8 Lessons Young Men Can Learn Training With Men Over 60

By 7:30, the five of us are sitting around a table devouring slabs of rare beef. Andy, I learn, is a financial guy. Arts a retired urologist, Scott is from the dental industry, and John was an IT specialist with a medical lab. They all look fit, especially Art, who has the long, lean build of a Michael Phelps.

I ask Art what he does in the gym. I dont go to the gym much anymore, he replies. I own 10 acres of land, and taking care of that is my workout.

You sure had a lot of workouts after that winter storm back in 2000, says John.

No, thats not the right year, Andy says. Sure it is, John insists. Soon everyone is bickering and pointing their forks to make points and trying to remember the chronology. These four gentlemen, all over age 60, some retired, will be my mentors for the week.

When my boss gave me the assignment to ditch my typically intense, CrossFit-type routine and start exercising with old folks, I was perplexed. What could the fitness editor of the worlds largest mens magazine possibly learn from guys who cant even remember the last big blizzard?

Would anyone like more prime rib? asks the waitress.

Yes, please, says Scott. Unbelievable, I think. Where do these old guys put it?

But when another massive strip of meat arrives, Scott takes two small bites and then asks for a to-go box. I always order an extra one to split with my dog, he says.

I signal the waitress. Maybe there are a few things I can learn from these guys.

1 . Be Social Once in a While

I meet Andy at Steel Fitness Premier, a big-box gym attached to an orthopedic center. Andybald, muscular, gold crossis the mayor of the place. Hes shaking hands, saying hello, and catching up with everyone.

Health club mingling is a new experience for me. Usually when Im at the gym, I exercise with headphones and avoid eye contact.

But thats not an option when youre with Andy. As we work out, he introduces me to Jay, an orthopedist who sees me doing pull-ups and suggests I straighten my arm out in front of me, palm up, like Im asking for change, and with my other hand pull my fingers toward my body. That may help me avoid elbow pain from imbalances caused by doing too many reps, he says.

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Next I meet a guy whos doing a kettlebell carry while holding the kettlebell bottom up. Doing that requires you to grip firmer and stabilizes your shoulder, he says.

Then Andy interrupts a 70-something guy whos exercising harder than anyone else, doing mountain climbers at a savage pace. But the man is happy to take a break and share his secret to exercising into old agebasically, picking activities that feel good. In other words, forget about trying to motivate yourself with workouts you dread or doing exercises you hear are great but that dont feel right. Just do what you enjoy.

Before I realize it, 90 minutes have passed. Ive only exercised for a third of that time, but maybe the mayor is onto something.

For one workout a week, I might unplug, forget the clock, and actually talk to people. The friendships I form and the tips I hear might keep me coming back for the long haul. In fact, researchers in Brazil found that people who interact with others during exercise are more likely to stick with it.

Hey, says Andy as were leaving the gym.You want to grab a burger?

2 . Don't Make It Rocket Science

Im the kind of guy who plans and researches every little thing and can overcomplicate a trip to 7-Eleven for a gallon of milk. And since Im in the business, that tendency applies to my exercise. I once spent more time planning a workout than doing the workout.

Andy is telling me about his all-time favorite stationary bike routine. I pedal hard for a bit, then rest for a bit, he says, and I keep doing that for 30, 45, or even 60 minutes.

I stare blankly.

Yeah, like intervals, I say.

Ive been doing that workout for 35 years, he says, and Ive always called it exercise. Point taken. At the end of the day, its all just exercise.

3 . Train to LiveBut Live

One day Andy was early, as always, for the indoor cycling class, warming up on his usual bike, when in walked this new woman who started pitching a fit because there werent any bikes left.

If it were me, Id have avoided her gaze and stayed put. The idea of conceding a scheduled workout to someone who came late is as unthinkable as JFK telling Khrushchev, You know what? Take Florida.

So I was surprised to hear what Andy did.

I gave her my bike, he says. I figured, I take this class 300 times a year. Ill be okay ifI only take it 299 times.

Last year I flew home to spend Thanksgiving with my mom. That day I did burpees alone in the garage. My time with her is limited. In retrospect, I realize that it was one hour we could have spent reconnecting. This Thanksgiving, that wont happen.

4. Use Your Strength

My approach to fitness aligns with whats popular in the industry todayharder is better and improvement requires suffering. If this philosophy were a bumper sticker, it would read, The harder the workout, the harder the man. No pain, no gain.

Then I meet Clair. Hes 92 and goes to Steel Fitness Premier every day. Back in WorldWar II he was drafted into the military, and as a paratrooper he would jump out of planes to fight the enemy on the ground in Europe.

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The idea of a gym workout causing suffering suddenly seems almost comical, and I start to feel about as tough as an overripe banana. Exercise can be uncomfortable, sure. It needs to be work. But my interpretation of sufferingquickly picking up heavy stuff in a temperature-controlled building next to a Wendysis anything but.

In fact, this smiling old man makes me wonder why Im really exercising so hard. In todays comfortable society (no small thanks to Clair and his military colleagues), do tough workouts fulfill some existential need that men have to prove theyre really men?

I mention this to my friend, MH fitness advisor David Jack. If you want to be tough like Clair, you can still exercise hard, but dont leave your strength in the squat rack, he says. There are probably 100 people within a 5-mile radius of your gym who need the physical strength you have. Do some good in the world. Look for some volunteer opportunities to help them.

Build strength not just for strengths sake, but to serve. New bumper sticker?

5. Be Mindful of the Importance of Being Mindless

John used to take 13 indoor cycling classes a week676 a yearuntil the gym cut its schedule back. I initially think this is insane. So when he invites me to join him for a class, I hesitate. Understand that I use cardio machines primarily to warm up for and occasionally cool down from weight workouts, and Ive never spent more than 30 minutes on one. So I dont know what to expect.

John, who looks like an aging hippie with his white beard and spectacles, doesnt help by confessing that he listens to rare live Jefferson Airplane recordings to help fight the boredom. I think of one of the few JeffersonAirplane lyrics I know: ...and all the joy within you...dies!

But its not as bad as I expect. In fact, its more than just heart-boosting cardio. Its head-calming meditation. As I pedal, I focus on my breathing and turn inward, brain-storming my career and troubleshooting my life, eventually just losing myself in the sweat and the cycling. Its been a long time since I sat with my thoughts for 60 uninterrupted minutes. Most of my workouts are so focused that its a welcome change to just zone out. And the benefits are tangible: A study from Finland suggests that long cardio workouts actually improve brain health more than high-intensity intervals do.

6. Warm Up Your Bodyand Mind

Im at the gym waiting to meet one of the guys. To kill time I hop on an elliptical and turn on the TV. Next to me is Bob Barkers doppelgangera slender, gold-skinned, white-haired, veneered gentleman. Hes working the stair climber at a fast-but-comfortable pace while flipping through a book.

What are you reading? I ask, remembering Old Guy Lesson #1.

The Winds of War, he says. Its a novel about World War II, but its historically accurate, so you learn a lot. I tell him that the Second World War fascinates me, and Ill be sure to read the book.

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He lifts his bushy eyebrows and glares at the TV screen on my machine. Its tuned to Dog the Bounty Hunter, courtesy of the last person who used it. Dog is tasing someone who appears to be a meth head.

Bob closes his book and heads for another machine, but he leaves me thinking. I have a bad habit of blasting through my cardio warmup. Reading a novel or the days news would not only stretch my mind but also ensure that I dont go overboard: If at any point I have trouble reading, Ill know my warmup is becoming too intense. And book learning keeps you mentally fit, of course.

7. Know That Personal Records Arent the Most Important Measure

Im steeping in the gyms hot tub with Andy and three of the other guys after a workout. Theyre delighted to have a fresh addition to their old-man soup. Me? Im wishing Id worn a wetsuit.

When it comes to fitness, Ive always believed that continually moving the dial forward is the key to improvement, and I say so.

But heres whats wrong with that, says Andy. Lets say your goal is to lift 200 pounds. So you work really hard and eventually reach your goal. Where do you go from there? You try for 210, then 220, but you cant keep doing that forever. Your quest for more, more, more will eventually lead to injury. And once youre hurt, you have to sit out, and you end up in worse shape than if youd just stuck to that 200-pound weight.

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Why is Andy so sure of this? Hes been there, and hes seen it in old friends whove spent time at the weight rack. In fact, hes in this hot tub to make sure he recovers adequately. You can bounce back when youre young, he says, but eventually you reach an age when the injuries stick and affect your long-term quality of life.

I stew on this awhile. I have no reason to push the envelope other than my ego and the upward curve on an Excel chart. Maybe theres a lesson here too: When doing inherently risky exercises, such as deadlifts, maybe I should start valuing perfection over pounds. Instead of judging improvement by weight, perhaps I should gauge it by form, movement, and tempo. After all, whos fitter? The guy who can lift 250 pounds until he tries for 260 and shatters, or the guy who can lift 200 pounds until the day he dies?

8. Stay Fit, Stay Young

After spending hours hanging out at the gym with these gentlemen, Im shocked at how they seemed to de-age before my eyes. What I perceived as old just a week ago no longer holds. Andy, Scott, Art, John, Clair, Bob Barker, and their fellow gym geezers move well and live with vitality.

Then it occurs to me: They arent the same breed of seniors I see shuffling into the diner for 4:30 dinners, or the ones camped in front of casino slots with oxygen tanks on their motorized chairs. These guys are enjoying the benefits of decades of healthy living, having watched their diets, controlled their weight and, most important, stayed active.

Suddenly, old doesnt seem so age-spotted and off-putting to me. Exerciseno, smart exercisecreates a new type of aging, and in 40 more years I wouldnt mind being just like these guys.