The Official Hype Fitness Thread 6.0 - Part 8

[RetrogradeOrbit]

You will probably be thankful to have lost the bulk as you get into your 40’s. As you progress into your 40’s it gets harder and harder to maintain the muscle simply because your body isn’t pumping out the testosterone the way it did when you were younger. And your metabolism slows down as well. It is easy for that muscle to atrophy into fat even with a lot of lifting. I personally made a decision into my 40’s to pursue being athletic over muscular and that was a great decision as I was able to keep a more lean and athletic frame for most of my 40’s which helped me to stay active. As a result, my cholesterol remained managed and my heart has stayed really strong, despite the fact that heart disease runs rampant through my family.

So I really applaud your efforts to get to where you are. I think that you will appreciate it in the long run.

(Now if someone could just advise me how to manage my way as I transition from 40’s into 50’s, I’d appreciate it. Injuries and metabolism at a crawl is vicious.)

Hello there,

Speaking as someone who recently went from their 50's into 60.
It wasn't fatal, but it felt final...!

The key is to train smarter and not harder (a phrase I have come to detest!) like you probably have done in previous decades. I know I did.
As we get older it is all too easy to injure yourself and it takes maddeningly longer to heal.
It is fine to push yourself with more weight or reps on your sets, but do it very gradually so as to avoid an injury.
What I have tended to do is to keep the weight manageable but increase the reps.
I have found it avoids injury but gains are still made.

Also, it is worth trying to add to the amount of sets you do.
For example, I was struggling to do 10 body weight wide arm pullups with good form.
Decided to do 5 sets of 4 reps instead.
Now I get 20 pull ups done, all of which have good form.

Be 100% prepared to accept that gains are going to be harder to come by and take longer to make.

The other things which are just as important?

• Good quality sleep and enough of it, I advise a minimum of 7 hours, ideally 8.
• Cut back on, or even cut out, alcohol.
• A good quality diet, with a moderate to high intake of protein is essential.

It is also way harder to lose excess weight, certainly since I hit 60 last October, it is a real struggle for me. But it is possible, even though I am not there yet...

The more muscle mass and bone density you can build and maintain as you go into those "golden" years the better.
And legs, legs, legs...

That's all I've got. Hope it is helpful...

 

[Lily Adler]

 

[gohei_]

So, I am roughly halfway through my 10k plan (5 weeks left), and my goal of doing sub 50 seems pretty far off at the moment. It honestly feels like I am getting slower each week
I'm hoping this is just all the cumulative fatigue from all the training, and that the taper before the race will bring me back faster and stronger.

Besides that, I have actually noticed that my easy pace is now a good 15-20 seconds faster, and my resting heart rate is around 8 beats lower. This is compared to last year, and it's nice to see that all the training actually pays off eventually.

 

[Babillygunn]

So, I am roughly halfway through my 10k plan (5 weeks left), and my goal of doing sub 50 seems pretty far off at the moment. It honestly feels like I am getting slower each week
I'm hoping this is just all the cumulative fatigue from all the training, and that the taper before the race will bring me back faster and stronger.

Besides that, I have actually noticed that my easy pace is now a good 15-20 seconds faster, and my resting heart rate is around 8 beats lower. This is compared to last year, and it's nice to see that all the training actually pays off eventually.

The improvement in your easy pace and your lower resting heart rate are great signs of cardiovascular improvement. All signs would seem to indicate that you should be able to crank out a good 10k.

Great job!

 

[Babillygunn]

I’ve had 3-4 post covid runs in the past week and a half. I’m slowly getting back in the swing. It’s been rough, especially with all of the heat.

Last night I did some intervals with my son to help him train a bit for track. He is getting over COVID as well. The intervals actually were much more doable for me, which is surprising as I tend to be more of an endurance running for sure.

 

[gohei_]

The improvement in your easy pace and your lower resting heart rate are great signs of cardiovascular improvement. All signs would seem to indicate that you should be able to crank out a good 10k.

Great job!

Thanks!

It's a bit of a double-edged sword; I am pleased with myself in that I've made a steady and constant progress in my running this year (in 2025 I've only had two weeks off because of the flu), but at the same time I am kicking myself for totally neglecting all kinds of strength training during this year.

 

[ComicChick]

apparently i've lost 22 pounds this year. meal prepping has helped. not eating fast food more than once a week (twice in extremes), and upping my water and not mindlessly snacking has definitely helped.

 

[gohei_]

apparently i've lost 22 pounds this year. meal prepping has helped. not eating fast food more than once a week (twice in extremes), and upping my water and not mindlessly snacking has definitely helped.

Nice work! I could probably benefit from losing 5-10kg of fat. Overall my diet is pretty good but I am way to fond of chocolate and beer so that tips me over the edge lol. Also me not doing any real strength training isn't doing me any favours either.

 

[Babillygunn]

I’ve had about 5 or 6 good runs since having COVID. I’m finding that my endurance is way down, but I’m doing much better with doing intervals. My only concern has been that I have developed a little bit of Achilles tendinitis.

 

[gohei_]

I’ve had about 5 or 6 good runs since having COVID. I’m finding that my endurance is way down, but I’m doing much better with doing intervals. My only concern has been that I have developed a little bit of Achilles tendinitis.

Sorry to hear that. I have also had some issues with my achilles for a few weeks now.
I'm skipping an easy run here and there to give myself an extra rest day, and it seems like it's calming down a bit.

 

[Babillygunn]

Sorry to hear that. I have also had some issues with my achilles for a few weeks now.
I'm skipping an easy run here and there to give myself an extra rest day, and it seems like it's calming down a bit.

That’s basically been my approach. I take a day off here and there to recover. Still, the morning after I run, i have such terrible stiffness in my entire foot it is insane. I’m learning that ice, stretching, and taking time for recovery are the keys to still being able to do this.

With the heat and with still getting over illnesses and injuries, I’ve found myself doing intervals during my runs lately. It’s been good to mix it up. But I’ve been doing a mile run followed by alternating between walk for a quarter mile and the sprint out a quarter mile. I’ve been doing that for 3-4 miles. It’s added some more fun and has helped me build back my cardio this summer a bit.

 

[gohei_]

That’s basically been my approach. I take a day off here and there to recover. Still, the morning after I run, i have such terrible stiffness in my entire foot it is insane. I’m learning that ice, stretching, and taking time for recovery are the keys to still being able to do this.

With the heat and with still getting over illnesses and injuries, I’ve found myself doing intervals during my runs lately. It’s been good to mix it up. But I’ve been doing a mile run followed by alternating between walk for a quarter mile and the sprint out a quarter mile. I’ve been doing that for 3-4 miles. It’s added some more fun and has helped me build back my cardio this summer a bit.

Sounds like you have it far worse than me then; I'm mostly a bit sore and tender, but I can still run on it.

That sounds good. I am definitely enjoying intervals a lot more than slow easy runs at the moment. I did an easy 17k last night and the last 5k were torture on me, mentally. During faster runs you don't really think about the distance at all so it becomes a lot easier to run longer.

I try to tell myself that when the mind starts to wander, that's when the workout really begins lol. But honestly, having a podcast in my ear has definitely helped a lot.

 

[theastsunnn]

I work two jobs everyday full time mornings/day and part time at nights. Sleeping about 4hrs a day so my workouts and health have plummeted. I’m going to start trying to go to gym anyway after 4 hrs of sleep before work.

 

[gohei_]

So, I probably have the worst timing ever; so far this year I have only been sick once, and my training has been going pretty good. Now, two days before my big race, I get sick
I mean, it's no big deal really but it's funny how things happen I guess

Depending on how severe this illness is I will wait a week or two and then do a race on my own, just to see how much I've improved since last year.

 

[ComicChick]

i turned 40 on monday

i had given myself an off-hand goal to lose 40 pounds by 40 years old at new years. i did not get to 40, but i got to 31. instead of lamenting that, i am proud of it. in the beginning i wasn't really sticking to anything or putting as much effort as i could have. i've fallen on and off, but the last few months i really made changes to my diet and that's helped considerably.

 

[Lily Adler]

i turned 40 on monday

i had given myself an off-hand goal to lose 40 pounds by 40 years old at new years. i did not get to 40, but i got to 31. instead of lamenting that, i am proud of it. in the beginning i wasn't really sticking to anything or putting as much effort as i could have. i've fallen on and off, but the last few months i really made changes to my diet and that's helped considerably.

Dance to a Beyonce song at least once a day.

 

[ComicChick]

Dance to a Beyonce song at least once a day.

i'm about to cut my front yard and back yard in 96 degree heat. i think that's my quota for the day lol

although this reminded me of DDR.. used to get a good workout on that when i had it for PS2 back in the day lol

 

[Lily Adler]

i'm about to cut my front yard and back yard in 96 degree heat. i think that's my quota for the day lol

although this reminded me of DDR.. used to get a good workout on that when i had it for PS2 back in the day lol

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[Babillygunn]

i turned 40 on monday

i had given myself an off-hand goal to lose 40 pounds by 40 years old at new years. i did not get to 40, but i got to 31. instead of lamenting that, i am proud of it. in the beginning i wasn't really sticking to anything or putting as much effort as i could have. i've fallen on and off, but the last few months i really made changes to my diet and that's helped considerably.

That’s an amazing accomplishment. Congratulations! Hope your 40’s are an amazing time for you. (I’m about to hit 50 and I will miss my 40’s as they have been a great decade.)

 

[Babillygunn]

The last few weeks have been very sporadic with running. Coming out of my meniscus injuries, I have now developed pretty severe tendinitis in the opposite ankle and foot. But last night I changed out my shoes and the difference was amazing. For the past few years I had switched from Saucony to New Balance. I loved the fact that the New Balance were incredibly lightweight. But I don’t think that they were providing enough cushion. That may have contributed to my pretty significant injuries over the past year or so. I had bought a pair of Brooks a few months ago, but I was kind of waiting on breaking those out. But I did it last night. I got in three miles last night and while there was soreness in the foot and ankle today, it wasn’t like it has been. My new normal has been that I have had such swelling that I haven’t been able to walk in the mornings very well. But today it wasn’t so bad.

Hopefully this is a corner being turned.

A lesson to you all (and one that you’d think I’d have learned by now): mind your shoes!