6 Great Weight Training Fitness Tips For Men and Women Over 40

1. Assess, don’t guess.

Your training plan should start with a detailed assessment of each joint to review its mobility and then the ability of the muscles that surround it to contract. This will give you the guideline of why a muscle / joint is restricted / tight.

HINT– “Stretching is not always the solution for tight muscles.”

Some muscles need to be activated and taught how to contract before you train them to increase the mobility at a joint.

For any given exercise a coach should determine the range of motion specific to you before you perform the exercise with weight.

This way the coach can assess your anatomical differences and decide whether an exercise is suitable for your body.

 

2. Isolate Before You Integrate

Isolate muscles in single joint exercise like the seated hamstring leg curls, abduction and adduction machine and leg extensions, before you integrate it into “functional exercises” like a squat or a deadlift.

The term “functional exercise” is used by coaches who claim it carries over to everyday life. It is not always the case. There is a time and a place for the right trainee for some of these exercises at the right time.

Isolation single joint exercises teach you to contract the specific muscles that cross a joint and they also target the muscles that stabilise your joints.

Many people are rushed too fast into advanced exercises like a squat because it suits the coaches / personal trainers time table or because it is on the workout of the day, week, month.

“For an exercise to be functional” all the muscles and joints used in that exercise must function.”

This is rarely the case when I meet people over 40 in the gym for the first time whether they are beginners or experienced trainees. They lack stability and mobility at certain joints which leads to compensations, pain and then ultimately joint damage.

You need to be able to own and control the movement in every muscle in the exercise you select.

A squat requires co-ordination, balance, a range of motion at multiple joints and an ability to contract multiple muscles all at once. So it may not be a suitable exercise for a beginner.

You need to be able to contract all the muscles individually before you integrate them. They will not just “switch on” magically when you perform a squat.

“A muscle that is weak in isolation will also prove weak in integration.”

Greg Roskopf – Founder of MAT (Muscle Activation Techniques)

The use of weight machines work well for people over 40 as it provides additional support which leads to greater work in terms of contraction of your muscles and the guidance to train new motor skills, especially for those people who have been previously injured or are new to gyms.

3. Perform more warm up sets.

Warm ups should follow the SAID principle, Specific Adaptation to the Imposed Demand.

It’s a preparation for the challenge and people over 40 need more warm up sets dependent on their strength levels to bring them nearer to their working / challenge weight. Each repetition increases the movement of your body which pumps more blood into your target muscles and also it releases more synovial fluid to lubricate your joints.

It may mean less total working sets. Exercise is a process not a programme. It’s about the long-term goal of including exercise as part of a lifestyle plan, not a short-term solution to a life-time challenge of trying to lose weight.

4. Never, ever train in pain.

There are no gold medals handed out for the amount of pain you can endure to complete a workout.

Your podium will be the orthopaedic surgeon’s operating theatre!

Pain is feedback from your body that something is wrong. An exercise may not suit you or their might be some underlying cause for your pain, osteoarthritis, impingement of your hips or degenerative disc pain.

Back to number 1:, you need to start with an assessment from a skilled experienced personal trainer or a physiotherapist versed in exercise and rehabilitation.

5. Be an artist with your technique.

Your joints are older and they will not tolerate sloppy form in an exercise like a young person will. They too, will feel the pain for poor technique in time. Progression does not have to be a heavier weight, it can be improved technique and a better connection with your mind and muscles as you perform your repetitions.

Perform an exercise slowly. This will emphasise your ability to contract the target muscles you want to work which will reduce the stress on your joints and keep the work in the muscles which is the goal. Remember, we are looking to change the shape of our muscles, not our joints.

6. Never start with a big lift as your first exercise in your workout.

If you train with weights in your 40s and you may have been lifting for a long time, you will have hopefully become wiser. Starting with squats and bench presses as your first exercise is a lot of stress on your joints.

Start with an exercise that pumps blood into the muscles and fluid around that joint before you progress onto your big lifts. Train your hamstrings before your squats to pump the blood at the back of your knees and see how it feels. They will thank you for it.

Change the exercise order and rotate the big lifts when you do them (Squats, deadlifts, bench) more frequently to avoid overuse injuries.

If you are a female, Click the link below to learn about our Fit, Forty and Beyond Jumpstart Programme, for women that want to melt unwanted body fat, once and for all!

Be Fit For Life Fit, Forty and Beyond Programme

If you are a man, Click the link below to learn about our Manly Fat Loss Programme, For men who want to muscle and lose fat, without dieting, eating carrot sticks and rice cakes.

Be Fit For Life, Manly Fat Loss Programme

Or if you want to schedule a FREE Discovery Session to help you with your nutrition and training,

Call us today on 01-2176518 or email info@befitforlife.ie