At 93, he's as fit as a 40-year-old. His body offers lessons on aging | Hacker News Reader

At 93, he's as fit as a 40-year-old. His body offers lessons on aging

washingtonpost.com

57 pointskristianp32 comments

My dad's mother was like this. She started exercising around is her late 60s and started competing in Senior Olympics type stuff all over the world. Towards the end of her life she'd win a lot of gold medals, although I think she was often the only competitor in her age bracket :)

>>although I think she was often the only competitor in her age bracket :)

Of course... She still outcompeted her peers, they were just so far behind her that they couldn't even show up :)

although I think she was often the only competitor in her age bracket :)

that is my secret strategy too

win by attrition

https://archive.is/9VVFP

Wonder if there are other factors at play here. Regardless, more power to him.

You can age well eating mostly rice, beans and fruits, so... genes?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/cathyhackl/2020/08/12/what-cost...

> Every morning, at dawn, before the men of Nicoya ride their horses through the mountains of the Costa Rican peninsula, they eat a healthy breakfast.

I think you're underestimating how taxing horse riding is

I was thinking a mix of genetics and diet. More the former than the latter, seeing how Ireland isn't a Blue Zone country. I wonder what his diet and routine was before he took up rowing.

My 93-year old ancestor is in great shape too. He exercises most days, but says "if I even have a hint I'm going to perspire, I back way off".

Some of that age group grew up in a magically nutritious time: the first decade was during the depression and so there was probably no overabundance, but all they ate until their mid 20s was real food.

It depends on how you're measuring nutrition. They also used lard, butter, etc. They ate cured and canned foods. You should look up some of the old depression and war time ration recipes. Many are loaded with fat and sugar because you needed the calories. But you are right that it wasn't an overabundance, but in some cases it ended up essentially as malnutrition.

They also were much more physical since this is the time before machines that did everything for us and people walked most places. Many of the weak died young with the state od medicine at the time. So there are many potential changes.

From my talks, there was very little canned food and not much sugar -- at least some because it wasn't added to everything like it is now, and none of it was high fructose corn syrup.

They lived in a small town in the countryside, so the food was typically fresh.

What did they eat during the winter if they didn't have canned food?

I will ask next time I get a chance but it will be after this comment thread closes. If I recall correctly canning is a relatively recent invention anyway (Napoleonic wars) so there is a way other than that. Plus modern canned foods have so much salt in it but it's not really the equivalent...

That's really curious. The other main way to preserve things other than canning is by salting or curing, which would have way more salt than the canned foods.

Lard, butter, cured, and canned foods are fine from a nutritional standpoint. There is some weak evidence that certain cured meats might increase the risk of some cancers but that hasn't been rigorously proven.

This is the goal. It may not lead to much or any longevity, but it leads to huge quality of life increases.

Given that the typical 40-year-old has an overweight or obese BMI and cannot run a mile or do a pull-up or push-up, this is a low bar. Also, the body is unpredictable, especially at old age, in which someone can go from outwardly healthy and active to suddenly dead or sick.

I'd expect the average 40 year old who is 75 kg, 15% body fat, and whose heart quickly gets to 155 bpm when on a rowing machine, is probably no stranger to at least one of push ups, pull ups, or running miles. And they could probably pick up the others without too much bother.

I think it is fair to assume a meaningful comparison. Otherwise, you can probably lower the age a bit, as that is some impressively hard work from the guy.

Extreme athletic outliers are typically extreme genetic outliers. I don't foresee generalized applicable lessons for average joe unless lesson is to time travel and pick better parents.

Fair, I think what makes this case interesting is that he wasn't an athletic outlier for most of his life, so the question on how many dormant athletes are out there remains. Maybe the distribution is not as skew as one might initially think

In theory I have lean athletic build in my forties without trying. But I'm not athletic because I hate suffering. If I live to be 80 and every day is suffering redardless I might move more.

Frail and inactive. Correlation? Causality? Direction?

In a study, post-menopausal women weight-trained, giving 40% increase in bone density.

The inactivity of "retirement" kills. Use ^ lose.

I'm going to be the opposite...

Hon the Shannon siders!

I am sick of these Brian Johnson posts…

Doesn't look like he's 40.

He doesn't, but he does look like he's in his 60's, which is pretty damn good.

He does? I know 3 people turning 70 this year, all from different family backgrounds… they all look much younger than this guy.

That said, I think you’d be hard pressed to get any of them to do consistent rowing workouts.

I take that back. The photos do get considerably deteriorated as I scroll down the article. Well, at least he's fitter than most 70 year olds.

I think you may have the wrong definition of fitness.

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