If you really want to feel younger, keep up your swimming and lifting and add yoga. I promise that after a month or two of daily yoga you’ll wake up twice as loose and feeling much younger.
I do an hour of yoga, 40 minutes of lifting and 30 minutes of swimming six days a week .
Working out that much every day (but not with that particular mix) would be my dream. I exercise 3-4 times per week and I do one exercise each time. With the swimming, I try to keep the intensity very high (for this old man) for two of my workouts per week. I’m hungry all day afterward with no weight gain when I indulge, and so I know I’m doing something right.
And drinking loads of water. Tom Brady is right. It sucks to pee every 20 minutes, but I swear there is something to it.
I think Yoga would be a good idea. I have toyed with the idea many times.
There are a lot of good 30 minute yoga programs on YT. I like Travis Eliot’s.
His 90 minute Yin Yoga class on YT is awesome for the hips.
@bojack makes a good point about lifting for the back, especially as you start to get older. Last fall I was hit from behind by a hit-and-run driver. A couple of weeks later my physical therapist advised me to do deadlifts for my back. Start with twenty lb dumbbells or kettlebells and increase slowly, and form is super important. It’s made a huge difference for my back.
Hope your recovery is going well and everything is ok now.
One thing I really like about the personal trainers at my gym is their focus on technique (I have never used them, I’ve only observed them). You can def hurt yourself if your form is off. Crucial. Just an hour of coaching can really help with form.
And yeah, deadlift is a great movement and esp for developing back and core strength. Every muscle below your neck gets work, some more than others. As you point out, the resistance doesn’t have to be huge to realize real gains in back strength.
Thanks. The worst part was the interruption in my normal workout routine for several months. Do you have any recommendations for online resources for lifting for those of us who integrate some lifting into our workout but are not experts?
I always had trouble keeping my form until I started using a trap bar and limiting reps to 1 or 2. It’s definitely not an exercise where you can cheat another rep.
Cable pull throughs are a great high rep complement.
That is so true!
I do not, I really don’t follow lifting online at all.
I only have some no-brainer advice, which is to keep your torso shaped like the letter “C” as much as possible (belly pointing down, shoulders back) throughout the deadlift movement. The lower back muscles are strengthened not by lifting the weight, but by locking your back into that C shape while your legs and butt do the work. Concentrate, and do not allow fatigue to make its way in and cheat that C shape.
Best of luck.
Watch Mark Rippetoe’s videos.
His advice to let your arms come to full tension before beginning the lift was really helpful to me.
Thanks, @bojack and @Wookie. There are just so many ego-filled videos online full of people pushing stuff I don’t want that it’s painful to wade through it to find instruction that has real value.