I don't exercise - honest...

Quoted message said:

One chap had a
pulse of 34.

"you must be some sort of athelete"
"nope"
"But you must do some sort of exercise?"
"No, none at all"
"but you can't be that fit without doing something"
"I suppose I do ride my bike in to work, but that is all"
"Where do you live?"
"Stonehaven"

Stonehaven is at least 15miles non-flat from Aberdeen. No exercise
indeed...

Crikey, that's about the same as Lance Armstrong!

http://www.lancearmstrong.com/faq.html

I can't help but notice - it doesn't take a genius - that nearly all
my fellow senior companions at our monthly luncheon at a the Rugby
Club are on some sort of blood pressure tablets and statins. They all
arrive by car, I arrive by bike. They motor everywhere, I cycle
everywhere. They nearly all smoke, I never have. To quote my GP - you
have blood pressure and a pulse rate that Colin Jackson would be proud
of! I am 61.

citizen142 said:

I can't help but notice - it doesn't take a genius - that nearly all
my fellow senior companions at our monthly luncheon at a the Rugby
Club are on some sort of blood pressure tablets and statins. They all
arrive by car, I arrive by bike. They motor everywhere, I cycle
everywhere. They nearly all smoke, I never have. To quote my GP - you
have blood pressure and a pulse rate that Colin Jackson would be proud
of! I am 61.

Physiology class this year, we measured our lung capacity. Class full of
podgy smoking 18 year olds that scored below their expected volume, I
measured at 123%. Teacher asked if I was an athlete and I didn't really
know what to reply. I have done serious training in the past while I was
rowing, but that's at least a decade ago now, and I do cycle and orienteer
and paddle and ski at the moment, but does that make me an athlete? I am
not really training, I just do things outside and cycle to get places
(like cake shops 🙂

Roos

Roos Eisma said:

citizen142 said:

I can't help but notice - it doesn't take a genius - that nearly all
my fellow senior companions at our monthly luncheon at a the Rugby
Club are on some sort of blood pressure tablets and statins. They all
arrive by car, I arrive by bike. They motor everywhere, I cycle
everywhere. They nearly all smoke, I never have. To quote my GP - you
have blood pressure and a pulse rate that Colin Jackson would be proud
of! I am 61.

Physiology class this year, we measured our lung capacity. Class full of
podgy smoking 18 year olds that scored below their expected volume, I
measured at 123%. Teacher asked if I was an athlete and I didn't really
know what to reply. I have done serious training in the past while I was
rowing, but that's at least a decade ago now, and I do cycle and orienteer
and paddle and ski at the moment, but does that make me an athlete? I am
not really training, I just do things outside and cycle to get places
(like cake shops 🙂

It can't be the exercise.. must be the trombone playing ;-)

When I was at school they had a manometer on the wall and were
measuring peoples lung capacity.
Most people couldn't get much of a reading (about 1-1.2m water
pressure). One chap, a rugby player, used peak flow and just got a
dribble out of the top. We (the rest) were told to blow steadily in
future. So it came to the turn of myself (saxophone, rower, cyclist)
and another guy (trombone, cyclist) and we both had a good sense of the
wind up.. rather than just blow the water straight out of the tube, we
blew to the median for the class, then up a bit, then up a bit more and
gently blew the water out of the manometer.. Two of us off the scale,
all the rest were also rans.

It is not just a question of overall capacity but breath control as
well. I got my hands on one of those little peak flow machines and
spent a breathless few minutes working out how to get it to a maximum
value.

...d

I don't exercise, honest. I *can't*, really.

I have not ridden a bike for 3 years. (I must confess I did a lot before that)

My pulse is below 60, my blood pressure averages 107/65 (Tchibogadget).
I am 47. Three of my four grandparents lived past 90.

Perhaps I just have good genes.

--
Helen D. Vecht: [email hidden]
Edgware.

Helen Deborah Vecht said:

I don't exercise, honest. I *can't*, really.

I have not ridden a bike for 3 years. (I must confess I did a lot before
that)

That reminds me.
All Abilities cycling day in Croydon/Norwood on Saturday,
as part of Bike Week.

http://www.cyclingforall.org/

"citizen142" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I can't help but notice - it doesn't take a genius - that nearly all
my fellow senior companions at our monthly luncheon at a the Rugby
Club are on some sort of blood pressure tablets and statins. They all
arrive by car, I arrive by bike. They motor everywhere, I cycle
everywhere. They nearly all smoke, I never have. To quote my GP - you
have blood pressure and a pulse rate that Colin Jackson would be proud
of! I am 61.

At work I had the highest lung capacity they'd measured, my pulse rate at
rest is 50 and the blood pressure was 110/62 last week (OMRON M1). I look
forward to reaching 61 in 15 years time in as good as nick as you :-)

--
Simon Mason
http://www.simonmason.karoo.net

"Roos Eisma" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I have done serious training in the past while I was
rowing, but that's at least a decade ago now, and I do cycle and orienteer
and paddle and ski at the moment, but does that make me an athlete? I am
not really training, I just do things outside and cycle to get places
(like cake shops 🙂

Good question. What defines an athlete?
I don't consider myself an athlete, I just quietly get on with doing things
I enjoy: windsurfing, cycling and swimming. However compared to the general
population I'm quite fit and in my age group perhaps very fit, I know I'm
not superfit, but only an elite are I think.
One thing is that if you are a fit type you may spend a lot of time with
similar types and your perception of "average fitness" can then become
skewed.

my 2p,
Pete.

David Martin said:

It can't be the exercise.. must be the trombone playing ;-)

it might just ...

when I started SCUBA diving as an office fit non-smoking 20something I
had a proper medical. My lung capacity was about 90% of expected.

five years later I renewed my medical, lung capacity at 130%+. Not much
fitter but much better at regulated breathing, breath hold, diaphragm
use etc.

Phil

I am on BP medication and statins. I started on them at age 45. I am a
non-smoker. During the year before I got put on all those drugs, I rode

Quoted message said:

4,000 very hilly/mountainous miles, hiked a lot and ate a semi-vegetarian diet.

For some of us it really is genetic.

--
Peter Headland

"Peter Headland" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I am on BP medication and statins. I started on them at age 45. I am a
non-smoker. During the year before I got put on all those drugs, I rode

Quoted message said:

4,000 very hilly/mountainous miles, hiked a lot and ate a semi-vegetarian
diet.

For some of us it really is genetic.

--
Peter Headland

My husband has been on BP meds since his early 20s - he's now in his
mid-50s. High BP discovered via a routine medical exam - it was so high he
was rushed to hospital as it was thought he was about to have a stroke. Kept
in for a week and no reason found for the problem. He was otherwise fit,
healthy and not overweight and he exercised. On medication, his BP is well
controlled. On his both sides of his family there is a history of high BP
and diabetes. I reckon it's fairly likely he has a genetic predispositin to
high BP.

Cheers, helen s

Quoted message said:

My husband has been on BP meds since his early 20s - he's now in his
mid-50s. High BP discovered via a routine medical exam - it was so high he
was rushed to hospital as it was thought he was about to have a stroke.

Kept

Quoted message said:

in for a week and no reason found for the problem. He was otherwise fit,
healthy and not overweight and he exercised. On medication, his BP is well
controlled. On his both sides of his family there is a history of high BP
and diabetes. I reckon it's fairly likely he has a genetic predispositin

to

Quoted message said:

high BP.

Hah,

this Vernon has asymmetric blood pressure - sufficiently asymmetric to
warrant a series of x-rays, ultrasounds and an NMR session. No cause has
ever been found though it did give the medical students something unusual to
try and diagnose. I enjoyed my spell as a medical phenomenon. I was a
little downcast when I receive a letter telling me that there was no
identifiable medical reason for the asymmetry - I like to have answers. The
good news was that there was no discernable risk to my health.

vernon levy said:

Quoted message said:

When I was at school they had a manometer on the wall and were
measuring peoples lung capacity.

Manometers measure pressure so you were measuring the pressure exerted by
your lungs.

manometers also have a certain volume. In this case it was rather big
and had an estimated volume of several litres (half inch tube 8+m long.
The manometer itself was about 2.5m and the tubing leading to it a
further 2.5m. It measured lung capacity as well as pressure as the
volume of the instrument was non-negligible compared to lung capacity.

...d

Peter B said:

I enjoy: windsurfing, cycling and swimming. However compared to the
general
population I'm quite fit and in my age group perhaps very fit, I know I'm
not superfit, but only an elite are I think.

I don't think it's possible to be "superfit" and lead a normal life,
with a job, family, social life etc. Just imagine you were a
professional cyclist, and had to be "race-ready" all of the time.

I know plenty of fit people (marathon runners, rugby players, martial
artists etc), but I don't think I'd describe any of them as "superfit",
in the Lance Armstrong or Lennox Lewis sense. And comparing the "fitness"
of those two is opening a can of worms in itself.

I sense that I'm about to be proved wrong about the above assertion,
but that's cool, I like hearing inspirational stories.

--
jc

"Peter Headland" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I am on BP medication and statins. I started on them at age 45. I am a
non-smoker. During the year before I got put on all those drugs, I rode

Quoted message said:

4,000 very hilly/mountainous miles, hiked a lot and ate a semi-vegetarian

diet.

Quoted message said:

For some of us it really is genetic.

Me too, a relatively mild treatment and dosage since about 49 years old. I
had the full monty: portable monitor, ecg, gtt etc. before accepting the
advice I should start on medication.
I haven't smoked for over twenty years, drink in moderation, am not
overweight, have low cholesterol and enjoy an active lifestyle.
Of course the thing is to imagine if you were pre-disposed to hypertension
but also were over-weight, smoked didn't exercise etc.....

Pete

Roos Eisma said:

Physiology class this year, we measured our lung capacity. Class full of
podgy smoking 18 year olds that scored below their expected volume, I
measured at 123%.

I get the same at the asthma clinic. My current aim is to get the
peak flow meter off the scale :-)

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at CHS, Puget Sound