@Kloi when I did that because of lower back pain I was thinking it takes pretty good balance to lift up a foot apply some force to laces, and not to fall.
Another marker was not being able to get up from a squat without using hands.
Having to bend over to put on and tie your shoes is another one. I didn't realize how strange it is I pick my foot up to waist level to do this until my girlfriend's Mom pointed it out.
It's a diagnostic test for onset of parkinsons.
@Kloi Falls spell the end. By the time they start to fall, they are so frail that they lack the recovery to heal.
Provided you don't go senile, the loss of the ability to get up from a squat is really what defines when your life as a man ends and your second childhood begins. If you can't get up you are basically fucked and have to be taken care of.
Balance is a big deal. I have a lot of older customers and everyone loses their balance at some point and then a stick is advisable on rough ground and no more ladders. Gosh I hope this comes late for me! I have spent my adult life working at height.
Whatever else you do, retain the ability to get up from a squat. Strength is the best protection and all the gym beasts should have this on their side, so long as the heart can take the load of all the extra weight they have piled on.
Read More@SeasonedRP Very much so. I completely agree. One has to read one's own body with how it responds to the stimulus and the volume. (This is why good coaches don't write big long plans for good people but give them ideas and see how they get on).
Ageing happens to all of us on roughly the same schedule. Good habits and genetics can delay it a bit and strength accrued pre aging is a great buffer to the observable effects. But we all have the same problems of attenuated responsiveness to stimuli and reduced capacity to recover on a fairly similar chronology. It is worth being aware of this while at the same time fighting tooth and nail to retain everything one can as long as one can (and some very cool old guys show us that that can be quite a long time).
@First-light These are good observations but it's important to keep in mind that work capacity is influenced by years of training and how that training is performed. An elite level 60 year old may well be able to handle significantly more volume than a less trained 25 year old.