Let me try a different take - perhaps asking the question (suspecting that no one is reading this thread who can answer it): “why don’t you lift weights anymore?”
My impression is that fewer serious lifters persist with activity into late 60’s and beyond, that those like DrP, who successfully adjust their mindset and goals, are not the norm. (Again a different group than those adding strength training at that point, whose entry point is healthspan focused. And different I think than those who do some strength training as an adjunct to their other fitness activities.)
OTOH there is great persistence into the older age groups for tai chi, cycling, tennis, swimming, running …
People are different. I sometimes am tired and go to bed without brushing my teeth. And i usually get up 10 minutes later and do it. Sometimes i am tired and don’t take a shower. And i then i usually just go to bed dirty.
FWIW, I see a surprising number of “older” men and women lifters at my gym.
It’s not a bodybuilding gym, so there are few really huge people, but when I go (in the morning), there are always 8+ men and 4+ women over 50 hitting the weights with dedication. Of course, it’s a self-selected group. There are way more people of that age not going…
Is that really true, though? @Dr_Paprika noted that it was sort of a niche activity when he was in college, so maybe the sample size of people of that age is just very small.
Same. There is usually a gaggle of older teens/early 20s, but also a persistent group of people my age or older.
And fitness competitions always seem to welcome older participants.
If you have lifted for several years, there comes a point where the number is not going to go higher, assuming reasonable technique.
But that number is likely the one-rep maximum for a bench press, deadlift or back squat.
I haven’t made a lot of concessions to age, but one of them is to worry less about what one cannot change. I rarely test my 1RM maximum, much less approach it every workout (I like doing volume at 70% of my “daily maximum”). Concentrating on say a 5RM reduces injury and is a new goal. Doing CrossFit helped me learn Olympic lifts. When I thought I had grown as much muscle as was in the cards, I started overhead lifting and Kroc rows and loaded carries and gained more.
But strength and size, both of which I have, no longer drive me. I need much more recovery time from a day of heavy lifting than three decades ago. I eat better. My goals are more focused on the future. Your son could focus on body composition, general fitness, endurance, new lifts, coaching or other things while being realistic about injury prevention and his limits. I enjoy reading credible longevity research, and have applied some of it to what I do, but I view it with a skeptical eye.
Don’t know. That’s why it is just my impression. And why I am asking? Have the long term gym lifters here noticed a drop off of the OG lifters? I don’t go to a gym and have no real world experience on this. When I had briefly been in the gym years back the free weights were mostly the younger adults.
There are more elderly people in gyms than before. Many are newer to lifting. But some continued to find it enjoyable and liked the results, and have been doing it for decades. I suspect in the future the proportion of older lifters will increase as the health benefits become clearer.
I also think the number of old people who work out in gyms will increase as the people who grew up working out in gyms get older. That was not at all common among my peers in my youth. It’s much more common among my peers now, honestly.
I’m not disagreeing, but I see (could be wrong) that set as a different group, more like me frankly: they generally don’t self-identify primarily as weight lifters or bodybuilders. It is more just part of what they do for exercise. My curiosity was more about the group like my eldest son (who did a marathon once mind you, just to prove to himself he could, but then dropped cardio for lifting exclusively again). Goal oriented and the fitness goals, fitness identity, have been lifting related. FWIW I have been goal oriented too off and on but, as varied as they have been, hitting a lift number was never a specific one, and failing to hit my goals never bothered me.
I am sure he will manage to do exactly what DrP suggests, shift goals, but still, I understand the kick he gets out of being part of the lifting community and going to specific gyms where he finds his people … feeling like he is past his peak at 40? Part of me of course just wants to slap the punk! But the rest of me is aw … and slightly concerned that he might get too discouraged.
I think this is ultimately the answer. If lifting weights is to be a lifelong pursuit, then the rewards one gets from it are also going to change over time.
I like what Dick Van Dyke has said about working out
I just posted elsewhere that bodybuilder Albert Beckles just died at age 95. He won a professional bodybuilding competition at age 60.
There’s no reason to believe that physical pursuits are only for young adults.
I suspect that the primary reason young people lift weights is for the benefits that come from looking muscular rather than the actual health benefits from having those muscles. Having a fit, muscular body provides a lot of social benefits, like admiration from peers and increased attraction from potential mates. Few people actually need or use massive strength from large muscles. But as you get older, those social benefits are reduced. Having a fit body will always be impressive, but it’s not as impressive to your peers as you get older. And when you get older, you often have more demands on your time, like a spouse, kids, and house chores. Spending hours in the gym to get ripped is no problem when you’re young and single, but that can seem wasteful when you’re older and have so many other demands on your time. As you get older, many people switch their workout goals to things that produce actual health-based results rather than on things that are mostly about catching the eye of other people. That might still include weightlifting, but their weightlifting goals might be more about being able to do home repairs and staying fit into old age rather than trying to win the Senior Universe bodybuilding title.
You seem committed to the idea that robust weightlifting in your older years isn’t wise. First, you argued that it wound actually destroy the body, since it causes injuries from which you can’t recover. Now, it’s morphed into arguing that it doesn’t produce actual “health based” results and that your priorities should change.
For one, you are discounting the health benefits of lifting weights and building muscle. It’s one of the most “health based” activities that you can do.
Second, you seem critical of the possibility that somebody could continue to enthusiastically workout throughout their life.
Yes, of course, for some people, working out will lose importance as they make time for other things. That’s true of any hobby.
But that’s a choice, and not one you have to make.
For every person who decided that they didn’t have time to work out once they had kids, there was somebody who built a home gym and had their kids join them. For every person who realized that work took up too much of their day, there was someone who adjusted their sleep schedule, or started exercising on their lunch break. Can relationships interfere with exercise? Sure. But I also see couples come to the gym and both work out at the same time,
It’s entirely fine if somebody decides to do other types of activities as they age. It’s also fine if they change how they lift weights, maybe to accommodate nagging injuries or noticed changes in their abilities.
But it’s not guaranteed, and not always necessary. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have really old bodybuilders and senior weightlifting competitions.
So, if somebody wants to keep pumping iron vigorously into their last years, that’s great! It doesn’t mean that they aren’t focused on their health, or that they don’t have over important things occupying their time.
You’re alluding to a myth, in my opinion. Do people In great shape usually do some form of exercise nearly every day? Sure. But it’s not the case that a person must work out for hours each day to achieve success.
3 to 5 days a week, for about a hour, is all the time you need (maybe add in 30 minutes of cardio each morning if you’re being comprehensive)
Now, when you factor in drive time (if you are going to a commercial gym, and not working out at home), or the need to change and shower, a workout is closer to 2 hours of your life.
But it’s not the case that you need to devote massive blocks of time to working out. In the past, I’ve personally managed good 40 minute workouts during my lunch break, or 45 minute workouts before work, so I had evenings to be with the family.
The reason I respond is not to be antagonistic. I just don’t think it’s helpful to list reasons that people can’t work out that are illusory.
Yes, of course these issues arise for people. But they can be worked through.
Ultimately, it’s not impossible to prioritize working out, if you choose that lifestyle. It will be rewarding (people I think are more impressed when they meet an older person who remains in great shape), and it will be great for your health and wellbeing.
The question was about why older people aren’t doing weightlifting as much, which is what I was addressing. The issues you are discounting, such as increased risk of injury, slower/smaller gains, and less time, are common issues that people have to deal with as they get older. The more issues they have to deal with, the more likely they will give it up. Sure, if someone loves weightlifting they will make sacrifices and find a way, but not everyone is passionate about weightlifting in that way. They may find more enjoyment and desired results from running, cycling, playing tennis, etc. rather than spending time in the gym building up muscle mass. I used to do weightlifting regularly, but it was causing too many injuries as I got into my upper 50’s and I gave it up. I still work out regularly and incorporate weights, but I would say that I am doing weight based workouts rather than weightlifting. I’m not using weights with the goal of continually adding reps and using heavier weights as would be typical with weightlifting. Rather, I’m using weights to stress my muscles so that they don’t lose the strength they have. In no way am I saying that old people can’t work out. Rather, I’m saying that weightlifting type workouts are probably not the best kinds of workouts for older people. It’s the same as saying light jogging is better for old people rather than marathon training. For most older people, doing marathon training would cause a lot of health issues. Just because some 80-year-olds can do marathons doesn’t mean that all older people can do them. I strongly support older people using weights to combat age-related muscle loss, but do so in a way that gives them positive results with a minimum risk of injury. That wouldn’t be a classic weightlifting-like approach to gain a body like a champion bodybuilder. It would be something like using handweights on a regular basis with a fixed weight and fixed number of reps. Enough weight to stress the muscle but not so much that there’s risk of injury.
True to some extent, but the last decade has shed a lot of light on how strength training helps elderly people avoid sarcopenia to retain function, mobility, strength and a degree of relative youth at the cellular and metabolic levels.
I only know a few elderly weightlifters who primarily define themselves as such. They still care about what they lift, when of course few others do. There are worse hobbies and delusions. I believe strength training greatly reduces the risk of injury. A lot of things in life turn out to revolve around egotism, and weightlifting is possibly true in this regard at any age. But being fit is probably even more important to a ninety year old than a twenty year old with much more diverse consequences.
As the asker it wasn’t. I recognize that more older people actually are lifting now, not super heavy, not huge, not ripped, but actually making gains, new to the activity. Doing it for the now increasingly better recognized health benefits.
I was more wondering about the long time serious dedicated lifters, who have lifted heavy and/or been big. How good are they at continuing to lift? And the answer may be that yes those who continue as focused often adjust their goals.
I actually think there’s agreement on this. Those have achieved seriously heavy lifts get to a point where they don’t lift as heavy as often and respect recovery even more seriously than before.
But as someone whose fitness goals have never been optimized hypertrophy or strength, always broad healthspan focus aim, I dispute that
My comment about that was related to minimizing the risk of injury. My concern about older people doing weightlifting with the goal of building strength is that there is increased risk of injury compared to younger people. Unless there’s a good reason for them to take on the additional risk of injury on their way to gaining strength, they may be better off working out in a way that maintains their strength with a lesser injury risk. Or if they are building strength, build it very slowly with a primary emphasis on avoiding injury. I have some injuries I got from weightlifting when I was older that I still have years later and impact my ability to do certain activities.
Is there anyone else participating in this thread who is 55+ and did weightlifting as their main form of working out? I’ve given my experience as to why I gave it up. Can anyone else contribute? Anyone doing weightlifting past 55? Anyone who did it younger and gave it up as they got older?
Yes. I’m 65, and try to lift every day. I’ve been doing it for 40+ years (you would think that I would be huge). I still try to improve my 1-rep max. I’m not a powerlifter like some others here, I lift more for esthetics and personal satisfaction.
But the rest of me is aw … and slightly concerned that he might get too discouraged.