I'm a couple years past the seven and zero and this past weekend doing some house plumbing I was able to tire out, create aches and pains in just two days, where in 2019 it took all summer when I built a car port. Afraid to work on the cars; I be so good I won't know I did it.
I'm 72 and fully believe the saying "use it or loose it." I drag my *** to the gym at least 2 times a week, work 40 hours a week at a car job, and keep going cuz I know if I stop it will be very hard to start again.
Its been a tough couple years for everyone...I like many have to bust out of the stagnation bubble and become re-spirited...We only get on kick at this can...one need not look any further than the Hamb to know this 1st hand... Good on those young and old who have found or never lost that magic motivational bullet... ...and yes @seb fontana instead of lying on concrete get a memory foam pad to buffer your once invincible joints and be careful around the shop...it really helps to add a few luxuries to the mancave...
YES! That's great! What's your secret? I know, I know... "Ya gotta keep movin'." Ugh. LOL I'm glad you're doing well. 65yrs coming up for me. Had kind of a tough year. Couldn't even get us ready for winter. But finally started feeling better. Good thing, cuz we ran out of firewood and I had to get busy. I kicked ***. Then it kicked my ***. I rested up and kicked its *** again. And then I thought I was gonna die. ........ I lived. But it's inspired me to put the weight machine back together and start using it. Between all the work here that keeps me moving and the weight machine and no more smoking cigarettes, I think I'm getting younger! Building the roadster is gonna be a piece of pie. I mean, like cake. RRRAAAAARRRRRRR!!!
Agree--been a rough couple of years. House bound due to covid etc. Damn tired of it but wife is very cautious. At 79 I gotta keep on keepin on!
Hey S, Life does get better with age. The things we used to do back then as 20 somethings and even 30s somethings when our bodies were in the top physical shape are long gone, but the memories are still kept alive through photos and stories. The old saying, “If I had the intelligence of the NOW, with the body of when I was 20 something…” that would certainly be the ultimate. So, it is a life well lived and retirement is a welcome addition to our lives. My wife has always said that for everyone, not just women, but for all of us, it is too bad that our bodies are what they are when approaching or being old age. Who would have thought, as a teenager, that we would be what we are today. Our lives have led all of us to this stage and is rewarding us with grandchildren, different families and yes, even things that we all need to get together/defeat, like the continuing pandemic. Jnaki two brothers But, look at these times and wonder if you, as a teenager, would have had the same opportunities to do what you did back then, in today’s hectic go fast era. Instant gratification has led to better technology, but for a lot of people, it has moved too fast without seeing the ramifications of such development. In hot rodding, it is still possible to do mild custom things to old builds. Maybe not to the extremes of taking a complete old Model A apart and doing things. But, for the sake of convenience as “older folks” and the least amount of work we have to do or are able to do, we have our modern versions of hot rods and reliability for anywhere we go or are able to go… Don’t give up! Remember Sunday night's appreciation for Monday to Friday work week is no longer a thing to worry about… Ha ! You get back what you have put into being the best person you can be...YRMV
Yes, use it or lose it. I'm 64. Still play hockey. Got a full rebuild of my truck going. I'm retiring at end of April so I can spend more time on that. But yeah, stamina isn't what it was. I just go until I can't.
Seb ,I am 81 years old, on kidney dialysis, but I keep on keeping on. Some days I am wiped out, other days I do fine. I am not as strong as I used to be. My brain tells me I am still 35 years old, but my body tells me otherwise. If you keep your mind and hands active what else do you need ?
At 72, I'm struggling with what I consider my greatest character flaw - laziness. At a golf tournament, Clint Eastwood told Toby Keith he was starting filming "The Mule". When Keith asked him how he kept going at 88, Eastwood said "I get up every morning and I don't let the old man in" which inspired Keith to write the song. Now, it's the first thing I say to myself when I get up in the morning, out loud.
Pushing 81. I find that if I keep moving all day, I'm O.K. Sit down for a half hour and I can't get back up.
Mid 70's and I'm starting to see some instances of "I used to be able to do that." It just means I have to figure out how to use what I still have left to do the job. Years ago in the National Geographic they were interviewing an old farmer who still plowed behind mules. His statement, " I still work just as hard as I always did, just don't get as much done now." I'm seeing the truth in his statement. The one advantage of age is you know how to do so many more things.
I have my doubts about exercise helping at advanced ages. Logic dictates that staying active is a good thing.........but the other side of that is you stress things (like your heart) when you do it. Years ago there was a guy who was well known and wrote a book about staying fit and exercising. He died of a heart attack......and I think it was while jogging. Now before you consider me to just be a "naysayer", here is why I say that. I was always healthy, never smoked, only tried drugs a couple times (long long ago), and played a lot of compe***ive volleyball. I did consume a fair amount of beer after the games....but I quit consuming that as I got older. I never kept beer at home, jokingly stated that I only drank beer when I played ball..........but I often played 5 times a week. Figuring I was in pretty good health when I neared retirement at 68, I opted to get a stress test to check out my overall health before retiring. Turns out that if they didn't find anything wrong, I would have to pay the $2500 for the test. If I had just said that I was having some chest pain or discomfort, the insurance would have covered it. Now my insurance was with a major company and cost me quite a bit. I was a Federal Employee and my share each month was about $300. I didn't abuse or use my insurance much, so felt they should have covered it. I did have some ancillary issues that concerned me due to testing done by the Gov contractor I was working for. Anyway, I declined. At that time I was walking about 2 miles a day at lunchtime.Upon retirement I began walking each morning and quickly got up to a 4 mile walk each morning. Thought I was doing pretty well at maintaining my health.........I was wrong. One day with no warning I got some chest tightness, really odd kind of feeling, and it quickly went away. I had only walked about 500 ft at the time. Went ahead and walked the 4 miles. Next day it happened again, but I completed the 4 miles again. That night it hit again and I was in the emergency room. So, did pushing myself help me or harm me ? I don't/can't walk like that anymore even if I wanted to. The thing that I would tell everyone is that you should get a good physical and find out if you have any underlying issues. Say whatever you have to say to wrangle a stress test. This won't tell you everything like a dye test will, but it may help you find out ahead of time that you need further testing. If you can find ANY condition and identify it early, you will most likely have better quality of life when you do retire. I still get around decently and refuse to give up on working on cars and other things. Thats one of the reasons I push for guys to build their shops in a manner that ***ists them and lets them continue to enjoy their hobby. One of the big things I think everyone should get checked is for any coronary blockages......they will ruin your day in a "heartbeat"......litterally! I think the point is that as much as we all like to think we are healthy and will live a long time, and hate to go to the doctor and get tested.......identifying possible problems early and correcting your diet will help you. RANT OVER......
I just don't have the same ambition with the car scene I once had... I lost my wife and oldest son within the last 5 years and it took a lot out of me and being retired don't have the cash I once did...I will never sell my old hotrod because it is like part of the family....Time p***es....and no it doesn't get better with age...
Sorry to hear of your loss. Maybe getting back into the car scene is just what you need to get that ambition back up and hang with like minded people. Being alone is a downward slope. We all need friends and people to talk to.
I practiced for a stress test once, me an the Big dog four mile loop in the woods, the usual every other day. Felt fine. Went for the stress test next day, I got through the whole thing ok. Dr. was looking at print out and I said whats up? Short story I got three stents, two in one artery and one in another. Never felt a thing. Ten years later I thought I p***ed another stress test but got sent in for a check. They found one stent completely blocked but new artery's had grown around it. Dr. gave me a med felt a little short winded at times but in about a year that p***ed. Yep keep going as long as it pleases you.
Interesting thread. All I can add is get regular checkups. I had no idea I had prostate cancer until my checkup. You can be killed by things you don't know are there. If you haven't had a checkup recently please do so.
76 in 2 weeks and have been barely able to walk for the last 6 months - just enough to hobble out to my shop and do a bench job on a rare good day. Going in for back surgery this Friday, so in a couple of months I'll be back on my project or in a wheel chair. Either way, I'll find something to work on, somehow.
I live here on Judy's farm and do my best to take care of everything. She's 20 years ahead of me... almost 85. She was a cop for most of her life, commander of a precinct for years. She had lung cancer, lung surgery, chemo, has nerve damage in her feet, can't easily walk, and had covid 19 recently. But you wouldn't believe this woman. I swear... I can barely keep up with her. But she depends on me. And I still wanna build a hot rod! Slow down? Take it easy? Quit, maybe? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Tell you what. I'll slow down when the rest of you old farts slow down. And I don't see it happening. LOL
Yep, hit the 79 a couple of months ago. Still get some stuff done but have to be VERY careful and very slow.no more heavy duty stuff. Just got the nerves in my back fried so I can't feel the pain. Keeps me going.
Hello, I take it the Italic lettering is a version of our current stance vs. the teenagers and 20 somethings eras. It is true, most of us have used up our share of cartilage between the knees and along the spine, so those pads are thinner, thus creating a loss of height. I always wanted to be 6 feet 2 inches tall. I got as far as 6' and 3/4 inches in college. Since then, I am sure with all of the strenuous activity we all have gone through, I am barely 6 feet and sometimes dropped into the 5'11 inch phase that I have not been since high school. It is a fact of life that we all tend to lean over as we get older. It just is a part of most people’s life structure. Some days, it feels like that the angle of stature is greater when I have just added oil to the motors of our family cars or have gotten down to search for a missing earring that my wife lost on the floor. It might just be my imagination, but “standing up straight” is part of our evolution going back to our parents telling us to quit sloping our shoulders. Or standing up straight for a family photo or two. Ha! Those times with our 327 powered sedan delivery were stand up straight and lively at the 20 something stage… at least it is a slight rake stance then and now… Jnaki It is not this bad of an angle, but some days, it just feels like it. At least, we are aware of it however old we are all getting these days. Trying to exercise, eating the right foods is a never ending battle and standing up straight is not just for those times looking in the full length mirror. YRMV
68 and counting, I find it is too easy to say I am retired, lets quit for the day and finish this job tomorrow. Then the damn phone rings and I find myself agreeing to work somewhere, or the better half asks me to work a day in her office as she is short staffed like everyone else. I think I work more now than the last couple of years before I retired. It does allow me to do things on my truck that I never thought I would be able to, and I find that even if I cannot lift what I did at 20, I now work smarter and am willing to buy specialty tools to help do what I need to do. Harbor Freight just opened in town, good thing the garage is already overfull.
I turned 75 a couple of months ago. At 72 I finished a roadster project that had been in my garage for many years. I still ride my Harley but not very much anymore and I just bought a new project 47 Ford custom last summer but I only plan on doing minor stuff just to make it my own. I've slowed way down but believe you got to keep moving. Better to wear out than rust up. This picture is maybe 3 years old taken not too long after I got the 27 on the road. I always tell everyone, "Hell, my helmet's almost 60 years old."
In Leviticus, it says that a man between twenty and sixty years of age will be valued at fifty silver shekels and at sixty years and over at fifteen shekels. I have been devalued and I'm OK with that.
Losing your family members--nothing worse, ever. Sorry. On the old car, don't sell it until you are at the last straw. I just sold one i owned for 57 years, got a shell-built it up, sold it once when i went into the service, then bought it when i came back. I've sold others before with no regrets, been 5 days now an i'm still sorry i did it. Daughter grew up w/ it, drove it at her wedding, grandkids, and i dated wifey with it. Never believed in "sentimental" over a hot rod, until now.
Will be 81 in a couple of weeks and the Backyard Buddy was the best buy I ever made when it came to working on a car. Too, the 3/4" rubber horse trailer mats on the floor are great
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