Old People Lifting

Westwood

Is it still reasonable to expect to be bodybuilding over 40? How about over 50 or 60? Absolutely! Bodybuilding at any age is an activity that can prove to be very beneficial. It helps to create a healthier “older” person and it improves the condition of the heart, muscles, libido, and can just prove to be a good means of prolonging life and looking younger.
Another advantage to bodybuilding over 40 and 50 is that it helps you to look as much as ten years younger and thus contributes to feelings of well being as well as improving confidence levels. I can attest to this personally. Ya, know at about 47 one of my kids asked me to put on a shirt while I was cutting the lawn during one nice Saturday afternoon. I asked why and they said that I was growing boobs and my stomach was hanging!! In all honesty though, I don’t think it was that bad, but admittedly, it wasn’t where I wanted to be in my life. That was my “commitment day” to better health and physic.
The one thing about working about and getting in shape and especially body-building is to make sure you’re in good health. As at any age and fitness levels, it is still smart and wise to get professional advice before proceeding with a fitness and bodybuilding routine.
There is nothing to suggest that senior bodybuilding is in any way different to what a younger person may do. It is just a matter of adjusting certain routines and being more careful. One possible exception to this is when you add supplements of any kind. From anabolic steroids, pro-hormones or vitamins and proteins. With all these, you have to monitor closely because of cholesterol issues, blood affects and on your cardiovascular system. When you’re older, you just have to watch more closely
Also, ensuring a proper warm up is important. I’m guilty of not always doing this. Twenty years ago, you may have gotten away with jumping right into a set of weight lifting exercises with just the slightest of warm ups. Not only is this inadvisable at any age it can be quite dangerous in later life. Shit breaks easier when you get up in age. When you hit fifty plus, a proper warm up is essential to increase blood circulation to the muscles and improve oxygen absorption. A good 10 to 20 minutes of moderate cardio activity is recommended prior to your weight lifting routine. Do I practice this all time? No, I don’t, but I’m making a New Year resolution to do just this. Ten minutes of some type of stretch or cardio workout before I hit the weights.
I often make the big mistake of doing to many exercises’. I see it with others in the gym also, so Im not alone. Machine to machine to weights to other weights exercising the same muscle group. Again, you may get away with it when you’re younger, but injury is almost a for sure if you continue doing it when your lifting on those “heavy days” Back off a bit, stay focused on the single muscle group your working that day, but don’t overdo it. It’s OK, to push yourself on occasion or even a couple of days a week if done wisely. For me I cover almost all my single muscle groups on three exercises breaking them up each week. Three exercises for biceps, three for triceps ect.. The next week, I do other exercises for each of those but on different machines or mix of weights. I’m convinced you can get caught up in a routine and plateau and not see much gains doing the same thing week after week. Use your time and energy wisely by working out major muscle groups at a high intensity over a shorter time scale also. Your muscles will benefit exactly the same and you’ll save yourself from unnecessary, depleting, multiple exercises.
“How often should I exercise” is a question I see on many forums on the internet and especially the ones where somebody is a bit over weight and not in great shape or after 50. Well, it’s like this. I’m in the gym 6 days a week as a rule because I want to. Am I busting my ass every day? Of course not. I try and get to the gym more out of getting in the habit and creating a routine for myself so when I can’t go, I feel like a part of my day is missing. Get to the gym when you can and if your bodybuilding and a goal of more than just losing weight, the gym had better start looking like home to you. People should be nodding their heads at the door when you walk in and on the floor. Im not saying the gym should be your social outlet or a place to be popular. But you need to get to the gym in my opinion as often as you can with one “prime time” that’s yours everyday or at least three days a week. Now, with all that said you need recovery period so you can grow and just not tax your muscles like you were in your 20’s. When you begin a strength training program you might just be able to work out on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, providing your body can fully recover with just one day off. But as you get stronger and start lifting heavier weights, you will need more time to recover. This doesn’t mean you can’t go to the gym and do a mild routine 3 days a week. You can. You recover when you sleep. Thus, get lots of it the harder your working. That’s when your HGH levels peak, if you have any at 50 or over. That’s a whole other subject though. Depending on what your goals are though, you set the standard for you. There are no rules that are hard and fast except you have to work hard, eat right and watch your health. The hard truth here is that cannot achieve your optimum muscle growth by just working out with the same frequency as you get your hair cut. It aint gonna happen. If you minimally work in the gym, you will get minimal growth. This is especially true for seniors. When your older you have to work harder.
This kind of leads into another issue. Have you ever seen two people who were both 60 years old but one of them looks 70 and the other looks 45? Age can’t be measured by the calendar alone. There are several well established “bio markers of aging” that are used to give more accuracy to the assessment of physical age. Guess what? The amount of muscle your body contains is one of the principle bio markers of aging. The more muscle you have, the younger you are. Another bio marker of aging is bone density. Guess what the number one method is of increasing bone density? Heavy, weight bearing exercise!
Those of us over fifty years of age can greatly slow down (and in many cases reverse) aging processes by performing rational, efficient strength training that increases muscle mass and bone density and do even more with the addition of anabolic steroids. Though one must proceed with caution on this. It’s a serious endeavor and you MUST BE EDUCATED on the subject. The really great news is that you don’t have to accept that your body will deteriorate and waste away with age. You must adapt to the aging process in your habits and your body will follow. We can’t stop the cloak, but we can slow down the process. I’ll tell you that it has changed my outlook on ageing and my whole life. One thing is for sure is that it takes a commitment and its one that few can do or do. You can see it for yourself walking down the street. You can be a 1 % er in the older generation by keeping fit and getting into bodybuilding. Once you commit, your will be glad you did. If you’re doing it now, don’t stop. Because I don’t want to see your fat outta shape ass on the street when you can do something about it. Dig?

WW