If you are well over 40, then be sure to familiarize yourself with all the nuances regarding bodybuilding training in adulthood. Bodybuilding for older athletes has its own characteristics, both in the training program and in nutrition. It is also necessary to remember that the body of each person is individual and there are significant differences in the physical indicators of a trained person and those who led a passive lifestyle.
Today we will look at all the pros and cons of age-related bodybuilding. It is clear that the conversation will not go about steroids, since no one needs it. Sports in general and bodybuilding in particular can be divided into four components:
- Nutrition;
- Training;
- Recreation;
- Pharmacology.
Let's talk about everything in more detail.
Age training
When a person over 40 decides to start attending the gym, then he should remember that any insignificant load on the body will be stress. Some systems adapt to new conditions very quickly, while others slowly. For this reason, you should avoid excess stress so as not to harm your health.
If young athletes can first work only on their muscles, then an older athlete needs to immediately start developing their cardiovascular system and ligaments. Ligaments can be trained in parallel with the muscles, and the heart requires an individual approach.
You need to pay more attention to warm-up exercises and cool down. Thanks to the former, you will be able to avoid injuries, and a good cool down will significantly increase the effectiveness of the entire workout.
Everyone knows that ligaments, joints and muscles in a hot state are more difficult to injure. But not many people know that heated muscles are better innervated. This means that you need to warm up well at the beginning of the lesson, do gymnastics for the joints, work on an exercise bike, and work with weights using the "pyramid" principle.
The essence of the pyramid principle is to increase the working weight in each new set. In this case, you need to calculate the weight in such a way that you can achieve muscle failure only in the last set. If you do not use this principle, you can damage joints, which decrease the amount of synovial fluid with age.
As you warm up, you need to do stretching exercises. Thanks to them, you stretch your muscles. You should also use cardio exercise to accelerate the excretion of metabolites from the body.
Also, older athletes should pay attention to spine training. For these purposes, you can start each lesson by performing reverse hyperextensions and developing the press. Thanks to this, you will be able to strengthen the muscles of the back that support the spine, and in the future, keep them in good shape. It has been established that the long back muscles and abs are able to relieve the load from the spinal column, which is very important.
All axial exercises should be excluded from the training program. When you gain enough experience and your muscles gain strength, you can begin to use them. Everything that we have just talked about must be followed by young athletes, however, with age, these recommendations become more relevant. Also, you should use a slightly different structure of your lesson. This applies to the volume, intensity and frequency of training. You should do at least ten reps in one set to reduce the risk of injury. The fewer repetitions in the approach, the more chances of injury. You need to increase the rest time between sets, or even better, buy a heart rate monitor and make sure that your heart rate does not exceed 150 to 160 beats per minute.
Nutrition for older athletes
After 40 years, you should no longer use the popular recommendation of consuming 2 to 3 grams of protein compounds daily for every kilogram of body weight. You need to do a nitrogen balance analysis. And consume only the amount of protein you need. The main products containing protein compounds are dairy products, meat and fish. It should be remembered that with age, the absorption of lactose worsens and you should be careful with dairy products. It is very important to increase the amount of fiber carbohydrates found in non-starchy vegetables such as tomatoes and cucumbers in the diet.
Carbohydrates should be consumed in fewer amounts and for the most part they should not be simple. Now we are talking about carbohydrates that are quickly absorbed by the body: buckwheat and other cereals. This will make it easier for you to control the calorie content of your nutritional program, and therefore your fat mass.
Young athletes can gain raw muscle mass, but older athletes are not. This is due to the fact that with age it will be more difficult for you to lose weight, and excess fat stores negatively affect the entire body. However, you shouldn't skip fat in your diet. This nutrient should make up approximately 15% of the total nutrient supply. It is important, however, that about 85% is unsaturated fat, and the remaining 15% is saturated.
Organization of recreation in age bodybuilding
It should be said right away that before starting sports, you should give up cigarettes and alcohol. These bad habits greatly slow down the recovery process, which should not be allowed. For a high-quality and quick recovery after training sessions, you need to speed up your metabolism.
It is important to devote the right amount of time to sleep. This will probably be difficult initially, but you should aim for it. Also, to improve sleep after a workout session in the evening, you should use calm walking for half an hour during the cool down. It will be very good if you can find time to visit a massage parlor and a bath. All this also promotes recovery and boosts metabolism.
You can learn more about age-related bodybuilding from this video:
