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Exercises and Workouts - Exercise modifications that extend beyond age 40
If you're in your 40s, 50s, or beyond, you may be wondering what this means for your exercise routine. Can you still do the workouts you've always done? Or do you need to make adjustments? As you get older, there is no question that specific changes take place in your body. If you want to stay active during these years, you'll have to change things up a bit. The good news is that if you keep up with your fitness, you won't have to adjust as much because your body will hold up pretty well. Let's look at some of the changes...
Exercises and Workouts - Exercise modifications that extend beyond age 40
If you're in your 40s, 50s, or beyond, you may be wondering what this means for your exercise routine. Can you still do the workouts you've always done? Or do you need to make adjustments?
As you get older, there is no question that specific changes take place in your body. If you want to stay active during these years, you'll have to change things up a bit. The good news is that if you keep up with your fitness, you won't have to adjust as much because your body will hold up pretty well.
Let's look at some of the changes you should consider...
1. Reduced overall volume.First, consider how much volume you are currently reducing. For example, while you could previously do four sets per exercise, you may now want to limit this to just three. As long as you focus on these three, you should still see excellent results.
As you get older, your ability to recover isn't what it used to be, so a high volume program might be a little too much for you to take on.
2. Exercise selection.Next, consider your exercise selection. You want to do everything you can to protect your joints. Therefore, choose joint-friendly movements. For example, leg extensions tend to be pretty hard on your knee joint, so you might prefer something like the leg press instead.
Or, instead of doing cardio, use a stationary machine instead. These small adjustments can pay big dividends in keeping you pain-free in the coming months.
3. Functional movements.As you get older, your goals will probably change too. While you may have previously been very focused on the aesthetics of things, now you may be more interested in making sure you can keep up with your favorite activities as the years go by. Therefore, you want to take a closer look at functional fitness: This means choosing exercises to perform in your routine that best mimic the movement patterns you use in everyday activities. If you do that, you should be able to keep up with whatever you enjoy doing.
If you keep these three minor adjustments in mind as you do your program and focus on learning to read your body and everything it's telling you, you should have no problem staying active for many years to come.
Inspired by Beverleigh H Piepers