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Other/Mixed Your mid-life crisis?

Other strength modalities (e.g., Clubs), mixed strength modalities (e.g., combined kettlebell and barbell), other goals (flexibility)
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steve-in-kville

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**I apologize if this is in the wrong sub-forum. Mods can feel free to move if need be**

I see there are quite a few men here that are in their 40's or beyond. And I also understand that many were living an unhealthy lifestyle, eating the SAD, were getting that "dad bod" or worse. And then realized major change was needed... or else.

For those that apply to the above, what was your wake-up call?

For those in your 40's (and beyond) and managed to keep fit all throughout your adult life, what was/is your motivation?

The ladies can feel free to chime in, too!
 
I've never been particularly active. I realised my mom got diabetes in her mid-forties which kick-started my training journey - my primary reason to train is to prevent metabolic diseases.

I've come to terms with my dad-bod is here to stay. Peeling myself away from SAD diet is like going through labor - giving birth to new eating habits & tastes after a lifetime of bad habits is very challenging for me. I try to do IF to try and counterbalance the SAD.

I'm hoping my training will help towards some degree of respectable proportioning of the dad-bod - I live in hope.
 
I was doing quite well, I thought, eating a lot of produce, minimal junk, exercising daily, etc. Genetics caught up with me... Wife gave me a Jyotish reading (Vedic astrology) for my 58th birthday. He was so spot on with all the major events of my life to that point, dates, feeling tone, general content of issues, that I listened when he told me I could be pretty healthy for the rest of my life IF (big "if") I was very careful about my lifestyle, exercise, diet, rest, etc. And further, if I was not careful, in my 60th year and 80th year, I could get so ill I might easily die from it.

Since I knew that a good astrologer can pin point possible problem areas in the body (Jyotish uses Ayurvedic references for that) I asked him about potential trouble. He said that for certain it would be "in the blood". So I did some testing--cholesterol was too high and LDL too high, HDL too low. Also, blood sugars were in pre-diabetic range. OOPS!

I experimented over the next many months, keto for 9 months (damn I felt horrible the entire time!), Fruitarian (yeah, no moderation here), 100% raw... Finally tried McDougall diet for a couple years which helped. I quickly lost about 20 lbs I didn't know I needed to lose until they were gone. But my blood sugar was still whacked with high spikes after meals. Somebody pm'd me there suggesting I check out Dr Joel Fuhrman's approach. That did it. Been eating that way for about 9 years and have solidly low/normal blood sugars, low/normal cholesterol numbers with pretty high HDL, etc. Energy is great for someone with chronically terrible sleep pattern. Still working out daily and now 71

I do think his prediction about age 60 being potential disaster year would have almost certainly been a big fat heart attack from the blood sugar inflammation and dyslipidemia. Now my doctor is jealous!
 
I’ve been in shape pretty much my whole adult life and played sports as a teenager. I’m 63 and have been mostly low carb for over 20 years.

As a youngster I stacked hay bales from the fields and other farm labor. I won my first bb contest in my early 40’s and never placed less than 2d of three events as a novice/masters. I have Polaroids ?

In between the aforementioned; 22 years Army so I was externally motivated (lol) and internally motivated (lead by example).

Other motivators: health, love to train and wanting to be able to live an active viable life as more time passes.

I am relatively a novice with KBs but I love it. One reason I came here. I own both S/S and Q/D paperbacks and continue to research, apply and hopefully progress. Enjoy the forum a lot.

Gary
 
IIRC, I was in my late 30's and was over-weight. I was already commuting by bike to work, so my cardio was good but still unhealthy. I was inspired by a man name John Durant who pushed the paleo thing. Did a very loose version of the paleo diet and lost a bit over 20#, allergies went away and felt really good for a while.

Fast forward a few years... been off the bike for almost two years now. Found the scale heading upwards again, plus some other mental health issues in the background. Quit drinking for good and have gone back to the (almost) the same paleo-ish regimen I did before. This time I'm adding a 6-day/week workout program.

My parents aren't in the best of health and I want to be able to enjoy my grandchildren when they start coming along. Don't want to turn 60 and find myself on piles of meds for something I could remedy and/or prevent now.
 
Mine came when I was in college (hopefully not “mid”-life). My father passed away unexpectedly and I had just started, so I put on the freshman fifty by the end of the first semester. When I was home for Christmas, one of my best friends (who I had quite the crush on) said, rather tentatively, “hey, you know you’re looking a little pudgy…”

And we were off to the races.
 
For those that apply to the above, what was your wake-up call?
I had a wake up call in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina struck here, so much destruction and rough living conditions for a while... It was mainly all the work to be done that showed me (and many others) how ill-prepared we were to handle the physical hardships. I started exercising much more diligently soon after -- group fitness classes, then a lot of endurance training (kayak, run, bike) -- then strength training years later in 2013-2014, kettlebells then barbells. In hindsight I could have used the strength training much earlier, but I'm glad to have it now.
 
I was pretty active when I was younger but went through a couple years of pretty severe depression and really let myself go. I just didn't care. I had gotten so out of shape that it actually kind of scared me. I came to realize I was avoiding doing things because I was afraid I'd get hurt or that it would be too hard or too tiring. Despite my best efforts I never did fully recover from that and I wish I did things a little differently.
 
**I apologize if this is in the wrong sub-forum. Mods can feel free to move if need be**

I see there are quite a few men here that are in their 40's or beyond. And I also understand that many were living an unhealthy lifestyle, eating the SAD, were getting that "dad bod" or worse. And then realized major change was needed... or else.

For those that apply to the above, what was your wake-up call?

For those in your 40's (and beyond) and managed to keep fit all throughout your adult life, what was/is your motivation?

The ladies can feel free to chime in, too!
I've always been up and down with training consistency and activity. This coupled with much travel for work, bad eating and lifestyle choices, lead to the inability to change my physique or fitness level much. I'm 51 now and last year my routine checkup and blood work was not so good, high LDL, blood pressure a little high etc. I had been going to our local gym but that shut down during covid. Enter the kettlebell...I had one 16kg bell that I bought several years ago but never used for much else than rows and squats. I decided I like the simplicity and minimal gear needed for KB workouts (and limited space in my basment). I hired a local SF coach and worked with him online to critique and correct my movements as well as learn new ones. Now I'm using kettlebells almost exclusively (I have 3 sizes now) with some cardio conditioning. My waist size has decreased and I'm getting stronger, still working on a better diet gradually (much better than it was). New bloodwork will be taken in a couple of weeks. Fingers crossed! Really loving what kettlebells have enabled me to do without getting bored or burned out.
 
After spending the first few years of marriage getting fat and happy, my wake-up call was tearing my Achilles tendon during a volleyball game in my earlier thirties. Wasn't even a glorious play where I dove over the top of a pile of people or launched myself into the air for a massive spike.. I was just gathering for a jump, and bang, it popped, before I even got off the ground. That was what kicked me back into taking care of myself. I've had ups and downs since, but have been generally consistent.

After that... I'm kind of a glory hound. Not that I'm any serious competitive athlete, or trying to get internet famous or anything... but, I thrive on continual improvement. I like discovering things I can do this year that I couldn't do last year. And, yeah, I take some pride in being able to do things that I know other people can't do. I suppose I'll probably have to change my mindset again sometime in the future, but I'm gonna ride this for as long as I can.
 
Ah, the pop of an achilles tendon is a sound embedded in me from my mid 40s.
57 now. I've had a number of mid-life crisis.
If I had cash, I'd buy a yacht. Instead, I'm skint and can't afford trainers so learning to run barefoot is so not sex and drugs and rock and roll. A mid life crisis really should be spent snorting cocaine on my yacht in the Maldives. As that isn't happening the more mundane challenges are fun. Back somersault at 50 on the trampoline put my knee out, again. Determined to relive my childhood I've awakened my first obsession, astronomy. So now having an even more mundane crisis of attempting to gain a physics degree (I have an open science degree but it was many moons ago). My next academic year is astrophysics and cosmology and I'll be studying exoplanets for signs of organic chemistry and life as a research project. It is an odd turn around in many ways and realising that acquiring new knowledge later in life is not easy,
somehow trying to earn a living with post pandemic uncertainty aswell.
A yacht in the Maldives with a few kilos of ching still ticks the box, to be honest.
Still. Strong, healthy and athletic. Not much of a crisis, really.
 
in my mind, i was "fit"... because i remembered my active military days and college years. at 34 however, a health check for an insurance policy said otherwise. i had the full works of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, elevated liver enzymes, pre-diabetic, overweight, etc.

having a young family it sent a shock thru my system and I am now far fitter at 43 than at 34! thru a reduction of life stress (changed job); diet (obviously); and exercise.
 
Can I ask what diet changes you made and how stuck to them?
nothing spectacular but let me share the HARD HITTERS that I think went the longest way for me.

Wine/Beer - no more than 2 servings at 1 go. After that sparkling water with lemon all the way. Volunteer to be the driver at social events, that solves the questions.

Meal Frequency - I eat on average 2 meals a day (for a long time now). I try to do it on Intermittent Fasting style if life permits but I don't get too fussed if it doesn't work out (ie if I had to eat breakfast, skip lunch, eat dinner, it's ok).

Food composition - no more soft drinks. no more junk snacks (crisps, candy bars, etc). This personally made the hugest difference for me - you will find that you don't need them.
 
Food composition - no more soft drinks. no more junk snacks (crisps, candy bars, etc). This personally made the hugest difference for me - you will find that you don't need them.

Thanks for detailed reply.

I'm managing to do 2 meals a day.

However, I'm trying - and struggling - to get off the crisps and candy bars. Did you go cold turkey or find alternatives?
 
Food composition - no more soft drinks. no more junk snacks (crisps, candy bars, etc). This personally made the hugest difference for me - you will find that you don't need them.
I have close friend who did only this (and no more "fast food"). Reall food only. They did 3 meals/day and over the past year, when many people gained weight under lock-down, they lost 104 lbs!
 
I have close friend who did only this (and no more "fast food"). Reall food only. They did 3 meals/day and over the past year, when many people gained weight under lock-down, they lost 104 lbs!
You'd be shocked at the benefits of doing away with as much processed food as possible. And sugar. Maybe not entirely, but as much as possible.

Lots of great stories told so far!
 
I'm only 33, and female, so a bit of a different story but maybe worth sharing anyway.

I've never been a 'sporty' person. As a kid I enjoyed being active if there was nobody there to tell me I was bad at it or shame me for what I couldn't do, but I was horribly uncoordinated - I couldn't catch a ball to save my life, twisted my ankles all the time, had terrible posture, etc. So my experiences with organised exercise and sport growing up were mostly fairly unpleasant and offputting. I rode a bicycle for transport, but that was all.

But at 20, I finally worked up the courage to go to a dance class which I'd wanted to try out for years. The teachers were supportive and encouraging, and I soon got VERY VERY into it to the point of taking 3-4 classes a week at one point.
After a few years, I decided to enter a dance contest at a big national festival. It was a shock to the system - the other entrants were massively, overwhelmingly better than me. I approached one of the judges afterwards for feedback, and she told me if I ever wanted to be as technically skilled as those other dancers then no amount of dance classes would ever be enough by itself - I needed to get much, much stronger.

I took that to heart, and I've been working to improve my strength ever since (about 10 years now), though not always very effectively. I'm a much better dancer now, for sure, and I also feel so much better in my body than I did at 20 that it's difficult to believe I'm the same person.

In the last few years I've felt a different kind of motivation also, since seeing both of my grandmothers die in hospital after falling and breaking a hip, having been very frail and struggled with mobility for years. I know we all have to die of something, but that is absolutely not how I want to go, if I can help it.
 
In my late 30s body began to fall apart - right wrist was constantly "sprained", heel spurs, lower back pain, newborn twins and no sleep. I dropped 25 lbs and was only doing some rowing for exercise. Friend introduced me to kettlebells in 2008, and even with recent surgery on my wrist was able to train with then due to cantilever effect with most of the load on my forearm. Lower back and heel spurs slowly resolved and I became determined to see how far I could get rebuilding myself - in my 20s was very "jacked" and spent 90minutes 6 days a week lifting.

Really, it was a response to getting older and breaking down, and after that just seeing how far I could push it "Hey things are still responding!" I've always had a minimum physique standard that I simply will not allow myself to fall below - will always have visible serratus and at least a vestige of a 6 pack. AS I've gotten older I'm even more determined to do what I can while I can and hold onto it it for as long as possible.

I also wanted to be in shape for my kids so I could do canoeing, backpacking, all the stuff I enjoy (although even then a little voice was saying "they might not like any of this!"). I have a fascination with adaptive response to different training approaches and ultimately will wind up doing PT at some point in my life.

I have always eaten mostly whole foods except for pasta and breads which are always present in my diet. Heavily sweetened foods and foods high in fat in moderation - especially high fat. Butter is my biggest weakness.
 
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