Mouthy - You and I were baptized the same year! Only I was11. You must have been at least a teenager!
restrangled - Steady pace riding on a stationary bike is good, but if you could do what is known as High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) or Extreme Interval Fat Burning (EIFB) you would see a huge difference in way less time. You can look both of those up online and get some great direction, but in a nutshell, they incorporate what research has shown to be very important - that you increase and decrease the intensity of your efforts during the course of a run. It's why road biking or running is so much better than with a machine - you naturally have an increase in effort when the terrain gets steeper.
On a bike it would mean starting out with say a 10min warmup at about 50% of your fastest pace, then over the next 5 to 10 minutes increasing your speed and effort by 10% or so every minute or two, until you are going all out at the fastest pace you can maintain for 1-2 minutes max. Then you drop back down to say a 60% recovery pace and do it all over again. And then again. A ride like that would be many times more effective in developing fitness and in burning bodyfat than say riding for an hour at one steady pace. I mean that HIIT for 30-45 minutes would probably be 10 times as effective inincreasing your fitness and in burning body fat as a steady, sustainable pace for an hour or two.
You also mentioned one of the things that growing older gives you - time for yourself. It's a lot easier to take an hour for yourself to exercise now than it is when you've got babies, etc. Yet it's as valuable time spent as can be. BizzyBee and her husband are just what I'm talking about.
If you're riding a bike an hour a day and are even a few pounds overweight, then you're probably not getting anywhere near the training effect from it that you should be getting. Not being able to lift things also sounds odd at your age. It seems you have other physical ailments.
I can tell you this with certainty - to combat aging, every exercise program HAS to include exercise that raises your heart rate to near capacity such as intense interval running, swimming, biking, etc., you MUST lift weights, heavy weights where the last few reps are all you can do and at a pace that also increases your heart rate (did you realize that weightlifting can in its own way be aerobic?), and you need to include stretching and core work such as yoga, core synergistics, etc. You also have to workout a MINIMUM of 4-5 times a week, and you have to restrict your food intake calorie wise, and make those calories the best possible fuel - lean meats, whole grains, vegetables and fruits.
If you do that, you can maintain the physical ability and fitness level of a healthy, athletic 30 to 40 year old for the majority of a very long life. I'm doing it and I've seen it done over and over and over. That doesn't mean you won't die of cancer at 55 - but it really stacks the odds in your favor that that WON"T happen, and if it does you'll still have been able to get so much more out of life due to your superb level of fitness.
It sounds like you may have arthritis. I know very little about that. But you should check out how diet, exercise, etc. can help you there.
What I see about aging, especially here in the US, is that the vast majority of people get old, fat and out of shape - and that's what the culture expects to happen to older people, though it's completely unnecessary. In my office I'm the oldest and by far in the best shape, and everyone else would have a BMI easily in the overweight category and most of them would range into the obese level. One is thin - but she smokes. It's not a healthy looking thin!
I'd be willing to bet that the majority of people here who are really feeling the physical effects of aging would say they are "a few pounds over their ideal weight." Be honest. Do a BMI (Body Mass Index) test. It's simple. You can find them all over the Net. That test is likely to say that you're overweight or even obese. Find out what you should weigh. There are also simple tests you can find online to tell you what your bodyfat percentage is. If you're a guy and your bodyfat is over 20%, you're too fat. Mid to low teens would be good, getting into the 10% or so range is better. Ladies can go 5 points higher or so. And honestly assess how often a week you exercise strenuously enough to get your heart rate up into it's target zone - essentially in the range of 200 minus your age.
If you're not taking care of yourself, you can expect to be feeling all those effects of old age, and at a very young age - 30, 40, 50, 60. I just don't consider 60 or 70 to be especially old.
It can be rough to start out for the first few weeks, but you can literally take decades off your physical age in 3 to 6 months of serious exercise and a good eating plan. That's all it takes, less than half a year, for most people to go from fat and unconditioned to lean and extremely fit. And once you get fit, it's way, way easier to maintain that. And the whole process can be fun as hell. Remember playing as a kid? That's what exercise should be like - that same joy of movement and strength and exertion you had as a kid jumping rope or playing ball.
Most people will never do it, and because of that, we expect that fat and feeble is the norm for the aged. It doesn't have to be.
Use it or lose it.
Now I need to get some exercise by stepping down off my soapbox!! Sorry, I'm just passionate about this. I see all this unnecessary suffering and disease, when we could do so much about it if we just took control of our own lives and bodies.
OK, again stepping down off soapbox....
S4
