Training In Your 40s VS Training High School & College Athletes

Zach Even - Esh
One Comment

The older you get, the harder the training gets!

It's tougher to make gains and you can forget about that "maintenance" BS program. As you get older, the last thing you want is that WEAK attitude of "I'm just maintaining".

If you're not getting better, you're getting worse. I NEVER use the word "maintenance" when training anyone, including in season for athletes.

Think about it, how weak does it sound when you say "I'm just trying to maintain."

It sounds like you fear the work.

It makes me wonder, how long can my message of hard work and consistency on the basics live on for?

I recall Dr. Ken writing his last article for IronMind and he said he doesn't think he can keep telling people to work hard on the basics.

I find my motivation in countless forms. Endless forms. Motivation is ALL around you.

The photo above of Chuck Sipes always inspires me. Chuck was training in bodybuilding yet he was also on a journey to bench press 600 lbs at a bodyweight of 230. He worked full time and was training early morning or after a long day of work.

I heard countless stories of Chuck and other Golden Era greats working manual labor jobs and training early before the sun came up or, training after a long day of manual labor.

Drink Milk, Eat Eggs & Steak. These guys didn't complicate nutrition, training or life.

I am trying to follow suit!

I've trained side by side with my college athletes and made a few adjustments as I've gotten into my 40s:

LOTS Repetition Work on calisthenics, dumbbells, bands and sleds to prep the body and build up joint strength. This is basic bodybuilding work.
Increased my frequency of training because the less I train, the worse I feel. "Training" is not just in the gym, it is also outdoors.
Implementing auto-regulation and a holistic approach to my own training. If I feel my legs need more work, I give them extra work. Upper body gets the same treatment.
More unilateral work for upper and lower body and daily work on The McGill Big 3.
Using more variety in my set & rep patterns for the big lifts. Being careful not to overdo constant heavy lifting in the low rep ranges.

Speaking of heavy lifting......

The last time I deadlifted 535, leading up to that day I was training in my garage mostly, mostly deadlifting 315 - 405 for clean reps with solid speed.

Here's my motto on the Deadlift:

Kill the Deadlift and it will Kill You.

Do NOT kill yourself on the big lifts or they will destroy you.

Here's a video run down of a recent training session that I walk you through.

And here is some footage from our athletes in training, who I train very similar to. The main difference being I don't do all the plyometrics they do.

The high school & college athletes get a lot of jump training in their workouts.

I speak often about fighting the "Strong & Useless" crowd.

You MUST be able to move your body, not just move big weights.

I train side by side my experienced high school and college athletes. These younger athletes can and should consume more food. Their young, thriving metabolism can handle the calories.

Those of us in our late 30s and older, sometimes we forget just how capable we were in our teens and 20s. These kids can go ALL day. I do NOT feed their brain with weak thoughts. Instead, I challenge and push them to do more, to climb above and beyond the norms.

Overall, getting in 3 - 4 hard workouts each week seems to work best. If you want more, make it calisthenics, running or some form of outdoors. I see guys going out hunting and hiking, others go mountain biking. It is ALL good. It is ALL training. It's not just what we do in the gym but it's more about taking our gym training and applying it to LIFE.