Faster, stronger, longer. For a longer health span. It’s well-established that exercise can significantly reduce the risk of major diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, and dementia. Also, being fitter and more physically healthy leads to improved mental health. I’m 67 years old, and while I was an average athlete at best as a young man, I’m now at the high end of performance and key health metrics for my age group. The message is clear to me. Working hard, being faster and stronger, and training for longer durations works. Especially when attention is paid to nutrition and other lifestyle factors. See here a summary of the benefits of exercise and, conversely, the risks of frailty, disease and mental illnesses when more sedentary lifestyles are enacted.
Follow my blog and social feeds, where you will see the type of exercise and nutritional strategies I use. I’ve been fortunate to have been involved in sports, sports nutrition, and functional foods for thirty years. As a result, I have a good idea of what works and what is BS. I will support the former with scientific evidence and call out the latter.
Please remember that the challenges I set myself are truly challenging for me. I only complete some of them. If I were to hit every target, then I would not be setting the bar high enough. Injury can stop me, or life can get in the way. But I will give them my best shot and document the good, the bad, and the ugly.
FIND ME ON MEDIUM AT: medium.com/@thestephenmoon
Latest Posts
September 11, 2024Keep It Simple And Focus On Four Areas
Staying in shape at 50 and beyond. I’m a 67-year-old weekend warrior athlete who spends time in the gym and working on my cardio through running. I’m in the top 15% of my age group in crucial metrics such as VO2 and heart rate variability. I was never a great athlete as a young man. But I know that consistently showing up and doing the work makes a big difference, hence my current condition.
Before you yawn and switch off, thinking, ‘Why do I need to know what this old guy does?’. Keep in mind that we all start to face the same fitness challenges from 40 years old and onwards. Stick with me for the next few minutes, and I’ll spotlight the key areas which make me a resilient outperformer. Staying in shape is possible at all ages. And it’s never too late to start.
Muscle Mass Is Key
I go to the gym three times a week for strength training, which is core to my conditioning. Without maintaining muscle mass, I’m more prone to injury while running. My overall body composition and metabolic rate suffer, too.
Strength training and muscle mass are vital considerations for all from the age of 35 onwards. Men start to lose 3–5% of their muscle per decade and will lose 30% of their total muscle in their lifetime. This muscle loss has significant effects on mortality and quality of life. The study linked here shows a significant difference in mortality in older people in the upper and lower quartiles of measured muscle mass.
Strength training can help combat obesity and improve bone density. Interestingly, solid evidence indicates that regular strength training can improve mental health; see this metastudy data.
The good news is that you can build muscle in your 70s and 80s. It’s never too late to start, and saying, “I’ve never lifted weights,” is a poor excuse to stay in the armchair. You will be more mobile, active, resilient, and less prone to debilitating falls and fractures. And your mental health will benefit.
Don’t Be Tentative
Don’t fall into the trap of being tentative, either. Take the obvious steps to prevent injury—for example, a warmup and observing good form during lifting. But feel free to train hard—a BMJ study here shows that high-intensity training is more productive for older athletes than moderate-intensity exercise.
I’m an experienced lifter. I focus on the big compound movements of deadlift, bench press, and heavy dumbbell rows. Squat features in my work, but I focus more on good form than lifting heavy. I don’t play around with single muscle group exercises. I go short, sharp, and intense.
We all need to pay attention to muscle mass from our 30s onwards. And if you haven’t lifted regularly, it’s never too late to start. Key to staying in shape at 50 is hitting the gym. Or when there is no gym, finding a way to do the work.
Throw Some Cardio In
I spent many years and tens of thousands of miles cycling. In my mid-60s, my VO2 was consistently in the top 10–15% for my age group. A couple of accidents stopped me cycling. I now lace up my running shoes, and that’s how I work my cardio now. You can cycle, run, row, step — whatever works for you. But doing at least two hours of cardio every week is essential.
VO2 significantly predicts a longer period of good health in your lifespan. I’m not going to tell you that lifting, running, or some esoteric supplement will make you live longer. I will continue to direct your attention to practices that underpin a better quality of life. This metastudy has many nested studies, and you can explore these. The summary is that a good VO2 will help you live a healthier life.
Even at an elite level, a wealth of evidence illustrates that you do not have to go all out in your cardio training. Indeed, this can be counterproductive as it will challenge your immune system and invite injury.
Use The 80/20 Rule
I train 80% to 85% of my time in zone two and spend some time each week pushing harder with a series of sprints or a good hillclimb. There is a wealth of information available on the 80/20 method. I would point out that Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar uses this method. And this YouTube video discusses the legendary marathon runner Eliud Kipchoge’s use.
Staying in shape at 50 needs a decent cardio element built into the routine. And some of the work needs to focus on moving VO2 in the right direction.
Keep Your Nutrition Simple
I worked at an elite level in the sports nutrition industry for a major part of my career. As a result, I have seen most of the leading and bleeding-edge technologies. However, I have also heard a lot of BS about nutrition and diet.
Let me be clear. There is no magic supplement that will transform your performance. Don’t buy into the hype or get taken in by overclaims about various products or technologies. For example, there has been massive noise in cycling regarding ketone esters. Use has become widespread in the professional ranks, but a healthy dose of FOMO underpins that. However, no one can produce a clear and consistent clinical trial data bank showing any performance advantage.
I have the same approach to a broader diet. What do the keto diet, paleo diet, intermittent fasting, low-carb diet, and plant-based diets have in common? They are all forms of calorie restriction, and in many of the examples given, they are tough to sustain.
For performance, be well hydrated and ensure sufficient glycogen from eating carbohydrates in your muscles when you start your workout. For long sessions of over one hour — for example, a long ride — ensure you ingest another 90 grams of carb per hour and keep your supplies topped up. I hate seeing someone tackling a long ride while carrying one banana in their back pocket. One banana provides enough carbs for 20 minutes for a decent-sized male athlete.
Double Down On Protein
My biggest breakthrough in recent years has been increasing my protein intake to 2 grams per kilogram of body weight, which is 200 grams of protein per day in my case. I used to find this difficult, but I worked towards a regime that delivers it consistently. This has made a real difference to my body composition and resilience; my injury frequency and immunity-related issues, such as colds and infections, are sharply down.
I ensure I have good-quality protein with every meal and use protein shakes and high-protein yoghurts to achieve my daily goal. On an intense training day, I will take protein within 20 minutes of completing my workout. Before bedtime, I will also take a high-quality protein shake — either a kefir-based protein yoghurt or casein-based shake to maximise overnight muscle repair.
In line with my suggestion that you lift weights consistently from 40 onwards, I would suggest the same approach to protein intake. Our bodies are less efficient at absorbing protein as we age, yet this study shows that extra protein can supercharge muscle mass increases as we get older. Stating in shape at 50 means ingesting more protein, it’s a simple and effective way to help achieve your goals.
The harder and more complex we make nutrition, the more challenging it is to see consistent results. As said, I’ve seen most things in this field and can tell you the most effective approach is to keep it simple. Be well hydrated and ensure you have enough glycogen to fuel your session. Consume 2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight daily. Eat a good, balanced diet and dump the ultra-processed foods. And stop searching for the magic supplement because it’s not out there.
Most Of All, Be Consistent
Consistency is king. I’ve learned that over the years. When I was younger, I fell into the trap of having enthusiastic bursts of exercise and then losing faith due to injury or illness. Truth be told, this has most often been due to being overenthusiastic.
My second excuse has been that life is too busy. Again, if you want to engineer your body to serve you well for your whole life, you can always find a way to fit the work in. When travelling on business, if the hotel has no gym, you can still run outside and do bodyweight strength exercises in your hotel room.
Work hard at fitting the routine into your life. It gets easier once you see the real-world benefits flow into your health. Positive habits reinforce more positive habits. I’m more disciplined now than I was at 50 because I see and feel the benefits of showing up and doing the work.
Four Focus Areas Will Win Out For You
As I said at the start, I’m a 67-year-old athlete. I was not a good athlete as a youth, but now I’m in the top quartile in my age group simply because I show up and get the work done. And I’m more robust, too, as proven by my coming back from two serious cycling accidents; my medical team in both instances was clear that this was due to my muscle mass and bone health.
The practices I observe will pay dividends when you are 40 or 75. So do not let my age be the weak justification for you discarding my lived experience and advice. Following a similar disciplined plan will pay you big dividends of 50.
My overall health regime is simple: three strength workouts a week, a decent couple of hours of cardio work each week, simple nutrition, ensuring my protein intake is consistently at my target, and most of all, turning up. Just show up and do the work; you will see multiple benefits, regardless of age. Staying in shape at 50 is achievable if you keep these simple elements in mind and work them into your lifestyle. [...]
September 1, 2024One Last Blog On Resilience
Do the work. That’s been the core mantra for me over the last couple of years. I am going to move my writing on after this post, into a broader look at physical and mental wellness, particularly in the context of older athletes. But it’s hard not to have spent some time on two life-threatening events, especially as the effects and recovery have roundly endorsed the benefits of getting fit, and staying fit at any age.
Double Comeback
The diagram on the left is my fitness ramp rate from my TrainingPeaks account. It shows the story of two comebacks. A serious cycling crash on 28 May 2023 saw me in ICU with 14 fractures and a haemothorax.
Then in a statistical freak, my second accident in 50 years on the bike on 19 April 2024, which saw me in the ICU in Girona, Spain. 12 fractures, a punctured artery, and a large concussion.
The graph in the bottom right shows my fitness climbing back from my 2023 accident. Then the 2024 accident, and where I am now fitness-wise
By the end of this month, I intend to be fitter than at any point in the last two years. By that, I mean fitter than the form I carried into my 2023 accident. I will achieve that, count on it. Do the work has been my internal script. Being consistent and doing the work, even on the days I didn’t feel like it.
Do The Work – Physical
I have got decent muscle mass for someone of my age. I was a skinny youth, and then an overweight and undermuscled middle-aged man. Over the last twenty years, the benefit of having good muscle mass has played out for me in the real world. The scientific support for the benefits of good muscle mass is overwhelming now, here is just one article.
We all start to shed muscle mass once we pass the age of 35. It can become a life-threatening issue as we age. Look at the statistics on the increased risk of death after a fall in people 65 and older. And don’t switch off when you hear ’65’. Modern medicine and improved living conditions and nutrition is seeing us live until our late eighties and beyond. There are 12 million people – or 18% of the UK population – aged 65 and over. By 2050 this will have grown to 25-28%
One day you will be part of the older group. The work you do now will ensure you enjoy your whole life in much better health.
There Is No Silver Bullet
There is no special workout, as an aside. The key is to get to the gym, or even do bodyweight exercises at home, two or three times a week. I’ve been doing strength work three times a week for the last three years or more. The workouts aren’t long grinds. I can do an effective workout in under 30 minutes, and I very rarely train for more than 45 minutes. This includes a small amount of mobility and flexibility work at the end.
I like to explore other ways to maintain muscle too, to inject variety into things. Recently I have put weighted vest hill walks into my regime. I do longer walks with a weight plate thrown into my backpack. Get creative. As long as you are overloading the body in a meaningful way, it’s productive. Just do the work and do it regularly.
Do The Work – Mentally
It would have been all too easy for me to capitulate when faced with my first accident. Even more so after my second accident. I remember flashes of me saying and thinking ‘I can’t do this again’. I know people who are defined by their challenges and their lives become a bitter spiral of decline. Sadly I saw that in some of my family members too, and it affected me.
I am not in any way some spiritual ‘woo-woo’ type. But, I have become aware that my life is very blessed in terms of my family, friends, economic circumstances. And I look at people who live with struggle and adversity and that knocks my head back into shape. For all too many people, life is a daily struggle of mental, economic, social, or physical adversity. If you’re feeling sorry for yourself, remember that millions are much worse off. Count your blessings.
I’ve struggled with anxiety and depression most of my life. But as with physical robustness, with the right mindset it’s possible to navigate the path. Sure, my down days come along, but in general, I stay ahead of things. I have good professional help. I do my work with small but important practices such as journaling, reading texts on the subject, and meditation. There are people I don’t want in my life, as they drain my spirit. Some people lift me and some people drain me. I have acted to remove the latter more as the years have gone by.
Remain Open To Learning
I continue to explore new avenues to gain insight to my inner being. In August I attended my first men’s group, for example, and spent 2.5 hours listening to other men. I related my feelings to them as well. I was surprised and then not surprised that other men deal with exactly the issues I deal with. It gave me more to reflect on, it gave me new tools to underpin my mental health.
My mental strength is a key component in the steep increases in fitness you see in the 365-day graph. Strong mental health leads to good physical health, and that positive cycle reinforces. Do the work on your mental health too – it underpins one’s overall wellbeing.
Do The Work – Be Resilient
There is no doubt that I am resilient. In the past, I would have said stubborn, but over the last five to six years I would say resilient. I have faced many mental health challenges and am still standing. The key has been ensuring that I have addressed my health on many fronts. I have always sought to try new tools. Central to my push has been the knowledge that if I gave up, I would have imploded.
Physical fitness, whether on the bike – now replaced by running – or in the gym has been key too. I feel energetic when I’m in good shape. And unquestionably my recovery from two life-threatening accidents happened because of my physical robustness. Several well-qualified medical professionals have been adamant on this point.
I am calling time on writing about my two accidents. They don’t and won’t define me. They have been useful to write on wellness and health to illustrate the real-world benefits of doing the work. Do the work. [...]
August 28, 2024Positive Mindset
My positive mindset powered me to deadlift my body weight for three sets of eight yesterday. So what? It was a significant milestone for me only four months after a serious cycling accident. I was knocked unconscious, and while there was no lasting brain damage, the related vertigo has only just cleared. And I broke my collarbone, scapula, eight ribs, and my hand — 12 fractures in total. The collarbone required a titanium plate and eight screws, given the magnitude of the break.
Even while I was in the ICU in Spain, I began to think of my recovery. Too soon? Not at all. I believe envisioning recovery and returning to regular service is a significant motivator. I am unfortunate enough to have been in this situation previously, and a key to my recovery then was to say, “I will ride a bike again in two months.” And that’s precisely what I did.
This recovery was slowed a little by a pause in the action for surgery, and the vertigo curtailed my running. Yet, while I had my accident on 19 April and didn’t return home until 26 April, I started running regularly from 31 May.
Three sets of eight reps of 100kg deadlift was a big day for me.
I must add that this is not me claiming to be the poor man’s David Goggins. Neither is it me ignoring medical advice or simply being pigheaded. I believe that the mind is a powerful thing, and it can encourage the body to recover quicker and work harder. Conversely, I think that letting apathy or negativity into the mindset can lead to a downward spiral that affects mental health and, in turn, physical health.
I have put three reference links at the foot of this article, and they approach the power of the mind in healing and good health from different angles. My reference point was a critical care nurse, Christian, who said, “Your recovery is remarkable. At your age, even one of your injuries can be life-changing. But your fitness and positive mindset have made a huge difference.”
Fitness and mindset. I carried the first into my accident. The second was not a given; there were a couple of flickers in my mind when I knew I was at a fork in the road: Take the left fork and give in, or take the right fork and make progress. That was an almost subconscious flicker of a millisecond. But on reflection, I realised that my deeper consciousness kicked in with a weapons-grade dose of self-preservation.
From that point, it was a case of doing the work—just keep showing up and doing the work. Some days, it was a modest amount, but the job was done. At times, it was painful, in the way only broken ribs can be, but the work was done.
Again, I stress this is not me trying to be a tough guy. But my mind was signalling to the body and receiving a positive response, and the reward was progress. I could not afford the mind to stop signalling, as my survival cycle would unravel quickly. Then, a deadly combination of depression and physical pain could ease into the driver’s seat.
What’s my point? In times of duress, a positive mindset is often the difference between recovery and a downward spiral. This applies to physical and mental health. First, be positive.
Secondly, be consistent. Mindset and consistency worked for me; the data suggest objective evidence that this is a winning combination.
Be positive and consistent, build resilience, and see results. It’s more complicated than reading the words on the page, but it’s a recipe for success. The alternative is not something I want to contemplate. Show up mentally and physically and do the work.
References:
Association For Applied Sports Psychology — Using The Mind To Heal The Body — https://appliedsportpsych.org/resources/injury-rehabilitation/using-the-mind-to-heal-the-body-imagery-for-injury-rehabilitation/
Johns Hopkins — The Power Of Positive Thinking –https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/the-power-of-positive-thinking
Psychology Today — Can Positive Thinking Help You Heal? — https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/owning-pink/201112/can-positive-thinking-help-you-heal [...]
August 26, 2024The Last Glass
I was travelling back from Sardinia and had a mediocre red wine at the airport. I put the glass down and thought, “That’s it, I’m done.” Since then, it’s been six years, no alcohol. At the time, I didn’t tell anyone. There was no big lead into the day; I stopped in the moment.
I haven’t wanted a drink since. I can smell my wife’s glass of red wine and give her an amateur opinion on whether it’s good. But without any need to taste it.
Was I an alcoholic? Was that why I stopped? My father was a chronic alcoholic, and that had a massive effect on my childhood and youth. Other members of the broader family have also wrestled with the impact of booze. The equal and opposite occurred for some of my family, and they have shied away from drinking.
Consuming A Depressant
I drank a lot for many years and was undoubtedly alcohol-dependent for periods of my life. I realise that the effect of drinking blunted the edges of my chronic anxiety and social awkwardness. The beer buzz was a decent shield for me. The drift into being drunk was a great hidey-hole from my reality.
What didn’t click with me for a long time was the fact that alcohol is a depressant. And I have been depressed for long periods of my life. It is a destructive circle of being depressed, drinking and feeling some relief for a short period but waking up feeling even worse. Finding myself in this loop for longer than I would like to consider shows the grip that addictive substances can exert.
Early Disappointments
Six years, no alcohol served me some early disappointments. I expected weight to drop off me, but it didn’t. I guess the body adjusts and finds calories from other sources. My ice cream habit goes almost as hard as my drinking habit. But the only downside is the calories. A second downer was having to explain in a slightly embarrassed fashion why I wasn’t drinking any longer. I’m not sure how that goes in other cultures, but in Britain, it’s easy to feel the weight of judgement when quietly stating you don’t want a beer.
Six years and no alcohol didn’t see off my battles with anxiety and depression either. Indeed, some of the worst periods of my mental illness – it still feels tough to write ‘mental illness’ – happened after I gave up drinking. Yet I know I did the right thing by stopping. I have had therapy, I see a psychiatrist, I am on medication, I meditate and journal, and I keep fit. And I don’t drink. All of those together have more than likely kept me together.
The Data Says Don’t Do It
Medical data has come out increasingly against the consumption of alcohol, too. The daily newspapers love to trumpet how moderate daily consumption of alcohol is not harmful and, indeed, can be beneficial. Yet data suggests that zero alcohol is the safest approach. Any amount of alcohol increases the risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease, and poor brain health.
This isn’t me being a smug bugger by the way. Instead, I make a deal with myself to show I’m not on an entirely fruitless path. I don’t miss the foggy feeling of too much red wine and beer. I do feel that my mental health would have been worse had I continued. Adding another positive score to my card in terms of reducing the risk of cancer as a freebie does help. Not that I’m competitive or anything.
Six Years, No Alcohol – What Now?
I chose my path and saw no benefit to going back. I’m not falling for the “Go on, one drink won’t do you any harm” argument as the science says it can harm. I’m more interested in pursuing my broad efforts to keep my mental health on an upward trajectory.
This is not meant to come off as a self-congratulatory blog post. I don’t feel a sense of achievement or pride. Instead I feel that stopping with the booze was an act of self-preservation. I can pull out a tedious number of studies to illustrate why zero alcohol is a good move. The day I said, “No more” was absent any drama or sounding of trumpets, it was an important day for my health. Even then, I encountered some significant setbacks, but it could have been much worse had I continued.
Six years, no alcohol will be twelve years, no alcohol in due course, that I am sure of. [...]
August 25, 2024Indicators of Fitness And Readiness
HRV is the key metric that determines my fitness and training readiness. Heart rate variability measures the time between each heartbeat. Somewhat counterintuitively, for me, more variance between beats is better. A higher variability indicates better cardiovascular fitness and a more resilient, balanced nervous system. I take mine each morning using a simple iThlete finger sensor, which downloads the information into my iPhone and an online dashboard in less than a minute.
During exercise, the sympathetic nervous system – the ‘fight or flight’ response – ramps up. We also have a parasympathetic system responsible for ‘rest and digest’. A higher HRV indicates the latter system to be more dominant, suggesting better recovery, lower stress, and better resilience.
It’s an excellent indicator for me as to the level of training I should undertake and, indeed, if I should train at all. I did a little too much last week, and by the end of my run yesterday, I was feeling tired. But my reading this morning showed me to be well recovered, so I know I can safely train. Gut feel is good, but you cannot beat concrete measures.
It’s not just about fitness, either. I know that during my periods of stress and anxiety, my HRV would drop, too. My fight-or-flight system overpowered my relaxation, rest, and sleep. It can also indicate oncoming colds and viruses. I had COVID a couple of years ago, and my morning HRV told me something was up before a nasal swab confirmed it. We have all pushed the training a touch hard when we felt a cold coming on and later regretted it. A quick check of your HRV can turn a ‘feeling’ of unwellness into a solid indicator that you can act upon.
Ready To Roll?
The image on the right shows my reading from today. Yesterday, my score was below 70, and the number had turned red, which indicates a period of low resilience. Today, I’m back into my normal range—mid-70s to low 80s—and the number has turned green. I’m good to go. I am well rested, and my fitness is in a good place.
From a macro view, a high HRV shows a body that can adapt to changing demands and stressors, whether from hammering out the miles or dealing with the stresses of life.
It’s also a marker of good heart health. My normal range shows me to be in good cardiovascular health, as confirmed by my ECG treadmill test and blood metrics in my recent medical.
Several studies show that people with higher HRV tend to have better overall fitness, better mental health, and even greater longevity. I know that VO2 is an excellent indicator of fitness and the potential for a better health span, but the cost and availability of the required kit are prohibitive. I use a £35 sensor and pay £30 a year for the whole iThlete setup, whereas a VO2 monitor runs into the thousands of pounds.
HRV is a key metric that enables us to assess fitness, recovery, and even mental health and stress levels.
Actionable Information
The beauty of a one-minute measurement each morning is that it can enable you to amend your activity for the day accordingly. I will smash the exercise if I’m over 80 and green on my score. Green and 70s will see me do my regular workout. With a score of under 70, or if the number has turned red, I will more often than not scrap training for the day. Here’s a simple indicator enabling you to adapt to how your sympathetic and parasympathetic systems feel using actual data. You don’t need an expensive coach to tell you to crack on or back off. TrainingPeaks has a great article on adapting training here, and it has links to some top-notch performance trials at the foot of the page.
I use a finger sensor because I feel it gives me a more accurate read. But it’s worth noting that wearables such as WHOOP, Fitbit, Apple, and Garmin watches also deliver a daily score. One important point to note is that various devices use different scales. The table above shows the other scales used = Apple watches and the like use rMSSD, shown in the first column. They are all valid, and as long as you take action when you see scores drift out of range, then it’s all good.
HRV is the key metric in my experience, and it’s an easily accessible measure for weekend warriors. [...]
August 15, 2024Grinding For Life
I use keep grinding as a hashtag in my Instagram exercise photos and videos. I’m deep into my sixties and when I refer to keeping grinding, I’m not referring to the sound of my knees. I am highlighting an essential truth of exercise for all of us whether we are forty or seventy. From forty onwards, we are all battling a loss in muscle mass, and we pay a heavy price if we let that loss get a grip on us. I’ve blogged about it a lot, so I won’t bang on at length. But I will repeat that the most effective thing we can all do to extend a healthy life is to exercise regularly. The data are compelling.
And it’s not just a case of exercise extending good healthspan, it’s also about the robustness that fitness and muscle mass can bring to the party. I have been in the ICU twice in eleven months, with 27 fractures, a haemothorax, a head injury, and a punctured artery. In both cases, my recovery has been rapid.
Iron Man
In my first accident, my critical care nurse told me that any one of my injuries tends to be life-changing for people of my age. He was surprised at my rapid recovery, as was my physiotherapist. On my second trip to the ICU, the same phenomenon occurred, and again my physio remarked on my resilience. It’s not that I’m a Robert Downey Jr Iron Man character. It’s simply that my muscle mass and general fitness made me more resilient. I just keep grinding.
My annual medical in 2023 was ten days before my first accident. When I went for my 2024 medical two weeks ago, I related the extent of my injuries to my doctor since I had last met him. He was slack-jawed with shock. The medical went ahead, and the results were positive. I had increased my fat percentage by one point, and even that was a positive for me, given the lack of cardiovascular exercise since mid-April. Other than that, everything else was the same or slightly improved from 2023. Blood lipids, blood pressure, liver and kidney function, ECG test, etc.
Think about that a little. I previously blogged about measuring key areas to track progress. I’ve been to hell and back with two trips to the ICU and a huge list of injuries. But other than a small increase in body fat – and still in the normal range – all else was good.
Just Show Up
As said repeatedly, it’s about showing up. Again and again and again. If you show up and keep grinding, then you will see positive results. I’m an old man. But this applies to middle-aged women and men. Don’t let the loss of muscle mass and mobility get a hold of you. Your healthy life will be shortened; fact not a hollow statement.
But take a measured approach when you have injuries. Don’t keep grinding through injury. At this stage I hold my hand up and say I haven’t mastered this skill yet. But nature is presenting it to me on a massive plate in a way I cannot ignore.
I tore a meniscus in my knee slightly over three years ago. My knee-health hero Ben Patrick – aka kneesovertoesguy – led me back to full health and more. My April 2024 accident slowed me down, and the loss in muscle mass in my quads and around my knees was noticeable. Therefore, it shouldn’t have been a shock when I tore a meniscus in the same knee in July. This presented itself in my right knee not being able to lock out straight.
Build The Scaffolding – Keep Grinding
This time, I listened to people around me, who encouraged me to take my time and – as excellent personal trainer Susie Woffenden told me – “build the scaffolding around your knee.” So that’s what I’m doing. I want to be running ten years from now, and simply pushing through injury is a real threat to that ambition. I’ve been miserable because my cycling days are behind me, and down in the mouth because I haven’t run for a few weeks. I don’t want to hear anyone say “Your running days are over.” That has been incentive enough for me to take a measured approach.
The old saying is “life is a marathon, not a sprint.” I will keep grinding, but do it in a way that sees me grind on and on and on. A virtuous cycle of regular strength and fitness work, enables me to have a better healthspan, and enable me to exercise, which I know is core not only to my physical fitness but also my mental health.
Keep grinding. But don’t be dumb. He said to himself. [...]