Author Topic: Getting super fit and healthy in retirement  (Read 4219 times)

epower

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Getting super fit and healthy in retirement
« on: October 02, 2017, 11:30:14 AM »
With a 50+ hour work week any any free time taken up with cooking, eating, cleaning and basic life admin, I have less and less time and especially energy to exercise.

I used to hike on weekends and religiously exercise. Now I’m in my 30s I feel stiff, tired and unfit.

Has anyone got super fit in retirement or figured out a way to get more time or energy during the week?

We bulk cook on Sundays to save time and eat very healthy.

LifeHappens

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Re: Getting super fit and healthy in retirement
« Reply #1 on: October 02, 2017, 11:44:18 AM »
Check out the Strength & Fitness threads from years past. Jon_Snow FIREd a couple years ago and got into great shape. I think the 2015 thread details some of his process.

frugaliknowit

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Re: Getting super fit and healthy in retirement
« Reply #2 on: October 02, 2017, 11:58:39 AM »
I hope you are not waiting for retirement to get fit!

First, you need to prioritize.  Is it possible for you to (in baby steps if need be...) commute to work and or run errands on bike? 

doctor_octopus

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Re: Getting super fit and healthy in retirement
« Reply #3 on: October 02, 2017, 05:51:22 PM »
Setting aside time for getting in shape is paradoxically easier the more hours per week you work, in my opinion.
A 20 minute increment of time per day is all it takes.

For instance when I was doing anywhere from 50-80 hour work weeks I would set my alarm clock about twenty minutes early and do giant sets of barbell complexes with a cheapo 5 foot steel barbell (1") and some garbage plates tossed onto it, 80-120# until I didn't feel like it.

You should prioritize strength training over anything else. Aging causes a steady decrease in muscle mass that can be somewhat easily reversed with sensible preventative measures.

If a daily routine is not an option just pick one day per week to do one (1x) 20-rep set of barbell squats and 4-5 sets of bench or incline press supersetted with rows or chinups. That should hit basically every muscle group and should take you no more than half an hour.

If you have no time to make it to the gym just buy a pair of kettlebells or a moderately heavy sandbag and you should be A-OK.

Or wake up every day and hammer out sets of pushups and bodyweight squats. Don't let perfect be the enemy of good here.

Daisy

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Re: Getting super fit and healthy in retirement
« Reply #4 on: October 02, 2017, 08:43:10 PM »
I just FIREd and plan to kick up my fitness to a higher level. I am not in too bad of shape, but not in the best shape of my life. I achieved that level of fitness when I had a 5 minute commute to work in the past. But then I stupidly moved further away to about an hour commute each way and the result was decreased fitness.

Now that I am FIREd the commute, and the excuses, are gone. I am really looking forward to it!

Look out ski slopes, I will be ready for you this winter!

newton

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Re: Getting super fit and healthy in retirement
« Reply #5 on: October 03, 2017, 12:01:10 PM »
I agree.  Don't wait.  Most people wait for an "event" to start a new plan (summer time, new year's, day after vacation, new job, etc.)  Start small, 20 minutes a day can do amazing things!!

FLBiker

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Re: Getting super fit and healthy in retirement
« Reply #6 on: October 03, 2017, 12:17:30 PM »
I recently bit the bullet (financially speaking) and joined the gym at my university.  It's ~$300 per year.  I've never joined a gym before, and I've never used the actual gym, BUT I've started swimming for 20 minutes everyday on my lunch break.  I did it in part because I am no longer bike commuting as much (day care drop off).  It has been great.  I'd like to do weights (I actually have some "powerblocks" in my office that I got as a gift) but I've never really taken to them.

aetheldrea

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Re: Getting super fit and healthy in retirement
« Reply #7 on: October 04, 2017, 09:51:55 AM »
Biking to work is a great way to start the day.

Daisy

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Re: Getting super fit and healthy in retirement
« Reply #8 on: October 04, 2017, 09:55:43 AM »
Biking to work is a great way to start the day.

But if you are retired, there is no work to bike into. Quite the conundrum.

runbikerun

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Re: Getting super fit and healthy in retirement
« Reply #9 on: October 04, 2017, 10:45:42 AM »
The biggest change I saw in my physical conditioning was when I started to use my commute as training time - cycling when it was a 12km distance, then running when I moved to 3k from work. I'm now 9k from work, and try to run and cycle as much as possible in good weather. It's dead time otherwise.

That said, I'm working to FIRE at least in part so I can train twenty hours a week and eat all the cake I want, so I'm something of an outlier.

Laserjet3051

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Re: Getting super fit and healthy in retirement
« Reply #10 on: October 04, 2017, 10:51:13 AM »
I agree with the other posters, being unfit and unhealthy (or less fit and less healthy, s' il te plait) in your pre-retirement years is a recipe for disaster. Don't wait until RE, start immediately by prioritizing it and drop the excuses. Sure, after RE you can kick the exercise up a few notches into overdrive, but beginning NOW will yield innumerable benefits in both mind and body, and maybe even monetarily.

honeybbq

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Re: Getting super fit and healthy in retirement
« Reply #11 on: October 04, 2017, 12:23:02 PM »
You have to prioritize it, like everything else whether you are retired or not.

I work full time, have a 5 yr old, and ran my first marathon this year and I'm an active long distance triathlete.

If I want to watch TV, I get on my treadmill** (bought used for 100 bucks, and I've logged at least 1000 miles on that thing in the last year). Usually after the kid is in bed.
Lunch runs, or early on the weekend
Early morning swimming before anyone is awake
bike to work and/or bike trainer (also bought on amazon for 99$) or find a used stationary bike.
hand weights, yoga mat, and strength bands for home working out.

I'm ok with shelling out some money to make exercise more available to me at home so I can fit in into my lifestyle. It's a lifestyle change though. Just get used to equating TV time with exercise.

catccc

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Re: Getting super fit and healthy in retirement
« Reply #12 on: October 04, 2017, 12:43:19 PM »
Exercise doesn't really take that much time, you just have to prioritize it and select activities that will give you the biggest payback for the time put it.

I recently completed my first sprint triathlon (it was 1/2 mile swim, 19 mile ride, 3.6 mile run), and I'm in really super shape from training for it!  I've always been a healthy weight, but I'm talking starting to see ab muscles now.  Respectable cardiovascular endurance.  56 bpm resting HR.  My arms look rad from all the swimming.  I look and feel great.  But do you know how much I trained?  Not that much.  Like 30-60 minutes 4-5 days a week.  That's just how much activity you are normally supposed to get.  Also, I have a very supportive partner (but he also works full time), and we have two kids that we don't leave at home alone yet (ages 6 & 8).  And the kids have activities- scouts, occasional lessons, school events, weekend Chinese school. (I also attend Chinese school!) Also, I watch a good bit of TV- several sitcoms, a couple of dramas, probably a few hours a week.  I also waste time on my phone, fb, ig, texting my BFF or messaging my almost-BFF training buddy.  I do work fewer hours than you, but my point is you probably have the time.

168 hours in a week...  let's say 50 for work, 10 for commuting (if you have a long commute), 56 for sleeping 8 hrs a night, 7 cooking, 17.5 eating, 7 cleaning (that's a lot of time for grooming yourself and cleaning your home, IMO).  That leaves 20.5 hours for other pursuits.  That's a lot of time!   You could sit down and watch TV, or you could get active.  Honestly, with 20 hours a week you can do both and still have time to spare.

Map out your weekly schedule someplace (I like excel) and see where you have time that's unaccounted for.  There is probably time to get fit.

Low on energy?  Get some proper nutrition in so you know you are physically capable and do it anyway.  It's mostly mental.  You'll feel great after a workout!

mm1970

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Re: Getting super fit and healthy in retirement
« Reply #13 on: October 04, 2017, 01:09:52 PM »
What works for me is to schedule it.  I found that it was necessary, and easier in some ways, after I had kids.

Before kids, work sucked up lots of time.  Endless amounts of time.  And all the other stuff that just "has to get done".

So I schedule it.  I have a FT job, do all the shopping, most of the cooking and food prep for a family of 4, two kids in elementary school.

I also do it FIRST THING IN THE MORNING if possible. 
Sunday - regularly scheduled walk/ run with a friend, at 7:45 am (5 miles, 1.5 hours approx)
Monday - lunch time walk with another friend (2 miles, 40 min)
Tuesday - 6 am track workout (scheduled, I pay for it).  An hour because it includes warm up, cool down, and ab workout.
Wednesday -usually I'm a slug, sometimes I walk the kids to school and home, 1.5 miles round trip. Sometimes I just go for a 1.5 mile walk on my lunch break.
Thursday - 5:30 am 40 minute pool swim.  Yes, setting the alarm for 4:40 am sucks big time.  Then another lunch walk with a friend (40 min).
Friday - rest day -OR- yoga -OR- a weight workout in my living room.  Sometimes nothing more than 15 minutes of pushups, squats, and crunches.
Saturday - long run day

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!