So many middle aged Irishmen have let themselves go

^ The two are so separate for me that I do not think I could ever write a post that treats them so interchangeably like that. I am all for fitness and healthy living and healthy eating like you describe above. All for "looking after yourself". All for wanting an Ireland full of physically and mentally healthy people. Though unless someone asks for input or advice on the subject I generally keep my opinions and standards entirely to myself and never preach or judge.

But fashion and clothing for me simply is not part of that. Even a little. So it is difficult to get myself into the head space to see where someone like the OP is coming from or understanding their priorities there. It would be difficult for me to put any less thought into my clothing choices than I already do. I assume if I was a complete fashion disaster my girlfriends might mention something. But perhaps not as I suspect they are about as interested in fashion sense as I am.

Hell I went through Tesco to get some store cupboard items yesterday in my full blue Jujitsu Gi. If I saw someone at a Christening in a Liverpool top like you describe - I would not for a moment make a value judgement on any level. I would at most notice he is a Liverpool fan and store that data for possible later use. It's nice to know what people are into.

But I can not remember the last time I even noticed - let alone cared - what another person was wearing. Let alone people I do not even know at all and am merely passing in the street - or to contemplate how attractive or not their clothes make their ass look. That seems maybe even a bit creepy to me. Is the attractiveness of the asses of strangers really something people give genuine head space to? That really is fascinating. Humans be fascinating and sometimes leave me feeling like I am some alien external observer to their interesting patterns and concerns and behaviors :)

Why would you go to the supermarket in a Gi? Anyone doing martial arts always changes at the Dojo unless they are children. Those things just soak up sweat, so as soon as you go outside your cold and weat. It’s also a magnet for any ‘hard-men’ looking for a fight.

You never know when a BJJ match might break out you have to be prepared!

I'm mid40 I work out in gym and still going to kickboxing. I'm in good nick and I've been told I look a lot younger - I don't think I do tbh but just many men my age just settle for middle age instead of fighting it. on nights out some of my friends rock up dressed like my granddad used to in his 60s. I'm like ffs .

I think the difference is that for me it's important to feel & move well. one of my biggest fears is to be that old man hobbling down the road taking 20mins for a walk that should be 5. Or unable to manage my own baggage in the supermarket. I train for this - the decent looks will come from that.

if its important to you , you'll make the time and effort. and it's ok if it's not important but don't get pissy when you're passed over in the looks department.

I think though its the entire society cos women arent any better. I'm happily married but if I wasn't Id struggle to find a irish woman my own age who is attractive. There are some in the gym tbf but not that many.

I was in france during summer and it was as stark difference how older women - not all of course - exuded a attractive vibe even though they were clear mid / late 40s plus. Its something you don't see in Ireland.

I think irish people rely too much on excuses - kids / job etc... I did all that and I was in the gym at 6am (and still am) to make it work

Wear whatever you want

Better the 40 something letting them self go a little than the 30 something off to Turkey to get pubes glued to their head

It really sounds like the elephant in the room is having children or not having children. which opens another huge debate.... how many really regrewt having children? im 40 and not married or any childlren in fact im currently single. My friend is 43 also childless and single, he actually tells people he never wants children. with all the costs assosicated its hard to make a case for having children these days compared to your life without them

the post you quoted he is in a demanding job but ultimately its his choice to work as hard as he does. Or his choice not to make the time like getting up at 0530 to train for example his point #3 - remove the Irish dancing and it's exactly same as I managed with my wife for last 2 decades.

he mentions testosterone which is kinda true just over-blown. the drop isn't huge and only starts in your 40s. ironically one of the best ways to mitigate that is to train weights. you can build muscle and strength at any age.

I've 3 kids - one is grown up now . they never hindered my training bar the odd occasion and as I said above - kids or no kids nothing prevents you eating a half decent diet. my childless friends don't look any better than the average irish punters. they have more time and disposable income so they eat out more and drink more.

For me I think training was actually helped by my kids rather than hindered. In that firstly I started to try new things over the past 13+ years that I never did before - because I was trying those things with them to help them find out what they are into. And secondly I started to train my kids things from a very early age that I knew myself. And one great way to move forward in any area is to start teaching it. Physical or mental - when you move from learning to teaching it forces you to rethink it and can end up making you better for it.

Not so much these days but I used to get some heavy push back when I talked about what I teach my children or do with my children. On and off line. Nowadays people barely bat an eyelid on or off line. So things seem to have changed.

But when I mention that I have been teaching my kids to fight and defend themselves since they were 2-3 years old - or that my daughter has been learning to shoot guns since she was 10 - I often got quite vicious push back. Mostly online but offline too. Everything from "child abuse" to "destroying innocence" and more. But these days if I mention any of that people barely register it.

Then again I have had calls of "child abuse" to "destroying innocence" online for merely mentioning that we did not do the whole Santa Clause thing with any of our kids. So perhaps the bar for what constitutes abuse was pretty low for awhile but the pendulum of softness and recreational outrage has just been swinging back :)

The opposite of the Johnny Bravo look. 😆 And the skin tight leggings that a lot of young wans wear nowadays further accentuate the booty.

I won’t be watching that. But good to know it’s primarily for recreational purposes.

Yeah that would generally be my approach to many things with my kids. Even when teaching them a genuine life skill for good reasons - I prefer to teach them through recreation and not make it some big serious thing. Exceptions exist of course. But learning should be fun when it can be I believe.

Can we get back on topic. OP don’t be like your dog. Post a picture of your stylish self and we can close this thread down and all can bath in your glory!

I'm a commuter cyclist myself and do about 9km in the morning and then 9km home from work in the evening. It's not loads but it's enough to get my heart rate up if I do it quickly.

Was wondering yesterday what the average commuting distance is in Dublin - 9.8km. So 0.8km longer than my easily manageable cycle.

It did make me then wonder how many people I see driving to work in cars / stuck in traffic are only going these short distances and how much healthier they'd all be (and the roads far less congested) if they were on bikes. Its actually pretty bloody lazy.