Are you over 40?! But I want to keep myself in good shape, don’t worry, there are ways to have an excellent and effective workout.
This article will discuss training schemes and methods for those who are over 40, it should be borne in mind that the body of, for example, a 20-year-old guy and a 45-year-old man is different - different hormonal levels, speed of muscle fibers, different levels of endurance, blood circulation, level and other age-related changes.
The big difference is the level of production of the growth hormone - testosterone, sex drive and the whole lifestyle depend on it, it seems to be slower and not so active. Below we will describe in detail how to train correctly, improve your health, improve your figure and minimize the negative consequences of physical activity.
Up to 2 months
The most important task of this stage is increasing blood circulation throughout the body, this is the simplest cardio exercise along with. You need to use these R in which perform 15-20 repetitions no less, rest between approaches for 60-90 seconds, this will speed up the blood of your body, supply all organs with oxygen and prepare the muscles for future more difficult physical activity.
No heavy weights or records, training with moderate weights together with aerobic exercise - cycling,...
After 2 months
Your cardiovascular system is already strengthened and blood circulation is improved. During this period, gradual increase in weights, which should be 60-70% of the one-repetition maximum (one rep max- this is the weight with which you can perform just 1 repetition of an exercise without breaking technique).
The number of repetitions per approach is reduced to 12-8, and the rest between sets is increased to 3 minutes. If you feel that after 3 minutes your body is not yet ready for exercise, increase the rest time to 5 minutes, but no more, otherwise the muscles and the entire body cool down and lose tone, which reduces the effectiveness of training.
If you want to increase strength, then devote 1 week a month to strength training, reducing the number of repetitions to 8-6 while increasing the working weights, but do not do it constantly, make it a rule to train 3 times a week, while working in the range of 12 for 3 weeks -8 reps and 1 week for 8-6 reps.
Exercises after 40
You can perform the entire arsenal of exercises, but it is advisable to divide it into 50% work with free weights (dumbbells, barbells, weights) and 50% on machines. At the same time, you can exclude important heavy basic exercises from your arsenal or reduce the load, although they are oh so important, but age is age, so it’s better not to take risks.
Don’t forget about cardio exercises, spend 30-40 minutes on them 3 times a week, this will help warm up your muscles, improve heart function and speed up the removal of toxins from the body.
After 40, avoid doing the exercise one time at a time to set a record weight.
Recovery after 40
Unfortunately, recovery processes are reduced and instead of the usual 20 hours, the period increases to 48 hours, so it’s not worth training more than 3 sessions a week, especially if you’ve previously been heavier than a bucket and haven’t picked up a couple of bricks. Don’t forget that not only muscle tissue gets tired, but also bones and the nervous system, all this together reduces the body’s endurance and increases recovery time.
Training program after 40
The peculiarity of this training program is that in 1 workout many parts of the body are trained, and not just one area.
MONDAY:
2) - 3 sets x 12-8 reps
7) - 3 sets x 30 reps
WEDNESDAY:
1) – 3 sets x 12-8 reps
2) – 3 sets x 12-8 reps
3) – 3 sets x 12-8 reps
4) – 3 sets x 12-8 reps
5) – 3 sets x 12-8 reps
6) – 3 sets x 12-8 reps
Gaining muscle mass is a goal not only for young people; bodybuilding after 40 years for men is not only possible, but even necessary. Often, this is the goal of older men and women. There are many reasons for this desire.
Sometimes, when you are over 50, you suddenly hear about the benefits of a healthy life and decide to correct the mistakes of your youth.
Others simply want to have a great figure at this age, but is it possible to build muscle at 40 and perform physical exercises after 50? All this is possible.
Gaining muscle volume at this age is more difficult than before, for the reason that the body is not able to quickly recover after exercise. But this doesn't mean you can't start building muscle after age fifty.
In fact, it is not at all difficult and bodybuilding after 40 years is possible, but there are some things you should first learn about.
Luckily, this article covers it all and we hope it will help you achieve a ripped figure at this wonderful age.
Before we dive into the topic of exercise, we must first understand how muscle mass begins to decrease after fifty and how to gain weight in old age.
As you get older, you may notice a gradual decrease in muscle mass. Over time, muscles lose both volume and elasticity.
There are two main reasons for the loss of muscle mass with age.
The first is that the body cannot restore muscles at the same speed as before. Therefore, wounds heal more slowly than at twenty years old.
The second reason is that you don’t spend much time in the gym, you have other things to do that simply don’t leave time for training.
These two reasons are related to each other: the body recovers more slowly precisely because you do not exercise.
You have a job, children and grandchildren, not to mention the fact that besides this you have many other things to do and you have no time to go to the gym and work out.
Since you are not doing any sports or other physical activity, your heart rate begins to slow down. When the heart rate slows, blood moves more slowly, making it more difficult for nutrients and oxygen to reach the body's cells.
And if you return to an active lifestyle, you will literally turn back the passage of time, become stronger and notice that your body heals wounds faster.
Besides all this, you will feel much better and younger.
Diet and muscle growth in adulthood
To build muscle, you still need to consume enough. Muscle is made up almost entirely of protein, so you need to get more protein from your diet. There's nothing new here.
But as you age, the composition of your diet becomes even more important, because it affects not only muscle growth, but also the overall health of the body. Muscle growth without protein consumption is impossible, both after 50 years and at any other age.
If you previously relied on red meat for muscle growth, now, at this age, your diet needs to change.
You should eat foods that are low in fat.Most likely, your heart muscle does not have the same strength as before, and therefore the veins and arteries may have narrowed due to time and fat deposits.
If your heart rate speeds up, it will have a good effect on the body as a whole, but if you also consume fat along with protein, it will harm your cardiovascular system.
If you want to both build muscle and stay healthy, you should eat low-calorie, high-protein foods instead of fatty meats.According to CNN, you should eat even more protein than before because muscle starts to break down as you age, and you need to provide it with protein to prevent this.
Protein sources that are appropriate for your age include chicken, turkey, dairy and other low-calorie foods.
Supplements are also a great option. But when choosing a supplement, you should pay attention to its cholesterol and salt content.
If you take 60 grams of protein at once, the body simply will not be able to absorb all this protein, and you will lose some of it.
To prevent this from happening, you should divide the required daily amount of protein between several meals. This will provide the muscles with a sufficient amount of protein and maintain normal levels.
Also try other supplements, such as creatine, it will help retain more water in the muscles and increase their strength. The site describes it for muscle growth.
Power training
To increase muscle mass over the age of fifty, focus on strength training.
Strength exercises are the only way to build muscle after 40, and also improve their quality and strength.
However, the strength training you need to do at this age is a little different than what young adults need in their 30s.
The exercises themselves will be the same, but you should group them differently: today you pump up your biceps, tomorrow your chest, and your legs the next day.
This will allow the muscles you worked to recover from exercise, since they have a whole week to rest.
In adulthood, muscles should be given sufficient time to recover after exercise. Since now the muscles, like the rest of the body, recover more slowly, you should avoid intense exercise.
Ten to fifteen repetitions should be performed per set, and there should be three sets per day.
As you can see, the number of repetitions has increased compared to what you were doing before.
All fitness guides recommend doing eight or twelve repetitions. However, at your age, start by lifting lighter weights more times.
And when your joints and ligaments become stronger thanks to training, then you can start working with heavier weights.
The most important thing is to make sure that your bones, ligaments and joints are strong and healthy enough to handle these exercises. The worst thing that could happen right now is an injury due to intense exercise, which could prevent you from physical activity for several months.
Find a personal trainer
If you haven't exercised for a while but are looking to get back into shape, a personal trainer can help.
He will not only motivate and encourage you during the exercises, but will create a training program and explain how to perform the exercises correctly.
The older you are, the higher the likelihood of some kind of injury during exercise. And if you haven't exercised for a while, you can very easily hurt yourself while exercising.
And a coach will help you avoid this.
He will explain and show you how to perform the exercises correctly, show you how to properly pump up the muscle and what mistakes to avoid.
Exercise machines can also help you, which you need to use at least in the first two classes.
The machine allows your muscles to get used to working again, so when you take on the free weights, they will already be in a prepared state.
The machine also has stability, the lack of which when working with free weights leads to injuries.
As Cassie White says in an article for Australian Health & Wellbeing magazine, the key is to get your muscles back into exercise mode.
But if you haven’t trained for a long time, then you won’t be able to get back to where you once left off the first time.
The body gets used to what it does most often, therefore, if you have not exercised for several years, then the body is already unaccustomed to work, and trying to do more than you are currently capable of will inevitably lead to injury.
Gaining muscle mass takes time, but everything is achievable.
How can a 45 or 50 year old man get pumped up without harming his health?
In this section, we'll look at the barbell exercises you should do, as well as alternatives if your joints can't handle some of the exercises.
If you haven't lifted a barbell for a long time, start with other strength exercises for at least two days. In between these two days, leave one day without exercise to allow your muscles to rest and recover.
Take the exercises slowly and don't sacrifice proper form to lift more weight.
Many people, even before they reach fifty years of age, begin to have problems with the joints of their shoulders and knees, and therefore you may not perform some of the exercises on this list.
A very important exercise that benefits the entire upper body.
When you're just starting out, it's a good idea to use a dedicated bench machine so you can focus on technique rather than stabilizing the bar.
You can also work with a heavy barbell in a machine, and then perform several repetitions with a light barbell, but without a machine.
The bench press does not increase muscle size, but trains the entire body and stabilizes its response to stress.
This way, when you move on to working with free weights, your body will already have experience and it will be easier for you to get started.
Dumbbell press
The dumbbell shoulder press is another essential upper body exercise.
It improves overall body functioning and can even reverse the age-related changes your body has experienced and muscle loss.
This exercise is a great option because it works all three deltoid muscles.
Upper block pull
This exercise is good for your back muscles.
Vertical block rows are performed on a special simulator. The exercise also targets the arm muscles.
The good thing about the simulator is that exercises on it can be done completely safely for muscles and ligaments.
Hands should be kept as vertical as possible during the exercise.
Dumbbell Curls
Bicep curls build your biceps and strengthen your triceps.
But if you have pain in your elbow joints, then exercise with free weights should be avoided. Use a trainer instead.
The simulator allows you to fix your hand on a stand, which will ensure correct technique and reduce the load on the joints.
Also, the machine will not allow the back muscles to do part of the work, which will also prevent back pain. Also pump up your triceps.
The triceps exercise works the same way as the biceps exercise, only in reverse. An arm rest minimizes stress on the elbow and prevents sprains.
It will be more difficult to pump up your legs because many people over fifty already have pain in their knees or hip joints.
If you are lucky enough to have no joint problems, you can do traditional squats. To stabilize the movement during squats, use a Smith machine.
The Smith machine simply secures the barbell with the weight so that it does not move to the sides when you perform squats.
But if your legs hurt, then you shouldn't use weights at all. Try squats without a barbell.
Leg press
The leg press machine takes the stress off your knees and hips.
Instead, you sit with your back at a 45-degree angle. You push a flat surface with your feet. This exercise is good for the quadriceps and gluteal muscles.
If you want to specifically pump up any specific muscle groups, talk to a trainer.
He will select special exercises for you that will help you achieve the results you need.
Conclusion
It is quite possible to get pumped up after fifty years.
In addition, if you do this properly, you will not only maintain your figure in its previous state, but also improve it.
But for this you need to be motivated, stick to the right things, and, as always, go to the gym. If you do all this, you will notice an increase in muscle mass and an improvement not only in your figure, but also in your overall health.
People who have crossed the age barrier of forty years mistakenly believe that the path to acquiring a pumped up and sculpted body is closed for them. This is a common misconception. Those who have celebrated their fortieth birthday can also build muscle mass.
There are no strict age limits for bodybuilding. Even those who decide to get into ideal shape at 50 and 60 years old can successfully pump up their muscles. It is never too late to start building a beautiful and developed body. The results may exceed all expectations.
With age, certain changes occur in the body of every person. They are not so significant that you completely refuse to go to the gym. However, given this fact, it should be understood that the approach to muscle building for an older athlete is somewhat different than for a young one.
Middle age is not a hindrance to bodybuilding
This is not just a statement, but an irrefutable fact, scientifically proven in a study conducted at the University of Oklahoma. The experiment consisted of dividing people into two groups according to age category. In the first there were subjects from 19 to 20 years old, and in the second - from 35 to 50 years old. For two months, both groups performed the same training program, which included working with weights such as barbells and dumbbells.
The results of muscle mass gained over eight weeks in middle-aged and young study participants were practically the same. This was determined by measuring muscle mass before and after strength training. Measurements were performed using DEXA scanners. In addition, some indicators were higher among older participants.
The young people demonstrated a result of 3 kg in the bench press against 6.5 kg for older participants, and 25 kg in the leg press against 18 kg for opponents. Consequently, the reserves of strength and endurance in the two groups did not differ significantly. This is direct proof that bodybuilding is a discipline not only for young athletes, but also for those who are or have already turned 40, 50 and even 60 years old. Older athletes, along with increased muscle volume and increased endurance, also receive excellent prevention of health problems.
You don’t need to look to research to see the benefits and advisability of bodybuilding in middle age. It is enough to meet people who prove by their own example that even after forty you can find the shape of your dreams. The main thing is to approach bodybuilding with knowledge of the matter, that is, choose a training method.
How to train older athletes?
The training process both after and before the age of forty has practically no significant differences regarding the choice of strength exercises and training methods. This does not mean that you can do absolutely everything that athletes can afford due to their younger age, for example, at 20 or 25 years old.
There are some nuances that will have to be taken into account:
Be careful when handling heavy weights
Lifting heavy to moderate weights is considered the best way to develop strength and increase muscle mass. But there is also a downside. Weights place significant stress on joints and damage muscle fibers.
This doesn't mean you should stop lifting heavy weights. The main thing is to correctly calculate your own physical fitness and fitness. Untrained older people are advised to start lifting weights with low repetitions. When eight or ten approaches become easy, you can increase the range.
The number of approaches and repetitions should be dictated solely by your own feelings. You shouldn't overpower yourself. Increasing the load is welcome, but not required. Of course, it is impossible to strive for higher results when there are no physical prerequisites for this and sufficient strength.
Paying attention to pain in the joints, lower back, etc.
People experiencing low back pain should not perform deadlifts. The exception is when the therapist has prescribed this particular exercise. The presence of pain in the knee joints requires abstinence from squats, and in the shoulders - from bench presses while lying or standing.
You should not, overcoming pain, continue exercising with a load on the source of pain. Otherwise, the situation will worsen and you will have to forget about visiting the gym for months. It's better to focus on other exercises and then work on problem areas when the pain goes away.
Recovery and rest come first
If you spend the whole week in the gym, this is fraught with overtraining. To avoid exhaustion, you should not neglect the recovery process after each strength training session. And if we talk about how age affects this period, then the changes are not as significant as many people think.
The time required for the muscles and body to recover after exercise may require a little more. The main thing is to make sure you get enough sleep, at least 7 hours, and consume the recommended amount of protein. In addition, every 6 weeks or 2 months you need to take a break from classes for 7 days.
Gaining muscle mass and losing weight after 40 years
The sharp decline in metabolism in middle age is another misconception. It is slowing down, but not that much. Loss of muscle, that is, dry mass, plays a major role in reducing metabolism. But this has practically no effect on the processes of gaining muscle and losing weight.
Muscle tissue is responsible for burning calories. If you keep your muscles in good shape, even time, that is, age, will not interfere with the normal course of the metabolic mechanism. Thus, the gym becomes not only a place to find a toned and pumped up body, but also a means of keeping yourself in good shape and tone.
Bodybuilding for middle-aged people who do not have serious metabolic disorders, including metabolic syndrome, will be an excellent means for losing weight. The main thing is to adhere to generally accepted standards, which are the same for both young and older athletes:
- train correctly;
- do not expect quick results;
- provide a small calorie deficit.
If you follow these three rules, the fat will not just go away, but will be replaced by lean muscle mass that supports proper metabolic function.
Video review
Nowadays, the cult of physical development of one's body has become widely popular among people of all ages. After all, it’s so cool to have a strong and attractive body that evokes desirable glances from the opposite sex and envious glances from your own.
And there are many other advantages, such as higher physical strength, endurance and improved health compared to people who do not engage in sports, which allows them to easily withstand most diseases of low and medium levels of danger. In general, body development is always great.
Basically, those who work out in gyms go there for general fitness maintenance and their efforts are rarely aimed at becoming a real bodybuilder. After all, professionals in this sport not only have a slender and moderately pumped up body, they have large and superbly developed muscles, high strength indicators and an unusual appearance, thanks to which they are easy to recognize among other people. Still, a guy with huge sculpted biceps and a wide, muscular back will stand out among the crowd.
Most people who want to become bodybuilders start at a young age, because there are more opportunities in such years. However, it also happens that men decide to engage in this sport at a later age, for example, after 40 years. And they also have many opportunities to become a professional in body development.
Problems of midlife
So, you are 40 years old and have decided to start getting serious about bodybuilding? Age, of course, is not a hindrance in this matter, but you should immediately remember that bodybuilding after 40 years of age will differ from the same training that people do at 30 or even 35 years of age. And it's not that you're old. The problem is much simpler and more offensive - physical inaction.
Yes, yes, precisely inaction. After all, as a rule, by the age of 40, a person who is not particularly keen on a healthy lifestyle acquires a number of different chronic deficiencies, such as a weak liver, sudden changes in blood pressure, poor hematopoiesis, etc. In general, the cardiovascular system of mature people is generally weaker than that of younger people. And the main reason for this is lack of physical activity.
By the way, the car you were finally able to buy is also to blame for this. After all, when you walked, at least some minimal training took place, which slightly improved the performance of your body. This, of course, does not mean that you need to get rid of cars, but if you can get somewhere on your own and the main reason for your reluctance to do this is laziness, then it’s worth trying to overcome it. But then it will be good.
Thus, before going to the gym and starting to train seriously, you need to be examined by doctors to find out about possible contraindications to bodybuilding. And you shouldn’t neglect this, because intense physical activity may well provoke the rapid development of serious diseases that previously existed in your body in a passive form. If you still have no contraindications, then you can start training. However, first you need to think about what goals to set for yourself.
Starting bodybuilding after 40 years with increasing strength is the stupidest thing you can think of, because at 40 years and later, your muscles, due to little use, have weakened and become less flexible. Starting to load them with heavy weights means creating a high risk of serious injuries, such as ruptured tendons and joints. It will take a long time to recover after this, and in especially severe cases it will not even be possible to completely return to the previous functions of the body, especially with complete ruptures of the tendons of the hands.
- Therefore, before lifting a heavy barbell, you should start improving the overall mobility of your joints, that is, start stretching exercises.
- In addition to improving the plasticity of the body, before exercising, it is necessary to carefully and regularly stretch the joints and ligaments, which helps to rejuvenate the body as a whole, including strengthening sexual functions.
- And you don’t need to listen to those who say that after 40 years you cannot make your body flexible. As a complete refutation of this theory, you can look at old yogis wrapping themselves in such poses that your head is spinning. By the way, yoga exercises called asanas are also excellent ways to stretch, but they should be performed regularly.
And in general, you need to use not individual stretching exercises, but entire sets of training, compiled either by you personally or by professionals who publish their articles on the Internet or create individual programs for a fee. The main thing is to remember that each person has his own characteristics of the body, so descriptions of gymnastics should always be read especially carefully. Otherwise, again, there will be injuries, recovery, possible disability and other troubles that it is better to consciously avoid rather than hope for luck.
Women aged 40 and over have one serious problem that can cause complications when training in the gym. With age, there is less calcium in the female body, which leads to some general weakening of the skeleton.
Therefore, those women who want to actively engage in strength sports should always have various dairy products in their diet. Yes, they may contain a lot of fat, but they also contain a lot of calcium, which can reduce the risk of fractures during physical activity.
And finally, the last problem of adulthood is that you need more rest. And the point is not only that the process of tissue regeneration is slower than in young people. People over 40, as a rule, have a lot of stress (past or present), experiencing or remembering which has a detrimental effect on your physiology. So, in addition to bodybuilding, you should also think about improving your mental health.
Start of classes
Each novice athlete will choose his own training program that suits him. However, there are some practical tips that are suitable for most training systems. Whether you follow these tips or not is your personal choice, but it’s still worth reading:
1. More reps.
It has not yet been established exactly what is better: many repetitions with small weights or few repetitions with large ones. One way or another, immediately starting to train with large weights is traumatic, so it is better to start training with a small weight with a number of repetitions from 10 to 20. For a beginner with an average physique, it would be better to start immediately with 12 and increase the number of repetitions as they increase physical indicators.
2. Strengthening ligaments and joints.
Physical strength mainly depends not on the volume of muscle mass, but on the strength of its limiters - ligaments, joints and tendons. You can have huge muscles, but if your ligaments are weak, then the body itself will not allow you to use the full strength of your muscles. Therefore, more isometric (static) exercises, as well as jumping over obstacles, throwing heavy objects, etc., and if you have problems and joint pain, supplements containing chondroitin and glucosamine will help you.
3. Stretching.
The importance of stretching exercises has already been written above. Before exercising, you need to do 10-15 minutes of gymnastics to stretch your joints and muscles.
4. Correct execution of exercises (technique).
The exercise technique was not created by fools, so you should do everything exactly as it is written. Any improvisation and cheating can cause injuries, as many self-confident beginner bodybuilders are convinced of.
5. Heart.
With age, the cardiovascular system weakens, therefore, those over 40 need to regularly engage in aerobic exercise, at least 3-4 times a week for 25-45 minutes, depending on your fitness, this could be running track, stepper, orbitrack, or just walking.
And now, about the training complexes.
Each person needs his own exercise system, and trying to find something in common rarely works, especially for people of mature age, because, as already mentioned, chronic diseases (if any) can impose some restrictions on most training programs available to the younger generation.
Therefore, if you want to start active training, consult with professionals who can create a competent training system for you. AND Don't forget to visit your doctor After all, health comes first and it is important to always know about its condition.
Pros of bodybuilding
Bodybuilding after 40 will give you many advantages that can benefit not only your self-esteem, but also make you more brutal (or feminine, if we are talking about women) in the eyes of others. Here are some of the main advantages of bodybuilding:
1. There will be more muscles.
Upon reaching the age of 35, those who do not load the body with physical exercise and do not play sports begin to experience a gradual decrease in muscle volume and a gradual increase in body fat. Therefore, increasing muscle mass is one of the main advantages of bodybuilding, because large and strong muscles beneficially improve a person’s appearance, regardless of his age. Just look at Arnold Schwarzenegger - he is already 70 years old, but he still looks just as cool and brutal.
2. Blood pressure will decrease.
Regular bodybuilding exercises reduce overall blood pressure and reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases by almost half.
3. Improvement of digestive functions.
This may seem strange to some, but bodybuilding speeds up the passage of food through the intestines, which beneficially reduces the risk of developing hemorrhoids.
4. Bones will become stronger.
Everything is clear here. Bones become weaker over time, and regular exercise strengthens them and also improves overall calcium absorption.
5. Acceleration of metabolism.
Speeding up your metabolism will help you burn some amount of fat and always stay slim, even if you decide to give up your workouts for a while, which is generally not recommended, unless for a serious reason and most importantly not suddenly.
How long have you been able to do it?
Skillfully just long enough.
Nothing good, like nothing bad, lasts forever. This is the universal law of existence.
If you and I could remain young and beautiful forever, then, thanks to constant training, we would have long since joined the pantheon of Greek gods. What do you think, for example, of the god Dynamite - the mighty patron of manual movements of planes and trains? It's funny, all this is nothing more than funny fantasies. The realities of life are much darker. Whether we like it or not, everyone ages. Even those who take care of their health literally from the cradle. And without taking into account this sad fact, you can lose your health, which has been protected for years, at the most inopportune time - at the moment of maturity, turning into old age. And therefore, my friends, comrades-in-arms, and especially peers, you and I need to reconsider our views on health care in time, otherwise we cannot avoid troubles.
That’s why I want to touch on the topic of training after crossing the notorious forty-year mark. This is important. Veda, even if a person has been involved in physical education all his life until this sad moment, he in any case needs to change his training style. So as not to harm the barely noticeably aging body.
I write point by point, dropping a stingy man’s tear onto the keyboard.
reduce the intensity of your workouts
This is the first point, because this is perhaps the most difficult thing to do. I say this because I encountered this problem myself. Big problem! I have been trying to do this for two years, since I turned forty. And only after two years of searching was I able to find the path that I needed to follow.
The moment of decreasing intensity is both the most important and the most difficult psychologically. Over the years, you have become accustomed to training to be heavier, stronger, more powerful. And then suddenly you need to stop and reduce the intensity? What nonsense?! Yes, this needs to be done! Leave unnecessary vanity, you have already proven everything to everyone. Breaking down in order to prove something to green youths is stupid, somehow boyish.
Be wiser, that's why you're forty years old.
How to lower the intensity? Try to reduce the amount of working weight. At the same time, it is possible to maintain the same conditions! You can either increase your training volumes a little, or do three sets of ten repetitions as before. But let these not be the maximum weights for you that you can overcome ten times. You can add the number of repetitions in all exercises - also a good method.
To be specific, you need to do at least ten repetitions. The desired range is 10–15 repetitions.
give up power periods
I believe that a strength training regimen is absolutely unnecessary after forty. Even if they can be used, it is for completely different purposes. Strength periods should be more of a psychological nature - scratch your psyche and calm down. Because at this age, the articular-ligamentous apparatus, unfortunately, is not so much susceptible to injury as simply worn out. For example, I encountered this. When my knee hurt, I thought it was just an injury. I went to the doctor, and he told me: “You weren’t injured. Your ligament was worn out!” Erased! Therefore, train lighter and find other methods to increase the intensity of your training, in addition to increasing the working weights. You can, for example, combine exercises or constantly use a technique such as pre-exhaustion. There are many options!
give up forced training methods
This point is a continuation of the previous two. The first thing you should think about after forty is the need to remove as much negative stress on your joints and connective tissue as possible. Therefore, do not try to stimulate your body with negative and forced repetitions. It is they that lead to wear of these components to the greatest extent.
say goodbye to rejection
You will also forget about muscle failure. This method is also no longer for you. Failure sets wear out connective tissue just as much as forced reps or “negatives.”
In addition, since the issue of correct technique now becomes of paramount importance to you, it is simply dangerous for you to work to failure. Any misalignment in the working joint on the last rep of a failure set can result in serious injury. And at your age, rehabilitation takes a lot of time. Sometimes it's too much.
pay more attention to warm-up
In the old days, you could afford to skip the cardio workout or immediately set yourself to your favorite working weight. Now such tricks are not for you. Warm-up, like cool-down, should now become mandatory and very thorough. After you've warmed up with cardio, don't be lazy and do a joint warm-up of the whole body. Then stretch the muscles surrounding the working joint in the upcoming exercise and do the required number of warm-up exercises and approaches. At the end of your workout, go back to the treadmill and walk on it for another ten minutes to let your heart calm down and just cool down. After which you can stretch a little again.
increase rest periods between workouts
Each year you live takes about one percent off your metabolic rate. For example, by the age of fifty, your exchange rate will be almost twice as slow as the original one. Therefore, your body will have to rest much more from stress than before. If you want to stay healthy and train effectively, make an effort on yourself - increase the number of rest days between workouts. By doing this, you will give your body more time to rest and balance recovery according to your current age.
balance your diet
After forty, the issue of nutrition becomes much more important. By reducing the intensity of training, it is necessary to reduce the caloric content of the diet. After all, why is it so difficult for some athletes to give up hard training? They are corroded. By sharply reducing the intensity of exercise, they consume the same amount of calories as before. Which causes weight problems. Therefore, after reducing the intensity of your training, you need a clear balance between nutrition and the volume of training hours. Eat less. Consider also the fact that the ability to absorb nutrients deteriorates significantly with age, and adipose tissue is formed much more readily than in youth.
Even in trained muscles, unpleasant processes begin to occur - muscle fibers are gradually replaced by fatty and connective tissue. Therefore, you should regulate your shape in adulthood not only with the help of a barbell and dumbbells, but also with the help of a fork and knife. Cut off everything unnecessary mercilessly!
give up squats
Unfortunately, you will have to give up squats once and for all. You don't need any extra stress on your spine. Don't worry about the shape of your legs. If you have worked in a strict strength regime for a long time, then maintaining your muscle mass at almost the same level is quite possible. I haven’t squatted for two years now, and I can’t say that my legs have “scorched” significantly. Yes, of course, they lost the volumes that they had during the “squatting” period. But they still continue to be large and muscular. What to do instead of squats? I do either a double leg press or a single leg press. All.
Moreover, not in one training session. I alternate these exercises from time to time. There are not so many working approaches: about six on the front surface of the thigh and at least four on the back. Sometimes at the end of a workout I do two or three more approaches to the shin. But I rarely pump my lower leg, it’s a gift for me.
From mom and dad! Just please don’t think that from now on leg training will be anything but normal.
Nothing like that, everything will be more than noticeable. I now get two sets of bench presses of thirty reps on my legs, then two of twenty and two of ten. True, this regime of repetitions causes pain in the hips, which never happened from squats. Never! But still, after forty it is better not to squat if you want to be healthy and strong.
hire a personal trainer
For most people, the question of changing the regime after forty depends on the coach. Someone who will tell you and show you the right path. I recommend that you find yourself a good personal assistant; this will bring a lot of benefits. At a minimum, he will always back you up and hand you dumbbells. Even those who have eaten more than one dog during weight training should not refuse a trainer. It's never too late to learn. I have a good friend, Dima Gnatyuk, who trained with iron quite seriously for twenty-five years in a row. He also studied with Shubov at one time. And he, in my opinion, has a very good figure. So, I remember, two or three years ago he invited me to train with him. He wanted to stimulate himself so much, it just broke him to go to training. Well, go ahead, I say.
Why not help your comrade? So after training he came up to me and said that he realized that he had been training incorrectly for twenty-five years. For the first time in several years, his chest hurt! Most people, especially older people, are too sedentary or something. They are frozen in a piece of amber of their beliefs and misconceptions about training. Well, they say, we know that for mass you need six to eight repetitions, and for weight loss 15–20. We have been training for so many years, and it is not for you, young people, to teach us. Stop it, find the strength to take the position of a student. This is exactly what you did when you were young!
Change the focus of physical activity
Over time, it is worth starting to master other types of physical activity. Try to fall in love with swimming, running or yoga. This change of regime is ideal for the age of forty. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done. After all, the problem is in the head, not in the heat. How do you know when it's time to think about health?
Unfortunately, most of us begin to think about this only when a roast rooster pecks in the buttock, that is, when something starts to hurt. Like mine. But I had quite a long history of professional work and injury, so I consciously prepared for my current condition.
Once you find a compromise with yourself, you can change your training regimen. I found. For example, I needed to lose weight for cinema, and I switched to a “losing weight” training regimen. It’s easier for me in this matter, because initially I was not involved in iron, but in wrestling. By switching to one or another type of physical activity, I can get a buzz. For example, I can reduce my strength potential but increase my endurance potential. Or reduce your potential for endurance and strength, but rely on functionality or flexibility. And so on.
I can generally lower everything and stick to one appearance. So you choose something suitable for yourself.
expand your range of interests
After forty, a lot changes in our lives, and not just training. You begin to treat absolutely everything with great reverence. For some people this happens not after forty, maybe after fifty or thirty-five. Everyone has their own deadline. I can’t say that I stopped being interested in anything - women, iron or something else. It’s just that my area of interest has expanded. And as long as I still have the opportunity and the desire to receive both, and the third, I will receive it. But now I have other interests. Therefore, I advise you to stop cycling in training. Thanks to age, you finally have more time for those things that you have been putting off all your life. Go somewhere you've never been but have always dreamed of visiting. Visit old friends, make new ones. Become interested in something else as passionately as you were once interested in bodybuilding. For example, I became interested in cigars and pipes. This doesn't mean I just started smoking them. I made new friends and new interests. I constantly learn new things for myself and when talking with my interlocutor I no longer lash out at hip throws, the number of working sets and my own weight, as happened in my youth.
I have become wiser.
These are some sad pieces of advice. I hope they will bring you tangible benefits and help you extend your life in physical education. How long will bodybuilding come into our lives?
I'm sure forever. Vladimir Turchinsky, fortunately or unfortunately, will be forced to study until his death. My body does not know any other state other than trained. I started training seriously in fourth grade. And before that I had football, hockey and hide and seek. And the state of my spine today is such that if there is no muscle corset, then I will simply fall apart. I'll fall asleep. The death of Ivan Vasilyevich Poddubny, who fought until he was seventy-one years old, and then died within a month and a half after a broken leg, is very significant in this matter. I think breaks in training played a significant role in his tragic end. Given the level of physical exertion that he had endured all his life, he found himself chained to pastels and, apparently, the fighter’s mighty heart could not stand it. Of course, there are different versions of his death; they say he was starving. But I am sure that he did not die from hunger.