This is why men over 40 should create a workout routine for themselves that has an emphasis on careful, calculated movements. You want to work with your body and give yourself enough time to rest and recover between workouts. This doesn't mean that you need to baby yourself, you just need to be more intentional in what you are doing. Here, we will talk about some safe ways that men over 40 can effectively gain muscle and stay in great shape.
Warming Up
If you already have a warmup routine down pat, stick with it. The point here is that you do warmup and don't skip out on giving your body an opportunity to prepare itself for your workout. You want to increase your blood flow, warm up your body temperature, and increase your heart rate before getting started. You will then want to do a specific warmup for each exercise you are doing. This may be a few light reps of the movement to perfect your form or a full comprehensive mobility routine.
Workout
You will need some tools to complete a proper workout. A set of dumbbells, barbells, flat and incline benches, leg press, squat rack, cable tower and kettlebells, to name a few.You will want to use your equipment to train three times each week. Remember, it is important to give yourself a full day of rest between your days of exercise. On day 1 and day 2 of your exercise routine, you'll use the "sets across" method for your weights, which means you will be using the same amount of weight for all of your sets. With this method, you won't increase the amount of weight that you're using until you do all of the reps on each set.
So for example, say you're starting off with 3 sets of 8 reps. After your warmup set, you choose a weight that you think you can lift 10 times. You complete your 8 reps with ease, and could have kept going until you hit 10. For your next set, you also complete 8 reps, however, you're getting tired near the end. On the last set, you can only finish 7 reps.
The next week, you use the same amount of weight for your sets, aiming to get 8 good reps on each set and finishing out feeling like you could do a few more. If this is the case, it means you're ready to increase your weight by 2.5 to 5% for the next week.
If you're not using the "sets across" method, you can increase the amount of weight that you use on subsequent sets if the weights you use at first are too light and you completed your reps with ease. You will know that you're ready to increase the weight when you are exceeding your range by 2 or 3 reps on every set. So if your exercise instructs you to complete 2 sets of 10 to 12 reps and you are finishing up doing 15 reps, you can use a heavier weight next time.
Rest
For resting guidelines, the first thing to remember is to not begin a new set when you're still trying to catch your breath from the last set. You want to be at full strength every time you pick up your weights.Alternatively, if you feel like you could do all of your sets in a row without taking a break, you're not pushing yourself hard enough. Perhaps your weights are not heavy enough, or you're doing the exercise wrong and you're not challenging your targeted muscles.
Some exercises that you can do after 40 to increase your muscle mass and strength include:
- Dumbbell Incline Bench Press
- Seated Cable Row
- Dumbbell Curl
- Dumbbell Incline Triceps Extension
- Goblet Squat
- Lying Leg Curl
- Plank
- Trap Bar Deadlift
- Dumbbell Split Squat
- Dumbbell Bench Press with Neutral Grip
- Dumbbell One-Arm Row
- Lateral Raise
- Dumbbell Rear-Delt Raise
- Standing Calf Raise
- Lat Pulldown
- Cable Fly
- Rope Hammer Curl
- Rope Pressdown
- Leg Press
Make sure that you are staying hydrated when you are working out so your muscles have the mobility to stretch as needed and are able to recover properly.
About the Author
Dave Mugavero is the owner of Custom Bodies Fitness in Irvine, California. He is extremely proud of his success as the top rated health club in Orange County. Dave has been in the fitness industry for over 24 years, and is widely considered by his peers to be a “Weight Loss Guru”. His extensive knowledge of nutrition, human physiology, personal training and weight loss techniques, and his caring commitment to each client are what make him an expert in his field. He has been a top ranked Natural Body Builder and highly sought after personal trainer and lecturer.
