Risks due to loss of strength in old age

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pcatterall

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Playing at climbing ropes in a gym and realised that my 73 year old arms have become very weak in just the last few years, I could only manage one ‘pull up’.

Clearly if I fell in I would struggle to pull myself back.
I do a regular work out at the gym but will now concentrate more on my upper body strength.

Have similar oldies experienced this and will exercise restore things ( In just a week I can see quite some improvement)
This is a bit of a cautionary tale, I had not realised just how much strength I had lost.
 
pcatterall said:
Playing at climbing ropes in a gym and realised that my 73 year old arms have become very weak in just the last few years, I could only manage one ‘pull up’.

Clearly if I fell in I would struggle to pull myself back.
I do a regular work out at the gym but will now concentrate more on my upper body strength.

Have similar oldies experienced this and will exercise restore things ( In just a week I can see quite some improvement)
This is a bit of a cautionary tale, I had not realised just how much strength I had lost.
Click to expand...

Well, with a large dose of Adrenalin rampaging through your bloodstream, you may well find yourself capable of things not otherwise possible. A lot of the survivability of marine accidents hinge on a strong will to live, as much as being physically fit.
Having enough of both is the way to go I reckon....:-)

I recall some years ago , it was a condition of some offshore survival courses that one had to be able to get out of the water - up a scrambling net or rope ladder. Both are so hideous to get up from the water that some of the macho super fit young lads had problems. Us older ones were only too keen to get out the water and finish the course, and just dragged ourselves up & out! It has a lot to do with incentive..
 
Trying to make some sense of this.
Yes, you are quite right to be concerned about loss of strength and you are probably right (at least, I hope so) about exercise improving things. But as for falling overboard and having the strength to pull yourself back - there's just no way, short of a boarding ladder. Have you ever taken a good swimmer's-eye-view of the side of the average yacht? it's just a sheer cliff with no vestige of a foothold, nor any handhold that's not well out of reach. And even if you can grab something, you are hauling out not just yourself, but a mass of sodden clothing, and your muscles are rapidly losing strength due to hypothermia. Even a fit youngster couldn't haul himself up that way.

Blackbeard, age 71, and resolving to get to the gym
 
Most of it is in the mind!! Yes excercise WILL improve muscle tone at all ages. However after a certain age the replacement tissue building facility is just not there and so you will get fitter and feel stronger but the muscles will not be as they should be.

The desire to live is what will keep you going and the will to be fitter/stronger is the main criteria. (ex A.P.T.C.)
 
At 67 years of age I have really noticed the loss of leg strength . For the last 10 years I have been working in an office with little walking & therefore, little exercise.
This has made moving about on the boat much harder. Loss of balance & difficulty getting to my feet from the ground. As a single handed sailor this is not good. I " shuffle bum" along the decks in rough conditions & have arranged all my control lines to go back to the cockpit. ( all 26 of them!!). But I have still had a couple of falls in the cockpit- keep tripping over the mainsheet track-This has me worried about actually injuring myself at a critical moment. I sail single handed 90% of the time & often do 100 mile plus trips
As for falling in- I also sail a Phantom dinghy. I used to capsize a lot & nearly always had to be helped by the safety boat so I know I would not get back on to my cruiser.
I have solved the dinghy problem by getting the hang of sailing it & not capsizing so I suppose the answer on my cruiser is not to fall in
 
Hi all "youngsters"!

I (78) also noticed that my muscular strength is far less than it used to be. I did not hope in the possibility of recovering something by exercising and am very much interested in it. Which kind of exercise is best? I think I'll rig an overhead bar in the garage and start pulling me up every day as many times as I can - in the beginning the number could be lesser than one.

I go mountain hiking - non really climbing - every Thursday. - three, four hours uphill and back - so legs get already their share of work; not so arms, although I use walking sticks just for that purpose.

We are on a downhill slope, albeit not very steep, but if and when it is possible to reverse the slope, even only temporarily, we must struggle for it.

About climbing aboard, five years ago I made a very practical rigid boarding ladder that can be deployed by a swimmer. It was featured in PBO, november 2010. It is always rigged when I sail alone or with grandchildren only.

Happy aging!

Sandro
 
Sandro said:
Hi all "youngsters"!

I (78) also noticed that my muscular strength is far less than it used to be. I did not hope in the possibility of recovering something by exercising and am very much interested in it. Which kind of exercise is best? I think I'll rig an overhead bar in the garage and start pulling me up every day as many times as I can - in the beginning the number could be lesser than one.

I go mountain hiking - non really climbing - every Thursday. - three, four hours uphill and back - so legs get already their share of work; not so arms, although I use walking sticks just for that purpose.

We are on a downhill slope, albeit not very steep, but if and when it is possible to reverse the slope, even only temporarily, we must struggle for it.

About climbing aboard, five years ago I made a very practical rigid boarding ladder that can be deployed by a swimmer. It was featured in PBO, november 2010. It is always rigged when I sail alone or with grandchildren only.

Happy aging!

Sandro
Click to expand...

Just like you Sandro I run, cycle and mountain climb so me legs 'work' fine Just my arms have lost their strength. Some light weights press-ups and chin ups are already working for me.
Thanks all.
 
Yes I know how you feel about loss of power in the upper body at 73 years of age . I ride a bike 8 km every day as fast as I can. My thighs and calf muscles are quite large and my CV System is "Athlete Class" according to the medical specialist. But my upper body needs working on even though I do plenty intensive labour.

I most certainly will have fixed boarding steps over the transom on my yacht with the bottom retractable step at least one foot under water.
 
It seems to be a computer-age thing :D

I'm in my early 60s but have noticed that the work I do on cars (most days at the moment) is hampered by, not just a bit of feebleness (or possibly nuts and bolts are tighter these days) but also slight strains and pains that limit your strength. At the moment I have a painful thumb on my left hand (I think it's a ligament tear) and a painful thumb on my right hand (a ball joint splitter let go with an enormous bang and hit the digit).
The stumbling thing seems to be related to peripheral vision becoming less effective (may be caused by wearing glasses for close "workshop work".

Getting older is not as much fun as I thought it would be. The doctors don't tell you how you will become a bag of aches and pains......:ambivalence:
 
rivonia said:
Most of it is in the mind!! Yes excercise WILL improve muscle tone at all ages. However after a certain age the replacement tissue building facility is just not there and so you will get fitter and feel stronger but the muscles will not be as they should be.

The desire to live is what will keep you going and the will to be fitter/stronger is the main criteria. (ex A.P.T.C.)
Click to expand...

The study found that percentage muscle growth, in response to resistance exercise, was pretty much the same regardless of age
 
It is a problem that can creep up on you. There have been several cases recently of older singlehanders disappearing off their boats. One boat was found drifting in the entrance to Brighton marina recently, but of the skipper there was no sign!! A ladder that can be deployed by a swimmer is the only way to get back onboard.
I started cycling again in my fifties and built up strong legs (altho the knees complained) but my daughter said "it does nothing for your stomach Dad"! I used to wave some modest weights about when I got home and this did help my arms and upper back somewhat. But I found that living onboard in the Med was a fitness course anyway plus the better climate banished a lot of aches and pains for a while. Then I developed a kind of lumbago last winter (from too much cycling I think, and alleviated somewhat by lying with a tennis ball under the top of your glutes), so started Pilates which has helped somewhat. Obviously you can sail in a conservative way to allow for some loss of upper body strength, in fact high "jerk strength" develops bad habits!! Last year I slipped off the rear cabin but stopped myself with both hands on the pulpit, in an emergency you don't hold back and can temporarily apply more power than you might think. However some sort of winter exercise plan has to pay off in slowing the loss of muscle mass. Additionally, strong elastic knee supports plus tennis wrist straps can help you to apply more power. But you must be careful, especially moving anchors!!
 
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I wonder how many posters are on statins. My prescription was upped to 25 mg. and i noticed I had difficulty getting back into my racing dinghy. So I gave up taking them and muscle strength immediately began to improve. Now on 10 mg and improvement has stalled. When the existing prescription has all been used up I shall give up taking them.
 
You can be very strong at 70 plus.The problem is that most people completely avoid exercise for most of their lifes and then suddenly find themselves hopelessly weak.There are many weight lifters and bodybuilders older than that.Muscles,as said,react to exercise regardless of age.
A frined of mine younger than me by a year at 57,was a full blown gymnast in his teens.He now has a potbelly and says he doesn't feel as agile as before on the boat.I on the other hand have been exercising regularly for nearly 30 years and am in top shape,six pack and all.
What I'm saying is that you can regain much of your strength and agilty back through well programmed exercise but make an appointment with your doctor first.He'll be able to advise you.
 
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+1 to everyone who mentioned the benefits of exercise into old age.

"Use it or loose it"

A mixture of sports is a good thing as well. Fast walking or running is great for cardio fitness. But like Tri39, I still had the "excess baggage" on my stomach. Taking up Taikwondo has helped with that, and also improved upper body strength and general hand-eye coordination.
 
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