What are the odds you will be healthy, vigorous, and sharp til age 75?

[Antares]

I know I’m going to die, so I will retire. I would prefer not to die with regret. I am fortunate. I have almost everything I want. The only thing I want that I do not have is my time. I need the time before I die to write, to read, to think, to create, to take stock, to reflect. And to do it in peace, unhurried. I have unfinished business. It’s a great privilege to anticipate regret, because then regret becomes preventable.

[burritos]

If you are PR’ing at 52 it means you weren’t maximizing your capabilities when you were younger.

For sure true. 30 PR segments today on a mountain bike ride I've been doing for 20 years. I was a slow POS back in the day. I'm still slow compared to real mountain bikers and people on electric bikes. But my $1600 new covid mountain bike was money well spent.

[GasFIRE]

Kind of like we're all better than average drivers, I'm not surprised to see we all plan to live much longer and healthier than average. Because we have healthier than average health habits (based on SES) that's reasonable, but only to a point. I'd guess we're more average than we think.

For clarity money is not the question. The issue is balancing the odds you will live to average or beyond with the smaller but not tiny chance you will not.

This is true unfortunately. Anecdotally, my former PP group that had 22 members when I left 10 years ago has since seen 3 reasonably healthy individuals pass away, two in their mid-60s and one in his early 50s. Their COD could have happened to anyone in the group. There but for the grace of God go I.

[Anne]

For sure true. 30 PR segments today on a mountain bike ride I've been doing for 20 years. I was a slow POS back in the day. I'm still slow compared to real mountain bikers and people on electric bikes. But my $1600 new covid mountain bike was money well spent.

One of the biggest advantages of being a slow POS when you are younger (me too) is the motivation you get from seeing improvement when you finally decide to turn the ship around. I have running friends who were very fast in their 20s, still fast now but slowing down in their 40s and they can’t take it…like one just won’t enter a race if she can’t finish in such and such a time. Meanwhile I can’t believe I have run marathons when I was the kid who struggled to run to the third telephone pole and back in elementary school gym class.

[Tangler]

Keep moving and keep yourself capable of moving especially when it comes to ambulation. I think the research supports my next statement (go easy I'm a pediatric dentist) but I can think of many people I know/knew personally where the beginning of the end was when they had noticeable lower body atrophy and weakness - certainly by the time ambulation became noticeably affected they were on the decline physically and mentally.

I just spoke to my mother today who is only 70 but morbidly obese, she hasn't exercised since the 80's, and she fell a few weeks ago walking in through the front door and just finished a total knee and shoulder replacement due to the fall. She gets winded walking on flat ground and because of her weak legs and large size she is unsteady on her feet. She was asking for what happened to happen to her and I suspect as a result she will be an even bigger couch potato making things even worse and I expect to see more declines in her health as a direct result of being unable to negotiate a front door threshold.

So, I lift weights and hike and keep mobile. Leg day is 3x per week. I'm not going crazy with weight anymore (+300lbs was easy at one point) and I'm focusing on lighter weight (225lbs) and higher reps (4 sets of 8). If by the time I'm 75 I'm just doing bodyweight squats (I'm already a large guy at 6'5" and 270lbs) that's totally fine but the goal is to keep my leg strength and ability to ambulate as long as possible. Keep my coordination and flexibly. Not have a front door threshold be what does me in.

My personal measure of how I'm doing is at 43 and my size I can grab a 10' basketball rim with both hands with no running start just standing under the hoop and if I could palm a basketball I could pretty easily dunk one-handed with a running start. I'm no pre-injury Zion Williams but still pretty capable in my estimation.

If you are 6’ 5 270, and constantly lift, we will most certainly go easy. Monsta! Awesomeness! Get after it!

[Tim]

PWMDMD
”Keep my coordination and flexibly. ”
A friend was 6’2” 255 played 13 years in the NFL as DE. Strength & conditioning he said was hazardous to his health. Muscle mass was a goal for reduction was the reason was he needed to use resistance for muscle tone only and reduce the total mass. You are headed in the right direction. Pliability and activity are your friends..
I would not be concerned with the weight of the body squats at 75, the reps are the key.
You have the right objective in the first sentence.

[Anne]

Loosely related to this topic…there’s an app that I think was mentioned in Die With Zero…called Final Countdown. If you search “final countdown” in the app store several things will come up, the icon for the one I’m talking about is an orange screen with a black infinity sign. I think there was a nominal cost but don’t remember. But it has you enter demographic and lifestyle info and it predicts how much time you have left. Obviously it’s not accurate for an individual but it was enlightening to see how things like changing amount of time sitting in front of a computer screen, sleeping more/better, decreasing/managing stress better, etc, all impacted the predicted years left of life. Also has an area for you to log things you want to accomplish in your life. It made me think a lot, I think it’s a worthwhile app.

[StateOfMyHead]

Right? Why on earth don't we have a mandatory retirement age for the people making wildly important decisions that affect us all? It blows my mind.

Like physicians? I have seen more than a few excellent docs who didn't know when it was time.

[Lordosis]

Some light googling has shown me at about 30% of people live to be 90. That seems like a high enough percentage to make me want to prepare for it.

[CordMcNally]

Keep moving and keep yourself capable of moving especially when it comes to ambulation. I think the research supports my next statement (go easy I'm a pediatric dentist) but I can think of many people I know/knew personally where the beginning of the end was when they had noticeable lower body atrophy and weakness - certainly by the time ambulation became noticeably affected they were on the decline physically and mentally.

I just spoke to my mother today who is only 70 but morbidly obese, she hasn't exercised since the 80's, and she fell a few weeks ago walking in through the front door and just finished a total knee and shoulder replacement due to the fall. She gets winded walking on flat ground and because of her weak legs and large size she is unsteady on her feet. She was asking for what happened to happen to her and I suspect as a result she will be an even bigger couch potato making things even worse and I expect to see more declines in her health as a direct result of being unable to negotiate a front door threshold.

So, I lift weights and hike and keep mobile. Leg day is 3x per week. I'm not going crazy with weight anymore (+300lbs was easy at one point) and I'm focusing on lighter weight (225lbs) and higher reps (4 sets of 8). If by the time I'm 75 I'm just doing bodyweight squats (I'm already a large guy at 6'5" and 270lbs) that's totally fine but the goal is to keep my leg strength and ability to ambulate as long as possible. Keep my coordination and flexibly. Not have a front door threshold be what does me in.

My personal measure of how I'm doing is at 43 and my size I can grab a 10' basketball rim with both hands with no running start just standing under the hoop and if I could palm a basketball I could pretty easily dunk one-handed with a running start. I'm no pre-injury Zion Williams but still pretty capable in my estimation.

While I think strength training is incredibly important, most of the people who live long (and healthy) lives don't do it in the weight room. Stretching, cardio (walking, water aerobics, etc.) seem to be big factors as we age. Not to mention the most important, and unfortunately non-modifiable factor, genetics.

[CordMcNally]

Some light googling has shown me at about 30% of people live to be 90. That seems like a high enough percentage to make me want to prepare for it.

My goal has always been to show a picture of an old decrepit CordMcNally while the ghost of Willard Scott announces my Smucker's-sponsored 99th birthday on the Today Show while my wrinkled and half unconscious face smiles through my facial droop from my previous debilitating stroke slobbering through my crooked dentures.

[SpacemanSpiff12]

Loosely related to this topic…there’s an app that I think was mentioned in Die With Zero…called Final Countdown. If you search “final countdown” in the app store several things will come up, the icon for the one I’m talking about is an orange screen with a black infinity sign. I think there was a nominal cost but don’t remember. But it has you enter demographic and lifestyle info and it predicts how much time you have left. Obviously it’s not accurate for an individual but it was enlightening to see how things like changing amount of time sitting in front of a computer screen, sleeping more/better, decreasing/managing stress better, etc, all impacted the predicted years left of life. Also has an area for you to log things you want to accomplish in your life. It made me think a lot, I think it’s a worthwhile app.

I checked it out on a lark. Just want to make sure I have the right version... I was a little surprised to see this prediction was made from my sex, birthdate, and then just six questions about habits and eight questions about lifestyle. No health history, no questions about variables that have been definitively tied to longevity like social connections or education, not even an input for height/weight.

Or maybe I'm just angry because the amount of time it estimated I have left is far lower than what I'm planning on

[Anne]

I checked it out on a lark. Just want to make sure I have the right version... I was a little surprised to see this prediction was made from my sex, birthdate, and then just six questions about habits and eight questions about lifestyle. No health history, no questions about variables that have been definitively tied to longevity like social connections or education, not even an input for height/weight.

Or maybe I'm just angry because the amount of time it estimated I have left is far lower than what I'm planning on

Good point. It’s missing a lot and I don’t think it’s accurate. But I liked the way it made me think about how excess sitting in front of a computer (which my work entails way too much of…), stress, not sleeping enough, and other lifestyle factors might be affecting me.

It predicts me living 48 more years, which sounds good to me. On the other hand, it says if I use heroin 90 times a month I will live 19 more years. So yeah, probably not the best data. Still, watching the countdown and compiling my list of things I want to accomplish was motivating for me to make some changes.

[burritos]

One of the biggest advantages of being a slow POS when you are younger (me too) is the motivation you get from seeing improvement when you finally decide to turn the ship around. I have running friends who were very fast in their 20s, still fast now but slowing down in their 40s and they can’t take it…like one just won’t enter a race if she can’t finish in such and such a time. Meanwhile I can’t believe I have run marathons when I was the kid who struggled to run to the third telephone pole and back in elementary school gym class.

Yes. I do feel envious of people who physically perform better than me. As a diminutive 5'4" organism, aiming to top others is fool's gold. I recognize that the person I need to outperform is myself . I regard myself as a biker(one who mtb's and cycles). Not a fan of running. The longest distance I've ever done was a 1/2 marathon like 10 years ago. Hadn't run long in over 1.5 half ago. But 6 weeks ago my wife drafted me into a 5k trail run. I shocked myself by placing 1st. But if you, fireshrink, and pierre were in the race, I would have placed 4th.

[Tim]

Yes. I do feel envious of people who physically perform better than me. As a diminutive 5'4" organism, aiming to top others is fool's gold. I recognize that the person I need to outperform is myself . I regard myself as a biker(one who mtb's and cycles). Not a fan of running. The longest distance I've ever done was a 1/2 marathon like 10 years ago. Hadn't run long in over 1.5 half ago. But 6 weeks ago my wife drafted me into a 5k trail run. I shocked myself by placing 1st. But if you, fireshrink, and pierre were in the race, I would have placed 4th.

I think you might be underestimating the design aspects of the human body. The low center of gravity and inherent quickness due simply to a lesser distance adjustment for stabilization are tremendous advantages. Faster starting, stopping and maneuverability stack the deck in your favor.