As I’m nearing my 6th decade on this Earth, I find myself not bothering to strain to do something physical if I can do it an easier (sometimes longer) way.
I just opened two bottles of spaghetti with a jar opener. I could have opened them without it, but figured why strain when I don’t have to? I don’t have anything to prove to myself or anyone else at my age. Struggle and carry all the groceries in one trip or make two trips? Take two trips.
I actually kind of like playing the “weak old man”. I now understand what my Dad was about when as a youngster, I’d try to move as quickly and carry as much as “the big guys” and my Dad and Uncle would sit back and say, “Let the strong back, weak minds do it!”
I’ve hurt my back several times in the past, though thankfully not bad enough to require treatment and since I work at a desk job, there’s no light duty for me if I can’t sit still for 8 hours.
Low T? ED? No matter since I’ve not sexually active and unlikely to be anytime in the future, near or distant.
I guess it depends on how you’re wired. My grandfather is closing in on 80. He’s worked hard his whole life and though he’s long since retired he still does contractor jobs as recent as last year and he does a lot of mechanical and yard work around his house.
He doesn’t like to just sit around but he also probably doesn’t push himself too hard and I’m sure doesn’t do things that he thinks will injure himself unnecessarily.
Honestly I think if he just sat around the house after he retired and watched football he probably would have died years ago, he had a need to work he’s just that type of guy. As you age I think it’s important to try to keep some measure of physical strength and stamina but you don’t have to kill yourself to do it, there is a balance in there somewhere.
To each his own I guess. Some people (such as myself) like to stay in shape even as they get older. I’m in my 7th decade and I still cycle just as much as I did 20 years ago. The main evidence for aging I experience is when I cycle up a certain very steep and long hill, I have to stop part way up, which I didn’t do in earlier years. Well, I could keep going if I absolutely had to, but on warm days, I’m usually overheating about there.
Not hurting yourself by straining at something is smart.
Letting your body get weak and slack is more stupid than lazy. Inactive people deteriorate, in every way, inside and out, much faster than active people. Our bodies are made to be used, and to move. You’ll be happier, healthier, and saner, if you keep moving.
Heck, I’m only at the end of my 4th decade and I approach many physical tasks this way. It’s a matter of pacing for me as my job is pretty much labor. I like having a bit of energy at the end of the day, and feeling just tired, not wiped out. I’m not the only one where I work that thinks that way, and yes, all of us “old” people also say let the strong but dumb do it the hard way if they want.
When I reach my latter years of retirement, I probably will delve into some sort of mildly physically demanding hobby/retirement income for “beer and smokes money” like maybe building furniture from reclaimed wood or something, just to stave off boredom.
My Daddy was 86 when he died. He was still working a retirement job. Took dance classes and danced 2 nights a week at a seniors dance party. As one of the few men who enjoyed it he had too many partners. Went to horse race track nearly everyday. He was an active gardener and a general busy body in his community. He said he would never sit down until some higher power decided to sit him down. It’s exactly what happened. He died suddenly, unexpectedly from a brain aneurysm.
Me, otoh, I think I’ll laze my way to the end. I’ve been practicing it for several years. I’m getting good at it.
You may not realize it, but this thread marries up very well with the one in GD about toxic masculinity. And only because you think this might have something to do with your testerone level.
I believe it is almost always better to “work smarter, not harder” just in the way you describe. I’m a woman who lacks upper body strength, and I learned a long time ago that I can carry 40lbs worth a groceries in a single trip, but this comes at a cost that isn’t worth it. Namely, my energy to do other things. So I don’t try to carry 40lbs.
I also almost always use scissors to cut open container bags and pouches. Why should I put wear and tear on my wrist joints when there are tools made to help? I don’t have arthritis and it’s my plan to keep it that way.
But I see that it’s easy for me to make these choices because I’m a woman. Men stand to lose something when they admit to taking physical shortcuts; they are encouraged to push themselves even if that means risking back and knee injuries.
I do think there’s value in doing “hard” things. Like, I walk to work even though I could drive or take the bus. Because I need the exercise and the couple of hours of meditation. I do my own yardwork even though I could hire someone to do it for me for the same reason. And even though it’s hot, tiring work, I also get some enjoyment out of it.
But I don’t “strain” myself over a certain level. I could mow my front and backyards in one felled swoop, but instead I break up over two days. I could walk to work in all weather conditions, but instead I take the bus when my lower and upper temperature limits have been exceeded. I could walk on the weekends too, but instead I take a rest and give my legs a chance to recover from whatever I’ve put them through M-F. I know I’m a bad ass. I don’t have to prove anything to anyone.
I know we are dealing with anecdotes here, not data, but out of curiosity how long did your Dad and Uncle live and what was their quality of life like in their later years?
No need to kill ourselves trying to live up to some standard, and it does not need to be “straining”, but, anecdotally, the people I’ve known who have kept trying to be physical have lived longer and more importantly with less disability as they aged. There is also lots of data on this if needed.
You are at a point during which you are making withdrawals from your muscle mass bank just as a function of aging. That decreased muscle mass and strength with aging is officially referred to as “sarcopenia”. It is why many men are not playing the weak old man - they are weak old men - hobbling and not able to do many of the normal activities of daily living on their own. Your best protection from it was putting more strength in the bank when you were younger (too late for that now) and doing strength activities now (obviously not too late).
My Dad passed away unexpectedly at 67 from a heart attack, though in general good health (heart issues run in my Dad’s side of the family) and my uncle through marriage passed away in his 90’s, after years of suffering from Alzheimers. Like most men of their generation, they were DIYers. “Why hire someone to do it, if you can do it yourself!”.
I was hit with food poisoning last weekend and rode it out mostly by sleeping for two days straight and kept thinking about how my Dad and grandfather would have “worked it out!” Don['t feel good? Get some sunshine, do some yardwork and sweat it out! That will fix ya!
I appreciate and agree that I should be more active and get more exercise (as in versus the zero I do now) to prevent turning into a bigger blob than I am, but I’m also conscious of the effects (such as joint issues) of doing things the wrong way in my youth (typical things like jumping and landing wrong, lifting, pulling, pushing things way heavier than I should have) have wrought.
My general outlook on life is, if I can take the easy way out, why not. This is not only for physical tasks, but mental ones as well. I don’t remember the last time I did a math problem with pencil and paper.
I am about your age. Two years ago, I realized i had reached the point of, “if you don’t use it, you lose it”. I have always been strong, and that was a depressing realization. Since then, I’ve been doing weight-bearing exercise on a regular basis, along with exercising my core. I hate exercise. But I don’t want to be weak and disabled, not more than I have to be.
I do agree with your point about being careful not to injure stuff, though, and I’m quite protective of my joints. I’ve gotten professional help to marry these goals.
I agree with this. There’s a difference between working smarter, and not doing anything physical at all.
My parents were a case in point. They grew up in the depression and worked hard all their lives. As life got easier, they took it easier and easier until they were hardly doing anything at all physically. When they had physical problems they were unable to bounce back, and mostly unwilling to do any “unnecessary” exercise, even when it was to help them recover from an injury.
My father was around 81 or 82 and he wanted to go on a tour of Australia, one that would require a lot of walking. So he hired a personal trainer and worked out on the treadmill. Only he would piss and moan whenever the trainer tried to make him walk faster and longer. So when he went on the trip, he wasn’t able to keep up and missed out on a lot of stuff on the trip. When he came back, he complained about how bad the personal trainer was.
But I understood his point.