To not want to exercise

[beewaspfly]

help me out here. Wrong side of 40, in the thick of perimenopause. All of my friends, and I mean all, have started exercising like crazy in the past few years- even the ones I’d least expect. My GP keeps telling me I HAVE to start strength training or I’ll have an unbearable later life.

but…I don’t want to. It’s just so tedious. I hate the gym, hate PT even more, hate classes (have tried several), hate home work outs, even the short ones. I don’t get any endorphin rush from it or whatever. The prospect of doing it ruins my day - it’s better if I do it first thing but even then I hate every minute.

id rather just be walking somewhere nice, meeting friends, working, napping, catching up on tv and eating amazing food with my family, reading and enjoying my life without the sense of impending dread.

im size 10, love to walk for HOURS every day, slim but not really toned (ok, a bit flabby in some areas), feel pretty healthy on the whole. Can’t I just keep doing what I’m doing? Please??

my mum is in her 70s and fine doing what I do, although she has had some falls lately. Dad says he wish he’d worked out as he’s such a weedy skinny old man now (his words). But they’re fine. My grandmother is in her 90s and going strong.

why do I have to do this? Why is everyone else doing this? Someone tell me one good reason and I’ll stop moaning

How much do you value your independence?
Strength, flexibility and mobility are far easier to maintain than they are to gain.
You don't have to lift in extremes. 3 days a week, get up and do some strength training and then put it behind you and go about your day as normal.
When you're 80 and you're putting on your own shoes without help, wiping your own bum, not devastated by a small slip and still strong enough to enjoy your regular walks you'll be really grateful.
Strength training helps us to maintain bone density, which women especially lose as we get older.
So no, you don't have to - but if you want to give yourself the best chance of aging with good health on your side, you should.

People seem to believe that strength training automatically gives you flexibility and balance. It is my understanding we need to work on four areas, and they aren't all covered by lifting weights:
cardio
strength
flexibility
and balance

Also, if you want a decent older age, pelvic floor exercises. A major reason women end up in nursing homes is they develop incontinence; and another major reason is they are unable to dress themselves as they have lost flexibility and range of motion, which gentle yoga-like moves really help with.

Strength training doesn't really improve flexibility, but any strength exercises that engage your core definitely do help a great deal with balance and also improve bone density, so if someone does lose balance they're less likely to end up breaking a bone.

If someone is a bit plumper they are also less likely to have break or have frail bones, but you don't see that recommended here.

Balance exercises are really quite different, and much more than having a strong core.

I also hate exercising, however hitting 50 & a recent hysterectomy has led me to buy a cross trainer off marketplace & I'm trying to get on to it 3 times a week. Music helps a lot to alleviate the boredom of the exercise.

I do do weight training. I'm in my 50s. I'm trying to keep active basically - taking the stairs where I can, walking when I can, doing fairly heavy gardening, keeping moving. I do Pilates as well as I have a desk job and can really tell when I've had a week off Pilates.

But I don't think any of it's a magic pill. But it's probably better than sitting on my arse!

Also vaginal oestrogen protects the bladder

I think basically
do something that gets you out of breath
something that feels heavy to lift
something for mobility - stretching/yoga etc

I'm 70 and started strength training last September. I do it between 4 and 6 times a week. I don't feel excited about going to a class but I feel euphoric afterwards and physically I feel better than I ever have. I go to the gym for classes and do about 15 a week.

I think sending beginner exercisers to body pump is questionable advice. I know more middle aged women who have injured themselves due to the speed and repetitive nature, and often lax supervision with little attention to form by undertrained instructors, than I know elderly people who have fallen and injured themselves.

I'm a frequent gym goer (PT 3x week, pilates twice, walking with a weighted vest or running in between) and I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole.

15 classes a week?

80 is not that old to be struggling with any of that! 90 maybe.

I've never met anyone injured in that way

I have been doing bodypump for 20 years and the only injury I know of was when someone dropped a plate when putting weights away. Weights are light and exercises are adapted for group setting and fast pace - for most people, much safer option than starting with heavy weights all alone without any guidance. Yes a PT is of course a better option, but many people don't want one for various reasons.

I do 4 or 5 aqua, 4 Pilates, 4 Strength and Conditioning and 2 Legs, Bums and Core. I try and get to Barre Fitness but the timing is bad and I want to add another Strength and Conditioning class. So yes, 15 classes a week.

But that’s just bonkers. How do you do anything else at all? How would anyone fit in work, childcare, eating, fun, having a life?

to be fair, the poster in question says she's 70 so childcare and work probably not getting in the way.

I guess it’s only 2 a day so am and pm or if they’re 30 min classes then do 2 back to back

I mostly start at around 9am and get home at about 1 but I'm there on Monday, Tuesday and Friday afternoons and I start at 7.15am on Fridays. I use the Spa and enjoy loads of socialising too. I go to the gym 7 days a week unless we are away. Classes are 45mins long.
I'm surprised that people are surprised. I love the gym.

Because I’d rather stick pins in my eyes than spend any more than three sessions a week in that soul-less hellhole. I don’t talk to anyone or make eye contact.

Many of us oldies spend a great deal of time at the gym if we have a good membership deal.

I didn't do as much this week, after pulling a hamstring at an unexpected Hatha Yoga class... (Was supposed to be 'Body Balance', but a different instructor was covering.)

On the one hand, the pulled hamstring has been a nuisance; on the other hand, I'm much fitter than I was 5/6 years ago.

Nevertheless, on Monday I did my homework for Run Club on the track; Wednesday, I had Run Club; a bit of arm training homework in the gym; Senior Flex; Active for Life. Tomorrow should be about the same as Wednesday.

I'm expecting next week to be a bit more normal, so I'll add to that. However, I acknowledge that I'm a widow, so have no one to please but myself.

Many of the other women in the Senior Flex class go to Senior Flex 3 times a week and also take the Acqua Fitness class a couple of times a week plus some other classes. Pilates, Body Pump and Musical Theatre Fitness plus Stretch are very popular.

For most of us, the goal is to keep fit and flexible plus we enjoy the social side. Most of the classes are 45 minutes long. The Active for Life class is an hour long and we each have an individual programme.

I'll add that our gym personnel are absolutely lovely - they make a point of interacting with everyone.

My late husband always kept himself fit but it's true that you can't always defeat genetics - his family heart trouble caught up with him. When he had his stroke (caused by atrial fibrillation) at the age of 75, he was left with hemiparesis.

A doctor told me not to despair - a man in the ward with a similar stroke had learned to shuffle with a zimmer frame. DH walked out just using a walking stick. The physio told me that he did as well as that because he was very fit for his age when the stroke hit and he'd treated his daily physio like training sessions. He literally could not sit up immediately after the stroke, and initially had to have his weight taken on a hoist while he exercised between parallel bars.

This is one of the things I can’t compute. The social side. I can’t imagine talking to anyone about exercise, ‘gains’, goals etc. Or indeed at all. It’s such a bizarrely intimate thing to do, work on your body, that talking to others about it seems awkward and to be avoided at all costs.

Really?

There's some chat and laughing about the exercise, but we mainly chat about other things - particularly when we repair to the cafe between classes.

There's a lot of laughing going on in the Senior Flex class, I can tell you. Sometimes, it's because someone breaks out into a dance whilst doing cardio to music; often it's because of the banter with the instructors.

Actually, in the Senior Flex class there's a lot of singing along to the music in general - mainly hits from the '60s, '70s and '80s, but also some from the '50s.

You don’t have to.

I do 40-50 minutes a day in the comfort of my own home, whilst listening to Women’s Hour, You and Yours, Desert Island Discs etc.

Check out Growingannanas, Heather Robertson, Caroline Girvan. Life-changing.

Strength training and lifting weights sounds scary . Wouldn’t that make you more prone to getting arthritis and joint problems as you get older if you do all that? I’d stick with walking and aim for the recommended 10000 steps a day. That’s enough for me.

That's probably because they are no longer going to the gym because they are now in too much pain and/or are life-alteringly injured.