Getting Old

[AHPP]

3 hours ago, AHPP said:

I'm not sure I'd hire someone that couldn't climb, unless they had some other skill.

 

Gardeners. I've often thought a gardener would make a useful groundsman on a big job. Handy for moving and replacing shrubs but mainly doing a lovely job of the tidy up when everyone else is tired and can't be ****************ed. They'd come with ten kinds of rake and know which one to use. Or even motorised vacuums etc, which tree blokes are usually too stupid to own despite being perfect for heavy clearup. I rarely get involved with this sort of tawdry business of course but I was shovelling sawdust and twigs alongside a guy on a blower the other week and we were having a mare getting it out of some ground-covering stuff around the stump.

Edited March 28 by AHPP

[PeteB]

62 and three fused vertebra and a busted lung! That started with tree work and then sitting/driving as a rep. Four miles along Hadrians wall felt like 10! She nearly called an ambulance half way British Camp a couple of years back!

 

Enjoy and make use of the able years, make lots of memories and spend the money - no use being the richest in the cemetery! 

[redmoosefaction]

21 hours ago, maybelateron said:

I am 65 now, and knee replacement last November. Very grateful to have had a fantastic result from it. Lots of other joint aches too. Working in the day they ease off, just stiffen up in the evening. Use it or lose it.

I use a good young lad for climbing jobs that are day long, as shoulders don't like a full day trying to pull branches through the crown then throw them over it to avoid getting hung up! Still happy to climb within my limits, as Mick implies groundie work is tough or tougher. If machinery can help I use it, have invested in a good tracked mewp and sub myself to a couple of other teams. Experience and cunning compensate for the ageing body, as does being able to choose what job you do on what day.

I find 10m(ish ) is a good limit 😁

[PeteB]

8 hours ago, redmoosefaction said:

I find 10m(ish ) is a good limit 😁

Little is flat too!

[naturarbo]

On 28/03/2025 at 19:13, Mark Bolam said:

The thing that will age you more than anything is thinking you are 25 forever.

 

Use your brain, experience and machinery, and keep training.

 

Nearly every active arb I know who is past 40 does some form of training.

 

It sounds counter intuitive, but work itself isn’t enough.

 

Dempsey is a classic example of the exception proving the rule, but he keeps his wrists and forearms in tip-top shape with an extra large wine glass.

The beauty of living in Europe @Mick Dempsey I understand and follow that recipe🤣

[Bombadil]

I’m over 60 and have taken to doing more training for general fitness. Got to look after yourself. Drink plenty of water while you work, eat properly afterwards.
Also try to pace the workload better than I used to in the past - not big takedowns back to back, or week after week of hedges. I try to schedule an extra day off Friday/Monday if I’m feeling knackered.

 

Countdown is on for retirement in a few years. Trying to get there in a healthy state so I can enjoy it. Wish me luck!

[Steven P]

Stay healthy and active but have a plan B (or C or D).

 

 

Example - my current waste of time / fitness regime (call it what you want) is running, might be that one day the knees will finally go... plan B is to dust off the bikes - so when the knees do go I am not sat at home "Oh, woe is me"... there is a new challenge waiting to go for. Too many retired people sit down, put Richard and Judy on the TV and that is them.

[rapalaman]

60 in a few months - learning to delegate as much as I can and vary the work to change muscle use. Try to finish early a couple of days a week. Still doing most Saturdays though and pricing at weekends/evenings too.

my wife got me this T shirt as its very appropriate 👍

Edited March 30 by rapalaman

[Scuttlefish]

I try to keep on top of the age thing by road cycling, but you get to a point when you aint going to beat any personal bests ever again. There's only two things you can do in the " managed decline phase"- take refuge in technology and buy lighter and lighter bikes- unfortunately you soon get to the end of that game- i.e run out of money- the only other thing you can do is to keep the weight off your fat arse....

Edited March 30 by Scuttlefish
typo

[Yournamehere]

My two penn'th - just quickly whilst I'm waiting for a call: 

Get out of the armchair: me being tall and thin always used to suffer from a bad back <snip edit> and then it got worse. While it was so bad I stopped sitting in an armchair and used a wooden (?Welsh kitchen) chair with arms and a cushion tucked behind my back so that my spine curved out forwards rather than backwards as it does when sitting in an armchair. This was as pain relief at the time but 25 years later, I'm still using it and no further recurring back pain.

As others have said Exercise: I've always been out and about active but never done any 'gym' type stuff: a few years back I started doing some sit ups - just by tucking my feet under the bed - just to make sure I could. Started out doing 20 once or twice a year now do 50 once or twice a month: but the result is much improved core strength (I was shoveling some wet clay: I just stood up straight and threw it over a high bank: I remember thinking, "how the hell did I manage to do that?")

Both of which of the above help with posture: your spine is like a radio mast: long and thin sections held in place with stays/muscles: if any of them weaken or shorten through disuse the mast/spine buckles and bends - hence old people being curved over as the muscles in front lose their stretch.

Diet: your metabolism slows right down: any extra food becomes extra weight: stop eating when you stop feeling hungry ie eat as little as possible, give up the crap (salt mush, sugar mush): your body can deal with it when you're younger, not any more.

I stopped eating bread a few years back due to incredible indigestion: the effect was phenomenal: I now sleep better, I'm more alert, I feel better all round: the result was probably equal to giving up smoking (which I assume you have) or drinking (which I have but that's another story, I 'd recommend it but I'd never hear the last of it  )

That's about it: that's what works for me and what I've changed: exercise as much as you can (which is easy for me and most on here: work is exercise) and eat as little as you need to (ie cut out 'reward' & 'social' eating).

Bit more than two pennorth huh? 

Hey ho.

Look after y'selves,

Happy days

Yourn.

 

Edited March 31 by Yournamehere
eta punctuation