Hello gents (and ladies) of Reddit. I’m a 31m, and I’m a fairly active guy. I used to play sports almost every day, but since having a child (now 2.5 years) and with the pandemic, it’s been limited to 3 or so times a week with a few gym days in between and I go for walks on warmer days and in the summer (I live in Canada, eh).
Recently, I’ve been finding that I just wake up and parts of my body are just sore AF. Like this morning I get up and both my ankles are screaming at me and idk know why. I have had some recurring past injuries from sports like my knees constantly being inflamed (I still play basketball, but not as much as before).
Now I’m not the healthiest eater. I do try to incorporate as much fruits and veggies as I can in my diet. But I do eat a lot of junk food (I know, I’m trying to it down/out but it’s not easy). I’ve tried doing stretches for it’s own sake as well.
To deal with the pain, I usually take an Advil and I’ve experimented with weed edibles at night before bed to varying degrees of success. But I don’t want to become reliant on substances to deal with these issues. How do you guys deal with aging and soreness and what do you do?
21 comments
Change your diet
Stretch often. Move to low-impact cardio and low-weight high-rep strength training for workouts. Yoga is a good way to maintain fitness while reducing soreness. Drink lots of water. But also remember that aches and pains are often an unavoidable side-effect of aging.
you say you’re ‘playing sports’ and ‘going to the gym’ but what are you doing when you’re at it? are you progressively overloading the resistance or just going through the motions? what is your routine? are you just running in the gym?
working out properly i.e progressively overloading the resistance has resolved virtually all of my ailments, and I don’t even do a complicated routine.
Don’t take painkillers and power through it, you’ll regret it later on. Improve your diet, actually do the stretching, and maybe change your sports/workout routine or frequency. 3x playing sports and additional gym days could be too much if you’re not supporting that lifestyle properly.
I started grounding or earthing several months ago, and my inflammation is down along with joint pain and headaches. Look for ‘The Earthing Movie’ on YouTube for more info.
Food is medicine. I’m 47 and (knock on wood) have no aches or pains, take zero medication. I like hiking but besides that I’m not very active. I eat well though. Look up Forks Over Knives (documentary, or just Google it) or check out a book called The China Study
Stretching and yoga, otherwise I just rail some bc powder if needed and suck it the fuck up and deal with it. I herniated my l4/l5 and have had sciatica since I was 18. Have done the whole pain killer/muscle relaxer/etc etc and it’s best just to suck it up.
When I eat too much junk food my left ankle and toe start to hurt. Greens and Omega 3s are super important for me.
>I have had some recurring past injuries from sports like my knees constantly being inflamed (I still play basketball, but not as much as before).
That explains it; because 31 is not old at all. If you want to get better, it all starts with diet as someone else correctly pointed out. I’d advise you to [fast](https://yourgentleoverlord.blogspot.com/2022/04/fasting-as-superpower-against-poverty.html) often to give your system a break and to self-heal. Exercise moderately, never to the point of exhaustion.
I like to stir in a little bit of cocaine in with my coffee and then a little bit more in with my tea, and in the evening drink some Benadryl to put me to sleep.
You die eventually.
Eat better. There’s a point between the ages of about 25-28, and after that point, every day your body becomes fractionally less efficient at what it does, and that includes turning food into things your body can use. I’m sure you know that in your 20s you could eat pretty much whatever you want, burn it off playing sports or lifting, and be fine for whatever the next day. This is no longer true. Your body is getting worse at expelling the preservatives and chemicals, and worse at retaining the shit you actually need. The easy way to fix this is with supplements. Don’t fall for that trap. Even if you can figure out exactly what your body is lacking, supplements are broadly less bioavailable because they’re a distilled form of some specific vitamin or mineral rather than a component of something our body is geared to digest and make use of. Ditch the burgers and potato chips, set those packaged donuts on the top shelf for special occasions, and start cooking. It’s really easy to make a vegetable pasta dish in about 15 minutes, and another 10 will enable you to slap some pan-fried fish or grilled chicken on top of it. Don’t be afraid of red meats, but get lean whole cuts instead of fatty or processed products. The “five a day” rule for fruits and vegetables is just as bullshit as the rest of the “food pyramid,” forcing veggies isn’t going to make you fit but it will make you resent eating well, so instead try to find vegetables you actually like to eat or methods of preparation that work well for your taste buds and explore from there. If you’re using a hydrogenated oil to cook, switch to olive oil. Don’t torment yourself by swearing off desserts, but switch to things that use fruit or dark chocolate as the main source of sweetness and back it up with something wholesome like oats or coconut. If you’re a snacker (don’t fret, most of us are), trade out your deep-fried potato chips and mayo-based dip for pita chips and hummus (I promise you you’ll be shocked at how good hummus is), or buy/make beef jerky, things with few ingredients and high protein/low empty carbs or hydrogenated oils. Treat your body well in the kitchen and it’ll treat you well the rest of the day.
Just turned 40. I have been an athlete all my life. Multiple sports. Decent at all of them, but exceptional at none.
About mid 30s I realized I was seriously declining in speed and stamina. Everything hurt more the next day.
For example 15 years ago when I had a fight camp I would train 5 days a week for 6 hours. 2 hours in the morning lifting and cardio, and 4 hours at night in the gym on technique and reps. This would happen for 6-8 weeks leading up to the fight.
When I have fight now days it’s a 12 week cycle and very slowly ramping up, but only 3 tough days a week and 2 rest days every 3 days.
Takes a lot longer to heal and recover now than it used to.
So rest and recover become much more important along with stretching. You HAVE to stretch. Stretch every single day.
As gay as it sounds a warm bath helps my bones and joints i am 51 eat shitty and still try and keep up with young fellas at work but i usually wake up to 2 tylenol and a coffee most mornings but the warm bath at night does help especially after being outside at -36all day
Go keto. It will reduce systemic inflammation in your body.
I had the same issue and when I went keto all my random aches and pains went away.
I’m 60+ and still exercising (cardio and calethenics). As you get older your body takes longer to repair itself and testosterone production start slowly fall off. Soreness is an indication that the body is taking longer to repair itself. It requires a decent diet plan that accounts for your bodies protein requirements, as well as plenty of water and above all sleep (as this is when the repairing occurs).
You shouldn’t be doing vigorous exercise on a daily basis. Program in rest days and do warm ups and cool downs.
Based on my personal experiance, Ankle pain in the morning is a signe that there is some imbalance of food and/or dehidration.
For me it went away when I reduce my salt intake and started drinking good amount of water before going to sleep. (Also drinking water through out the day). If I were you I would take a good look at the eating habits.
I am 40. Distance runner. Train 5 days a week. Non pains in my body unless I do something stupid. I know we jokingly say that, after 30 our body start to give pains. But that’s actually not true.
Yoga, more sleep, sports massages, better diet.
I rub my joints with Rock sauce before getting out of bed.
It doesn’t get easier. I used to only have to take one day off in between runs usually depending on how far I ran I would maybe be ok next day but usually I shoot for 3 miles and only have to take one day off. Now I am having to take 2-4 days off in between runs before my legs have recovered for me to go for another run
You ever see a chiropractor? My job is mainly picking up heavy shit walking it long distances throwing it down and placing it to spec and bending over and tying it down. Ima rodbuster/ironworker. I grew up throwing myself off stair sets and big drops because I would skateboard from 4th grade up until about 2 years ago. I got hurt a couple of times skating and the last time I skated about 2 years ago I fucked up my lower back/hip/leg? (Where my leg and ass meet but I mainly feel it on my left side of my lower back. It makes me feel so old lol anyways I saw a chiropractor and it feels good for a while but I haven’t been back in about a year and it still hurts. Idk if I need to have surgery or what can even be done to alleviate the pain. It’s not constant and I only feel it when I stretch certain ways. Anyways yeah I’d say see a chiropractor see what they can do for you or what stretches they recomend