One of the advantages to being retirement age with a sports car and good knees (for now) is that none of my old duffer friends will ride with me. So they always get to drive anywhere we’re going together. Saves me gas and parking costs.
OTOH, that means I need to ride along watching elderly driving. Which can be pretty cringe-worthy. And yes, they all have slide-butt-across midsized SUVs.
My turn is certainly coming, there’s no denial here. But not quite yet. 
not 
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I’ve never owned an SUV, only sedans, wagons, sports cars, and motorcycles (although it’s only been sedans for the last ten-plus years). And I’ve never had the slightest inclination to own an SUV. I think they’re monstrosities.
At 68, I have no trouble getting in and out of my Lexus ES 350.
If I could afford it, I’d buy one of the new Corvettes, or some similarly moderately-priced high-performance sports car, even though my wife claims they’re too low. If I have to exercise just to get in an out of the 'Vette, I’ll do it, dammit.
If you need an SUV, you need an SUV. But you would like to buy a new Vette? You have a need for a Vette?
Agree about cars though. I’ve a 4Runner, my Wife has a Subaru Assent. I’m tall, and have size 13 feet. The Assent, while a pretty big car, is too low for me. If I have to step off a curb to get in, it’s a bit of a challenge.
When I was finishing up my college degree, I had to take a couple of P.E. classes. Being in the “beggars can’t be choosers” camp, one of them was for badminton.
During the first class, the instructor told us that at the elite level, the shuttlecock moves faster than in any other ball-and-bat/racquet/stick game. A quick Google bears that out - in 2013, a Malaysian player hit a 306 mph shot, a Guinness world record. Sure, you’re not going to come anywhere close to that, playing in your backyard with a beer in your hand, waiting for the burgers to grill; but it can be just as intense a sport as tennis or racquetball or ice hockey.
My Doctor said my constantly going up and down the stairs is doing good things for my health.
Yeah, or one of those trucks or jeeps which is so high uo they give you steps. No thanks.
Yeah, I suspect that we’ll be looking for something like that in the not too distant future. My knees are doing fine, but my wife really could use fewer stairs than our 2 story + basement house has. She used to say all the time that she wasn’t going to move again until her next stop was a cemetery plot, but I haven’t heard her say that lately.
Our old house has all 3 bedrooms on the second floor and the laundry in the basement. Somebody keeps adding steps to both staircases, which will necessitate a move within a couple of years.
Felt the same until I had a hip replacement and lived on the main floor for 3 weeks. There is a bathroom on that floor but requires 2 stair steps from the extra bedroom (it’s also an entry way and a whatever room, guest room is on the second floor). Luckily, it had snowed, and that spare bedroom has an easy outside access to our lower deck. Instead of the two stairs, I did, on occasion just use the door to the outside. So, had some yellow snow.
It’s great for cardiovascular health. It’s kinda hard on older joints. It’s disastrous when, not if, you take a serious fall.
The older or unsteadier you get the more the balance of likelihoods slides away from cardio benefits and towards crippling fall. For sure the more stairs you keep doing vigorously while you safely can, the higher your age when the problems set in.
Unless you get careless or unlucky and fall early. I know a woman who at about age 40 suffered a crippling knee hyperextension and everything-tear when she missed the landing on her narrow & steep basement stairs. She hasn’t walked far or painlessly in the ~25 years since. Sucks to be her. I hope something similar doesn’t happen to you or me or anyone else here.
I’m 65. And like you I’m still very much in the cardio benefits zone. But I’m very safety conscious on the stairs and generally aware that the joints may will start bitching eventually.
Oh yeah. That’s what finally took out my mom. And no stairs where involved.
The stairs to my home office are quite steep. You ALWAYS use the handrail steep. I work at home now, my wife does not. When I’m at home alone I ALWAYS have my cell phone on me.
I can tell that my balance is not what it once was.
The shuttlecock also slows down faster than in any other ball-and-bat/racquet/stick game, so it’s the fastest over an extremely short span of time / distance. So it would be a factoid of sorts to claim the shuttlecock moves the fastest.
If your bone strength is good a decent balance “exercise” is to find a spot in your house with enough room to fall down without hitting walls or furniture and ideally with a rug or carpeting. Then just stand there with eyes closed for a minute. Repeat a few times a day. Once that’s not too wobbly, stand with one foot down and one foot raised with eyes open for ~30 seconds a few times a day for each foot. Once that’s not too wobbly, do one foot with eyes closed for ~30 seconds a few times a day per foot.
You can probably get much better at balance than you probably are right now. As long as you wouldn’t be crippled by landing on your rug in a heap even once. Because that probably will happen once or twice. It sure sounds easy. It isn’t as easy as it once was.
I’ve started my program before I got wobbly much.
Yeah.
ISTM the thing that really determines “fastest sport” is the time of flight from you to the opponent or vice versa.
e.g. Baseballs are fast both coming and going but the pitcher is 61 feet away, the SS ~100, and the fielder is a couple hundred. Ping pong balls are slower, but the opponent is barely 15 feet away. There’s a reason the pros don’t stand with their hips touching the end of the table; they need to stand way back to have time to see it coming and react.
I honestly don’t know how to rank the ball-and-thing-you-hit-it-with sports along that metric. Would be interesting to calculate.
Interesting. I did just start with some dumbbells to try to increase my arm and core steangth.
Years ago, my physical therapist told me to stand in a doorway and do the exercises you described. Then if you got off-balance, you would fall into one side or the other, and/or you would have something to grab.
Falling down, even onto a carpet, doesn’t strike me as a good thing at any age above childhood.
That would be an excellent start. Thanks for the suggestion.
Naps. As a kid I tried to get out of them. Now I take them when I can.
True, and as I understand it, that’s what’s unique about the game. But the point is, it can be more than just a gentle exercise for old duffers.
Amen to that! While I’m still working (just 38 days until freedom!) I find that even 20 minutes at lunchtime makes a big difference in my afternoon.
clears throat
My parents traded their car for a minivan upon retirement. Easy ingress/egress, comfortable ride for trips, room for friends, seats fold to an almost-pickup-truck configuration, and fits in the garage. I had to admit it made a lot of sense.