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| Hi Friend,
“I ain't as good as I once was. I got a few years on me now. But there was a time back in my prime. When I could really lay it down.”
Those words come from Oklahoma-born Country colossus Toby Keith. Yet when the music star penned his hit record, he could have been writing it for a generation of trainees trapped in their middle years.
How so?
Well, if you’ve some years on you like in Toby’s song, there is a good chance you’ve noticed some differences in your resistance training. For instance, recovery between workout sessions takes longer (much longer) and gains under the bar have slowed to a tiny trickle.
How did that happen?
I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but you got older.
And the thing is, anyone above the age of forty will be familiar with this sorry tale: life leaves its imprint indelibly etched on us and there is no escaping it.
If you find yourself over forty, you will typically discover your adaptation to stress isn’t what it once was. Then, as your body’s response to training stimulation diminishes, you will likely experience a loss of strength and muscle size.
This is normal. It’s a part of getting older.
This also explains why you routinely see athletes winding down their careers over the age of thirty. Because these superstars are no longer back in their prime, they struggle to really lay it down.
So does that mean your weight lifting days are numbered once you’re over forty? Am I saying, you can’t build a strong and attractive physique beyond your middle years?
Nope. Not at all. If anything, your time spent under the bar now becomes more important than ever.
What HAS changed, is how you play the game.
Train Your Age…
Coach Scott Abel talks about training your age and not your experience in his book “Physique After 50”. He goes onto explain how people in their middle years need to implement certain training tactics to aid their recovery.
Because older trainees have diminished hormonal and biochemical milieus, they must exercise accordingly. Scott suggests you should AVOID training to failure or exhaustion. In addition, you should also steer clear of marathon workouts and NEVER attempt to lift one-rep maximums.
Ignore this advice and you run the risk of hurting yourself.
Speaking from experience (I am 49), I can say Scott Abel’s guidelines are golden. I began training my age and not my experience almost ten years ago and can tell you that this protocol works.
Does this mean I never train heavy?
Not at all. I’m just careful to cycle any lower rep training accordingly. For the rest of the time, you will find my gym sessions in the 8-12 rep range as they are more joint-friendly and don’t beat me up so much.
Following these guidelines means I can continue to train injury and pain-free. And even though I don’t hit the big numbers as often as I did in the past, I still get to enjoy the many health and fitness benefits of abbreviated weight training.
And the thing is, you can, too.
Or, like Toby Keith says, you can still be “as good once, as I ever was.”
Learning to train your age and not your experience allows you that luxury. This is exciting news, because it means your weight lifting days are not numbered, but become even more important to you.
Now for any Country fans out there, here’s a link to Toby…
“As Good Once, As I Ever Was.”
Until next time,
Squat for Glory!
Lee
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