Also some exercise may, for you, turn out to not be boring. Try different things until you find an exercise (or set of exercises) that works for you. I really enjoy running, especially outdoors, and rowing, which makes it easy for me to stick with them. But for other people those things are either dull or painful and so they stall out if they only try those exercises. I also found team sports (soccer, in particular) and martial arts (BJJ) to be stimulating in a way that they never become boring. A couple I know use dance as their primary exercise (actually how they met too). There are many ways to exercise, finding the right exercise for you is critical to longterm success.
This. Between running, tennis, climbing, hiking, biking, martial arts, swimming, weightlifting, volleyball, mountain biking, soccer, etc. . . I think there is likely a “right” exercise for everyone, in the sense that it gets to flow state and doesn’t feel boring, or like work.
Very few of those on the list can be enjoyed by octogenarians.
I have enjoyed decades of golf so far with firm glutes and firm abs as an unitended benefit :)
I'm always tickled when I read these stories. I'm chasing an albatross personally to complete my scorecard (got a hole-in-one the 1st decade of playing).
The key is to start early and build up enough strength and fitness to sustain you for awhile after the inevitable, irreversible decline sets in around age 70.
And if you find a sport (like I did with soccer and BJJ), other exercises become more desirable and easier to stick with because they're complementary or supportive to the actual thing you want to do. Distance running and sprinting improved my endurance for both sports and also my recovery time after a literal sprint in soccer or the BJJ equivalent of a fast moving exchange, giving me an edge against otherwise more skilled opponents but lacking my conditioning.
BJJ sparring is like a chess match that requires complete mental focus for strategy, and the engagement and focus of every muscle in my body.
I feel like that analogy is lacking. Nevertheless, it's unlike any other sport I've played, like ice hockey, for example, which is more like driving in NYC.
Do you think BJJ is one of those hobbies that you can enjoy late in life? I’ve given it a try but always seem to get hurt, which disrupts other parts of my life (work, sleep, etc.) I also know a lot of people who’ve gathered a lot of lasting injuries from it. Any tips on staying healthy?
Find a good gym. There are some gyms where the instructors (and consequently the students) are a bit too hardcore. But at the good gyms (which I'd say are actually the average in the community, not outliers by any stretch), no one wants to injure their training partner. I've got a bad shoulder and a bad back. When someone gets my left arm in certain positions, I tap quickly and no one gets upset. I tell my partners about it, and tell them they can grab it just go extra slow.
So far my only BJJ-caused back or shoulder injuries were from early on when I was either too inflexible (and so it was easy to push it too far), or too stupid to tap (hadn't realized what "too far" was). Take it slow, find good training partners, listen to your body, and take up complementary activities (some strength training, flexibility things like yoga, core training especially for the back).
Yes. I agree about finding a good gym. Also be especially careful when sparring with other beginners who usually rely more on strength than technique. I have been injured twice while sparring with beginners(myself being a beginner as well). A knee fracture and a broken rib. Nowadays I take it easier since I’m in my mid 40s and recovery is slower. But I’m definitely not the oldest guy in the gym.
I also do judo once a week, and that’s lots of fun but a bit scary compared to bjj. I probably won’t continue doing that when I get old, not sparring at least.
I never played soccer with colleagues, at first being too tall and sucking at it and also seeing that as a sports for another "kind" of person. But nowadays I totally feel that its a great mix of play and sport, more fun and team bonding than gym, probably less taxing than cross-fit, etc. And now that I work remotely its even harder to find people to play... (And I'm in Brazil..)
