What My Doctor Said About Fish Oil at 62

At my physical the year I turned 62, I asked my doctor straight out whether I should bother with fish oil. I am 63 now, I lift three mornings a week at the rec center, and I have not eaten a piece of fish on purpose in years. I expected a lecture about omega-3s. What I got was calmer than that. He said it was reasonable to add one, that he would not push it, and that for someone my age who trains and rarely eats fish, a good fish oil was a low-risk way to support the kind of things that get harder to maintain after 50.

That was enough for me. I do not chase supplements that promise to change my life. I chase the ones my doctor does not frown at, and I give each one a fair eight-week run before I say anything about it. My wife Joanne will tell you I keep a spiral notebook of my lifts, my bodyweight and how I slept. Fish oil got the same treatment.

The bottle I settled on was Nordic Naturals fish oil, the lemon kind, 90 softgels, two softgels a day with breakfast. I picked it for a simple reason: Nordic Naturals has a reputation for testing its oil for freshness and purity, and that matters to me because I was not going to taste my way through a bottle of something that smelled like the Chattanooga river in July.

What I found over eight weeks surprised me a little, mostly because the most honest thing I can say is that nothing dramatic happened. My knees did not stop creaking on the porch stairs. My chest press did not jump. But the fishy burps I used to get from a drugstore brand? Those mostly disappeared, as long as I took the softgels with food, which I do anyway. And nothing else changed that I could put my finger on by week six. I can only tell you what I logged.

Nothing dramatic happened. No fishy burps once I took them with food, and a bottle I finished without once dreading the smell.

A little background on how I got here. I started lifting at 60 after I caught myself struggling to carry groceries up the porch steps, and I have been at it three mornings a week ever since: Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the community rec center. Leg press, goblet squats, seated rows, chest press and farmer carries. At my checkup at 62, a year after my vitamin D had come back low, I mentioned that I rarely ate fish. He said a fish oil was reasonable to add. Not essential, not urgent. Reasonable. That word has stayed with me.

So I tried Nordic Naturals fish oil for eight weeks, and I kept my expectations low. The softgels are larger than the little capsules I used to buy at the drugstore, but they go down fine with water. The lemon flavor is real, not a perfume trying to cover something up. The first week I took them on an empty stomach before my walk along the riverfront, and I got a fishy burp halfway down the path. After that I took them with breakfast, and the burps stopped completely. That was the most noticeable difference between this bottle and the Nature Made fish oil I had tried months earlier.

What did the fish oil actually do for my training? I will be straight with you: I cannot point to one lift and say this is the supplement that moved it. My leg press and seated rows were already climbing because I had finally started eating enough protein, about 130 grams a day. The fish oil went in alongside that, and I could not feel anything different from the fish oil itself, which is exactly what my doctor told me to expect. I logged it, and I am telling you the same way I logged it.

What I can say with more confidence is what the research generally points to. Omega-3 fatty acids are linked to supporting heart health, brain health and joint comfort, which is the trifecta a 63-year-old lifter cares about. That is why I keep taking it now that the eight-week test is over. It sits in the kitchen cabinet beside the fridge with the D3 and K2 softgels, and two of them go down with breakfast every morning.

One more thing I want to be honest about. My joints did not suddenly feel twenty years younger, and I would be suspicious of anyone who told you a fish oil did that in eight weeks. What I noticed was mostly what did not happen: no burps with food, no stomach trouble, nothing to complain about. That is the level of change I expect from a supplement doing its quiet, long-term job. It is also why I tell people to check with their own doctor first, especially if you take blood thinners, because fish oil can interact with them. And for what it is worth, my wife Joanne noticed the difference in the kitchen more than I did in the gym. She does most of the cooking, and she will tell you that a bottle of fish oil that does not smell like a bait shop is a small domestic victory. Nordic Naturals got that right.

What I'd Tell You If We Were Sitting at My Kitchen Table

If you were sitting across from me right now, with the coffee going and the softgel bottle on the counter between us, here is what I would say. Supplements come after food, sleep and showing up to train. If you are over 50, lifting, and never eat fish, a fish oil is a reasonable thing to ask your doctor about. I would not expect it to change your life in a week, and I would be wary of anyone who says it will. What I can tell you is that this bottle made it into my daily routine and stayed there, and that I have not once dreaded the smell since I started taking it with breakfast. That is the honest bar I use: not whether a supplement transformed me, but whether I am glad I started it and see no reason to stop. Nordic Naturals fish oil cleared that bar.