the expense of a lot of family time.

Then imagine taking a detour on foot via the playground after school pickup... that's a solid hour or more of hilly walking (it's hilly round where I live), being active in the playground.

My dc1 is 20kg and every time I lift her onto the zip wire that's a slightly different lift each time. Way better for training all the muscles proportionately than repetitive reps on a cable machine.

Lots of people like to exercise to get some time for themselves.

I'm all for getting some time for yourself but my point is the gym is not a time efficient form of exercise. You don't actually get that much activity done as a ratio of the time especially if you stick to the open gym rather than a class. So much of it is driving there, waiting for a machine, wiping it down etc etc. It's just a total time sink.

Definitely, getting time for yourself is a worthy goal but op's point was that the gym is essential for old age bodily health

They literally said in the OP 'those who don't go to the gym or do any exercise' when referencing friends who weren't accustomed to walking.

I understand you might not be interested in the gym but please stop talking with such certainty about something you clearly don't know a lot about. Getting changed takes 10mins max, most people go on their way to or from work or in a lunch break, anyone with sense chooses different exercises to do in a busy gym rather than wait around for machines. People might choose to spend longer if they have child free time but theres certainly no need to let it take out three hours of your day and I don't know anyone with kids who does. Lots of people also do home workouts with weights and bands too, if child care is limited.

Several people on here have made the point that it's helpful to those who are reliant on driving, not those who have the luxury of walking their children to school and doing leisurely detours on the way home. It's great if you have that option, not everyone does. Just because you don't like something or didn't use the time efficiently doesn't make it scammy.

I never use any kind of machines and I’ve only been to the gym a couple of times, a long time ago - and I hated it. This is the kind of exercise I’m talking about…

It’s what keeps me extremely fit in my seventies. Skiing, ice skating, swimming, hiking, tennis - it’s all in a day’s work.

Will I live longer than the couch potatoes? Who knows, but I certainly enjoy it while it lasts.

I work out because when I'm 82, I want to be like her. And light pottering in the garden won't get me there. https://news.sky.com/story/he-picked-the-wrong-house-female-bodybuilder-82-beats-up-burglar-11870442?utm_source=chatgpt.com