Noonievut

When I was a kid I use to play outside all the time. Street hockey, baseketball, riding bikes, running around...I was very thin. Then I went to college, and started working, and I put on the beef. When I was putting on the beef, I recall feeling perfectly fine, physically. I wasn't fat (6'0 and 210 pounds at my peak, but average 185), but I was not fit. A pick-up game of hockey would leave me gasping. I will reiterate, I felt fine, physically. No joint or muscle pains, strains...felt great (time frame up to mid-late 20's).

So in my late 20's I pick up cycling (not because I wanted to lose weight, but I was bored and stumbled upon it). Loved it from the moment I got (back) on the bike. Mountain biking, then road, and recently both plus gravel rides and touring. At the same time, after gasping on the bike up any grade, I started eating better. Tons of fruit and vegetables, smoothies, only a glass of wine or bottle of beer here and there, good proportion of protein and fat. And I'm really happy...I look better and I'm fit. During this time, in the last 10 years or so, I've also dabbled with running, swimming and did a couple of short triathlons. Oh, I'm also quite flexible as I stretch often, even do yoga.

BUT (the BIG BUT) - I get minor injuries, irritations, wiggles, niggles, pains and strains. Every massage therapy appointment leaves me (almost) in tears. I see physiotherapists from time to time for one thing or another. However, I'm not a competitive person. I don't go from doing nothing to all-out...I take my time. I don't ride fast. I stretch after workouts. I get my proteins in after a workout....yay. BUT, too often I'm left with an overly tight muscle, minor pains that don't go away. I chip away at them...taking breaks from fitness. It becomes a chore. I try to deal with these things early, so I don't have any big problems (none yet - knock on wood).

I have family, friends and work colleagues involved in cycling, running, swimming, weightlifting, stairclimbing, etc., most of them are in the same boat one time or another. Often fighting a possible, or real injury. I have conversations with some of them about their activities, I ask if "they're ok...any injuries"...I get sometimes get weird looks, like "I'm active, why would I get injured". At some point in the future they talk to me about their injury, staring at the floor.

Depsite those of you who have long periods of "I do this and that and I never have any issues...so it must be your bad habits with food, sleep, too much exercise, too little, too fast an increase in distance or speed...etc., etc.", the reality, from my perspective--confirmed qualitatively through friends and family, fellow atheletes I meet on the road, RMT's and PT's who treat others like me--is that exercising doesn't really do a body good. Sure it's good for the heart, and it's great mentally, but we put strain on our muscles, tissues, ligaments, joints, and other parts I know nothing about (I know them only from my RMT/PT explaining this and that).

Now that that's off my chest I feel so much better!

LuckySailor

Hmmmm. And I thought I was the only one feeling this way! Yep I hear ya brother. Same boat. And it doesn't seem however much I work out, I just don't feel or see the muscle gains like when I was young-contributing to the feeling that I'm really not doing myself any good. And here's a kick in the balls for you. My dad, 73, fit as a fiddle, works out hard at least 5 days a week for several hours a session, and can run circles around most of us 50 somethings up and has a stroke last Christmas! Why? who the hell knows. But all those years of no smoking, only a social drink here and there, eating organic, lots of fruit and veggies, no red meat, and still has a stroke. Go figure. He is 95% recovered, and probably will never be 100% the way I knew him pre-stroke. His 95% is still better than the majority of us older somethings!

krobinson103

I'll trade off the little pains for being able to run down the street or up stairs and feel totally all right. These days the only way I get winded is too ride hard and fast way past my limit for 20 minutes or more. Given thats 35-40kmh on the flat on a 24kg steel tourer I'm happy. One thing I do notice is my knees are starting to get a bit weaker at 40. I can no longer mash up a hill or its pain for days. I have to spin - I prefer to spin but now I have to.

no sweat

Google magnesium deficiency. Is that you?

Noonievut

Interesting reading. I don't have many of the common symptoms listed. I don't eat/drink much of the items that negatively impact magnesium levels. I do eat some of the foods that contain high amounts of magnesium...not to say I'm hitting 100% on a daily basis, but I'm probably over 70% most days. I'll look into a supplement though. Thanks.

jsk

Getting old sucks.

But hey, those niggling aches and pains are better than being a pre-diabetic heart attack waiting to happen like so many people in this country.

Carbonfiberboy 

Getting old is not for wussies! (to quote Rudy)

At 69, when I'm on my training schedule, meaning whenever life isn't interrupting me, I kinda hurt all the time. My legs hurt, my back hurts, my shoulders hurt, whatever. But these are good hurts. They mean I'm recovering from a workout, without which my life would be rapidly going down the toilet like the lives of maybe 99% of Americans my age. As it is, I can do anything I want: ride, ski, backpack, climb, manual labor, whatever I want. My season ski pass next year will cost me $88. When I was 17, I took an oath that I would ski for free at 70. So they changed the price, but I won the prize.

There are some secrets to this:
1) Be lucky. Don't get rheumatoid arthritis or do something stupid and have to saw your own arm off.
2) Train smart. Train consistently. Train everything. I've been lifting weights for 50 years, but not in a way that puts weight on me. I train my core. I train my aerobics. I research training methods to find ways around the little obstacles that age puts in our way.
3) Use supplements as necessary. The older we get, the less we can eat, and the less likely it becomes that we can get optimum nutrition for our older bodies from ordinary food.
4) If you feel an overuse injury coming on, it's because you did something wrong. Figure out what that was and change what you're doing. Heal thyself.

My wife and I did a double century this year on our tandem. We did a week bike tour and several shorter bike tours. We backpacked for 12 days in the Sierra. We had fun. We feel good. Tonight we spent an hour on our rollers/trainer, doing a long fastpedal interval and then went to the gym and lifted for an hour. Tomorrow my wife has an hour dressage lesson. We stay active. That's the main secret.

"It's not that way, it's the other way." We hurt, therefore we're fit.

trainsktg

I've be been a steady weightlifter since age 11. Constant minor muscle pulls and aching joints that started to appear in my late 30s all but disappeared after I eliminated processed sugar from my diet. At almost 50 now and exercising harder then ever, I literally only get a pulled muscle if I sneak a piece of the kids' Halloween candy.

Keith

bikebreak

If your leg muscles feel tight, that may because they got stronger.

ModeratedUser150120149

Yep, it does hurt to be fit. It hurts to be active. If a person is active they are going to encounter things that will leave little owies. After all, the body is a machine. It is the most important machine a person owns. All machines that are used require maintenance. All machines that are used will have parts that will wear and break. The body is no exception.

But all this makes the machine more reliable and more capable of coping with the unexpected than if it were stuck in an easy chair. In the easy chair the first pain may very well be the last.

As it gets older, like any other machine, it requires more maintenance and mean time between problem gets smaller. But the goal is to have longer Healthful Life not Longer Life.

qualia8

This is inspiring, sir.

I think bent over in a road-riding posture for hours at a time takes a toll on the body, especially if one works at a desk job. Cycling is not a healthy hobby unless you add in strength / stretching / conditioning to counterbalance its effects. Of course, there are the perfect specimens of humanity out there with 100% lateral symmetry and strong, elastic ligaments and tendons. For most of us, cycling is dangerous to postural health, even as it makes us aerobic gods.

Carbonfiberboy 

I wouldn't put it that way. One of my favorite sayings is, "The bike is the best doctor I ever had." It's gentle, non-jarring exercise. It's a whole-life sport. In fact that's one of the issues with cycling: it doesn't put enough stress on the body, so we have to lift weights, hike, etc., to keep our bone density and strength up. I have the usual oldster's bad back: one fractured vertebra, lumber stenosis, arthritic facets, and thinning discs. Riding my bike in the standard roadie position is one of the very best exercises I do for my back. When it hurts, a good ride fixes it right up. I think this happens because the slight unavoidable lumbar curve of the road position opens the space between the vertebrae and reduces nerve compression. It also exercises my back somewhat. I can feel strong pedaling action halfway up my back.

It's also been good for my legs. The first time I went skiing after taking up road biking again at about 50, I couldn't believe how strong and fit my legs were compared to how they were at 40. My knees no longer bothered me in the bumps. I felt young again. Of course I was riding 150-200 miles/week including one long competitive ride, and doing a little lifting.

You are certainly right that doing other activities is necessary or at least very helpful. I'm just disagreeing that cycling is harmful. It just doesn't fix everything, only most stuff.

If a person is having trouble with postural health on the bike, they should get a pro bike fit which should include coaching on position and pedaling. The message I'm trying to give is that almost everything is fixable.