At 71 I've been cycling for the past 3 years to improve my mental health and discovered my physical health has improved dramatically to a level where I'm thinking of training for the World Masters Games in Taipei 2025 and in my hometown of Perth Western Australia in 2029. Thanks for the encouragement and this video has given my life purpose for the next 5 years.. Cheers to all.
I'm 71, started weightlifting at age 15 and continue to this day. It is the best decision I've made in my life. For years in my town it was hard to keep one gym open. Now, there are any number to pick from so the tide is turning and I see a lot of young people every time I'm at the gym.
I am 71 and I started physical therapy last August to deal with my loss of strength and balance. Today I do two 20 minute high intensity circuits a week plus strength training the other 5 days. I hadn’t lost my balance or fallen prior to PT, but I could feel that I was weaker and my balance was not good. My physical therapist told me strength and balance go together; as one improves, the other one will also improve. I will not go gently into the night…
I'm very happy for you because you have decided to continue with your physiotherapy and exercises to build back your strength and balance. I always encourage the elderly to go for physiotherapy and take up resistance exercise but they will always tell me they are old unlike younger people. They will also tell me their legs are painful due to old age🤦🏼
@@vister6757 thank you! I have a very bad right knee that probably could use a replacement but I figured exercise would strengthen the muscles supporting the knee and might help.
I am 73 and took up boxing at 68 as an "amateur master boxer"-- I'm fighting my third fight in Las Vegas in a couple of weeks. Key in my opinion; MOTIVATION. Having a serious goal like working toward a boxing match, completely motivates me seven days a week to workout hard and smart and to care about my diet.
Dr Peter, Ii would great to have a video of the most optimal & effective strength & balance exercise routine for us seniors. Something that isn’t too daunting and can be scaled.
Wow, worlds are colliding. Dr. McGill's The Back Mechanic is the number one piece to regaining my function after herniating a disc 4 years ago. I share his big 3 with every patient I encounter with similar issues and have shared the book with not just patients but my family too. My colleagues at work hear me spout Dr. Attia's and Dr. McGill's core tenants to patients like a broken record. Thanks to both of you gentlemen, many who desire a functional and healthy life span are gaining the tools to achieve them. Words can't express my appreciation for both of your work!
Dr. McGill is truly a wonderful person. Very sincere about improving the health of our entire population. A true exemplar of empathy. I had my first severe disc herniation / discectomy in 2014. Stu was gracious enough to engage me via email & telephone , to direct me towards improved spine health. I turned 70 last July ( 2023 ), I am living pain free, able to return to lifting, with strict, correct technique. W. Hubka, M.D.
Thank you Peter and Stuart for a most erudite discussion. Your key message from my perspective is the one lesson I too take from my 45+ years of exercise (running, aerobics, weight training). The competitive performance is NOT the key. The actual form, the biomechanics of these various exercises or "movements" provides the optimum benefit over time. Here I am at nearly 75 years old and thankfully having little physical damage from youthful activities (I was never "athletic") I now awaken each day pain free and feeling fine (feeling "older" but not feeling disabled from that aging). Thank you again gentlemen, a most important message indeed. We can't reverse aging but we do not need to surrender to the nonsense of "old personhood disabilities."
Thank you for this super interesting discussion. I loved the story that Stuart told. Over the last several years I started my keto/carnivore journey. I lost 50 lbs and many injuries from my younger years when I did many sports, have healed. I'm amazed how this way of eating has turned my life around. Recently, at 65 yrs old I started working out again like I did in my 30’s. I realized that even after a 20 year gap of serious exercise, I am still benefiting from knowing how to move. In my younger years I did karate, dance, tennis, horseback riding, ran track, step aerobics, and weight training. Now it's just important to build muscle and maintain coordination and core strength, and not get injured. Participating in a variety of types of exercise is beneficial. Currently, I've been taking Body Pump ( cardio with light weights), Pilates which is great for core and walking a lot ( recently added a weighted vest). Noone needs to accept the frail senior lifestyle. There is so much that can be done to avoid this. The foundation of improving my nutrition is what enabled the exercise. I think that is key for everyone.
I would recommend one exercise for lower body strength to any senior that does not involve weights or equipment. The exercise is called Mabu or the horse stance and if you can summon the mental strength to do sets of 1,3 or even 5 minutes three times you will not be falling over anytime soon. Good video.
this kinda makes me furious thinking about how many elderly these "therapists" told to go doom the rest of their lives in an assisted living home and couldve instead taught them extremely basic stability and posture techniques. What kind of therapist are they?
The whole environment of assisted living is to make individuals comfortable versus helping them with medical care and quality of life. We have had to fight to get treatment for my mother in law because the home feels it’s basically a waste of time
R u serious? Seems like u didn't really understand the discussion. They aren't recommending doing nothing and falling apart prematurely. They are advocating being sensible about things and not ACCELERATING deterioration because u misuse and abuse your body.
You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink it. If they weren’t maintaining muscle their whole life, 9/10 people aren’t going to make that change
Most people do not want to exercise. A lifelong habit of sitting on the sofa leads to seeking comfort in old age. Assisted living or not, many old people these days don't care about exercise. I have an elderly neighbor who won't give up smoking because "what does it matter at that old of an age?", definitely will never exercise ever. You fail to understand the mentality of many old people. Stubborn as hell even if they know how to be healthier.
@@mementomori29231 Do you have any relevant education about us human beings? I exercise regularly but my parents were intelligent and responsible people. People are a product of their environment. And our (me=USA) environment is setting people up to fail in many ways. Half of what's in the grocery store is junk. Half of what's on tv is junk. MORE than half of what's online is junk etc? Alcohol and cigarettes make people feel good and they are hard addictions to beat. I know of a now deceased Taekwondo Grand Master 9th degree black belt who died of cancer and I was told he was a smoker. He wouldn't do it around the students, especially the kids but he smoked!
People hate hearing this, but yoga is very beneficial to everything: stability, balance, posture, breathing, strength, movement, mobility. I often tell people, walk a lot, especially in nature, and practice yoga.
Awesome.. and soooo true. My l00 year old MOM is using many of these techniques and she's doing great! PT and exercise and *training*.. for strength and stability is soooo crucial for EVERYONE. It should be part of a program for everyone.
Wonderful interview! Thank you both for taking the time talk about proximal stiffness and how it relates to minimizing energy leakages. We have developed models based on Stu's research to show what he explored.
Thank you for these videos, and this compassionate approach. I love this story. I’m 64, lift weights, and try to do my zone 2 and V02 max training every week. Unfortunately due to personal tragedy when I was 50 I put on 60 lbs. and have struggled to lose the weight, but I exercise as mentioned previously. I also train karate, as I am a black belt in Shotokan karate. I just attended a karate seminar, and discussions afterwards left me frustrated, as the combination of my age and weight made it clear that I wasn’t considered a legitimate participant. Until we really understand weight gain in post menopausal women, and get over our ageism and revulsion around ‘fatness’ people are going to suffer. I struggle everyday to restrict my eating and be disciplined in a way I never did when air was younger. I used to be a champion swimmer, I dragon boated, karate and weight lifting and physical work (I was a decorative painter and worked in construction) what has happened to my body feels like an utter betrayal. But I will struggle on.
@catherinemillsart6641 I started eating keto at 63 and lost 50lbs quite easily. It was really surprising. Now at 66, I transitioned to carnivore. The transformation to better health has been amazing. Perhaps trying this would help you reach your goals.
@@catherinemillsart6641Best wishes to you on your journey. Keto helped me so much, and my hope for you is that you find your way to reach your goals and enjoy it along the way.
When I retired I hit the gym more and I cycle too. Big focus is core strength. In terms of energy leakage, I get it. Core strength helps me with all activities of daily living and trunk endurance when I ride. Generally speaking gym work is hugely beneficial. Fracture risk has gone down from 3% to 2.7%. My other markers, my doctor tells me, are outstanding. But that’s diet related too though. So very good advice from you. Always interesting.
This type of content is why I prioritise Peters perspective in a noisy space. It makes you think about the why of movement and dialling in from there. I recently heard the idea of goldilocks in terms of effort that really resonated with me ie enough for adaptation but not too much that your recovery is undermined.
My mother is93…she does 50 or 60 “squat bounces” off a stability ball everyday..she can easily get down to the floor and get up again…and get out of chairs without “rocking” her way out of it…and thats WITH a hip replacement….you need to keep doing it!
Frequent, almost daily, high level strength and cardio classes have given me a very trim, toned, strong , muscled body. No health problems, no meds. Healthy diet, no alcohol, intermittent fasting and supplements round out my healthy living plan. I am 73.
Sooo I guess I am one of those soft students, I started in 2001 and very much remember kin 101 doing all those tests, back then I was a pure endurance athlete. Now I am still an endurance athlete, and am now a trainer where I take much of my inspiration from what I learned from Dr. McGill and train all my athletes for life as well as riding bikes and running marathons.
I'm 65 and have CVD. Been bodybuilding since I was 20. The toughest part for me is trying to figure out how much is too much. Up until recently I would be doing sets of 20 rep deadlifts with 225. It dawned on me that I'm not 35 anymore and doing things like that could kill me.
Something fascinating about energy leakage is how an elite athlete or dancer seems to be moving more slowly doing a movement in comparison to a less-skilled person because their path through the movement is more direct. If I make a lot of jogs and shifts to get from A to B it will take longer than really efficiently, directly getting from A to B. I noticed this with my coaches doing my dance routine at the same fast speed as me or other team members and the coaches seem to make it look easy and slow. They are more efficient and direct.
I go to my gym every morning and I'm always surprised to see mostly younger people training. I'm soon to be 55 years old and I really think the gyms should be filled with older people as we get older! 😆
Back in the day I loved to run 15K races, half marathon was fun and a full marathon has the most horrible experience of my life. If you could do a video how to avoid a cane, walker and wheel chair later in life . I saw Ernest Borgnine bounding down Hollywood Boulevard in his 90s on TMZ.
Are "energy leaks" the ultimate cause of compensatory movement patterns? If so, is it fair to say that compensation patterns are a result of instability and that where they occur along the kinetic chain will also be the place of injury?
Wow, @7:30 mark I got emotional thinking about the life changing experience this knowledge brings. This lady was about to sign an early death sentence by moving out of her home with her cat. Thanks for a great educational video.
A consistent yoga practice, especially in a group setting, will not only improve these mobility and balance issues but is also clinically proven to improve your mental outlook and health markers. Dr. Baxter Bell has written extensively on yoga for seniors, and there are free resources on RU-vid.
Using this on pt clients 13-92 years of age. There is no substitute to squats or deads at any age. Its just about the scaling of dificulty, depts, weight, speed so on.
My wife (70) is back from the hospital this morning. I'm going to show her Pete McGill's story and hope that she learns from it. At the moment, she is convinced she has no future in our home.
I'm lucky enough to be one of those freak athletes. My 3 kids were top 10 on a national level, but still "uncoordinated" next to their dad. A lot harder working, but I'll credit that to their mom. And yes, very well put on "energy leakage". It's a phrase I've used often. Although you stated the "punch form" incorrectly... foot to same fist, not opposite.
The deadlift is a compound movement that offers significant benefits, targeting multiple muscle groups, including the glutes, hamstrings, lower back, traps, and forearms. It's highly effective for building strength, improving muscular coordination, and enhancing overall athletic performance. However, like any exercise, the risk-reward balance of the deadlift depends on various factors such as technique, individual health conditions, and the integration of the exercise within a balanced training program. Let's break down both the rewards and potential risks associated with deadlifting. Rewards • Strength Gains: Deadlifting is one of the best exercises for building raw strength and power because it involves lifting heavy weights from the ground, engaging the entire posterior chain, and requiring significant force production. • Muscle Hypertrophy: Regular deadlifting can lead to muscle growth in the lower back, glutes, and hamstrings, contributing to overall body mass gains. • Improved Functional Strength: The deadlift mimics natural movement patterns, such as bending and lifting, improving functional strength that translates into daily activities and other sports. • Increased Bone Density: Like other weight-bearing exercises, deadlifts can help increase bone density and strength, reducing the risk of osteoporosis. • Enhanced Athletic Performance: Deadlifting improves power and speed, beneficial for various sports, especially those requiring explosive strength. • Metabolic Boost: Heavy compound exercises like the deadlift can have a significant metabolic impact, aiding in fat loss as part of a structured diet and exercise regimen.
i'll share this video with my best friend, who is only 58 and can hardly get on/off the toilet or in/out of a chair. She's 5'11" and skinny fat, former model in an era when skinny was all that mattered. She is starting to fall frequently, and it's sad to think what she'll be unable to do in a just a few years if she doesn't change how she's approaching her daily life and movements.
Combine the toilet scenario with pants down and back up - real life is sometimes more complicated. My sister has mobility issues and hasn't always gotten the proper guidance. I'm shocked how little physical and occupational therapy and training she's had.
That's a good story about the squat and toilet, but it also confuses me. Did the woman who had the trouble standing up never have training in physical movement? I can't imagine the average viewer of Attia ever not knowing how to raise up out of a squat, but I'm 43, not 83. Is that a pattern that a physically active person would ever forget?
Most people have no training. My voice teacher, who had been a great walker into her late 70’s, wound up with 2 hip replacements, 2 knee replacements, and one shoulder replacement. In her later years, she would just let go and plop down into her recliner. Eventually she needed a caregiver to get her up. She was beginning to suffer from dementia, and could not be persuaded to let herself down in a controlled way.
What tends to happen is that people get sick or incapacitated in some way, over the years, and they develop compensated incorrect ways of doing a movement. That then becomes ingrained and the movement patterns become altered for good as the muscles to support correct movement become too weak to perform the movement easily, correctly. It’s not that people suddenly forget a movement pattern, its that something interrupts the normal pattern, and unless you make a concerted effort to restore the correct movement pattern, you can slowly end up in a debilitating chain process. How we think about the aging process matters too as this will influence your expectations of yourself. If you think that frailty and infirmity are to be expected (and to a certain extent it is - muscle loss etc), then you will be more likely to become frail. You have to consciously act to fight against muscle loss and consequent imbalance and frailty.
The situation being described here is deeply disturbing to me. A woman in her early 70s, unless she is dealing with some type of debilitating disease, shouldn’t be concerned in the least about getting up from a chair or a toilet. What made her into a defeated, unsteady, elderly person began decades ago. As you folks describe, many younger professionals need to reassess their approach to fitness as they age because they are dealing with a confirmation bias…they, most likely, are using their personal examples of what it means to be one of “the elderly,” a term that outrages me due to its patronizing tone and debilitating approach. That being said, there are people who are struggling right now, due to their own confirmation biases…their own examples of what it means to age, and it’s not a pretty sight. The day they give in and pronounce themselves old…as in too old…is the day they begin to die much faster than necessary. I truly believe this pronouncement accelerates aging. The disturbing thing about it is that it can begin as early as 30 or 40… And that, folks, is the reason for the deep mourning we see in the eyes of the defeated ones who then begin sleepwalking through life, in preparation for death. It’s a crisis of epic proportions. Health and fitness pros, if they truly wish to help, will encourage their clients to amp it up, not rein it in…through their words and actions. I’m not a fitness pro, but I am a speaker who is staying fit as I age (we are all aging) and prepping folks for a healthy, energetic second half of life is a big part of my mission. Thanks for this conversation.
Dr Attia, some constructive criticism, if I may. You need to really let your guests speak if you’re inviting them. Also in most of the videos, it seems you always put your own name before the guest in the title. The thing is we already know you’re going to be in the video since it is your channel. There is a reason we always say “you and I”, not “I and you”.
Then he needs to direct said editor accordingly. When a movie is bad, the director cannot blame the cinematographer. The buck stops at the person running the show.
Some constructive criticism for you-if you want to criticize, don’t do it in public like this. In other words, don’t be a jerk and show off. There are myriad ways to contact him in private where you’ll have a chance to establish some credibility or authority if you have any that could actually be useful and not just performative… FWIW, I found the whole thing to be optimally presented and not requiring any of my self-important, self-aggrandizing and mostly ignorant input…
Of course, four those over 55, just walking four miles a day at a brisk pace (some of it on grass would be optimal) would be fine for everything Peter says needs to be done to stay in great shape as you age. His recommendations are biased by the fact that his clinic provides seniors exactly what he claims seniors need to do to be in optimal shape.
I don't think that's sufficient. Still need to do some pulling, pushing, lifting, stretching and mobility work. Zone 2 cardio as you describe is just one component.
Not even close. You need to listen to his entire longevity concept. Cardio fitness involves BOTH endurance (e.g., walking) AND VO2 max (high intensity) work. But weight training and flexibility and movement (stability) figure in as well. Walking is better than not walking, but it’s hardly sufficient.
His story has nothing to do with arrogance. Questioning what elite athletes have to do with elderly people is valid. It could be ignorance. The guest actually comes off as arrogant sometimes, but I'm sure he also helps people.
That’s crazy! I didn’t start physical activity to get fit until my late ‘60’s! I started with free yoga and strength classes, did Pilates for a couple of years, and began with weights and a lot of balance work at 70-71. My trainer, in his sixties, has much experience with seniors. He tells me I don’t need deadlifts for my goals, but we do both kinds of leg press machine, bench press, and squats under weight. In less than 3 years I have impressive biceps for a 73-yo who worked in sedentary jobs for 25 years. I remember being about 68 when I was lifting a 5-gallon water bottle to put it into the dispenser, when I asked myself, “Will I still be able to do this in ten years?” My path has taken me to a place where I am certain that I can lift 40-lb of water into my late 80’s and beyond. My bone density is excellent (based on dexascans), and I am much stronger than I ever was as a young woman. It recently came to my attention that I could no longer walk for any distance, so I have added treadmill and (Illinois weather permitting), walks. I don’t want to become frail like my female forebears.
