Change your Workouts as You Age Podcast

Workouts are absolutely necessary for health and fitness!  Now, hopefully you know that, and already accept the fact that while a proper, paleo sort of diet without industrial seed oils and processed foods of junk and fast food stuff, and loaded with good meats and full fat dairy is vital as well.  

But what kind of workout is best for you?  The bottom line is this: it changes over time!  When you are a kid, meaning 20 or so and under, I suggest that calisthenics are best.  Running is fine, but forget the long distances, meaning a mile of more.  Sprints are great, but middle distances of varying tempo and terrain give you the best bang for your buck.  Active sports are best, and playing games with your friends are ideal of all purposes.  

I started weight lifting when I was was 20, and I believe this was ideal.  Your body is primed and ready to put on muscle, strengthen tendons and ligaments, and grow at that age.  Through your twenties and 30’s, you should build your physique to its potential.  Sessions of up to an hour, for 2 to 4 hours per week is plenty.  In my opinion, a home gym is ideal, in a basement or a garage.  Simple barbell and dumbbell movements are ideal, and with a power rack of supports you will be perfectly safe!

The main thing to learn is that you need to work HARD.  Strength training is probably, by definition, the hardest you will ever work!  This is a wonderful lesson to learn, and will stand you in good stead in any endeavor you undertake for the rest of your life- in comparison, anything  else seems easy, because you strive to make each test as easy as you can make it.  Only in strength training do you purposely make each movement as hard as possible- for that is the point!

Following such a regimen is the best thing you can do for your total health - both physical and mental!  The idea is to keep at it, over time, for the rest of your life.  Proper paleo diet, good hard exercise and sleep- this will lay the foundation for a strong, healthy life!  The discipline alone of such a life will carry over into anything you set yourself to accomplish.

As you age, though, certain things change.  In your 50’s, the poundages you use should be kept down.  Your base strength levels will tend to be far higher than average untrained fold of your age.  This is great, but you do have greater chance of injury than you did in your 20’s and 30’s.  Start to emphasize repetitions over heavy weights and low reps.   Heavy singles are a mistake as you age; even heavy reps under 5 aren’t appropriate in your 50’s and 60’s…

I am now 73, and I enjoy training at least as much as I did in my youth!    I’m still in my basement, and I do a split of lower body one day, and upper body the next training day.  I prefer to use gymnastic rings over barbells, ring pushups and dips, along with ring pull-ups, accomplish the same thing without joint trauma, since the rings flex naturally throughout your movement, without overload.  Also, now I use much higher reps, with constant tensions throughout the longer sets.  The results are vastly better on the musculature shape.

Also, as you age, you need more rest days!  What I do is, if I feel the need of a rest day, I don’t feel guilty at all.  There is no longer really any pressure- just enjoy your days!  

I no longer do heavy deadlifts or squats- they are unnecessary.  I now do bodyweight squats with raised heels, and kettlebell swings for high reps, along with single legged squats holding the rings for balance.  It’s all about the reps now!

One thing I have added in in my 40’s and 50’s, has been a morning sessio