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Over 40: 4 Tips On What To Do In The Gym

By on October 19, 2015
PJ Wren

By PJ Wren

So, you’re in your 40’s or 50’s. Congrats, God willing you have reached that midway point of your life.

But, now that you are here does that mean that you need to start acting your age and start training in the gym with precautions and restrictions, because you might break?

First a Funny Story…

My loving husband, who is 10 years older than me, gives me a heads up with every passing decade as to what to expect physically for the years ahead.

For example, when he turned 30 he enlightened me that my body was going to start to change shape.

Sure enough at 30 years my hips grew wider (a lot wider) and things shifted. I was happy with that though. Prior to that I was kinda built like a boy, now at 30 I had me some curves.

At 35 years, he warned me that I will no longer be able to take my knees for granted.

At 40 he warned me that simple tasks, like getting up and off the floor, was going to start getting harder.

And at 45 he warned me that things that I completely take for granted now, like reading the small print on food labels, or menus in a dark restaurant, would go the way of the dodo.

Sitting at 45 years now he has been right on target.

I’m Old, So I Can’t…

Many people, including loving husband, think that as we age we tend to slow down and do less because of aging. For the most part this is complete and utter BS (sorry loving husband).

Much of the physical frailty attributed to aging is actually the result of inactivity, disease, and/or poor nutrition.

The good news is that many of these problems can be helped (and even reversed) by improving lifestyle behaviours such as exercising on a regular basis and eating a whole food diet. Things our older and wiser self know we should be doing.

There are a few inevitable facts, though, that happen when we age.

The Effects of Aging
Aging muscles:

  • As we age our muscles shrink and lose mass. This is called sacropenia and it is a natural process, but a sedentary lifestyle will also speed this nasty process up.
  • The number of our muscle fibres decrease as we age, which means that it takes longer to respond to a fitness program in our 40’s and 50’s than it did in our 20’s.
  • The water content of the tendons decrease, which makes our tissues stiffer and less able to handle stress which in turn make us more susceptible to injury.
  • The heart muscle becomes less able to propel large quantities of blood quickly, this in turn means that we tire more easily and take longer to recover.
  • Our metabolism slows down (this is how quickly our body converts energy) which means we don’t burn fat like we used to.

Aging bones & joints:

  • The mineral content in our bones decrease (for both men and women) making our bones more fragile.
  • The connective tissue that attaches bones to bones (called ligaments) become less elastic which in turn decreases our flexibility.
  • Cartilage, which provides the cushioning between our bones and in our joints, changes. With these changes comes less water content and a joint more susceptible to wear and tear (ie. arthritis)
  • Our joint motion becomes more restricted due to these changes in our tendons and ligaments making us all around less flexible.

However, even though the above happens with every aging body we can decrease the effects of Father Time with the right fitness program.

Over 40: 4 Tips On What To Do In The Gym

1. Build a fitness base.
If you are just starting a fitness program you need to build a base first. This is extremely important, especially in our later years as it is much easier to get injured and it takes longer to get better when we do injure ourselves.

Why is it easier? You can thank the decreased water in our tendons and ligaments, as well as our restricted range of motion in our joints and our loss of muscles mass and muscle fibre size.

A great base building workout is the one found on my website, Over 40: Becoming a Fat Burning Machine course (yes, I know that this was a blatant marketing tip, but seriously it is one of the best workout plans on the ol’ internet. I know, I have bought almost all of them out there to compare).

TIP: when starting out with a strength training workout pick an exercise for each body part and perform 1 set of 15 reps, using an easy to moderate weight. Perform your strength workouts 3 times a week and then the next week do 2 sets, the week after add about 10% more weight to what you are lifting and then on the fourth week add another set. This change in intensity will ensure that you keep seeing results.

2. Lift heavy.
Once that base is built, or if you are already fit, start lifting heavier, but for fewer reps.

If your joints and cartilage have already encountered years of wear and tear (which we know that they have by mid-life), they don’t have the water content that they used to and a weight-training program with lots of reps will only inflame the joint further.

Instead, lift a weight that you can maintain good form with, but are starting to crack by the end of your rep range of 12-15.

3. Watch out for long distance, repetitive workouts.
Cross training is your goal in your later years. If you like running, awesome, but keep the mileage down and perform other activities that work different muscles and joints as well. Because if you run and run and run (or bike and bike and bike, or swim and swim and swim) be prepared to hurt.

Unless you are one of the blessed individuals who can perform repetitive long distance workouts without injury, you are going to inflame those joints of yours and send yourself to physio.

In fact, even my younger clients that only ran for their workouts prior to seeing me have a longer history of injuries than those who run as well as lift weights.

And if you are running for weight loss, just stop right now. Cause it ain’t gonna work as well as other forms of exercise will, such as weight training.

4. Attitude is everything because you ain’t dead yet.
I, personally, know that I could kick my 20-year old’s ass. I am stronger, faster and more focused at 45 than I was at 24.

This is because I train hard, I train consistently and I keep a positive attitude about the whole thing.

So, once you have built that fitness base I want you to GO FOR IT – cause you ain’t dead yet.

 

pj wren head shot.jpPJ Wren is the tough-love trainer for the not-so-tough. She specializes in over-40 fitness and is the creator of the “Over 40: How to Become a Better Fat-Burning Machine” course. www.fitnesswithpj.com

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