I think it’s safe to say that most people that are serious about weight training have the same goal to preserve as much strength and muscular size that we can through our 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and beyond.
Staying strong and muscular becomes more challenging over time. Forty years of heavy lifting has taught me several strategies to combat the effects of sarcopenia and other age-related factors.
Aging Effects on Strength and Muscle Loss
It’s no secret that as we age strength gains drop off and it’s harder to maintain the lean muscle we had in our younger years. Personally, I was fortunate to be at my strongest in some of my lifts into my late 40’s. I set my first Open Class IPF World Record in the deadlift at age 45. I pulled my biggest deadlifts in my mid 40’s. At age 47, I won the IPF Classic (RAW) World Championship in Suzdal, Russia. However, as I turned 50, things started to change.
The demands of daily life and training at a high level for an extended period of years are going to lead to wear and tear on the body. Osteoarthritis begins setting into worn and damaged joints, and tendons and muscles become deteriorated. Personally, I have been fortunate to maintain decent joint health, but I do have a severely deteriorating right knee and other joint and muscle injuries that continue to accrue.
Additionally, the aging process brings other challenges from accumulating medical issues that become more prevalent as we age. Some of these may include diabetes, high blood pressure, AFib, and high cholesterol. Prescription medicines prescribed to combat these ailments take a toll on staying strong and preserving hard earned muscle. I know this well as I’ve had a ten year off and on struggle with AFib. At times, when this condition flares up, I need to take additional medicines for a period of time. These medicines really zap my energy and strength.
Beyond injuries and illness, the phenomenon of age-related loss of strength and muscle (Sarcopenia) exists. Research indicates Sarcopenia begins around age 40. Some effects of Sarcopenia are inevitable, but the effects of sarcopenia can be reduced by continuing to strength train.1 Don’t let anybody convince you to stop training heavy!!! In fact, a study completed in Germany suggests that adults, even over the age of 60, should be training with loads greater than 85% of your 1RM.2
Strategies for Continued Success
I believe there are four common strategies that exist for weight training at any age. If you want to continue to train hard into your senior years, it is important to maintain:
- Mastery of Technique
- Motivation
- Goal Setting
- Willingness to Adjust Your Training Methods
Without maintaining these four strategies, the ability to continue to weight train at a high level will be detoured by lack of motivation, injuries, lack of progress, and physical limitations when your body won’t allow you to work out the same as you did in your 20’s.
Mastery of Technique/Staying Healthy
Completely preventing injury and chronic illness is beyond our control. However, a great strategy to continue to make progress is “Mastery of Technique”. Don’t let your lifting form break down by going too heavy in training and sacrificing the right movement pattern. This will stall progress and open you up to serious joint and muscular injury that may affect your future ability to train heavy. Mastery of Technique is equally important if your focus is on body building. You want to make sure you’re working the correct muscles with each exercise. Otherwise, you’re cheating yourself. Continuously perfecting your technique is the secret to success in all sports at any level. I’ve watched numerous videos of three-time Olympic Shotput Gold Medalist Ryan Crouser. He continuously works on improving his technique and his motto: “It’s all in the details. Train so you can’t get it wrong”.
Additionally, eating a well-balanced diet, staying away from junk food, getting enough sleep, and making it a priority to have an annual physical, becomes more important as we age. I try to stay away from junk food as much as I can, and I generally maintain 1 gram of protein/lb of bodyweight on a daily basis. I also urge the importance of using supplements. I use protein powder, creatine, myHMB®, PEAK ATP®, taurine, citrulline, ribose, NMN, magnesium powder, branch-chain amino acids, and beet root powder on a regular basis.
Staying Motivated
Staying motivated is key to having the drive and discipline necessary to continue weight training long after your best years are behind you. It’s easy to stay motivated on the rise to the top. These are the glory years when you set personal records every year and compete on a high level. However, staying motivated can be hard for some athletes when the best years have come and gone. When this time comes, you really need to start relying on your own internal motivation. Remember to have the right mindset: “I get to work out” rather than “I have to work out”.
Have fun working out! Personally, I enjoy training more now than ever. It’s fun for me. I still like to stay as strong as I can, but I have changed my goals to include using my training to stay healthy. I work in a lot more functional strength and cardio workouts these days.
A few years ago, while pursuing my master’s degree, I had a class on sports psychology. One thing that stuck in my head was the importance of being task orientated. Task-oriented motivation in the weight room, for an aging athlete, should focus more on self-improvement, improving your physique, preserving your health, staying strong, and setting age-related personal bests. This approach is helpful to support your internal motivation to want to work out.3 I know I am very much internally motivated. In the past I was surrounded with lots of external motivation (medals, awards, prize money). This has changed over time. My focus is more internal now with the goal of staying strong for life.
Goal Setting
My brothers and I had a great role model to inspire us to train heavy and hard into our 50’s and 60’s. Long after his Green Bay Packer Hall of Fame football playing days were over, our father, Gale Gillingham, continued to train very heavy by himself in his home gym. He kept track of his personal records as he aged by writing them down on his garage gym walls. This helped to motivate him and establish goals for training. He simply had fun working out. I try to be the same role model for my daughters, friends, gym training partners, and the athletes that I coach. I want to have them show me; “If coach can work that hard at 60…. I sure can.”
You have to set goals in order to establish a training program. With no program, you are just spinning your wheels and not going to make improvements or maintain your current strength and muscularity. There are different kinds of goals to be set. Some of these goals may be physique or body building related goals. Such as improving lean muscle mass or trimming the fat through weight loss. Other goals may be more strength related such as strength competitions, staying strong to play recreational sports, or just staying as strong as you can for life. Maybe you need to set a goal of competing in Masters (age-class) competitions.
Adjusting Your Training Methods
In order to keep training heavy, I have had to modify my training. I am no longer able to knock out my traditional week after week 5×5 workouts. My body at nearly 60 years old can’t tolerate the high training volume that I programmed in my 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s. I have had to make adjustments to my training. The squat is a good example. With a deteriorating knee joint, rather than trying to squat below parallel week after week, I tend to program in more box squats and partial range of motion (PROM) squats. This allows me to continue to train my lower body more frequently without as much joint discomfort. After a heavy bench training cycle, I will give my shoulders and elbows a break by replacing the bench with dumbbell floor press. I will also take a break from full deadlifts at times by pulling PROM deadlifts out of the power rack for an extended period. If bad shoulders are limiting your ability to back squat, you can always train sandbag box squats and safety bar squats. It’s important to stay creative and still put in the work to train your major muscle groups even if you can’t train them the same way.
Stay Strong for Life
Maintaining strength and lean muscle gets harder every year. Stay motivated to train, continue to set goals, and have fun. Make working out a priority. If you don’t have 3-4 days a week available to train, then get started with 1 or 2 days. Do what you can but have a workout plan and set some goals. Keep your internal fire burning!
Stay Strong,
Brad Gillingham
CSCS
MSC Southern Utah University
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References
- Columbia University Medical Center. Study explains why muscles weaken with age and points to possible therapy. ScienceDaily. Published August 3, 2011. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110802125549
- Mayer F, Scharhag-Rosenberger F, Carlsohn A, Cassel M, Müller S, Scharhag J. The Intensity and Effects of Strength Training in the Elderly. Deutsches Aerzteblatt Online. 2011. https://doi.org/10.3238/arztebl.2011.0359
- Deci, E.L., & Ryan, R.M. (2000). The “what” and “why” of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11(4), 227-268. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/S15327965PLI1104_01
