Stay Fit for a Longer and Better Retirement
When we contemplate retirement, we tend to hone in on the dollars required, how long it might take to get those dollars, and how to best keep those dollars in our own accounts and out of the hands of advisors and tax collectors.
Money is obviously vital to any retirement plan, particularly an early retirement plan. Money isn’t all that matters, though. I’ve talked before about other things that matter, like having Enough in terms of meaningful friendships, time, love, and happiness. Another important consideration is your health.
Without good health, retirement might not be nearly as great as you expect it should be, which is why it is so important to incorporate wellness and fitness into your retirement plan. Life is a whole lot easier when you can take the steps to your rented Italian villa without stopping to catch your breath, rest your arthritic knees, and check your blood glucose level.
No elevators here!
When setting your financial goals, set some fitness goals, too. Crossing the financial independence finish line huffing and puffing and fifty pounds overweight is a bad look. Don’t neglect the body that you’re going to use in retirement. You only get the one.
Fortunately, the one you’ve got can be maintained and modified. It may not be easy, but if you’ve got the discipline to build your financial muscles, you can work on your other muscles, too.
I’m not going to tell you how to get fit, lose weight, or eat right. If you feel you need a Fitbit or an Apple watch, knock yourself out. Just do something. There are a million and one websites and other resources that can do a much better and more complete job than I can.
I just want to bring some of the benefits of staying fit to the forefront. Workouts tend to be the first thing to go when life gets busy for me. Then I remind myself why I choose to work out in the first place, and I find my way back into a routine.
How can fitness improve your retirement?
Exercise lowers stress. Establishing a regular workout routine during your working years can help stave off burnout and set you up to remain fit well into your retirement years.
Healthier people tend to live longer (Thank you, Dr. Obvious). Behind this well-known fact lies a more subtle truth. Doing your best to stay healthy is a great way to add high-quality years to your retirement. Saving money and retiring early is just one way of buying extra years of life to enjoy without the stresses of paid employment. Retiring early and healthy (say at 55 with the health of an average 45-year old) is akin to retiring 10 years earlier.
According to the U.S. Government’s actuarial table, a 55-year old man can expect to live, on average, another 25.4 years. The average 55-year old woman gets another 27.8 years.
These are averages. I’ve taken care of hundreds of 55-year olds. Some are a picture of health; some are a picture of near-death. In some cases, bad health is due to bad luck. More often than not though, the conditions that plague the unhealthy 55-year old are at least somewhat preventable: obesity, smoking, untreated sleep apnea and hypertension, etc…
Do your best to be the healthy 55-year old and you could be looking at thirty or more years of good living in your future. The unhealthy 55-year old may have no more than five or ten. That could be a difference of twenty-plus good years.
Do you need additional incentives to stay fit? Really?
How about keeping up with the grandkids? My boys were born when I was 32 and 34 years old. If those two wait as long as I did, I’ll be in my mid-sixties when I become a Grandpa. It’s yeoman’s work chasing these boys around now. If I want to fully enjoy their kids someday, my only hope is to find a fitness routine that I can stick with for another 30 years.
What sort of workout routine do I have now?
As life gets busy, I tend to go in and out of workout routines, but I hope to establish a more consistent schedule with my part-time and eventually no-time work schedule.
A recent workout consisted of a set of pull-ups, a set of dips, a set of pushups, a treadmill 5k, and cooling down with some sit-ups and stretching. I’m happy with the results, sporting a BMI of 22.4 (calculate yours here), BP around 110 / 70, and a resting heart rate in the low 60’s. Yes, I’m bragging. Not even humble bragging.
I like to include mud and barbed wire in my daily routine ????
I’m looking forward to running outside more, biking, and perhaps kayaking as the weather improves this spring. I’d like to add some strength training, but it will probably come at the expense of the cardio (running). In early retirement, I should have the time to do both!
I doubt you need any more convincing at this point, but there’s one more benefit to staying fit that I’d like to highlight.
Staying fit will save you money!
My employer kicks back $20 each month if I sign in at the YMCA eight times each month. We get another $20 when Mrs. PoF (who is much more consistent than I am) meets the quota. $40 a month isn’t going to make or break us, but I’ll take it.
More importantly, staying fit can save you many, many dollars in healthcare costs over a lifetime. Fewer clinic visits, fewer prescriptions, and fewer procedures means fewer dollars spent. Fitness can easily save you thousands each and every year, particularly if you carry a high deductible health plan with an HSA, as I do.
Doing your best to stay fit can add quality years to your retirement, reduce stress, improve your looks, and give you a sense of accomplishment that is hard to come by any other way. Do you prioritize fitness? Is remaining healthy a key part of your retirement plan? Let us know below!
Couldn’t agree more.
This is one of the reasons I’m dropping my administrative roles and going part-time. I was at a 2-hour meeting. I skipped my morning workout to get there before 7 AM. I looked around at the physician leaders in the room. They looked tired, frustrated, and not the picture of good health. The waistlines expand every year. I want out of that track.
Sounds like you are doing great, PoF. From what I’ve been reading lately 110/70 is actually the optimal pressure. 120/80 is a bit of a compromise goal since so few reach it.
I share the goal of increasing my fitness with part-time work. It sounds like it will work. I’ll see if I can pull it off. Since I’m typing this while using my treadmill desk, I’m optimistic.
Writing from a treadmill desk? Go Wealthy Doc! That’s real commitment.
The average American probably takes better care of their cars than they do their own body. It’s a sad state of affairs. They’ll sit on the couch watching football all day Sunday, but they no doubt get regular oil changes, maintenance checkups, and even wash their cars on weekends.
70% of American adults are overweight and 38% obese. The numbers speak for themselves. If you want a good and happy life, you’ve got to get the life-vessel in shape first.
Definitely sage advice, POF.
Two thing I like to mention in are:
1) being disciplined with working out helps me be disciplined in other areas of my life, including financial discipline. I think when you learn the craft of mental fortitude it is easier to apply in other areas
2) fitness does not have to take long. I mostly do HIIT (high intensity interval training) workouts right in my house. Of course, my living room serves as a gym (including adjustable weights next to the couch), play area for my kid (including a wrestling mat know as a carpet), and entertainment area. Seriously, though, HIIT workouts have good research behind them and only take 20 to 25 minutes. Burn a bunch of calories and build good cardio, which is likely the most important thing to bring you health into retirement.
I like posts that encourage you to “get back on the treadmill.” Good timing, too, with New Years resolutions right around the corner! This is when I decided to start working out again last year and have lost 25 lbs and am now under a BMI of 25.
This is really important. I make myself do this. I am not naturally an exerciser. I would rather read. It makes sense to do what you can. I have been keeping my weight down but then that comes back to bite you with osteoporosis. Now I am reclasting my bone density. At 60 I have just started to get some osteoarthritis in my knees and low back. I consider myself lucky to have no problems with bp, cholesterol, or glucose. I have always been a walker. I am now doing some yoga. So far I have not had any orthopedic surgery.
I love this post. Financial health is nothing when your physical health is suffering. Even if you absolutely cannot make it to the gym, you can increase the amount of walking that you do. Walking is by far the most underrated form of exercise!
Thanks to PoF for letting me guest post on a similar topic in his blog.
Great point. My workout routines tend to come and go, but I’m always walking and / or biking a fair amount.
Great guest post, too: “Invest in Yourself Now. Save Money Later.” https://www.physicianonfire.com/investinyourself/
Cheers!
-PoF
All in on this post. I was out of shape at 35, and was a medical director and vice-chair of the department. Getting in at 0700, working at two hospitals plus an oupatient clinic, taking call and working weekends for free as part of my employment…
I started jogging at 35, then running, and in 2007, added swimming. At the beginning of the fitness changeover, my 5K took 30 minutes and I weighed 210 pounds. At the peak of fitness at age 45-50, I weighed 190, had 11% body fat, competed in master’s swimming at the state level, and started doing sprint triathlons. My best 5K was about 21:30. I even did an open water swim on Bermuda in 2009 around Harrington Sound in 2009 in 1:25 (4000m or 2.5 miles).
I’ve continued the Sprint Triathlons, running and swimming, putting in a half mile in the pool at lunch three days a week for years. I’ve slowed down a bit this last eight years going from age 45 when I did P90X (and was featured on their Facebook success stories) to now. I used to finish the average sprint triathlon in 1:16, this year I was at about 1:23.
I was so pleased with the results I put up a non-commercial beginner triathlete website to inspire others to use triathlons for fitness and functional longevity and started lecturing locally about brain health through fitness. If I could figure out a way to monetize this concept, I’d rather do it than medicine. I’ve thought about becoming a physician fitness coach.
I still hike, swim a half mile at the YMCA at lunch, and do three sprint triathlons each summer. At age 50, I completed an open water swim across five connected lakes called the “Swim to the Moon” in 1:50. It was my longest swim to date at 5000m. Best part: a 72 year old dude beat me and he was doing the 10,000m and both his 5000m splits beat mine…
I have also kept up with the Navy Seal fit test requirements and try to make it every year or three at the YMCA on my own. Last time I tried it at age 50, I missed only the run part by 30 seconds. No kidding.
I know this is straight up bragging, but WCI bragged a bit in his post, and this is my forte. I post it here to inspire all physicians to see what their bodies can do.
Very impressive, YH. Your best 5k time is very close to mine, although I was a good ten years younger when I peaked in my late thirties, after refusing to run until I was in my early thirties.
I’ll have to check out your site and the Navy Seal fit test requirements. I’m sure I’m nowhere close, particularly with swimming, but it’s great to have goals.
Happy New Year!
-PoF
To be fair, I didn’t write the post and would never brag about what I spent the weekend doing 🙂
https://canyoneering.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/sandthrax07.jpg
This isn’t my picture. It isn’t entirely obvious, but this person is about 40 feet off the ground. When I crossed this “silo”, I was about 8 feet higher with my feet on the left wall, my hands on the right wall, and there was no rope. When I get the picture from one of my partners, I’m sure it’ll find its way on to the blog.
While this canyon didn’t take as long as an Ironman, I basically spent the equivalent of 3 or 4 sprint triathalons without touching the ground.
Being 55 this year the article seemed aimed straight at me. I won’t mention my BMI, it’s pitiful. But this am I did yoga for the first time in a few weeks and had several nice walks over the holiday with my 80 yo dad (he does 5 miles before we all wake up, and then walks again whenever we’re willing, so if I do the work the longevity will follow). I plan to take the dogs out for my intermittent mile walk soon though today I must keep up my strength for a political protest this morning, and later moving furniture if bail isn’t too high 😉 . While sadly I’m above average fitness in Alabama; no longer working full time and tapping away at my keyboard here in the kitchen has led me to eating 2-5 high carb ‘desserts’ a day instead of 0-1. Returning from a food (and protein) laden holiday I’ve lost my appetite for sweets so here’s to 2018 and getting back to my military weight or at least dropping 5%.
I think it’s easy to forget that perfect is the enemy of good. There are great health benefits to simple workouts, even walking. For those not yet reaching FIRE and not having free time, even a brisk thirty minute walk in the middle of the work day can provide physical as well as mental benefits.
Excellent point, G.
I’m traveling and stayinig with family, which makes it really easy to be lazy. But I did a five-minute Sworkit workout (phone app — love it) before showering this morning, and I’ll get some exercise hoofing it up and down this little sledding hill with the family this afternoon?
Far from a perfect routine, but something is better than nothing.
Cheers!
-PoF
Whoops. I just realized this is a guest post from POF, not WCI. So, it was POF and myself bragging a bit, not WCI.
Most of my bragging rights are past now and I’m not in the same shape I was even a year ago, but you know…time for a resolution to get back on it. I’m currently back up to 203 pounds and need to drop about eight in the spring…
You are forgiven.
I returned from Mexico a few weeks ago within 3 pounds of my target weight and a resting HR of 57 after hiking hundreds of steps daily, often as a mule loaded down with groceries.
Three and a half weeks, and many holiday meals and treats later, I’m 10 pounds from my target weight. Time to act on those New Years resolutions!
-PoF
You have hit the nail on the head…. what good is an early retirement without good health…. I suppose you can leave your retirement to the kids. I love the US but I’m amazed at the level of obesity we port here. When I travel to Europe people are biking, walking, and eating smaller portions. That could go a long ways in helping our good health and longevity. I also want to say thanks for the great articles. This is the ONLY blog I read on a regular basis and feel most assuredly that it is helping me with my investing acumen, confidence, and my ability to reach my financial goals. Thanks and a happy new year to all at this site.
Happy New Year to you, as well!
Sadly, it seems the rest of the world is adopting many of our unhealthy habits and catching up to us. I’d love to see that trend reversed, and it starts here at home.
You may want to start reading a second blog — I authored this one.
Cheers!
-PoF
You’re welcome! Good thing we cross post PoF posts here or you’d miss them!
I do NOT want to go through my entire medical history of early diabetes, heart disease and the like.
However, in the past 25+ years, only one MD ever asked me about the stress levels in my work. That doctor was the surgeon performing my CABG procedure. I worked in a corporate finance position and at least 30% of the middle and upper managers in the organization had heart attacks and or significant heart disease by their mid 50s.
I wonder at times if there should be more discussion on healthy ways – including exercise- to help people in high-stress positions to deal with this issue.
The stress alone is an independent risk factor. Add in a few other lifestyle-related diseases that may accompany the long hours and sedentary nature of the work, it’s not a huge surprise so many end up sick.
I’m doing my best to buck the trend, but it’s not easy.
Best,
-PoF
Great timing of this post, especially as gyms start to fill up at the end of one year and start of another. I am also taking the start of the year to reset my fitness goals, especially when it comes to prioritizing exercise and meal prep.
I recently stared using an app called Aaptiv, which has audio workouts. There are workouts for strength, cycling, medication, tredmill, outdoor running and more. The app is great because you can search workouts by type and length of time. Wish I had this during residency. Even on busy days, I can fit in a 30 minute workout and feel great. I highly recommend the app if you are looking for some motivation for fitness. Cheers to health and fitness in 2018!
Sounds a bit like Sworkit, but that’s more video based than audio. As long as it gets you motivated and moving, it’s effective.
Cheers!
-PoF
Physicians tend to be really good at prioritizing to meet their commitments to others like career and family. When it gets tight, personal fitness gets pushed off the bottom. At least this has been my pattern.
Two things have helped me break it:
1) Part of my commitment to my family needs to be teaching my kids that healthy habits and exercise are a regular part of life. If I am not modelling that, I am failing to meet my commitment.
2) The second was joining a club with external accountability. I joined my kids’ karate school several years back and one of the rules is that you have to have commitment and attend an average of at least two classes per week. There is accountability if you do not. Not only am I accountable to external-to-the-family adults, my kids would be totally on my case if I was not fulfilling my responsibilities. You also have testing every three months which includes a fitness test component that is really really unpleasant if you have not been training.
I completely agree with this. Not working out is a mild form of depression or mental illness. Obviously, everything is better when you are healthy and in shape. Yet, we all still have difficulty getting off the couch and doing something. The longer you are on the couch, the harder it is to leave.
In 2017, I started working out regularly for the first time in several years. The benefits to my psyche, my work performance, my marriage, and my relationship with my kids are innumerable. I have to say that I am not “exercise guy.” I never have been. But when I finally took my wife’s suggestion to work out before work which is really early – – on Wednesdays and Fridays I’m waking up at 4:30–everything else fell into place.
Honestly, what did it for me was that I had to stop being cheap. When I was a resident, I couldn’t spend more than 40 or 50 bucks a month on the gym, and then I still wouldn’t go. As an attending, I was spending $120/ month at lifetime, and not going. But then when I added a $200/month membership to Shred415 on top of it, I hit my financial pain point and started doing everything. And it is honestly a no-brainer. Would you pay $4000 a year to look and feel good all the time?
I had previously worked with a trainer for a couple of months and got some really good advice. He said to me, ” I have all these clients like you who can defer gratification for decades at a time, work and save for retirement long into the future, but they won’t give me six weeks to make them look like a different person. It’s not rocket science. If you just show up and do the work, in six weeks you will look better. In six months, you will look a lot better.”
It still took me two years after receiving that advice to finally take it. I guess I’m a slow learner.
I agree that exercise is an incredible treatment for mild depression (and perhaps major depression, I don’t know, ask a psychiatrist.)
I love that line:
I really like that # 1.
For many this starts off after a mini life crisis. Not necessarily a divorce or personal heart attack but maybe someone your age that you knew somewhat died prematurely. There are always tons of reasons why you are too busy or cant do it but like everything else you have to decide its important. Some suggestions i have would be.
Consider starting with just these three exercises: push ups, planks, and air squats. If those dont seem hard to you then its because you arent doing enough of them. They make apps for these if you need them but really those dont need it.
Running in particular is good for weight loss. Sure you can do it with less impact by swimming or bicycle but per period of time, running can really help and doesnt need a pool. Elliptical is also pretty good for this but i prefer to get my upper body work out seperately. Its cold outside in most of the US at this point but once you get going, running outdoors is better for the fresh air and all. Need to be careful where and how you run so you arent hit. Although best if you dont use any type of earbuds (bc you cant hear the cars), i use a pair of MP3 sunglasses. The ear pieces hang near the ears and since they are part of the glasses dont fall out. Since they arent pushed inside my ears, i feel comfortable that i can hear (assuming my music isnt loud) my surroundings. Running on a treadmill, can be boring and its noisier than people think but the high quality ones really are nicer. I recommend Landice but its darn expensive. I also recommend a program called running social. Its a funny little thing where they have digitized trails that you can do and have an icon for your character. People all around the world who are doing it the same time have their own icon and you can pass them (or be passed). Its a funny little mixed reality that is enjoyable. It will actually connect with certain treadmills so it changes incline and adjusts with your speed but only certain ones automatically.
If you need a real change, i recommend crossfit. The exercises in crossfit like cleans, and snatches just arent things most people do on their own. Lots of focus on squats. You dont need to be able (or even ever able) to do a muscle up to have good participation. The quirky differences of crossfit vs regular gyms brings new life to exercising and there is always a person at most of these places there sort of helping you out with form which in some ways is like a cheaper personal trainer.
I want to reiterate again you have to make this a priority. Not dissimilar to learning about investing.
I keep telling myself the same principles we used to get to an early and comfortable retirement, meaning daily choices to spend less than we earned and make smart investment choices, also apply to a healthly lifestyle by daily choices of what I consume and regular exercise. However the healthy part is not as easy for me to stay consistent. For Christmas my wife and I bought each other a black Friday special at our gym for 20 sessions each with a personal trainer to help get us on a regular schedule and make sure we are getting the most of our exercise. One of my 2018 personal goals is on my A1C.
That’s a great gift. Well done!
My wife and I do 25-30 min video fitness workouts in our bedroom first thing Mon-Fri. It’s like an automated investment from the day’s paycheck. It’s eliminated all the excuses. No equipment. No memberships. No travel time. I lost 5% body fat, cholesterol dropped, cut triglycerides in half, solved my back problems, and we’ve kept it up for over 2 years now.
Having a loved one training partner is a real gamechanger. This past year my daughter and I started working out together in our basement first thing in the morning as part of training for our karate black belts together. Couldn’t let each other down and your point about doing it first thing is spot on. My wife and I established a long time ago that we shouldn’t work out together. She is an “angry exerciser” – another reason for me to practice karate?
That’s awesome
Doing a strenuous 24 hour call every 5th day causes has wreaked havoc on my workout routine and health, because this also effects the post call “zombie” day where very little useful gets done. My current pay is great, and I could reach financial independence in 5 more years. At which point I could quit entirely and try to repair the damage done to my body through the 10 years of hard work. Or I could find a less strenuous work environment now and hope that I can find a nice balance between health, work, and family life. This would delay complete financial independence and early retirement, but it would probably be better to prevent health deterioration than to repair health deterioration. Today is a good time to think about this possibility.
This justifies my spending about $3000 on a treadmill a few months back. I was undecided between two models made by the same company, one had a nicer screen and cost an extra $400. I decided if that made me use it more it was worth it. Best part is I don’t have to fight for an open treadmill at the gym now that it’s January!
In addition to exercise, I’m recently taking a look at intermittent fasting as a way to maintain optimal health (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4516560/). As an MD, I think it makes a lot of sense physiologically. Fasting clears out all the glycogen stores, puts your cells under mild (good) stress, and likely upregulates important genes for metabolism. There are various approaches. I’m no expert. Occasionally skipping a meal may be the most easily tolerated. It’s more of an eating pattern than a diet. The emphasis is not so much about *which* foods to eat, but rather *when* you should eat them. Another popular approach is the 5:2 pattern (from the book FastDiet). I think the body likes to be surprised . . . i.e. keep it guessing. This is true for exercise (HIIT), and I think it may well be true for nutrition and diet.
Good post. I can’t agree more about intermittent fasting. Intermittent fasting, carb reduction, high fat diet (the right kind of fats) has been a huge help to my overall health. I’m now 62 and have more energy than when I was 35. I am fortunate enough to be able to swim a mile every day in less than 30 minutes. I contribute a major part to my health to the intermittent fasting and high fat diet. A recent book that you might enjoy reading is “Fat for Fuel” https://www.amazon.com/Fat-Fuel-Revolutionary-Combat-Increase/dp/1401953778
I’m 32 years old and not a doctor. I try my best to schedule work around my strength lifting schedule.
I’m 6’3″ 255lbs and gained 20lbs of mostly muscle over the last year as a result of my lifting (I follow Starting Strength). My doctor didn’t believe that I could gain this much muscle and was concerned during my physical last week and had my lipid profile and glucose levels tested. I’m happy to report that the results, my blood pressure, and resting heart rate were all normal.
I was given a small lecture by the doctor about BMI and what the research shows and here I am living and breathing better than most people.
What gives, docs?
Those gains aren’t particularly unusual after the first year of starting a strength program. It depends on where you started from, but a good chunk of the initial weight increase is better hydration (not muscle hypertrophy). Most non-athletes and sedentary people are chronically dehydrated. I’m often the only person with a water bottle in the room at business conferences or onsite training sessions.
At 6′ 3″ 215lbs 50YO, I’m slightly “overweight” on the BMI scale despite having single digit body fat and a resting heart rate in the 40s. At that point, heart rate, blood pressure and the mirror are much better fitness indicators than BMI. Most trained athletes – especially strength athletes – already know the tables aren’t that useful for them.
Congratulations on sticking with a program for 12 months. Very impressive.
Thanks! I knew that BMI wasn’t useful for me, but why didn’t my doc?
“Workouts tend to be the first thing to go when life gets busy for me. ”
Unfortunately, that’s almost universally true for everyone. I truly regret the times when work/life overloads my schedule and regular workouts stop happening for a couple of weeks. It’s always compounded by eating anything that’s fast/convenient, sitting for 10-15 hour stretches at my computer and feeling tired/crappy the entire time. It’s my single worst unconscious habit and rarely happens at any other time in my life.
The few times I’ve noticed the pattern and did *anything* physical (regular workout, bike ride, long trail walk) to interrupt it were tremendously helpful. The world magically becomes less stressful and I’m way more effective at dealing with the workload.
Pay Yourself First needs an exercise equivalent like “Workout Before Working”.
There’s no point having the money and time of financial independence if you don’t have the health to enjoy it. Great post on incorporating health and finances. It probably hasn’t been documented enough on how much money can be saved by being in good health.