Ken Solin thinks all men should work out, physically and emotionally.
Look around you the next time you’re in town or at the mall. Do you see any obese, old men? You won’t, because they’re all dead. That fact alone ought to convince you to get–and stay–in shape. For Boomers in particular, exercise is necessary to help ensure your quantity, as well as quality, of life.
I’m sixty-six, and in the best shape I can remember. At 153 pounds, I feel as good as I did in my forties and I’m wearing 30-waist jeans. I used to nap in the afternoon, but no longer feel tired. My mental energy has also increased. I left my last annual physical recently, totally stoked because all my health indicator numbers were perfect. And I’m enjoying life and looking forward to attending my seven-year-old grandson’s college graduation, down the road.
I’ve been exercising regularly for a quarter of a century now, changing my program to suit my age and lifestyle. I live in Marin County, California, where it seems like there are more in-shape men and women than anywhere except Brazil, so the motivation to get in shape was all around me. Even so, there are days when inertia feels harder to break than a sweat, and while I shoot for exercising seven days a week, I settle for six.
When I was in my forties, I was single and mostly concerned about remaining attractive to women, and my ego drove me to the gym four or five days a week to climb the Stairmaster and use the Nautilus equipment. At 5’8″ and 160 pounds, I was in shape physically, but fat and flabby emotionally. I realized that I needed more than a buffed body to create a good relationship with a woman and started a men’s group to work off the emotional fat.
In my fifties, I was still dealing with emotional issues and playing the dating field, and working out became about fighting the aging process. My body started wanting to let go and puddle in front of the television, and holding the line was becoming more difficult, partly because I wasn’t yet willing to make any dietary sacrifices.
In my sixties, I faltered a bit, and the results were predictable. I gained fifteen pounds. I still tried to keep up the program by hiking with my dog on the mountain near my home but was losing motivation. The impetus to get back in the fitness game came from my wife, whom I met four years ago. She was close to my age, a former ballerina who’d been exercising regularly all her life. I only had to mention exercising, and she was dressed and ready to go. Even better, she was working on her emotional issues, too. Staying fit wasn’t about my ego any longer–it was about the health of my body and my marriage.
I began hiking up the mountain every morning with my wife and our two dogs–forty minutes straight up and twenty minutes down. My weight fell to 160, but my body didn’t feel tight or toned. So I bought a set of adjustable dumbbells–I love that word–and began pumping iron while watching the news three days a week. I increased the weight every four to six weeks, and added 120 crunches to each workout. My strength increased noticeably in a few months, and my body grew leaner and harder. I feel like a much younger man and, while my libido isn’t as strong as it was in my forties, it’s still powerful.
I also changed my diet significantly–fewer carbs, no processed foods, lots of protein, and unlimited quantities of fruits and vegetables. I satisfy my occasional carb craving with a pizza or a meatball hero, but my twice-a-year hot-fudge sundae with peppermint-stick ice cream is my favorite cheat treat.
If you’re not sure whether or not you’re overweight, forget BMI indexes and height-weight charts. Get naked, stand up straight with your feet close together and look down. If all you see are your toes–or worse, just the floor–you might want to get your body in motion. Even if you have to slap yourself around a bit, get off your couch and into the gym or some place you can burn calories and get a good cardio workout. If you don’t want to join a gym, buy an inexpensive set of weights and start lifting. .
I can’t promise you’ll live longer, but you’ll definitely feel better, especially when you give a stack of your dad jeans, to Goodwill. Your wife or girlfriend will love the new you and she’ll respect the mental and physical effort you’re making.
And don’t let your emotional fitness slide. Join a men’s group–or start your own–and do the work that will help you get rid of the emotional love handles you’ve been carrying around for years.
My new book, Act Like a Man, gives you a front-row view of what that looked like for eight guys who’ve been doing the work together for over two decades. As one reviewer said, “It’s a reality show in a book.” Read a chapter on my website, www.kensolin.com , and get your copy of the book on Amazon.
—Photo Maxwell GS/Flickr
Ken, Nice article. I work with an alcoholic who contends that it doesn’t matter whether you drink alot or don’t drink, eat right or eat horribly, maintain a healthy weight or be fat–you will live the same amount of years either way. That might be so in some cases, but carrying too much weight will tax the joints (ie. hip/knee replacements), blood pressure in most cases will be high, and daily alcohol drinkers have underlying health problems due to alcohol stressing the body, mind and relationships. I’m 5-10, 170lbs in my fifties, and I walk 5 miles a day briskly.… Read more »
a beautiful article Ken, I really enjoyed reading your reflection on the different decades of your life. I love that type stuff – The passing on of experiential knowledge to younger generations
so by all men you meant all non single men right?
Single or married has nothing to do with my article. Not sure where you are coming from.
I mentioned ignoring BMI charts and height weight ratios in my article. My daily mountain hike and weight lifting routine is meant for good health, not good looks. But it doesn’t hurt to see the results in a mirror and in a smaller pair of jeans. I think it’s foolish to connect being overweight with living longer than normal or ideal weight men. There is a myriad of evidence linking obesity with diabetes, cancer, heart disease, etc. It’s self-deceptive to think being overweight is healthy in any manner whatsoever. It isn’t, and no quoted studies can change that. The insurance… Read more »
You say to disregard the BMI chart in your article, but you are defending the ideas of normal weight, overweight, etc., that come from those charts. As the article I linked to explains, being overweight by these charts gives you a greater chance of living longer than those who are of normal weight. Those are the statistical facts.
I said to get naked and put your feet together and look down. If all you see are your toes or the floor, you are overweight. I think that’s pretty simple and doesn’t have anything to do with charts.
You seem to have an agenda around the weight issue. I have never heard that being overweight means longer life than being in shape. I suspect there’s more to this premise than weight, and that other factors are being used..
I do have an agenda about weight: I believe in a model called Health at Every Size. I applaud just about everything you say here about healthy behaviors, but when you mix in your numbers to make a point, you lose me.
Statistically, overweight people outlive people of normal or ideal weight. [Article] Being active every day, like us dog owners are, and eating good, fresh food as a rule, will keep us alive for a long time. I’ll probably still be rocking the “overweight” category on the BMI chart, but that number is meaningless. Challenge yourself in real world ways, like Tom Matlack did when he bonked on the mountain biking trail, not by dividing your height by your weight, or measuring around your waist. Measuring your health in practical ways, rather than by what you look like, will give you… Read more »