Training for over 45 year olds

I recently saw an advert for a PT stating that there is no training program for the over 40, 50, 60-year-olds, they’re just marketing ploys. 

In a way, I guess he is correct but then in a way he isn’t. What do I mean? 

Marketing plans that tell older guys how to train are just plain silly. How you train in the gym, the type of exercises you train all have absolutely nothing to do with your age. 

Imagine your healthy life as a pie chart, training in the gym is about 20 - 25%, the rest are sleep, nutrition and other daily lifestyle choices. If let’s say your lifestyle choices are not great i.e. going out for meals, drinking alcohol, going to clubs, etc. Then all of these will be detrimental to the rest of your pie chart. 

And this is where your age comes in. As a young guy, your lifestyle choices can be a greater percentage of your pie chart and have a less negative effect. But as you get older you have to focus more on your lifestyle choices portion of the pie, as it starts to affect the rest of your pie.

I myself am now in the well above the 45-year-old bracket and there is absolutely no way I can live my life the way I did as a 20 something. 

If I want to get the results I want, then I simply have to focus on the rest of my pie chart in much more detail. 

I can still train as hard as I used to (maybe not quite as strong) the only difference is I have to train smart instead of balls to walls. And that comes with experience and knowledge. If you take your training effort as the datum line and not change that you can see from the pie chart how much more effort you will need to put into the rest of your lifestyle and what adjustments you will need to make for your lifestyle socialising. 

I also have to spend an exceptional amount of time on my rehab. Whereas when I was younger a warm-up was basically doing a lighter lift, no need for all that stretching and movement crap, just straight into it. 

Now on the other hand, due to my age, I have to stretch every day for 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening. If I fail to do this or just miss one or two sessions I will feel it when I train in the gym. 

If I want to have a good physique, I have to put more effort into my planning. I literally have to start planning the year before, during the winter months. 

My year will start with reverse dieting program whereby I will gradually build up my calories overtime to control the rate at which my body utilises energy and hopefully builds lean bulk without too much fat. For this, I have to monitor my diet and nutrition intake for the entire year.  It all depends on what you want and what you are willing to sacrifice for it. Do note I have been training for nearly 40 years of my life and I still have to carry out all of these extra activities. If you have missed training for a few years and suddenly find yourself now over 45 years old and you want to have a great body ‘naturally’ then there are certain steps and lifestyle choices you’ll have to accept and follow. 

During the entire year, I have to really focus on my rehab. Such as every day I have to perform a 30-minute session of whole-body stretching and movement. I have to carry this out twice per day, morning and evening. If I miss a session I will literally feel it in the gym. Even if I did an hour warm-up (which I don’t do) it’s almost as if it’s too late and so my range of movement will be restricted and the exercises I perform especially squats and deadlifts will be negatively affected. This could be because for years I never did any stretching or felt the need for proper warm ups and warm downs. If you are flexible and don’t have issues like me, I still suggest that you create a good movement and stretching program into your life as it will help you tremendously, not to mention all of the scientific benefits. Just remember at our age every little trick or tip is advantageous to assisting in your gym routines and obtaining that better body.

Let’s move onto nutrition, yes if you’re expecting a fantastic physique, you can dream on if you don’t want to put any effort into your nutrition and control what goes into your body as necessary fuel. 

As I’ve mentioned in the past, during your reverse dieting bulking phase you can be more lenient with the type of foods that you can eat, but when you start leaning out you will begin to notice that in order to regain the necessary amounts of protein and fats needed for a good stimulation of hormone production and protein synthesis  all the while trying to reduce your calories, your choice of foods becomes more and more important. Let’s say that you need to have 1gram of full protein per 1kb of body weight and your body weight is 200lbs you will need to consume 200 grams of protein which is already 800 calories. You will also want to keep your fat levels (I would suggest to anywhere from 40 to 50% of your daily intake ). If you are on a 2,500 calorie diet, you've already got to take into account your 800 calories from your protein intake, and if you calculate your fat intake as 50% which would equal 1,250 calories or 139 grams of fat. This leaves 450 calories from carbohydrates or  112 grams. To get the most out of your diet most of these carbs should be high in fibre and from natural sources such as fruit and vegetables. 1 average-sized banana has approximately 89 calories with 23g of carbs. 1 cup of asparagus has 80 calories with 20 grams of carbs. And 1 slice of whole wheat bread has 82 calories with 13.8 grams of carbs. You're limited to 112 grams of carbs and you want to get the most bang for your buck, then obviously fruit and more than likely vegetables are the only choices you have. 

Cheat meals

Cheat meals are an effective way to maintain a low-calorie diet and keep on track of your weight loss, however as you age I have found that these cheat-days have to be further and further apart and if you really want to have a great physique then you should use cheat days as an effective tool but be used sparingly. If you are constantly losing weight then there is absolutely no need to use a great day, whether you feel like you have earned it or not. When you reach a plateau and you stop losing weight at the lowered amount of calories then I suggest you increase your energy output by performing additional cardio exercise in the mornings in a fasted state (not yet eaten) then if your weight loss still plateaus and you're struggling to lose more weight then and only then should a cheat day be included. 

If you eat out a lot for business or socialising reasons you will have to be think even smarter by planning your food beforehand i.e. check out the menu inline before you visit and work out what you can eat within your diet. There is no need to mention it to others and it helps you save face by not looking like the health freak. Your friends and colleagues will always laugh at you for being so strict but at the same time remark at how lucky you are for looking so fit and young-looking. 

The point I wanted to make with this article is yes when you train in the gym and you're older than 45 years then nothing should change from a young man training. It's outside the gym with your everyday lifestyle that needs to be on point if you still want to train in the gym like a 20-year-old. Remember your pie chart and how you will need to manipulate it to increase your focus on your rehab and your nutrition all at the same time of trying to balance your work, social, home and family life. 

It's not going to be easy but who cares? Work harder, work smarter, learn to take control of your own life and become the winner you deserve to be. 

By taking control of your own health and physique, you can use the same principles in every aspect of your life especially your work life. Try it for. 1 year and then implement the same changes you have made to your health and apply them to your work life and watch how your life improves. Or not and simply go ahead through your life and always wonder why you never ’just’ made it.