From Ye Olde Kingdom of OldeGuys

[Old!=Slow]

Hello everyone! I feel like a lifetime member of the "Nerd" Community but am just recently a member of the "Nerd Fitness" Community.  

I recently retired from a career that began as a coal miner, truck driver, construction worker and morphed, somehow, into pcs, databases, healthcare, Information Systems and finally leadership within healthcare IS.  What a ride!  I chose the display name Old!=Slow (read the ! as 'does not') as an optimist.  Currently, for me, Old does equal Slow.  However, I am on an Epic Quest to change that.

Over the past few years, I have had an up and down weight loss experience.  I topped out at 255 a couple years ago and got to 225 where I was stuck in the mud for 18 months.  Recently, through the "magic" (hard work) of a ketogenic diet, I am now 190 and want to get to 175 and 15% body fat.

I am 63 years old and have run a number of 5K through Half Marathon races, but always with no hope of winning, even in the old man's age group.  I want to change that.

 

I am not very happy with the way I look and feel, even though it is much better than in the past.  25 years behind a desk has produced "Dilbert" arms! 

I have studied fitness a lot and been somewhat successful lately, but "What got you here will not get you there!" so the Quest is on.

 

My BIG WHY!!

Level 1: I want to look good, live long and be active and healthy.

Level 2: At 63 and recently retired, my mortality has become much more real. I want to have a long, happy, active retirement. I want to compete for wins in my age group in 5K, 10K and maybe other races. I am tired of running to run and finishing in the middle of the pack when I believe I am capable of more.

Level 3: When I was younger and my children were young, I did not know proper nutrition and fitness methods or information. They were active with sports which left me inactive, watching. I have the opportunity to “Model The Way” for my, now, grown, children and grandchildren in how to live a healthy, happy, active life well into my later years. My wife and I were successful getting them educated and out on their own, but you are never done being a role model for your children. Family truly is all that matters.

[Old!=Slow]

I should add that I am also a cyclist, again, rather slow, but want to get faster.  I am having a difficult time figuring out how to fit the running speed work, strength training and cycling workouts and events together.  I have pretty much all day to work out, but a limited amount of energy to apply and would appreciate any help I can get in figuring this out. 

I want to add a bit of upper body mass/strength and develop strong, lean legs for running and cycling faster.

 

[juliebarkley]

Welcome to the Rebellion! You sound like you are on an interesting journey, and I hope you keep sharing it with us!

[Guzzi]

Hey @Old!=Slow, welcome to the forum.  I just thought I'd start by saying that you've done a fantastic job so far, 65lbs is a huge amount to lose, well done! 

 

In terms of the "best" exercise to do there really is no one answer.  If you want to build some muscle and get rid of the Dilbert arms (+ improve your physique) then you could start lifting weights.  There's a good article HERE about the benefits of lifting heavy. 

 

Believe it or not it actually has some carry through to your other interests too.  Your running and cycling speeds will naturally improve as a result of a heavy lifting program.  Another thing to consider regarding improving your speed is Tabata training.  If you read the article you will see that you only need to work out for 4 minutes and 20 seconds, four times a week to get results.  Impressive huh?  It's a great thing to introduce into your routine although I warn you, it's 4 minutes and 20 seconds of Hell, lol!

 

There are many other kinds of exercise routines, you might want to check out the "Running, swimming, hiking" section of the forum and the "Cross training" section.  

 

Other than that, how are you doing navigating the forum?  Is there anything we can help you with, do you know/want to know about the Guilds, the 4 Week Challenges (<-it's an old article, they're only 4 weeks long now), or the Charater Creator.  

 

Hope to see you around. 

 

Guzzi