One of the frequently asked questions I get asked is “what is the best way to train as you get older?”
If you have 20, 30 or 40 years of training behind you then the answer is easy, you train the same but better because you have learnt from past mistakes and are now a well educated veteran of how to train your body.
The problem is that the gym can be a fucked up place sometimes. It is amazing how many people I see doing the same things daily. And doing it wrong. Daily. Firstly, their programming is wrong or non existent. They lift, run or push with little or no direction but to grow muscle, lose weight or a combination of both. And these are often people over 40 who tell me of their injuries. I could tell them why they are getting these injuries and how to make training easier for them but, honestly, a window cleaner won’t clean my grubby windows unless I employ them to do so. And I only clean up somebody’s mess if they’re paying me too.
I used to PT in a gym bro gym. I had to wipe my feet on the way out type of place. It had a needle bin in the changing rooms. One thing I was taught at PT school was that I should engage with people by correcting their form and giving them tips. The members of this particular gym would give me advice too. It ended in ‘off’. They wouldn’t listen to a fresh faced PT like me. But the more I learnt I knew that I’d end up training them when they’d recovered from a torn pec or a shattered knee. They would need me then. They eventually respected my knowledge because I could help them do what they wanted to do again. Once recovered, some of them would go back to their bad habits but many had been steered into a training habit that was more sustainable and a nutrition plan that extended beyond chicken and rice.
A gym visit should be a time to educate yourself. Learn what to do but know WHY you are doing it. Know the muscle groups you are using. Research the foods to eat to provide the right nutrients for your body and when to consume it. We can all take a slimming pill to lose weight and we can all inject ourselves to grow muscle. But as we get older our body becomes much more vulnerable to injuries and disease. So we need to know what to do now, whether you are reading this at 20, 40, 60 or 80 years old. Learn now.
So there is no set rule for training differently as you get older. You just need to keep getting better at it and knowing how to do it better each gym visit. This way you will see the best results with less injury and you will be the one still training long after those who didn’t want to learn.
Never Give Up PT 