A Forum For Folks Over 35?

[Mrs. T]

There are apparently a number of people at AR who are over 35, me being classified as "older than dirt". As we get a little older, our training needs are completely different than those of your teen - 30 group. So are our basic life experiences. Those of us over 35 have very little in common with the kids who come here. My suggestion is a forum specifically for over 35's. I absolutely don't want to alienate the kids. I spend most of time with people noticeably younger than myself and they are what keeps me young. But it would be great to interact with people my own age on nutrition, bb, fitness and just life in general. So what do YOU think?

[PTbyJason]

We have had a couple of people recently request this. I need those over 35 to respond. I want to make sure I have enough members to make it an active forum.

[silverfox]

or maybe over 30, most of use over 30 have families kids etc.. on this board, I am closing on 35 but not there yet

[feelnfit]

what about over 40?

[sp9]

I would like over 30...

[Mighty Joe]

I think anything over 35 will do...i.e. I'm in my mid forties and have been at this for a long long time! When you hit my age the concerns about AS change somewhat.

And we all know that natural Test drops as we age...yet many older athletes try to stay away from Test in there cycles...go figure! It may be becuase Hitting test during a cycle has them all concerned about water, HBP, etc etc. Actually low doses of test as a base for a cycle in an older athlete may do far more good than bad!

So put me down as a yes for an over 35 forum!

MJ

[ann]

30 and over sounds good.....

[Mighty Joe]

Hey Pete just turned 35! So put him down as a yes!

lol

[chevpor]

ovwe 40 would be great

[righton]

38, and that would be great! But i still like helping the younger bro's.

[ironmike7000]

I'm 44 and it sounds like a good idea.

[Canes4Ever]

I recently have been one of those to ask Jason about this, and I have also discussed this with Mrs.T and IronMike by PM.

I would like it to be over 35 but there seem to be so many here who wish it to be an over 30 board, which is fine with me.

Mighty Joe you are absolutely correct when you say :

"I think anything over 35 will do...i.e. I'm in my mid forties and have been at this for a long long time! When you hit my age the concerns about AS change somewhat."

I broght this up in a thread a couple of weeks ago called "Steroids and age" :

http://www.anabolicreview.com/vbulle...threadid=13506

Which did get a healthy run and have some excellent posts about testicular cancer, but never really did answer my questions. Would be nice with a forum that could be designed to be enjoyed by those who wish to talk about workout problems and other age related issues concerning those over 35 (30). The reason being the thread got buried quickly, but if there was a forum where only those of us over a certain age could go to check the new threads in the forum we may not miss them, as I almost missed this thread myself. It was only because IronMike happen to answer it this evening that I even knew it existed.

Jason it would be appreciated if you could think long and hard about it.

Thanks

[tryingtogetbig]

over 30 please!

[feelnfit]

what are we waiting on ? anyone over 30 has questions about gear,workouts and diet that are way different than those of the younger crowd. it affects us differently because of our age. maybe getting up out of bed takes a little longer or it takes a little more time to warm up those MATURE muscles , we worry more about water retention and bodyfat. and yes sex too. so give us that place that we too need to go and discuss our stuff at too.
thanks

[Canes4Ever]

Everyone thanks for your imput

Jason please consider this

[sp9]

Well put. It is amazing how your body changes from 30 on. I like what you said. It would be nice to have a place to post about concerns for older exercise nuts. It would be great to have threads centralized that pertain to the older population. In no way would it detract from me posting to other areas of the site, but if I want to talk about going for an age related "procedure" at the doctor's office it would be nice to have a seperate place to post and talk about health and fitness issues with a crowd that has experience in that type of thing. Thanks for the consideration.

[TNT]

I have also been contacted by members recently who have expressed intrest in the over-XX concept.

For what it's worth, there is already one Over 35 forum of which I am aware. It's at bodybuilding.com, and you can go directly to the forum through this link. One thing you'll find is that, as I write this on 4/6/02, there are only 17 threads that have been active since the beginning of the month. There can be that much activity here at A.R. in the course of minutes rather than days.

So there has not been much activity at the bodybuilding.com forum, but there has been some quality activity. And considering that there have been 18 replies thus far in the les-than-12 hours since this thread started, I get the impression that a similar board at A.R. would have both a higher level of quality (which we have anyway ) and quantity, especially if such a forum is developed on a 30+ rather than 35+ basis.

(In other words, spreading the focus to include an additional five years over the bodybuilding.com forum will not only add participants, it will foster additional readers considering general health issues five years before they might otherwise do so. I say that with the recognition that there are significant differences in that five-year span, likely more than in any other five-year span.)

A.R. is unique insofar as it has a wide range of age participation. The fact that everyone posts on the same boards has contributed to a high level of "intergenerational networking" in such a manner that you will find much more interaction between, say, 18-year-olds and 50-year-olds on A.R. than you will in real life. And that interaction is fostered on a mutual respect and a solid foundation.

But I do agree with the masses that have posted here - the issues that people over 30 deal with. And while I'm not trying to offend our younger, um, brethren and sistern here, the fact is that with each passing year, people do tend to (1) do less things that are stupid, (2) become more aware that they are not invincible, (3) develop more rounded-out goals that take a total health and fitness picture into consideration, and (4) operate less from a bulked-up GI Joe mentality. As I've written elsewhere, when you're 20 you ask, "How do I gain?" When you're 40 you ask, "How do I lose?" And when you turn 30, you begin to transition from one mode to the other - and yes, it can take 10 years to pull that transition off.

The older you are, the more you may remember that there was once a day when many of the young said, "Never trust anyone over 30." Well, guess what, campers . . .

So I'm very much in favor of an Over-30/35 forum (whichever), even at the risk of having an occasional youngster make a comment about false teeth, canes, and walkers. And, unlike the female forum (which is, and should be, restricted because many, though not all, guys tend to be offensive in their conduct toward women), I would make it an open forum - we've had great results in terms of making younger guys aware of some of the medical issues associated with AS, and I would not close that option to them.

[Ajax]

The over 35 board is a great idea.

Bodybuilding.com has an active "Over 35" board; I stop in ther some times, but the questions are often pretty inane: I am thinking about stacking 1-AD and other prohormines with Flinstones vitamins on my next cycle (I removed all the Pebbles and Dino's). Whaddya think?

It would be really great to get the 'geriatric' brainpower that lurks around here together in a forum; the questions a 40 year old bodybuilder has are way different than a 25 year old's. More importantly, as you get older, you start to feel your own mortality, your own physical limitations and you start to consider the health risks/rewards and trade-offs of doing juice a lot more seriously.

TNT: you an I must have hit post about the same time; i didn't see your post until after I posted mione; you are dead on in what you are saying--but I have to disagree with you on the age range issue. (I think this is the first time I have ever disagreed with anything you have said.

I will push for a 35 and over forum. Based on personal experience, my body's reaction to the world changed a hell of a lot more from 35 to 40 than from 30 to 35. I think that a 30 year old's body is more like a 25 year old's body than a 35 year old's body is like a 30 year old's. Not only is about how an older body reacts to training and juice, but the psyche of an over-35 bodybuilder is different; you feel your own mortality and you start to look for balance: size vs. safety, strength vs. damage to tendon's etc.

If you think that you have problems when your body turns 30, just wait until you hit 40 Bro's (and glad to see a Sis here too!). Heh, heh, heh....

Labeling a forum "35 and Over" does not limit participation to people that are over 35; a lot of people that participate on BB.com's forum are 30-somethings that are planning ahead (or just plain in fear of getting old--old like me!)

And Jason, don't worry that you won't have enough people. Even if iterest in this thread is not enough of an indication, I think that a "build it and they will come" attitiude is in order. There is certainly a demand for info for people over 35 who juice--one that is not met anywhere else. If you start a forum on a good niche topic, people will pass the word and it will grow.

There are tons of boards out there that have all the same 'generic' categories. What really can set a community apart and make it a lively, vibrant places is having a forum for the general issues plus a number of solid niche communities for people with specific interests: Over 35, Female BB's, Powerlifting; 'Roids for Sports Performance, etc., etc., etc.

[Ajax]

I don't think the forum needs to be closed to anybody. Why? Afraid that somebody will post something rude/foolish/boorish? It happens all the time and we ignore them and move on! (Think "D00fy" posts...)

A forum for people that are older might get flamed occasionally, but that is a small price to pay for sharing the knowledge amongst the larger group and getting input from all.

Would you bar TNT or Dr. Evil 'cuz trhey didn't meet the age qualification?

[Canes4Ever]

Why do the VETS have a closed board? Why do the women have a closed board ? Why do the Mods have a closed board ?

I guess my argument would be that if there are threads that are deemed by the mod of the board, of enough interest to warrant removal and placement in the general area, then so be it.

One of the best reasons to have a closed forum would be its ability to discuss things that might be embarassing to talk to about in an arena where a 17 year old kid will make fun of "Grandpa" or "Grandma".

TNT, I rarely disagree with anything you have to say, but this time I will, because there would be no need for the new fourm if you are going leave it an open one.

Why have a new forum ?

If you are going to have an open forum, then I say what the heck and why bother at all.

[TNT]

This is turning into an interesting dialogue. I have to admit that I have no preference as to whether we have an Over 30 or Over 35 forum, nor whether it is an open or closed forum. But here are a few thoughts, just for the sake of consideration . . .

First, entering one's age on the A.R. profile is currently an optional feature. You will notice, for example, that I was born in the year 0000. No big whoop, nor anything to hide, I simply never entered it just as I rarely enter any identifying information on an open Internet forum. [By the way, I find Ajax's question amusing, "Would you bar TNT or Dr. Evil 'cuz they didn't meet the age qualification?" Who says that we don't? (I don't know about the good doctor, but I do meet the qualification.)] Obviously, then, the question becomes: If a forum is closed, how does one gain entry to it?

Currently, the only ways to gain entry to the Females Only Forum are, (1) to be female, and (2) to specifically request admission to the forum. Are we suggesting the same method for entry to an Over 35 forum?

(Incidentally, don't discount the possibility that there are guys on the Females Only Forum. That's the nature of an anonymous board - chances are that one or more guys have cross-registered using a different user name and a different Internet provider address. You can bet, of course, that if they are found out or they post inappropriately on that forum, they will not last.)

In other words, you should realize that if the forum is closed, user will no longer have the option to omit listing an age. And age is a revealing factor - not in terms of odler members, but in terms of younger ones. After all, don't many members respond differently to AS-related questions asked by an 18-year old than we do to questions from a 25 or 30-year old?

(I remember when Terinox first appeared among us. He asked intelligent questions and got comprehensive answers. Later on, he noted that if he had been open about his age - 18 at the time - he felt we would not have answered as comprehensively. Clever, when you think about it, because he was quite right.)

Again, open-versus-closed doesn't matter to me. I would tend to think that most young members (20's and below) wouldn't bother to log onto the Over 35 forum in the first place; on the other hand, there are whackos throughout cyberspace, so one never knows. I do appreciate the points made by BigGuns and Canes regarding the notion that readers will be more open if the forum membership is restricted, especially when it comes to issues such as andropause/menopause or Viagra-type questions.

I think that an excellent example of an Over 35 Forum thread would be the topics recently addressed by our good bro' Androplex. Some of you may remember that after he described his first experience at injecting, a reader who hadn't followed the previous threads asked something on the level of, "Cool, dude! What's your cycle?"

The bad news? The respondent obviously didn't have a clue. The good news? By posting on open forums, Androplex has been able to get a wider variety of opinions than he might have gotten solely on an Over 35 Forum. (My opinion, FWIW: It probably would have been a higher quality thread on an Over 35 Forum in terms of the total feedback he received. But there are points to be made on many sides.)

[Canes4Ever]

Originally posted by TNT
(Incidentally, don't discount the possibility that there are guys on the Females Only Forum. That's the nature of an anonymous board - chances are that one or more guys have cross-registered using a different user name and a different Internet provider address. You can bet, of course, that if they are found out or they post inappropriately on that forum, they will not last.)

I agree with you TNT, that there probably are guys on the Ladies board that shouldn't be there, but I think the possiblity of that happeneing on the age restricted board to be far more remote, unless the kid has some kind of age fetish .

[Dr. Derek]

I dont know if I totally agree, if your just talking a board, to discuss and share experiences/knowledge regarding age, family, fitness etc.. i concur there should exist such a board however if your talking about a board that will share knowledge that can be used for bb, fitness, nutrition, etc... in general, that would benefit the younger crowd then i would disagree. It is nice to discuss issues with people who are sharing your same experieces especially at home work gym etc, which usually means people in your same age group...

[El Kabong]

<<Based on personal experience, my body's reaction to the world changed a hell of a lot more from 35 to 40 than from 30 to 35>>

Oh yeah, and even more from 40-45. OK, I'm not quite 45 yeat but the metabolism challenges accelerate QUITE a bit.

new forum yeah, let's do it. It's just easier to sift through the threads. But don't close it. If there was an over-60 forum, I'd want to know what these people are facing, since I do hope to get there some day.

Great topic, great posts all. Thanks !

[feelnfit]

well pass the bengay and lets get lifting! big gunz you have said it all. we need this board.

[Canes4Ever]

Originally posted by Dr. Derek
I dont know if I totally agree, if your just talking a board, to discuss and share experiences/knowledge regarding age, family, fitness etc.. i concur there should exist such a board however if your talking about a board that will share knowledge that can be used for bb, fitness, nutrition, etc... in general, that would benefit the younger crowd then i would disagree. It is nice to discuss issues with people who are sharing your same experieces especially at home work gym etc, which usually means people in your same age group...

Dr Derek,

There should be rules to posting on the board, especially if it is an open board. I would say that the restrictions would be that the subjects have to be specifically something that has to do with age....i.e. if I have a question on which AS may react better or worse because of my age, that could be answered here. I asked this very question in a thread about a month ago...

http://www.anabolicreview.com/vbulle...threadid=13506

Although the thread yeilded very good information on testicular cancer, my original question was never answered. This is an example of how a thread could evolve to one that would be moved to the open forum because of its interesting content.

(p.s. -- if any one does know the answer maybe they could tell me )

[Nico Cujo]

I'm 44 and think a board for older guys and gals would be bery helpful.

[Chyna350]

I posted in the O/30's board maybe i should have posted here instead, oh well .
It's a great idea having a board for the older members as we are meeting new challenges and experiencing changes to our bodies reaction to training and gear. I know a lil' test does make things easier, as our hormones deplete.
As to having it open or closed well it's catch 22 I think. We still have access to the main board where we can still share alot with the younger members, but we can help them here too as they get older and find that they too are changing. They can come here and ask us what's up. If some decide to go ramped and post abuse or stupid things that cause grief well the MODS have the ability to delete those posts and warn the offender to settle down and behave.

[Ironweb]

I like the idea of an over 30 class for I am in that. Now an over 35 class is only a 5 years spread. As TNT stated in this thread it can take 10 years for the transition of what you want and need at 30 opposed to 40. IMO I would go with an over 30 forum and an over 40.

[Tarzan]

I'm glad to see I'm not the only older person here. I vote for over 35 personally, but over 30 is good. Just remember our bodies hormone levels may be declining but our minds are still strong. And body building is as much mind power as it is a physical power. With age comes wisdom (hopefully) I am more focused now than when I was younger. I look forward to this forum

[Mrs. T]

Just in case you've wondered - I'm old, but I'm not senile - I didn't post his question on the actual over 30 board. It was moved here from it's original place. Thanks for giving it a chance, guys. It already looks promising.

[Emeraldeye]

I am new here to this site and didn't realize most were so young. Sounds like a great idea for those of us over the 40 hill!!!

[Canes4Ever]

Originally posted by Emeraldeye
I am new here to this site and didn't realize most were so young. Sounds like a great idea for those of us over the 40 hill!!!

Welcome to the boards Emerald !

[slackerdude]

Hell, I'm over 40, sure ain't telling ya by how much though, and I would rather have the input from a fellow geriatric than some young stud. One would hope that the queries and responses would have more mature reasoning behind them, experiences, and the aches and pains. Of course the maturity probably applies to our bodies mostly

[JohnnyB]

I'm new to the board and like the idea, 46 here. I would agree that we have different concerns about our body's and health then a 23 yr old.

[jetskidude]

maybe we should make it "over 40" board! there appears to be a ton of us!!!

[CutieFace]

Have to admit I like the idea of a board like this.....it's not easy being an old hag

*smile*

Cutie

[Chyna350]

Originally posted by CutieFace
Have to admit I like the idea of a board like this.....it's not easy being an old hag

*smile*

Cutie

An old hag, pfft. No your not, like a good wine you get better with age.

[CutieFace]

lol Thanks Chyna.....in all honesty I feel better and younger at 41 than I did when I was 31......one thing is for sure...Cutie certainly did get better w/ age....if I do say so myself

*smile*

Cutie