Staying fit after 35

Marco,
when you say "Legal", what exactly do you mean?:confused2:

You can wear it without being considered a gay or looking weird.

As a matter of fact, the "normal" swimsuit or bathing suit in Venezuela (and Brasil and Europe, when they wear something...) is a speedo.

I learned that your manhood gets in doubt wearing that kind of swimsuit when I moved to Puerto Rico. But I don't give a shit and I don't care wearing it when I take out my wet suit after a spearfishing day.

However, if I go to the beach with my family, I wear shorts...

i really like this thread, beeing a year younger then marco, now i get new hope that its not all lost.
your diet and workout did pay off. but as i mentioned before, holding up these huge stringers of fish all the time, you puerto ricans dont have to go to the gym that often as the average joe.

Quote from tinu

i really like this thread, beeing a year younger then marco, now i get new hope that its not all lost.
your diet and workout did pay off. but as i mentioned before, holding up these huge stringers of fish all the time, you puerto ricans dont have to go to the gym that often as the average joe.

C'mon Tinu! Your stringers are not precisely light... And you are not precisely in bad shape at all....

I go to the gym 3-4 times a week and play soccer once a week. I also have my wife behind me telling me what not to eat..

Monstruo: I'm afraid that we do loose testosterone with age. Haven't you noticed?

this is a great thread for me as motivation...I'm 28 and I look like a fat POS compared to all you guys <img src= " height="23" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x">

As for the speedo thing, to me it is something else. I have no insecurities about my manhood, I am a proportioned man who knows how to use what the good lord gave me, no insecurity in a locker room or changing descretly in public, for me, the speedo adds something else. to me it says "look at me and how little I am wearing" and that is not what I want to say, granted, right now Iwould looks like a seal in a speedo, I have been in great shape before and would have felt the same...a speedo puts your junk out on display, that is just not the type of person I am.
plus with the talent that is often waiting on the beach when Ireturn from diving....let's just say that a speedo might land me a lawsuit <img src= " height="23" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x">

When I was 18 I used to keep that protein diet it is VERY effective - but it has a few major problems:
1. your breath will smell like a sewer. to some reading, it is common for protein based diets (low carbs).
2. at the age of 18, I had no concerns about cholesterol and other BS. Now I'm close to 42 and I would rather slow down on beef.

I don't think that mean muscles makes you a better diver. Yes, you will look better in a rash guard or when wearing that black spandex sleeveless tank top... but for regular married men that might not be the top concern.

So - staying fit for diving translates to me in:
- a well balanced diet, lots of fruits and veggies, fish (not only the catch of the day, I also like sardines), nuts etc. As little beef as possible, not too much cheese either. A few days a week with no meet.
- a lot of endurance workout - 3 times a week in the pool more than 2 miles each time, in about 75 minutes. Aggressive swim, not shlopping around.
- run - both my knees have broken meniscus so I have to trim down the miles. Once or two times a week about 4 to 6 miles each time. If I'm lucky I try to run a half marathon once in a blue moon.
- Rollerblade - super cool - during the summer I'm making 10-12 miles runs once a week or every other week.
- bike would be good, but I didn't really use it in the last 2 years. I should pick it up again.

Use a heart rate monitor - it will keep you honest. Alternate the weight-loss (on the high end) with the true cardio workout.

So with all this I am overweight - but again I don't have a banana hammock or spandex goal...
Stefan

If interested I can try to post some of the swim workouts.

lidiver,
i agree with your fitness tips very much. beeing the same age as you and had kneesurgery on both knees(meniscus and crossband).
monster, staying fit (not just looking strong) involves two things. a healthy diet and a healthy mix of sportive activities.
stay away from prozessed food as much as you can. go to the market, rather then the supermarket.
keep it natural or even organic. lots veggies,fruits,fish, not too much meet and milkproducts.
stay away from sugar and fat. eat small portions, and take your time while eating.
for sport cycling and swimming or running to built up condition and circulation and burn fat.
at least one hour every second day, better two hours. the idea of using a heart rate monitor is good.
make sure you stay above 130 -140bpm. in addition do something to gain flexibility and explosivepower.
simple gymnastics or judo,karate etc. will do good. you still want some more muscles, well going to the gym will help as well.
remember, every human is different. some people can eat what they want and dont get fat, other are big by nature.
a friend of mine who used to run to stay fit for freediving/spearfishing once told me:
there is no better training for freediving then freediving !
lucky the ones who can do it.

Wow tinu, you're 42!? From your pics I thought much younger than that. You're doing something right.

Stefan, I don't understand how you can still be overweight with all that. To me the schedule you outlined is equivalent to being a professional athlete. What I mean is I wouldn't have time for anything else between the specialized food preparation and the different exercising. Maybe I'm just lazy. I am overweight now but this will change without any particularly strong effort and by that I mean not having to do things that I really don't enjoy doing. I like to dive, on days when conditions are good, will add up to 2-3 times a week in the summer. I also like grappling which will also be 2-3 times a week. When I'm training dogs I have to put on the bitesuit and run around for a bit, this is good exercise too because the suit is very heavy. Between all that I think I should be in good enough shape.

The training is OK-ish, but I spend 9+ hours in an office on my gluteus maximus, and I like eating. During the summer I drop weight as I add diving, but during the (long NE) winter I gain plenty back.

The swim schedule is about half of what it would take to pro compete in the Masters...

wow, this thread rules... I am going to hit the gym so hard tonight

I don't know if resting heart rate has much (or any) correlation with dive performance, but I figure that a lower resting pulse should generally be a good thing.

I was surprised at the difference that adding a little circuit training had on my resting pulse. Nothing fancy. I just do chin-ups, push-ups, and sit-ups in rapid succession with no rest. Then a long 3 minute rest, then repeat the cycle 3 or 4 times.

If you do the chin-ups to about 80% of failure, then the push ups feel like a rest at first. But after taking the push ups to 80% of failure, I am considerably less snappy with the sit ups then I would otherwise be. After I successfully complete the same routine a few times, then I increase the number of repetitions for each exercise.

Nothing beats good old superior genetics. The guy on the left is 50 years old. He eats whatever he wants pancakes,pasta, icecream, and lots of beer / margaritas. Excercise is over rated

GR, what is the story about the half a fish on the ground on the right...was the tax man involved?

Oh what a difference 5 years make. I read my old posts in this thread and see a cocky naive young man. I'm 44 and only now understand what you may have been feeling when you started this thread Toño. And what must've impulsed Marco to get in shape. I've deteriorated physically, every time I try to get in shape another body part gets hurt. I started skipping rope and screwed up my ankles, started hitting the heavy bag and screwed up my wrists, started swimming and hurt my hip, started running and my knees hurt, started grappling again and severely damaged my shoulders. Worst of all my eye sight deteriorated. I feel over the hill and the realization of my own mortality hit me like a truck.

I'm not giving up however. My muscles are strong as ever, just the joints/ligaments can't support them. I'm pretty sure endurance can be regained. Reflexes are still good and fast, don't underestimate me I can still kick ass. I just have to find the right physical activity that will not stress the joints too much. And most importantly ease back into shape instead of going in full bore. That's very hard for me to do because when faced with a challenge, in my deluded mind I still think I am as I was 20 years ago. I'm looking forward to making use of this mat I just bought Roll Out Mats - MMA Matting / Martial Arts Mats. I must have a good mat to look forward to exercising, and this one is the closest to the good old Judo tatami mats. It will allow me to stretch and do sit-ups and such exercises at home. Forget about push-ups.

Your last post and the resurrection this forgotten thread shook me up a bit. I was diving this weekend and aside from having trouble pulling myself into the boat because of my injured shoulders, I was feeling pretty good and forgot about all this misery for a short while until I saw this thread. I feel lame saying all this, but it's cathartic. I get a bit pumped up with my good intentions and the prospect of improving. But after these little highs I keep returning to the knowledge that final deterioration is inevitable at some point, I've already tasted it, and the prospect is depressing.

Incidentally I don't believe diving in itself does anything to bring me back into shape. Unless I have to fight current which I always avoided. Finning hard does stress my knees.

I'm glad you feel healthy and strong Monster.

BTW hau is an inspiration to me in this regard.