Health Dealing with Physical Decline

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I just roll with it, i noticed from 2 years ago how my body started to change. Usually after playing sport, or a long work out... i would feel sore from 4 - 8 hours later. But 2 years ago, it started happening 16 - 24.... sometimes 48 hours later. Someone told me it was probably delayed onset muscle soreness.

I always start to feel different, like having an aging body a day BEFORE my actual birthday. I am reasonably fit despite my "size", i can run up and down flights of stairs without puffing out. However i know i have to watch my activity as my knees are suspect (never "injured" them as such, but due to age, i am ultra careful). And my ankles have been sore the last few weeks, but i can't give them a proper chance to rest and recover because of how active i have to be.


Will never forget when my dad tore his hamstring a few years ago (in his early 50's), he wouldn't stop whinging about it :D.
 
I am almost 39, still playing competitive outdoor soccer, train, go to gym, and coach and play volleyball. I however cannot get off the floor without making a grunting noise...injured my knee this season, was out for 6 weeks, have sore muscles almost every day from training/playing and still love it. My advice, keep doing it as long as you can despite the pain, as one day you won't be able to at all. Oh, and Voltaren helps! :thumbsu:
 
See a physio and chiro. At any age you should have these things professionally checked - you'll hopefully be living with your body for a long time so take care of it.

Martial arts sounds like a bad idea for someone with back and / or joint problems. Likewise tennis, find other sports you enjoy with less impact.

If you maintain a steady weight with full exercise and stop exercising but don't adjust your diet you will obviously put on weight. Around the 30's (perhaps earlier for you, tough luck but there it is) you metabolism starts to change and it's easier to put on weight and harder to lose it. This gets worse as you get older. I'm not talking about calorie counting, just being sensible about portion size, alcohol, fatty foods, etc and being generally conscious of what you put into your body over a week. For instance if you had a parma on Monday and a Pizza on Wednesday it's not a great idea to get on the sauce Frid / Sat night and finish with a burger and chips - even if you're exercising moderately.

You're essentially at the very start of the rest of your life. You need to listen to your body and make adjustments as you age. If you're getting injured by something you need to stop doing it and / or find out what's wrong, if you're putting on weight you need to adjust your diet.

PS. EVERYONE goes through this. Said with the utmost respect: Stop being such a whiny little bitch.
 

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Give the tennis a break Kaiser. At 44 years I'm starin' down another cricket season. Can the ligamentless left ankle make it through another year bowling 10-20 overs a game? Do I really wanna spend Sundays hobblin' around in attempt to protect my lower back. My once sharp right arm deliveries are about as fast as a Jim Higgs wrong 'un. Can I put up with not dismissing batsmen, that once wouldn'ta been able to put bat on ball?

* yeah!
 
Miqar_Baqfhied said:
With footy, my fitness is ok, and rarely get injured (a day of cricket bowling is harder than any footy game Ive ever played) but now I suffer from an acute case of general shitness. I love training, and keeping fit, and think my general skills are ok but when it comes to games I've lost all ability. Never was very good but now its rock bottom. Lost all sense of situational awareness and propioception eg: where to run etc, where my opponents are when I get the ball, reading the play. Sucks balls. Sitting on the pine more and more and it sucks balls. Nothing is as bad as the feeling of getting dragged.

I know giving up footy will make me depressed as crap (even though its depressing being so s**t now). Its a lose/lose. I hate going to the gym and running for no reason. And no other sport can give me the same workout. I like tennis but its just too stop start to get the same fitness workout IMO.

FML.
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I kind of agree on the football front. Especially with training. Footy, as well as indoor soccer/soccer, doesn't feel like a chore. The health benefits are kind of a byproduct of the game itself. Seven hours a week of intense footy means that my exercise requirements are nearly fulfilled. I feel a bit lazy in summer, because aside from walking to the beach and having a swim, I don't have the 'regiment' of training/playing.

I have tidy skills, usually because my dad would always love having a kick with me. But with a BMI of 19, it's pretty hard. I'm useful as a ruck rover, but I have to go off every quarter because I get knocked over and hit too much.

One game this year, we were a few points down with a minute or so to go. The ball is staying in the fifty, and we're peppering the goal (I can use 'we,' I kicked two points from the pocket, to my detriment). Who gets dragged? We ended up winning, but it was genuinely embarrassing to get ('properly') dragged for the first time – and in that kind of situation.

I have a pretty natural footy brain, just through playing the game (and soccer, which has some likeness in positioning, etc.) and watching it since a young age. But with all my family sitting over 6'0, being active, and almost never getting seriously injured, I'm actually looking forward to getting older. I'll be able to kick longer, lay an actual tackle, and come out of packs without being winded. It'll help a lot with my confidence and opportunities at footy.
 
radiojake said:
played my first game of (pub) footy yesterday in 10 weeks after I had a subluxation of my left knee in a game... (3rd time in my life) - Not quite enough damage for surgery, but I surely must be getting close after three of them -

Had the left knee strapped and a patella stabiliser brace on - It felt quite good running around and my left knee didn't give me any trouble - However, I was slow as sh*t and unfit and we only had one on the bench so I ended up playing a full game (which I was not counting on!) - Lumbering around with the grace of an oversized dog of some sort - certainly was feeling it this morning....


I am only 28 and it worries me quite a bit - I ride my bicycle everywhere but that really does nothing to help aerobic capacity like I hoped it would -

Nothing like a dose of reality - Our minds stay quick but the body doesn't respond with the same vigor or speed!
Click to expand...
I've had three subluxations in my left knee and one in my right earlier this year, which was particularly nasty (attempt to run a single playing cricket, get told to go back, pivot around on it, collapses underneath me) and I'm 17. Know that feeling.

Always had the typical soreness in legs and shoulders and whatnot throughout the day but for the first time I think my knees were consistently much more sore than my ankles or whatever else, and this is six months after cricket season's finished.

First session back yesterday wasn't so comfortable, either...lucky I don't bowl pace. :thumbsu:
 
Silent Alarm said:
I kind of agree on the football front. Especially with training. Footy, as well as indoor soccer/soccer, doesn't feel like a chore. The health benefits are kind of a byproduct of the game itself. Seven hours a week of intense footy means that my exercise requirements are nearly fulfilled. I feel a bit lazy in summer, because aside from walking to the beach and having a swim, I don't have the 'regiment' of training/playing.

I have tidy skills, usually because my dad would always love having a kick with me. But with a BMI of 19, it's pretty hard. I'm useful as a ruck rover, but I have to go off every quarter because I get knocked over and hit too much.

One game this year, we were a few points down with a minute or so to go. The ball is staying in the fifty, and we're peppering the goal (I can use 'we,' I kicked two points from the pocket, to my detriment). Who gets dragged? We ended up winning, but it was genuinely embarrassing to get ('properly') dragged for the first time – and in that kind of situation.

I have a pretty natural footy brain, just through playing the game (and soccer, which has some likeness in positioning, etc.) and watching it since a young age. But with all my family sitting over 6'0, being active, and almost never getting seriously injured, I'm actually looking forward to getting older. I'll be able to kick longer, lay an actual tackle, and come out of packs without being winded. It'll help a lot with my confidence and opportunities at footy.
Click to expand...

I never played footy as a junior - took it up when I was 22 after playing cricket and nothing else all my life. Never really gained that instinct to be able to read the play naturally I think people get when they start playing from day dot. So trying to do it and focus on getting the ball is getting too hard in my old age of 29.

Did an interesting study when I was at uni about what seperates great players from the rest. Like you look at players like Buckley, Hird and Voss. Sure, there have been many players who have been more physically and athletically suited to succeed, but because theyve had a ball in their hand from pretty much the moment they left the womb theyve developed skills and game reading abilities which helped turn them into amazing players. Its what seperates the best from the rest. Youve probably heard of the 10000 hour rule...
 
I completely destroyed my ankles, knees, hamstrings and shoulders while playing a combination of top flight footy, basketball and tennis every weekend when I was 16. I would get little niggles every single week and would just brush them off and play injured every week basically for the whole year. I have been on the merry-go-round of recovery for the last 6 years. I have been going to the osteo/chiro for the last 8 months regularly to get work on my legs and at the moment they are feeling the best since I was still a teenager.

Only thing that is killing me at the moment is the lack of motivation to play, because deep down the only thing I think will happen is that my legs are going to stuff up again.
 
At least you can still run Caesar, my knees are so bad I can barely manage a painful jog.

You just learn to accept it, no point getting depressed over something as inevitable as aging. As the Buddhists say, getting attached to things that are impermanent by their very nature only causes suffering.

I've had to give up footy of course, hopefully I can still eke out a few more years of low level cricket depending on how my knees hold up this season. I still go down the park and have a kick of the footy or a gentle hit of tennis, but my days of being able sprint after a ball or change direction quickly look to be over.

I get most of my exercise from weights and yoga these day. Weightlifting is particularly enjoyable for me - it's satisfying seeing changes in size and strength slowly occur and it allows me to still feel in control of my body despite my knees betraying me.

I'm about to take up water polo again to fill the competitive void with a sport that won't impact on my knees. You just have to be willing to adapt to what your body can handle.

And when all other sports become impossible it's comforting to know golf will always be manageable until the day I'm dead or in a wheelchair.
 
Caesar said:
I have just got back from tennis having, for the third time this year, screwed something in my back.

Last summer I was playing pennant. Now I am losing club matches to pushers my own age and older. I struggle for months to get fit and as soon as I do I get injured again. I can't move, I can't get core rotation, I can't hit a kick serve to save my life because I can't get any back arch. Forget about form, I'm struggling to stay on the court.

I do yoga. I do martial arts. I stretch before and after exercising and I exercise every day. Every time I get injured I put on kilos and every time I work like a mofo to drop them again to ensure I'm in good physical condition. I have had my coach remodel my service action. I have no idea what else to do. I am only ******* 27. This should not be happening.

I get out on that court and I simply cannot do things that I know I should be able to do. It is immensely frustrating. I really cannot deal with it any more. I don't care about losing but I care about not being able to do things because my body is letting me down.

What the **** do I do? Someone please tell me. I mean, I am not a great athlete but physical fitness, playing sport and feeling healthy has always been a massive part of who I am. Every time this happens I stack on weight, can't do anything I enjoy and generally wind up depressed. Do I just give up tennis altogether? If not, how do I come to terms with the fact I am a guy in his 20s seemingly stuck in the body of someone in his late 30s? I'm sure I'm not the only person to go through this.

I don't know if anyone has any insight but **** I just needed to rant. I'm ******* over it. **** this s**t, I'm ******* off to get ******* pissed.

****.
Click to expand...
Lucky you lasted to 27.

Had the same issue with my knees among back, ankle and foot injuries.

Had to stop footy and couldn't play competitive tennis because of it. At the age of 17.

Every time I would get back I would find myself injured again. Was really disappointing because when I was 11 I was traveling around playing a few junior tournaments.
 
I have never suffered a serious sports injury, but I started playing indoor soccer again in my late 30s after a break of a few years.

The first few games I played I strained muscles in my thighs as soon as I tried to chase after the ball. I think it's partly because I have to push myself harder to chase after the young blokes. I was never the speediest player, but now I have the acceleration and turning speed of a fully laden oil tanker trying to evade Somalian pirates.

So I've had to face the inevitable and become a full time goalkeeper. I'm not bad at it (I used to be a field hockey keeper) but I miss playing outfield too.
 
bresker said:
So I've had to face the inevitable and become a full time goalkeeper. I'm not bad at it (I used to be a field hockey keeper) but I miss playing outfield too.
Click to expand...

I've thought about trying to do that in field soccer. Seems like a pretty specialist position though and I haven't played there much, so I don't really want to rock up to a club as a n00b and announce I want to play but only if they'll let me be goalie.
 

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Caesar said:
this thread has not been the pity party i was looking for
Click to expand...
I'll give you some pity.

Seriously though that sucks. You may have to give up playing competitive tennis.

I made a netball come back a few years ago - in my teens i was excellent; agile with lightning quick reflexes. I was good as ted richards as a defender. Anyway in my netball come back i was annihilated by my opponent. It was similar to plugger's come back in 02.

People ask me to play in teams now and i don't on the basis that i'm crap and will probably get injured (i'm prone to rolling my ankles) and then wont be able to exercise.
 
THAT is no country for old men. The young
In one another's arms, birds in the trees
- Those dying generations - at their song,
The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long
Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.
Caught in that sensual music all neglect
Monuments of unageing intellect.

An aged man is but a paltry thing,
A tattered coat upon a stick, unless
Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress,
Nor is there singing school but studying
Monuments of its own magnificence;
And therefore I have sailed the seas and come
To the holy city of Byzantium.

O sages standing in God's holy fire
As in the gold mosaic of a wall,
Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre,
And be the singing-masters of my soul.
Consume my heart away; sick with desire
And fastened to a dying animal
It knows not what it is; and gather me
Into the artifice of eternity.

Once out of nature I shall never take
My bodily form from any natural thing,
But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make
Of hammered gold and gold enamelling
To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;
Or set upon a golden bough to sing
To lords and ladies of Byzantium
Of what is past, or passing, or to come.
 
am 29 and feel cooked some days, have worked physical warehouse jobs ever since high school and i blame this for my downfall.
 
childeric said:
I am on the wrong side of 50 and now do 5km fast walks, 200 crunches & 200 push-ups each day

I used to run but wish to minimise the damage to knees, hips etc.

Have greatly increased my fruit and vege intake, eat fish and small amount of red meat only
Click to expand...

Is that you Tom Hafey?
 
evo said:
take fish or flaxseed oil - lift weights with progressive overload - don't be pussy [russian accent]
Click to expand...
evo, I started doing this at the age of 40. Somewhere between the squats and the deadlifts I herniated a disk. To be honest I feel quite stupid for causing myself a permanent injury. The old back was telling me to ease up, but I did not want to listen.
 
Caesar said:
I have just got back from tennis having, for the third time this year, screwed something in my back.

Last summer I was playing pennant. Now I am losing club matches to pushers my own age and older. I struggle for months to get fit and as soon as I do I get injured again. I can't move, I can't get core rotation, I can't hit a kick serve to save my life because I can't get any back arch. Forget about form, I'm struggling to stay on the court.

I do yoga. I do martial arts. I stretch before and after exercising and I exercise every day. Every time I get injured I put on kilos and every time I work like a mofo to drop them again to ensure I'm in good physical condition. I have had my coach remodel my service action. I have no idea what else to do. I am only ******* 27. This should not be happening.

I get out on that court and I simply cannot do things that I know I should be able to do. It is immensely frustrating. I really cannot deal with it any more. I don't care about losing but I care about not being able to do things because my body is letting me down.

What the **** do I do? Someone please tell me. I mean, I am not a great athlete but physical fitness, playing sport and feeling healthy has always been a massive part of who I am. Every time this happens I stack on weight, can't do anything I enjoy and generally wind up depressed. Do I just give up tennis altogether? If not, how do I come to terms with the fact I am a guy in his 20s seemingly stuck in the body of someone in his late 30s? I'm sure I'm not the only person to go through this.

I don't know if anyone has any insight but **** I just needed to rant. I'm ******* over it. **** this s**t, I'm ******* off to get ******* pissed.

****.
Click to expand...

If you think it's bad now, wait until you hit 35+
 
J_Moore said:
THAT is no country for old men. The young
In one another's arms, birds in the trees
- Those dying generations - at their song,
The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long
Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.
Caught in that sensual music all neglect
Monuments of unageing intellect.

An aged man is but a paltry thing,
A tattered coat upon a stick, unless
Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress,
Nor is there singing school but studying
Monuments of its own magnificence;
And therefore I have sailed the seas and come
To the holy city of Byzantium.

O sages standing in God's holy fire
As in the gold mosaic of a wall,
Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre,
And be the singing-masters of my soul.
Consume my heart away; sick with desire
And fastened to a dying animal
It knows not what it is; and gather me
Into the artifice of eternity.

Once out of nature I shall never take
My bodily form from any natural thing,
But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make
Of hammered gold and gold enamelling
To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;
Or set upon a golden bough to sing
To lords and ladies of Byzantium
Of what is past, or passing, or to come.
Click to expand...

Never thought I'd see Yeats on a GD board.

Nice.
 
Pretty much same deal as OP but with basketball instead of tennis. Ruptured my ACL at 27, its recovered now but I can't do anywhere near what I used to athletically. So I traded basketball in for boxing training, running, and bodyweight exercise (like rings, push ups, sit ups etc. all stuff that helps my core) and I only shoot the basketball around about once a week. Used swimming a lot to get my body back up and running after the reco.

Sports like basketball and tennis are the hardest to play into your 30's, if you're trying to maintain the same way you played when you were younger. Too much directional change, really bad on your joints and spine, hard surface. You either need to significantly adjust your game, or (as I did) just not run the risk of playing such an intense sport and go to something that's a bit better for your body.
 
How has everyone fared?

Stumbling 116 pages back I found this and thought hmm a thread about getting over 40. * me it was a 27 yr old crying about his body dying. And playing tennis!

I have had back issues from my 30s. Just a muscle pull every few months if I am not careful. Otherwise its been fairly good. Usual sports injuries and aches and pains but all in all fairly stable

But jesus christ the last 6 months have challenged me. Gout!!! The pain. My brother had it and I smiled as I ate tomatoes by the punnet load and splashed sauce over everything. 3 hot spots, one on my big left toe, then a fortnight later on my big right toe. Grr couldnt sleep or walk too much.

Then the back of my ankle. ?? Crazy crazy. Again no walking. I finally swallowed whatever pride I had and talked to a chemist about pain relief and they recommended some stuff that worked immediately. So thats a lesson

2 Sundays ago head into Bunnings to pick up some soil, potting mix etc. Get home and look at the load and figure , pots in one hand , loam in the other. Swing the bag out one handed and bang. Shooting pain in the same spot all my back pain has been in, but this time for added pleasure my leg starts going numb. I managed to get the bag into my unit. Left the rest in the car ( only got it out after 2 weeks)

My leg is spasming so I take the pain relief chemist recommended, nothing. Took me 15 minutes to get to letter box and back. Spent the whole week at home shuffling out of bed and sitting in the chair all day. Tried panadol and everything.

Finally the pain subsided but still annoying. Took some of the gout pills and yeah good I can move. Still have a hot spot but I am not having to think about getting out of a chair now. It just happens.

The upshot of all this is my walking has stopped and the weight has gone on. So the cycle continues
 
estibador said:
At least you can still run Caesar, my knees are so bad I can barely manage a painful jog.

You just learn to accept it, no point getting depressed over something as inevitable as aging. As the Buddhists say, getting attached to things that are impermanent by their very nature only causes suffering.

I've had to give up footy of course, hopefully I can still eke out a few more years of low level cricket depending on how my knees hold up this season. I still go down the park and have a kick of the footy or a gentle hit of tennis, but my days of being able sprint after a ball or change direction quickly look to be over.

I get most of my exercise from weights and yoga these day. Weightlifting is particularly enjoyable for me - it's satisfying seeing changes in size and strength slowly occur and it allows me to still feel in control of my body despite my knees betraying me.

I'm about to take up water polo again to fill the competitive void with a sport that won't impact on my knees. You just have to be willing to adapt to what your body can handle.

And when all other sports become impossible it's comforting to know golf will always be manageable until the day I'm dead or in a wheelchair.
Click to expand...

Geez things have changed since I wrote this... for the better thankfully.

I kept hitting the gym and eventually built my squat up to over 100kg. The extra leg strength did wonders for my knees and I'm back able to play running sports again, though I stick to social sport like AFL 9's now instead of full contact stuff. And I still have to ice my knees after games to avoid pulling up too sore the next day.

I'm convinced more than ever that lifting weights is the greatest form of anti-aging exercise out there.
 
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