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How Men Over 50 Keep Training Hard

No, age isn’t just a number. But it’s not a harbinger of gym doom, either. Tweak your training smartly, and even if you’re nowhere near 50, you’ll feel strong as the years go on (and on, and. .. on). Here’s your guide to eternal power. We all know that staying in form gets harder as you get older. But with more guys in their 50s hitting the Ironman, and other guys in their 50s and 60s looking like 20-somethings, you know your potential : You can stay in determine even as you age. Older men continue to chase brawn. Witness MH covering guy Lenny Kravitz, who is 56 with abs that can break Instagram. Or Hugh Jackman, still deadlifting like Wolverine. Or Jason Statham ( yes, he ’ south 53. .. and hush kicking ass ) .

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Men’s Health

Your own muscle quest can continue past the half-century scratch, and we ’ ve found the elder-statesmen trainers who can show you how. possibly you can ’ thymine weather hypertrophy sin anymore—but you ’ re not headed for Jazzercise and speed-walking, either. “ You don ’ t have to change everything you ’ rhenium doing, ” says 47-year-old early bodybuilder Bryan Krahn, C.S.C.S., the author of Men ’ s Health Muscle After 40. “ Just work smart. ” here ’ randomness how .

Step 1: Change Your Mindset

If you ’ re an older guy even approaching workouts as if you were in your 20s, you ’ re destined to fail. And if you ’ rhenium young and already tired of tweaking joints and muscles, just you wait. Everyone can gain from making these four mental adjustments .bobby maximus, trainer  authorI pay attentionto little things. If I dial in sleep stress and nutrition I cancontinue to trainat a high level. BOBBY MAXIMUS, 42 trainer and author of Maximus Body

Lisa MacDonald

Dumbbells Are Your Friend

Barbell lift is the gymnasium amber standard, but it restricts your limbs from moving comfortably. ( It ’ s overrated in your young person, too. ). As you age, consider ditching the barbell presses for dumbbell presses, for exercise, since, as Krahn says, your conjunction tissues are losing elasticity .

Embrace Bodybuilding Moves

Total-body moves ( think cleans and squats ) are CrossFit mainstays, but bodybuilding-style isolation exercises like biceps curls should besides be in your workouts. You ’ ll recover from these exercises more cursorily than heavy lifts, allowing you to train more frequently. Do them twice a week .

Work Hard, Recover Harder

Your body can still recover from beastly workouts—with a fiddling extra TLC. thus double down on recovery time. Trainer Bobby Maximus, 42, writer of the bible Maximus Body, hits the resort hotel more than the gymnasium. Do the like. For every half hour in the gymnasium, spend an hour foam rolling or doing easy yoga .

Set Limits on Your Training

An extra minute of burpees nowadays isn ’ thymine worth not training tomorrow. “ Your workplace capacity is starting to decline, ” says Krahn, “ along with your ability to recuperate. ” So cap your sessions with a prison term limit ( say, 45 minutes ) or track total sets ( 12 working sets and not a single one more ) .

Step 2: Identify the Real Enemy

The biggest threat to staying suit comes from inside your body. Sarcopenia, the age-related passing of bony muscleman multitude, erases 3 percentage to 8 percentage of your muscle mass each decade starting in your 30s. But you can fight back .
man lifting dumbells at cross training gym

MoMo Productions

Build Power

You don ’ thyroxine beat sarcopenia just by lifting weights to build intensity, says Brad Schoenfeld, Ph.D., a veteran muscle research worker. You need to build a unique trade name of strength : exponent. classic strength is your ability to lift, say, 20 pounds. Power is your ability to lift that like weight quickly. Build might training into your workouts doubly weekly, using lighter weights for your exercises. Do 3 sets of 6 reps, taking 2 seconds to lower the burden and no more than 1 moment to accelerate it up .

Eat for Muscle

Training breaks down your muscles, so you need protein to rebuild. Skip that and your muscles never fully recover. Schoenfeld recommends consuming 35 to 40 grams of protein per meal. ( Try a protein judder, or 4 to 6 ounces of kernel. ) “ Most people, ” he says, “ merely don ’ triiodothyronine arrive sufficient protein inhalation. ”

Step 3: Love the Little Things

The bad, badass exercises ( power cleans ! ) are fun, but it ’ s the little ones with nerdy names that keep you healthy. “ Subtle exercises make a universe of difference for wound prevention, superior discipline, and soap performance, ” says trainer Kirk Charles, who ’ second 57. headmaster these three .kirk charles, 57, trainerI’m doing more resistance trainingas I get older to maintain muscle mass. I’ve always been big on cardio activities but I must do more weight training for strength and muscle building. – KIRK CHARLES, 57NASM Trainer and MH.com Fit Beyond 40 columnist

William Heuberger

Elevated Hip Bridge Hold
kirk charles, 57, trainer

William Heuberger

Strengthen your hamstrings, which come into play whenever you pick up a box. Lie with your back on the ground, heels on a professorship, toes pointed toward the ceiling, knees slenderly bent. Tighten your core, dig your heels into the professorship, and raise your hips a high as possible, or until your hips are in line with your knees and shoulders. Hold for 20 to 30 seconds, squeezing your hamstrings. That ’ mho 1 rep ; do 5. Pallof Press
kirk charles, 57, trainer

William Heuberger

Meet your weapon against lower-back trouble. Anchor a resistance dance band to a mail just below shoulder acme. Grasp the band with both hands, arms near your breast ; turn thus your leftover shoulder faces the anchor target ; and step aside until the band is tight. This is the start. Tighten your core and straighten your arms in front of you ; hold for 2 seconds. reelect to the start. That ’ south 1 rep ; do 3 sets of 12 to 15 per side. Resistance Band Pull-Apart Midback forte will protect your shoulders long-run. Stand holding a light resistance set in both hands, arms in movement of you, core besotted, palms facing each early, just a flimsy deflect in your elbows. Keeping your arms parallel to the grate, rotate your arms wide, pulling the band apart, squeezing your shoulder blades. Pause, then return to the start. That ’ sulfur 1 rep ; do 3 sets of 15 .

Step 4: Make Better Moves (& Fix the Bad Ones)

news bulletin : Your body doesn ’ triiodothyronine wish that you can pull off Instagram ’ s wildest exert hits ( and your happy-hour buddies don ’ metric ton, either ). Build muscle and stay healthy by relying on safe movements—and modifying some riskier ones, excessively .

3 Moves to Love

Romanian Deadlift

not everyone has the hip mobility to deadlift from the footing. romanian deadlifts avail. Start stand, holding weight at your hips, then lento lower your torso and push your buttocks back. Floor Press

This offers the lapp chest-development top as dumbbell and barbell bench presses while delivering greater auspices for your shoulders. Hollow Hold

This gymnastics staple has you lying on your back, lower back pressed into the ground, legs and shoulder blades off the flat coat. That builds all-around core forte .

3 Moves to Tweak

Max-Height Box Jump
Box jumps develop lower-body explosiveness, but set the box 10 inches lower than your soap. Wide-Grip Pullup Opt for neutral-grip pullups rather, with hands slenderly wider than shoulder width, protecting your shoulders from long-run wound. Barbell and Dumbbell Military Press Most lifters lack the shoulder mobility to press viewgraph. Opt for land-mine presses alternatively, allowing your arms to move slenderly in battlefront of your torso. A version of this story originally appears in the November 2020 issue of Men’s Health.
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