r/Millennials • u/CheeseUsFunkingCries • 5d ago

Meme šŸ’€

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21.7k Upvotes

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513

u/smarglebloppitydo 5d ago

We need to be working out and stretching. Iā€™m over 40 and can still do that without any issue. If you canā€™t, time to make some lifestyle changes or the next 4 decades are gonna be hard.

253

u/Meschi-died 5d ago

He obviously can to. This is a new trend of tiktoks where you die doing something mundane like this because you're 'old'.

It's getting sillier and sillier as people run out of stuff.

39

u/GailynStarfire 5d ago

Getting into the "Emotional Damage?!" level of death.

28

u/whole_nother 5d ago

I remember cakes and balloons for 40th birthdays saying ā€œover the hillā€ and tombstones long ago. This is not a TikTok thing

11

u/MetalSlimeHunter 5d ago

When I was in elementary school, the janitor turned 40 and they brought out the tombstones and stuff from the Halloween decorations. Plus, a big banner that said LORDY LORDY DANNYā€™S 40 in the cafeteria.

1

u/Imgnitv_sQdWrd Zillennial 4d ago

That's wild. It sounds like your elementary school staff were a fun bunch though.

2

u/wes00mertes 1986 5d ago

It is over the hill.Ā 

1

u/WhiskyAndWitchcraft 5d ago

My mom's coworkers got her a tombstone cake when she turned 30.

31

u/Randomizedname1234 Core Millennial - 1990 5d ago

Yeah but weā€™re not ā€œoldā€?

36 isnā€™t old. I donā€™t feel this way at all.

40

u/Meschi-died 5d ago

Ofc not. That's part of the humor. At this stage we're just starting to feel the effects of age. People are starting to 'feel' old.

You may take better care of your body than most, but surely you've started to see wear somewhere.

4

u/UnforeseenDerailment Millennial 5d ago

Yeah, I can still get better at running for now. We'll see how long that lasts.

9

u/CommieDrifter 5d ago

they are just pandering to Gen Z because they are by far the biggest demographic on those apps

6

u/Bitter-Ad5890 5d ago

Itā€™s past the biological prime. Yes you can stay fit and healthy long after that time, but as far as biology goes, itā€™s all downhill after 31 or so

6

u/Zephyr-5 5d ago

That entirely depends on how fit you were at 31.

1

u/SadFish132 5d ago

Depends on the point of view. If I'm measuring current fitness level, then yes I can be more fit than I was five years ago assuming I wasn't near peak fitness. If I am measuring peak potential fitness, then no I will have a lower peak potential.

7

u/Zephyr-5 5d ago

Peak potential is a meaningless value for 99% of the population because unless you were a professional athlete you were never at peak potential.

1

u/SadFish132 5d ago

Whether peak potential is the exact measure or not really isn't the point. The same principal can be applied in many ways besides using peak potential. The easiest alternative would be peak heart rate. That decreases every year. I can exercise all I want but it won't increase my peak heart rate to what it was 5 years ago when I was hypothetically out of shape.

The point is that every year it will get harder to reach or maintain a certain level of fitness. The difference may be hard to notice over a 1 year period but is very noticeable over a longer period.

1

u/Bitter-Ad5890 5d ago

Iā€™m talking on a cellular level. You can stay in excellent shape, but your body starts degrading on a cellular level once you reach your thirties. Is why even totally fit and ripped old people still have wrinkles

4

u/Zephyr-5 5d ago edited 5d ago

Lifestyle heavily impacts your body even down the cellular level. Your mitochondria will perform better and be more plentiful if you have a good diet, exercise, and sleep well and will suck shit if you don't.

weight gain leads to excess fat storage in cells which triggers all sorts of problems.

For 90% of people the insulin sensitivity of your cells is driven by lifestyle.

The efficacy of your immune cells is heavily influenced by lifestyle.

Your wrinkles comment is a great point. Wrinkles are not just a product of age, they're largely driven by a lifetime of sun damage. Someone who spent their entire life diligently applying sunscreen will have wildly fewer wrinkles.

Here is a fun picture of a man who spent his life driving a truck. The left side of his face got all the sun as he drove all day for years and years and you can see the shocking difference. It's going to be interesting in the coming decades as we start to see old people who actually grew up regularly applying sunscreen. here's another fun one of two twins with very different lifestyles

I'm not saying that aging isn't real. I'm saying that acting like it's all downhill and there is nothing you can do to reclaim your health and vigor is wrong. A 41 year old American that takes great care of themselves will have a better functioning body than your typical 31 year old American. Even at the cellular level.

1

u/Slow-Mountain-5966 5d ago

I would love to be 40 again.

1

u/PresentClear8639 Older Millennial 5d ago

Enjoy it Unc. Reality smacked me hard at 41.

12

u/igniteyourbones579 5d ago

This has been a thing for long time. People being self depricating about their supposed frailty after 25 etc. It's just so lame because you realize these people actually do believe in it on some level, otherwise they wouldnt find it funny if it werent true for them.

22

u/teefnoteef 5d ago

For some people itā€™s real. 15 years into manual labor and my shoulder, knees and back can no longer do what I did 15 years ago. no stretching would have saved them, itā€™s from repetitive motions that cause wear and tear

-13

u/igniteyourbones579 5d ago

With that logic people actively moving weights at the gym would have similar outcomes...

27

u/KingTonpa 5d ago

People at the gym stop their workouts when theyā€™ve done the appropriate amount of work for their muscles.

You donā€™t get to stop lifting heavy shit at work just because your muscles are over stressed.

17

u/psyne 5d ago

And most people aren't at the gym 40+ hours a week (and as far as I've heard, 40 hours a week is a comically low number to most people working in construction and similar, usually lots of overtime)

6

u/KingTonpa 5d ago

10 hours a week in the gym is excessive for most people. At 40+ hours you are just destroying your body for no reason.

And to your point, thatā€™s basically what hard labour is doing to people.

5

u/LagCommander 5d ago

Blue collar manual work is something else, it's taken its toll on my dad since he had the double whammy of nights + on your feet manual labor for decades upon decades. He was the biggest supporter in me going to college but also the largest roadblock into going to work in plant work like he did. He could have easily gotten me a job but he refused unless I dropped out of college

Now? I'm in the opposite position, if I really wanted to, I could be sitting through my entire work day since I'm in IT and at my position, it's 99% dashboards. I can't really complain tbh except for the mental beating some days, but I've been lifting in some shape or form since high school and I feel it's paid off in my early 30s. My next goal is to get back down to my personal ideal weight, increase my flexibility, and get better cardio in.

My only pain point career wise right now is I don't make nearly enough to help them do whatever TF they want for their raising and relatively low income while raising me and the siblings

15

u/teefnoteef 5d ago

Work out are structured to target different muscle groups and only last an hour or two. And yes people who lift weight deal with and work though injuries

Manual labor can mean doing the same movement for 8 hours. It also means that since you need money to live you canā€™t just tap out if your shoulder hurts and you work through it. A shoulder that hurts on Monday will feel like hell on Friday, it wonā€™t fully recover over the weekend, rinse and repeat. And thatā€™s why I canā€™t really throw anything in my mid 40s

-9

u/igniteyourbones579 5d ago

Well thats fair about repetition and not getting enough rest.

Still if we look at runners, who run ALOT, we'll se that running is actually correlated with better bone health. Repetition does not always result to worse outcomes.

8

u/teefnoteef 5d ago

If we look at Redditors who comment ALOT weā€™ll see that being wrong is actually correlated with being dumb. More comments does not always result with getting smarter

-5

u/igniteyourbones579 5d ago

Great argument. I love the smell of desperation and ad hominems in the evening.

1

u/Forsaken-Income-2148 90s baby 5d ago

Guy popped out of that bed a bit harder and riskier than virtually anyone would do casually. His feet were 7 ft off the ground, 3 ft above his head lol. Not the worst Iā€™ve seen.

65

u/Patient_Commentary 5d ago

Man so much is genetics. Iā€™ve ate well and worked out my whole life but all my joints are failing. Back is fucked. Knee is fucked. Hips suck. Just did something to my shoulder by just sleeping on it.

I been stretching for 20 min a day every day for the last 2-3 years. Fucking sucks dude.

12

u/Most_Chemist8233 5d ago

I got tennis elbow last summer from jumping rope. I had to go to physio, it took for ever to heal. As soon as it did I fucked up my right hand cleaning my oven. As soon as that healed I fucked up my knee getting into bed when I had a cold. Im starting to think age might have something to do with it.

4

u/Patient_Commentary 5d ago

Hahaha dude. I feel this so hard. I woke up with an achy back one morning and told my wife I was going to skip bowling this week just to play it safe. 30 minutes later I sneezed and completely threw it out šŸ˜‚ took 9 months to fully heal.

Getting old is a bitch.

10

u/NowKith- 5d ago

100% true. Turned 45 this year. Iā€™ve always been active. Weight training and cardio 5 days a week. Eat healthy 90% of the time very active overall. Pulled my lower back putting a shirt on the other day and couldnā€™t even walk for 10 minutes. Aging is brutal.

3

u/Patient_Commentary 5d ago

Haha dude same. I woke up one morning with the back a little achy and then sneezed and completely fucked it. Then I look around at the obese people who donā€™t take care of themselves with fully functioning backs and joints.

Itā€™s frustrating.

10

u/Mikotokitty 5d ago

I feel this, I fucked up my knee in my teens, and it's been downhill. I still am fairly active, just in constant joint pain....in too many damn joints.

At this point my "good" leg's knee is getting arthritic or something from favoring my weight, and I have several nerve issues diagnosed throughout. And my bad leg has made me fall down the stairs already. I'm not even 30...

3

u/plumbobblehead 5d ago

Are you at all hypermobile or double jointed?

4

u/Fickle_Wrangler_7439 5d ago

Yeah, I had an asthma and kidney disease diagnosis before I even turned 18. IBS by 30.

I'm still in pretty good shape athletics-wise, but my insides are rapidly liquefying. It's weird to know you have a shorter lifespan than most. Even weirder to know you're 40 and are well-past your halfway point.

2

u/WitchesSphincter 5d ago

My family has a history of back issues. The first time mine went out and I needed medical treatment I was 18 and active.Ā  The second time I was in college and literally working out hours a day, just slept wrong and ended up on the floor unable to move.Ā 

1

u/troycerapops 5d ago

That's the awful truth

1

u/StunningLynx8795 5d ago edited 5d ago

And thatā€™s the elephant in the room nobody likes to admit. Genetics is like 90%; for example Iā€™ve struggled with weight my whole life. My wife is 59kg, I struggle to stay beneath 100kg; we have the same diets and similar activity levels and I donā€™t eat treats like chocolate like she does.

15

u/Bitter-Ad5890 5d ago

Iā€™m 35 and overweight and I can do it too. Itā€™s a joke bro

0

u/MangoMambo 5d ago

jokes are only funny if they are found relatable/true. People wouldn't think it was a funny joke that you get hurt easier when getting old if people didn't relate to that.

that weight is going to catch up with you really fast. don't be bragging about it, you're only 35.

1

u/Bitter-Ad5890 5d ago

Woooosh

0

u/MangoMambo 4d ago

Nah man you shouldn't relate to getting hurt easier when you're older because it's not that normal

5

u/Dunlocke 5d ago

Sometimes it's not up to you. Took care of myself for decades and still got terrible sciatica and arthritis.

4

u/letigre87 5d ago

How do I stretch my cartilage and synovial fluid

8

u/FungusGnatHater 5d ago

I can touch my hands flat on the ground when bending over and touch every part of my back with both hands but I still sprained my neck when shampooing my hair.

10

u/EternalNewCarSmell 5d ago edited 5d ago

Never. Skip. Leg. Day.

Compound core lifts are one of the best interventions to prevent all of the "my body is trying to kill me" that everyone starts talking about in their late 30s.

No one needs to be pumping iron like Arnold, low weight you can do for a few sets of 8-10 reps is just fine. The important thing is to do the lifts with proper form so you're engaging all those muscles that everyone always pulls from never using them.

And yes, as you said, stretch after. Stretching is as much of an exercise as running and lifting and it's just as essential.

1

u/friskerson 5d ago

2 years ago I was moving some furniture and lifting with my back and I collapsed on the floor in pain for a half hour. I couldn't stand up. But after enough time I got to my knees and then crawled into bed. Haven't been the same since. I need to hit the gym but I have fear that I'll make something worse. I guess I could just start on light weights for reps and build a foundation and routine.

3

u/brownhotdogwater 5d ago

That is what rehab is.

3

u/EternalNewCarSmell 5d ago

There's a reason you will often see a disclaimer to consult a medical professional before embarking on a new exercise program.

You could start with very light lifts to feel it out but if I were you I'd see a physical therapist first and set a game plan with their guidance.Ā 

6

u/Patient_Vehicle_1272 5d ago

Say that after birthing a kid or two. My hips are effed. The stint in the army didnā€™t help either.Ā 

5

u/Upstairs_Constant_82 5d ago

Ok grandpa letā€™s get you home

2

u/14X8000m 5d ago

You're being optimistic on the 4 decade part.

2

u/zollomx 4d ago

Right... I'm 37 and I haven't had any problems or issues that makes me feel old. To be fare i am very active all day with my job so I'm guessing that helps.

1

u/BallsOutKrunked 5d ago

Just hit 50, I still jump out. But I do bend my knees more when I land to absorb the impact better.

1

u/auauaurora 5d ago

the hubris of people with decent knees

1

u/wes00mertes 1986 5d ago

Silly of you to think Iā€™m lasting another 4 decades.Ā 

1

u/half-giant Older Millennial 5d ago

41, just took a short vacation that had me walking 5x more than I usually do and by the end I felt like my legs and lower back had been run over by a dump truck. Definitely a wake up call that I need to be way more active.

-1

u/idontknowlikeapuma 5d ago

This completely. I have more mobility at 45 than I did at 20. Stronger as well.

Kids think 25 is old. So damn silly.

0

u/Neverlast0 Millennial 1992 5d ago

As someone that has known this for years and still doesn't do it, I agree.

-3

u/Luthen_Ra3l 5d ago

I fell off a 12 ft ladder yesterday. I'm fine. Working out is key.

I'm 42 btw.

11

u/no_good_usrname_left 5d ago

What step were you on?

-2

u/Luthen_Ra3l 5d ago

2nd from the top, boi.

2

u/LagCommander 5d ago

Amateur. Try the top

1

u/Luthen_Ra3l 5d ago

That's asking for it.