Once you hit the age of Forty + beyond two things can happen. You are either in shape and want to hold onto it, or you are out of shape and want to get back into it.
Born in 1975, I am now in the mid Forties age bracket. I have been training since my early teens. I’ve learned a lot in that time period from bodybuilding, strength training, flexibility, fat loss and fitness programs. I took a lay of from training in my thirties and found it hard to regain my shape.
What I noticed was that the advice I had followed in my younger years did not work. Fat loss was harder. Fitness was certainly a lot harder. Muscle building was not only slow and hard, but extremely painful.
In this period I enlisted on coaching programs by former Mr Olympia bodybuilder Ben Pakulski and elite powerlifter Andy Bolton and started to research diets, muscle building science, and I began to devour the latest no fluff scientific papers on exercise. You will see excerpts and reference to scores of studies all over this website. I do not believe in loose without facts.
I quickly learned some shocking facts like all you people who have a fitness tracker and are clocking up 10K steps a day are just wasting your time. 10k steps was invented by a marketing company. Imagine. The health and fitness industry is full of lies, myths, half truths and broscience.
Say what? Take these diet pills and all will be well. Exactly, the supplement and fitness industry today is the same as It was in the Wild West. Full of nefarious characters riding into town selling miraculous medicine…looking to swindle you out of your money,,, before skipping town.
Over Forties + Fifties Muscle Building & Weight Loss
Inevitably after you hit 30 the metabolism slows down. When this occurs weight loss is certainly harder and extreme diets do not work. When your metabolism slows down fat loss no longer becomes your vessels priority.
If you have tried every diet known to man and not had any success you are not alone. Diets don’t work for the long term, and for most people any losses occurred are usually put back on with a vengeance once you go back off the wagon. The shotgun approach to weight loss never works.
And what about fat loss- does it come from eating fatty food? It depends what kind of fats and how much. Bodybuilders in the 70s consumed a diet high in fats and were tremendously lean.
Fat is not stored in the body as fat if you know what type of fats to eat and how to train. Knowing this allows fat to be burned for fuel. Studies of the Mediterranean diet prove that consuming a high fat diet can keep body fat levels under control.
Adding healthy fats to your diet can lower cholesterol and reduce your risk of heart disease.
Read about the bad fat rap here.
Create Your Own Fitness Zone At Home
Another thing that can stop you in your tracks is getting out to the gym if you are balancing a job, a family, motivation and self esteem. Convenience is the mother of all inventions as you have the option of creating a fitness zone in your own home. There are lots of commercial gym quality home gyms and cardio machines that are ideal for this.
Many are well within reasonable budgets and if you think on a long term basis even the luxury end of the market equipment will beat a gym subscription over 12-24 months. If you want a budget treadmill read the review of the Weslo Cadence G 5.9 here. Building a home gym? You can narrow down your shortlist by reading up on the Bowflex Blaze.
If you want to go completely lo-tech and cut out power bills altogether there are some quite unique manual treadmills that can do wonders for your health, and they will actually bring you results, especially if you can’t get out of the house that often.
You don’t have to have a desire to be a muscle bound 40+ something to be interested in gaining strength without even adding size. Did you know for instance that lack of muscle can lead to disease? See here. Just before you call your surgeon for some botox or revert to eating nothing but quinoa for the next 6 months read about the anti-aging effects muscle building has.
If your joints are troubling you the best way to stay active is with some low impact form of exercise. This can be achieved with a rowing machine and also and exercise bike. You can read up about the most famous rower in the world by Concept2, and also a budget friendly version namely the Stamina Body Trac Glider which has been bought by thousands of homeowners.
If you want a piece of home exercise equipment that has virtually zero impact on your joints have a look at the famous Airdyne Pro by Schwinn. It is actually used in rehab centers all over the world. If you have life limiting injuries or have sustained injuries over the years you can add some serious muscle by bulking up with light weights- see here.
Can You Build Muscle Over 40?
You sure can, just look at the guns on Ryan Crawley here. Ryan has a number of unique easy to follow workouts and nutrition advice. If you stick to them you will be busting out of your shirt in no time.
Enjoy reading,
Eddie