First of all, it's never too late. I didn't start lifting heavy until after 50, and now it's pretty much all I do -- okay, not ALL I do, but when it comes to staying healthy, it's the main event. In the past two years I've added ten pounds of muscle, not much by body building magazine standards, but not bad given that at our age we're supposed to be inexorably, unavoidably, tragically LOSING muscle. Well funk that.
People our age are sometimes convinced that the way to stay fit is to lift light weights repeatedly in an effort to stay "lean." I'm all for staying lean, but honestly doing a whole lot of biceps curl reps with a 15-pound dumbbell is a waste of time. Five reps with a 40-pound dumbbell, properly done, is not. And you'll know it's not the next morning, when it feels like someone has been smacking your upper arms with a rubber mallet.
But we're not here to hurt ourselves, people. So don't walk into the gym tomorrow and start hefting 35-pound dumbbells right off the bat. Start slow! But by all means START. I'm not here to hand you a pre-packaged workout routine like you'll find in Men's Health or whatever. You can find those easily enough if you want them. Here. I'm just going to tell you over and over to START.
That means you figure out how to work gym visits into your day. If you don't, fine, and goodbye.
If you can figure out how to work gym visits into your day, then welcome aboard and here we go! Start slow, with light weights and plenty of time on your back, stretching or thinking or even napping -- it doesn't matter, because you DID it -- you started. You're at the gym, and until you actually go and do that, nothing else is going to help you. So lift well, dress well, and live well!
But we're not here to hurt ourselves, people. So don't walk into the gym tomorrow and start hefting 35-pound dumbbells right off the bat. Start slow! But by all means START. I'm not here to hand you a pre-packaged workout routine like you'll find in Men's Health or whatever. You can find those easily enough if you want them. Here. I'm just going to tell you over and over to START.
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| "Foro Italico, Stadio dei Marmi, Roma" by Anthony Majanlahti - http://www.flickr.com/photos/antmoose/57193613/in/photostream/. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Foro_Italico,_Stadio_dei_Marmi,_Roma.jpg#/media/File:Foro_Italico,_Stadio_dei_Marmi,_Roma.jpg |
That means you figure out how to work gym visits into your day. If you don't, fine, and goodbye.
If you can figure out how to work gym visits into your day, then welcome aboard and here we go! Start slow, with light weights and plenty of time on your back, stretching or thinking or even napping -- it doesn't matter, because you DID it -- you started. You're at the gym, and until you actually go and do that, nothing else is going to help you. So lift well, dress well, and live well!
