Middle Age Fitness

As I mentioned before, I get frustrated looking online for clues about exercise because most advice out there for the over 40, over 50 crowd seems to be for people who are already athletes. Even the articles and interviews with people who weren’t (athletes or really athletically inclined) seem to say “I did it, so can you. Don’t give up.” While that help might help for Day 1, it doesn’t go much further.

I’m not a specialist in sports medicine, but as an everyday guy I can at least tell you what I went through, and maybe why certain advice is worth noting.

Get a physical exam

If you haven’t had one in a while, it’s time. Once you reach a certain age, you need to keep track of things. If you aren’t in very good shape now, chances are you’ve let other things slip. Tell your doctor you want to get more exercise, make sure your heart and knees are up to the challenge.


Find something you like to do

You’ll see this when you look for advice on how to start exercise. Try to pick things you genuinely enjoy doing. Why? For a few simple reasons. 1) You’ll enjoy yourself. 2) Enjoying the activity means you won’t need lots of motivation to do it again, you already ARE motivated. Also, if it’s something you actually enjoy doing, you won’t look for excuses on rainy, cold days. 3) You’ll meet other people who enjoy the same activity. You’ll associate exercise with fun.

A friend of mine likes to go walking. That is, she likes to go walking as long as the sun is shining, it’s at a beach (not any beach, one specific beach), she can take her dog, Someone goes with her, the tide is low, etc., etc., etc.. In other words, she doesn’t really like to go walking. She’ll tolerate it if her long list of conditions is met. Because all these conditions rarely happen all on one day, we rarely go walking together.

On the other hand, I just love to go walking. I won’t list all the reasons, because they don’t really matter to you. It’s just an activity I love doing. I’ll walk in forests, busy city streets, early morning, noon and night. I walk when it’s sunny, rainy and when there is snow on the ground. That’s because I love to go walking. There are plenty of physical activities I don’t love, quite a few I hate. I don’t do those.

So, find something you like to do. Whether it’s walking, bowling, playing golf, waltzing, or kayaking if you love to do it, you’ll go back for more. And even if you don’t think it’s enough exercise, the more you do it, the more exercise you get. Five years ago I took a swing dance class. I wasn’t very good at it, I was very self conscious about it, I could never remember the steps. I kept showing up. I loved taking those classes. After the first few classes I had no idea how much exercise they involved. I worked up to some intermediate classes, was taking 2 or 3 classes in a row, I got plenty of exercise. Same with walking. You may start with a leisurely stroll today, but a five mile walk that makes you break a sweat is exercise.


One final thought, if you haven’t gotten much exercise in the last few years, take it easy. In middle age, it takes longer to recover form exercise, just as injuries take longer to heal. Don’t expect changes overnight or in a week. You should pace yourself enough that you actually want to go back and do it all again.