Fellas – are you in your 40s and want to rebuild the athletic strength you had in your 20s?
You’re not alone. As we age, our bodies change and it becomes harder to stay in shape, but the desire to feel like our strong, athletic self is still there.
The good news is you don’t have to accept a decline in physical strength and fitness as a natural part of aging. By taking a few simple steps, you can actually become stronger in your 40s.
The first step to getting stronger in your 40s is to create a plan. What can you commit to doing time-wise over the next week for your workouts?
Can you spend an hour three times a week working out? 30 minutes five days a week?
What will be something that you can ACTUALLY do and are willing to commit to?
You can tweak and optimize once you get going, but the first step is to figure out what you are willing to do to start.
Next, you’ll need to find a strength training routine that works for you. To get stronger, you’ll want to focus on resistance training, which will help you build muscle and increase your strength. You can do this in a gym or at home with weights, bands, or body weight exercises. Aim for a minimum of three days of moderate resistance training a week.
As a general rule, if you are doing three days a week, have each workout be a total body workout, meaning you are doing exercises that focus on your lower body, exercises that focus on your upper body, and exercises that focus on your core. Avoid doing combo exercises that work multiple areas of your body at once. While they can seem efficient time-wise, they are less effective overall and challenging each respective area of your body.
If you are doing four or more days a week, you can split your days into lower body days and upper body days or follow more of a classic body-building split.
In addition to resistance training, it’s important to incorporate aerobic activity into your exercise routine. Aerobic activities like running, biking, and swimming will help you build endurance, as well as improve your overall health. They will also help you recover from your strength training workouts faster, which will help you build strength easier, too. Try to incorporate at least three days of aerobic activity into your weekly routine.
Finally, it’s important to make sure you’re getting enough rest. Recovery is an important part of any fitness routine, so make sure to get at least seven to nine hours of sleep each night. This will help your body repair itself and stay strong.
Getting stronger in your 40s may seem like a challenge, but with the right plan and commitment, you can make it happen. Start with these simple steps and you’ll be on your way to a stronger, healthier you.
If you would like guidance on specifically what to do during each workout, I have created a free program for ex-athletes over 35 years old. You can get access to each of the workouts by clicking here and entering your name and email address.
Not only will these workouts give you a foundation of how to exercise going forward, they will also teach the four key steps you need to follow with every workout to make sure you stay healthy and injury-free.