do muscles wear out? (OT)

Re: do muscles wear out? (OT)

Dale Stansbery

>I don't think they wear out, but you certainly lose strength/flexibility/mobility with age and muscles can can hurt a lot more. I'm about half way between you and your dad's age I think (61) and started an exercise program at our hospital's Wellness Center a year ago, due to health concerns. It's made a world of difference for me. BP down about 10-15 points, blood sugar and weight easier to control, and my stamina has greatly increased. I would check to see if your local hospital has something similar. It's primarily a cardiac and pulmonary rehab center, but also open to the general public. They set up an exercise routine appropriate for your age and health. They also have a several exercise machines not generally available in the gyms around town that are oriented towards the younger crowd.

The average age of the folks I work out with is probably early 70's and one guy is 90 and still shows up 3 times a week. Most of them started after heart attacks/surgery and continue to come even after there prescribed rehabs have ended because they have been helped so much from the exercise. I'd certainly try to convince your dad that he can benefit greatly form some exercise, even if it's only a daily walk, and even more from a monitored program.

Gotta go, time for my morning work out.

Re: do muscles wear out? (OT)

John Pappas

>I have a friend who is 81 and he rides a bike about 100 miles a week. Those rides include a steep ride up the face of a dam and it is a tough go. I am 71 and have been riding a bicycle about 75 miles a week. Often go on a 25 mile ride and come home and mow the lawn. Of course genetics is also involved, but maintenance is a big key. I've also read where the ill-effects of years of neglect can be reversed with exercise and proper diet. It's a tough sell, but I hope you can convince him that there can be better days ahead.

Joints wear out. Muscles atrophy.

Charles R. Smith from Victoria

>Joints can wear out with hard use and/or abuse, but muscles will atrophy (shrink) with non-use.

The advice given above is reasonable. I have an 89-year old relative who was overweight and shuffled while she walked. At the age of 84, she hired a personal trainer who worked with her physician (caring for her heart disease and other ailments), and now she walks (strides) several miles a day and swims. As she says, she isn't sure that her exercise program will let her live longer, but she is certainly enjoying every day a lot more than she did.

A big part of the success of maintaining health in the elderly is their mindset (and/or depression). Sometimes mild depression needs a bit of medical intervention, and sometimes it goes away when the person starts to exercise and sees that they can achieve victories. Talk to your dad and his physician about what needs to be done.

If you live near your dad, maybe you could create an exercise program that you could do together, like walking or attending a YMCA. It would encourage him and would certainly make for some special memories together. Golf was my father's way of exercising, and I still cherish the remembrances of the games I played with him when he was well into his 80's -- after each round of golf, our reward was to hit a favourite coffee shop and have a pleasant chat about life.

Charles (who hopes to be active and involved when I get to my 80's)

Re: do muscles wear out? (OT)

Don Pierson

>I can vouch for your father's claim that he carried railroad ties by himself. In the 1940's my father owned a sawmill and I went with him to take a truck load of railroad ties to the railroad yard. Along side a railroad car my dad would use a picaroon to pull a tie from the truck into the railroad car. Inside the railroad car one of two men would lift, carry and stack the tie at his end of the car. These two guys had arms and shoulders like you see on today's muscle magazines. I have no idea how much a green douglas fir railroad tie weighs but few people are stong enough to carry one!

Report from age 59

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>It's my understanding that, as we age, we tend to lose muscle tissue; but that this is, to a degree, reversible with proper exercise. When we started on our kitchen remodel, I stopped doing my weight exercises (continued with the flexibility and rotator cuff exercises - I needed them!), figuring I'd be doing enough lifting with the carpentry/plumbing/electrical work. It turned out not to be so, because lifting comes in spurts with that kind of work, but I have not yet started the weights again. I've noticed a loss of strength, even though the weight exercises are minor (10 pound weights).

I recommend a book called, "Age-Defying Fitness," available online (ISBN 978-1-56145-333-7), which makes a good case for exercising right up until they nail the coffin lid shut and then offers a useful set of exercises (it comforted me to learn that many of them are the ones I do). My biggest issue with the book is that, if you follow its prescription precisely, you'll spend a lot of the day exercising. My exercise program, when I do it all, is about half an hour, and another half hour walking, with one or two days off per week.

I'm mildly asthmatic, but haven't taken the meds in years, since I started walking and exercising. I get attacks in certain seasons, but never enough to consider the medication, because my lung capacity is up.

When my uncle was in his decline, he was prescribed some in-home physical therapy. The therapist who showed up was a dead ringer for Michelle Pfeiffer's younger sister, and my uncle always did have an eye for the ladies. He was quite earnest about his exercises while she was visiting. These kind of accidental motivators can't, by definition, be arranged, but maybe you should consider telling him (and maybe you already have) that you love spending time with him and would like him around for as many years as possible so you can enjoy more fishing trips, and that you've heard from some old geezers on your forum that exercise helps.

He may also be feeling tired due to the overweight itself. This is a catch-22 - if he'd lose weight and exercise, he'd have more energy to lose more weight and exercise more, and still have more energy left for living.

Tell him the geezers on your forum will all be pulling for him, if he'll get on a health program.

Big Medical Study

Jim in Burlington On

>There was a huge medical study released earlier this year. Basically it said that you can still gain muscle mass and reverse the age of muscle fibers.

Re: do muscles wear out? (OT)

john lucas

>I am a firm believer in exercise and will continue to do so as long as I possible can. I work out almost as hard now as I did in college buat it takes a lot more willpower to do so. I think the problem has many reasons. One is that it definitely takes more will power to work out at my age, 58, and I'm sure you dad has the same problem. The other is things hurt. One day your fine the next day your knee hurts or you back hurts etc. This also makes it hard to dig up the will power to work out. I have to be willing to vary my routine to get around what's aching today.

My dad has the same problem and I think it's because his lungs are weak from not exercising and his circulatory system may not be as good although he does have a lot more energy after the triple bipass. I've noticed he sleeps an awful lot now. I wish I could get him to exercise but I guess a lifetime of sedentary attitude is hard to beat.

I think the best thing would be to find some other guys his age who do work out and try to get him into the routine with them. It's harder to say no when someone calls you and says I'll meet you at the gym. When it becomes a social thing it's fun to do and then you look forward to it.

Re: Joints wear out. Muscles atrophy.

Norman (Ottawa, Ont.)

>Muscles never wear out although the ligaments and other ancillary fibres and joints might wear with use. As mentioned earlier, the muscle tissue merely atrophies and shrinks over time from lack of use.

The muscle tissue is always there and grows to compensate for increased workloads... as in progressive weight training. Like anything else, without any need to handle workload or weights, the muscle tissue shrinks accordingly.

I believe in such a thing as "muscle memory". If your muscle mass was at some point in your life substantial and developed, it is easier to regain this.. with weight training and exercise of course.

All you have to do is look at some of the older bodybuilders and you can see that their muscle mass in most cases is quite substantial. Their bodies are still compensating and accomodating the weight training routines they perform.

Norman ( who trained with weights on and off throughout his adult life and did a stint as a personal trainer)

At any age muscles can be strengthened

Paul Kramer

>Moses,

The studies are conclusive that at any age your muscles will respond positively to strength training. There have been several studies in the elderly that it works. May I direct you to the works of Miriam Nelson, Ph.D.? She's an expert on this. Additionally, there are several studies that demonstrate that exercise helps relieve depression. There have been a lot of wonderful suggestions already. All of the best for you and your dad.

Paul

Weight, too

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>Last year, I lost 50 pounds by cutting back on food a lot. My wife and son, who have trouble losing weight, were seriously ticked off at me, but I digress. Before the weight loss, I was having knee problems, and was very aware of climbing a flight of stairs. Now, while I'm still aware that I'm no longer young, I'm so much more physically capable I'm amazed. Of course, when I realize that 50 pounds were close to a 33% overload on my body, it's not so amazing.

Thank you

Moses Yoder in White Pigeon, MI

>Thanks for the very good and encouraging responses. I think perhaps I will print some of them and take them to him. If I can find a good local excersize program I'll get him started on that as well. It would certainly help to have someone encouraging him to do it.

Re: Thank you *LINK*

Todd O. Cronkhite Maine Native, Presently Away

>Moses,

This book is getting some real good reviews and I think it is worth a look. Unless you have some type of actual diagnosed medical condition such as Muscular Dystrophy I don't believe that muscles ever wear out, only grow weak from lack of use. there are many senior citizen aged body builders to support this, plus there are many "aged" folks that are in excellent physical condition for their age because they live active Lifestyles. I recall hearing a story about a news team that went to interview a 102 year old man and they arrived at his home he was out back chopping wood!

Studies have also been done in nursing homes and senior citizen centers where folks who where pretty much invalidded showed huge improvements in physical condition by starting out with very mild exercising and moving up to more difficult ones. I've seen some of these shows on t.v. and the changes are very dramatic.

There is also no question in my mind that exercising or at least doing some work does in fact relieve depression. Seems it causes our body to release some chemicals into our bodies called endorphines that get into the brain and increase it's activity thus driving out depression. I can also attest first hand that I always felt much better after a good work session or exercise session. the hard part is getting the depressed person to start in the first place as they are just so "bummed out". I suggest that you merely involve your day in more fishing trips to get things going for him, and once he starts build him up to simple exercise routines once he starts feeling better mentally. Chew his arse to get him started if you need too.

Once while home on leave while in the Army I went to visit one of my buddies fathers whom was a small scale farmer. I found him up in the barn unloading a trailer full of hay bales. I asked him why he was still farming as all 7 of his kids where grown and gone, and he said that he had given it up for awhile, but started feeling sluggish both physically and mentally, so he got back into it. Said he felt better after doing a bit of work.He was 66 at the time and in excellent physical condition.

Sounds to me that your Dad has been sedate for a long time and has grown much overweight, and his muscles have gone soft. Being over weight is hard on the body and if nothing else is a good way to get diabetes which could lead to limb amputations and taking a host of medications which can create even more problems by themselves.

Being a former lumber yard worker myself, who lifted pieces of wood that weighed more then I did all day long, and becoming a bit of a "bull" myself I find it hard to believe that he has allowed himself get into such poor condition. That's a true pity. I have always tried to maintain my strength and always take pleasure in the fact that I could outwork and out-endure most guys half my age while I was in the military.

I recently went thru a bout of mild depression myself, and I think it is a normal/natural occuring thing in our brains and that it is trying to tell us that something is out of kilter in our lives/diet, etc, etc. After a few weeks most folks come out of it naturally as well, but I think that your Dads biggest problem is the add'l weight that he is carrying around and all of the problems that it causes. Muscles wearing out is pish-posh in my opinion and experience.

Hope all works out well for you and him.

As my Grandfather always said "Your a long time dead, so put it off for as long as possible".

*Disclaimer, I am not a doctor of any type either, but for a 46 year old I know that I can still outwork guys half my age, and feel that a fight with me wouldn't be fair unless it was at least 2 against me, but no more then 3.

T.O.


Younger Next Year

Re: Thank you

Michael Rogen

>This was a question that all of us should be aware of and consider the consequenses of not exercising. I suffer from ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease as it's better known as, and after being diagnosed almost 4 years ago the fact that I can still do some woodworking is a testament to all of the exercise that I did in the years before. With ALS most people who are at my stage are probably in wheelchairs,and have almost no use of their hands or arms. Although walking has become more difficult and I need to use crutches as an aid a wheelchair is still down the road for me. All of the doctors that I have seen including my current one attribute my current 'health' directly to the shape I was in from biking 6 days a week for many years.

I don't know how much longer I will be able to dodge the wheelchair but I know that I am almost done with a blanket chest and have several other projects lined up after the chest that I plan on getting to. And I owe it all to exercising.

Michael R

Re: Thank you

Todd O. Cronkhite Maine Native, Presently Away

>That is quite a testimony to the benefits of not only exercising, but od a strong, positive attitude as well. Do you still continue to do some dedicated exercising, or do it just get it mainly from woodworking now? How is that you suppose one gets something like ALS in the first place. Genetics?

Keep on keeping on, and if it does come out that you'll need the wheelchair I'm sure you'll find ways around that as well. there is always carving that can be done without using the larger heavier tools.

T.O.