Muscle and Fitness

As we age, training goals become more critical than simply getting jacked.

For all you Gen-Xers, do you remember the good old days of feeling young and invincible no matter the damage you did to your bodies the night before? Do you recall those all-nighters of partying and drinking, getting an hour or two of sleep, and still waking up fresh enough to hit the gym? All distant memories for most of us from that generation.

If you were around for the original Miami Vice and Magnum PI series (not the lame reboots) or tuned in to the first glimpses of Duran Duran dominating MTV, you probably realize now, decades later, that time eventually catches up with you, especially when it comes to taking care of your body.

5 FITNESS GOALS FOR OLDER LIFTERS TO STAY LIFTING

I’ve worked alongside trainers who, when the moment they completed their exercise related degree was the moment they stopped investing any effort in continuing education. They decided they knew enough and didn’t think that there was a need for continuing education for fitness professionals—and it showed in their eventual career struggles, lack of skills evolution, and disengagement in the field to the point they instead poured time into multilevel marketing schemes in the false hope of retiring by age 35.

For the majority of us who’ve invested in making others better, resting on our laurels isn’t an option.

Life is full of obstacles on the path to being physically active. As author Ryan Holiday highlights in his book, The Obstacle is the Way, often the problem presents a novel and valuable opportunity to succeed. This partly requires an attitude shift and partly the willingness to look at the problem from a different perspective.

Often most people’s first hurdle is our willingness to seek and accept even the most trivial justifications to avoid “doing the hard thing.” Have you ever felt a sense of relief when a delay or interruption conveniently arose to conflict with your planned workout or meal preparation? Like the nervous salesperson at the first sign of objection, the pressure to show up and do what’s hard is relieved, only to gradually surge until the next customer or next time we’re supposed to hit the gym. But for that fleeting moment, we’re absolved of responsibility for getting uncomfortable and you now have permission to hit the couch and eat fast food.

Fitness professionals often complain about fitness “influencers” with large social media followings who peddle “T&A—and abs” all over their social media. This almost always leads to the inevitable discussion of how to differentiate a skilled and reputable coach from someone who only wants to separate you from your money? It’s nowhere near as simple as glaring red flags. Ctd. in the article.

Workout consistency often feels unattainable in our busy lives. For many people faced with handling multiple family and professional responsibilities, it oftentimes feels easier to believe we can’t find the time instead of working to make the time to get in a good sweat. Some of us would rather lean on a whole bunch of justifications and rationalizations, which in reality are just polite code words for excuses. At the same time, they place their fitness goals—and the time needed to achieve these goals—at the bottom of the priority scale and instead accept the increased risk of long-term health issues.

At this stage, there really are no more excuses for not working out, yet many people still struggle to squeeze in a workout, but have you thought about a lunch break workout? Some reasons for not working out are valid: Successfully juggling a demanding career and taking care of family commitments normally requires long hours out of your day. But if you’re spending your precious spare moments managing a handful of fantasy football teams or staying current with every new Netflix drama—it’s on you.

The golden age of bodybuilding (think Arnold Schwarzenegger before Terminator and Predator) produced much of the training wisdom that trickled down to everyday lifters in commercial gyms. They were ahead of the curve and the science, figuring out a lot of what you use in today’s workouts. Many of the classic ideas also missed the mark but live on in the gym next to you.

Here are four classic updated training principles and training myths that will keep your muscles up and progressing toward your fitness goals.

The golden age of bodybuilding (think Arnold Schwarzenegger before Terminator and Predator) produced much of the training wisdom that trickled down to everyday lifters in commercial gyms. They were ahead of the curve and the science, figuring out a lot of what you use in today’s workouts. Many of the classic ideas also missed the mark but live on in the gym next to you.

What’s your reason for training? Are you active with multiple sports looking to improve performance? Or are you the weekend beer league warrior who doesn’t want to lose a step to the younger guys but also doesn’t want to be dragging himself out of bed in DOMS-induced agony for the following week? Or maybe you just don’t want to be winded climbing a flight of stairs.