As a man when are you considered over the Hill?

[Lester C.]

This summer is I’m going to be 28 years old and I’ve thinking about my mortality. As I’m rapidly approaching middle age I was when at what age is the point where, from a purely physical standpoint, your best years are behind you? Or did I pass that signpost and not realize it? In a less enlightened age, had I been born a woman, I know that Iwere considered an old maid once you hit your mid twenties and I’m in my light twenties so I’m past that point. I realize that this thread is real self serving on my part but I have been thinking about my age a lot lately

[Jeff Brady]

You are only over the hill when you say you are. You are the only one who can tell you to stop living life.

[Lester C.]

You are only over the hill when you say you are. You are the only one who can tell you to stop living life.

I agree with you on a mental and spiritual level. I know many people who have insisted that life doesn’t begin until you are on 40. However physically there comes a point where you body starts saying %#$^ you on a daily basis and I'm wondering just when that point is.

[Jeff Brady]

I agree with you on a mental and spiritual level. I know many people who have insisted that life doesn’t begin until you are on 40. However physically there comes a point where you body starts saying %#$^ you on a daily basis and I'm wondering just when that point is.

It depends on how well you take care of yourself. There is no specific date.

[RandomRapidResponse]

This summer is I’m going to be 28 years old and I’ve thinking about my mortality. As I’m rapidly approaching middle age I was when at what age is the point where, from a purely physical standpoint, your best years are behind you? Or did I pass that signpost and not realize it? In a less enlightened age, had I been born a woman, I know that Iwere considered an old maid once you hit your mid twenties and I’m in my light twenties so I’m past that point. I realize that this thread is real self serving on my part but I have been thinking about my age a lot lately

Being the same age as you and working on a college campus with predominately freshman (18-19 yrs old), I can empathize with feeling "old." The thing is there are quite a few variables at play, my neighbor is 21 and I think of her as old because of how she acts. I mean I am not saying go out binge drinking or anything, but there are definate lifestyle choices and attitudes that make one "old." Do you mope around constantly talking about how you are lod and lfe is over? I mean, you don't really have to wear your age on a placard around your neck---although I have felt this way to at times, but the deal is we are in our twenties, not eighties so it's not that bad.....yet.

[titanfan]

I know many people who have insisted that life doesn’t begin until you are on 40.

Remember, most of them have no choice but to say that.

I just turned 30. I'm definitely over the hill. I felt my body started to go at 28/29. I started to gain weight if I slacked off on working out, I started to get weird body aches I never had before, and I found it more difficult to relate to people in their early 20's. I assume it's different for everyone, but for me, I was at about the point where you are now.

The worst part about getting old is that you realize how you mis-used your early 20's and if you know then what you know now...

[Sharpandpointies]

Physically, I started noticing differences when I was thirty. That could be just when I NOTICED them - there isn't a hard and fast time for it. It was easiest to spot in arm toughening.

When I was really young, I didn't bruise outside of massive damage (early 20's). When I started arm toughening, I bruised (mid-late 20's), but it went away very quickly. When I hit thirty, I bruised, and it stuck around a couple of days. I'm still there with the bruises.

When I hit thirty, I started noticing I was getting hurt more often. And the hurts were staying with me. And OLD injuries started coming back to haunt me.

Now that I'm 35, I take better care of myself. I have a bunch of injuries that go away, but can come back for visits. I also find that getting hit, hard, creates bruises that don't go away for a while. Grappling on linoleum generally wrenches something (I may win the battle, but I lose the war...mainly because my wife is furious when I come home injured, and doesn't take 'But I beat him!' as an acceptable excuse...imagine that) or gives me bruises and scrapes all over.

In short, I'm not weak and feeble by any stretch of the imagination - thanks to my diet and my exercise, I'm probably as strong as I've ever been, at my best - but I DO have to take better care of myself. I have to be...careful.

Careful means 'thinking about things before I do them', not 'shying away from anything that might be dangerous'.

Case in point - sparring with someone about three weeks ago. I asked him 'how hard?' He said 'Medium.' We sparred standing, ending up in a grappling situation - he went berserk. Now the smart thing for me to do would be to tap him on the shoulder and say 'hey, is this medium?' Did I do that? No. 'Okay, so that's how it's going to be!' was the thought, and it was on.

Dumb, dumb, dumb. Wrenched my back, my old knee injury, and my neck, only to find out after the fight that he went nutso because he was suddenly scared. And wouldn't you know it, my wife did not accept the excuse. Again. :) So...I'm throttling back a little. Medium now means 'medium', and I won't go hard unless it's with someone I trust not to freak.

The bruises don't wash away in the shower anymore. Injuries I would have laughed off in my twenties could now cause permanent damage if I don't TREAT them. I'm not old...and I don't want to get old, early, mentally (whining about my age and getting all wimpy) or physically (by busting myself up too much).

So I treat my body with a little more respect, mainly because I don't want to use a cane when I'm 45. And I maintain that yes, I'm stronger than I was when I was in my 20's, and I'm just as fast. My cardio is great, too. So...my best physical years are not yet behind me.

Don't get old in your head. Just check a little of the pride at the door, and think a bit before doing things.

[heystacy]

Sometimes I wish I could go back to 28. Those were the days... I think I was working for Disney World at the time. Another lifetime though.

Seriously, you're over the hill when you start thinking you are. I'm 35. I am so enjoying my life. I don't think I'll slow down until in about 30 more years.

[MacQuarrie]

"As a man when are you considered over the Hill?"

When you have to take half a viagra just so you don't pee on your shoes.

When your co-workers are the same age as your children.

When absolutely nobody in your department has ever heard of your favorite musician, comedian, or cartoonist.

[pennywisdom]

This summer is I’m going to be 28 years old and I’ve thinking about my mortality. As I’m rapidly approaching middle age I was when at what age is the point where, from a purely physical standpoint, your best years are behind you? Or did I pass that signpost and not realize it?

Are you on crack? You're not even close to over the hill and, assuming you're in good health, you shouldn't even begin to consider your mortality.

Advancements in medical science are making longer life not only possible, but probable. The average lifespan for a human keeps going up and up and up. At the stage we're at now, 45 is roughly middle age. You might consider winding down in your 40's, and you probably won't feel like death is at your doorstop for another couple decades after that. If you're 28, you could conceivably have another twenty years before you start a thread like this.

In a less enlightened age, had I been born a woman, I know that Iwere considered an old maid once you hit your mid twenties and I’m in my light twenties so I’m past that point. I realize that this thread is real self serving on my part but I have been thinking about my age a lot lately

What's your definition of "a less enlightened age"? There was a time when people died off at age 35, but then again, they also didn't have penicillin and they crapped in a bucket in the woods. That's hardly the case today.

[pennywisdom]

For what it's worth, I have read countless (and I mean a LOT) of articles that state "40 is the new 30" and "30 is the new 20".

That might be an exaggeration, but the point is: If you're still in your 20's (and probably even if you're into your 30's), you don't have very much cause for considering yourself old.

[Cam63]

I'm over the hill and proud of it !

[YoGo]

i'm going to say that menopause is definitely when you're headed downhill.

[OzBat!]

Yogo, you've GOT to stop telling people your menopause symptoms are actually from a gunshot wound, okay? It's getting monotonous! :p

I'm starting to feel my age (37), but only because I stopped exercising when my wife and I went through a really hard bunch of years in my late 20s/early 30s, and now it's so bloody hard to start again. My weight ballooned, my eyesight crashed, and I feel like a wreck if I do anything physical. So yes, I feel "middle aged". BUT, I know it wouldn't have been a problem if I'd been able to stick to the exercise program.

If Sharpandpointies is the example of what to do, I'm the corrollating example of what NOT to do. Look after yourself, and it won't be an issue.

[Michael P]

As Bill Hicks said, "When you realize you have a favorite pair of underwear, you have some serious questions to ask yourself."