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@chris_b see below for what @Stub Mandrel is talking about

This rogered me when the forum changed over. I was directed look to the left of the thread topic, there is a star, or a dot if you read it and didn't comment previously. I am not "following" anything either. If I "follow", the email gets chocka with notices.

"Take Me Out" - Franz Ferdinand

I spend my time helping people achieve things in my day job, it’s no different here even if not a guru

It’s a setting, I find it useful

I've started swimming. after a 30 year break.

I joined my local gym. Not something I EVER thought I'd do, but my doc gave me a choice of meds or NHS part-funded gym membership. The strange thing was after a few weeks I started to really enjoy it and missed it if I couldn't work out for a few days. Nothing too strenuous - treadmill, cycle machine, and some weights and there's big TVs to watch so the time goes quickly. My formal exercise goals include "carrying my bass amp" The NHS bit was quite important for me - I have a special coach who went through my medical history and designed a suitable programme and keeps tabs on my progress.

That's one of the reasons I got an exercise bike. It's virtually no impact unlike running and a lot of other fitness activities. My exercise bike can connect to my tablet via Bluetooth and I run a free virtual cycling app which makes it much more interesting. No gym fees either 👍

Anything I comment on gets followed by default. I can't see a way to change that.

I gave up smoking over 3 years ago and my metabolism changed, piling on a couple of stones. I started feeling like an old man. I decided to fight back and go on my exercise bike 4 times a week if I can and walk every lunchtime for at least half an hour. The weight is slowly coming off, I feel much better and am much fitter than I've ever been (i.e. heart rate recovery). I take turmeric tablets daily for my joints and green mussel extract for my tendons and those feel a lot better too - especially my knees. As for actually playing, nah - I'm usually gigging too often to get rusty in that regard. The general physical fitness is more of a factor and I feel that is under control. It doesn't seem right when I don't do a bit of daily exercise now.

I try to lift weights three times a week. Unfortunately, I can't do the cardio that I used to do a few years ago (play 5-a-side, run, off-road biking, etc) due to a knackered knee and I could do with losing maybe a stone or so, but that's hardly unusual at my age (early 60s). The gear I use is lighter than it used to be, but not particularly lightweight compared to a lot of stuff around these days. I can still lift a Berg 212 cab (rather than an 810) at the end of the night, so no real problems. The issue I have is that even though I gig regularly, I would happily play twice as many as I'm doing currently! I certainly felt more 'match fit' as a player when I was gigging pretty much every week!

Elvis Has Just Left The Building — Frank Zappa

Agree that you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find a good one. Years ago I was certain that I wanted to add a 5 string Fender P, went and played it and was let down. The B string was not great. Fender 5 ztrings in general have not done it for me, but in the case of the Pbass, it's difficult to make that barky pickup sound right on a low B. That said, the Moollon 5 string P classic is apparently incredible. I have never played one, but I find it interesting that a builder who strives to make the most authentic old school P's and J's out there, went in a different direction with the pickup for this model. I did own his J Classic 5, and thats an amazing 5 string bass if you want the feel and vibe of a mid 60's fender with a low B. So I have to imagine his 5 string P may be worth looking into, if you can track one down.

Recovery does take longer. Making sure you get full 8 hours sleep each night in the week should help.

Err. . . . you have to click on following, unless you have a different setting to me. I've commented several times in this thread and I'm not following..

The king of Rock & Roll - Prefab Sprout

This has made a big difference to my ability to function on the next day

Following is activated by default if you comment on a thread.

For me, the hardest part about gigging now is the late nights. If I have a gig where I'm going to be late to bed I try to have a lie-in on the morning and/or have a 30-40 minute snooze around 4pm. Last autumn I did a gig where I was giving the sound guy a lift and had to get him home the same night/morning as he had a lunchtime gig the next day. I didn't see my bed till 4am and I was basically wiped out for 2 whole days after the gig.

Four gigging fitness aspects seem to affect me. All mentioned in the thread by others: 1. The physical bass playing, I wonder how many notes I play in a night, until recently I rehearsed for about 8 hours weekly, hand strength, back strength no problem. 2. Concentration, I now find being 'on it' for 3 - 4 hours increasingly hard, pa problem solving then instant switch to musical stuff, blunders happen due to concentration fails. 3. Moving kit, even with lightweight kit (and the pa is not) it is all too easy to damage yourself - rotator cuff injury anyone. 4. Driving 2 hours to a gig in the daylight can be very pleasant on a sunny day. Driving back in the dark after doing the business is no longer fun. The result is that I am usually shattered the day after, at nearly 67 age is catching up despite pretty good fitness. Hence, my decision to scale back my musical efforts - I do not need 30 gigs per year.

In my current band, due to both different style of music and my now glass back I finish a gig barely sweating, however really aching the next day. A marked contrast to my last band where as the music was harder after a 30min set I’d walk off stage with it feeling like someone had tipped a bucket of water over me.

Originals band up to 9 songs now, plus we added a lead guitarist tonight. First gig booked. Finished by jamming a few songs including Sweet Transvestite 😁

My band hasn't done a gig in 5 months, when we do start gigging again (if we ever do), we'll need zimmer frames to get to the stage