There are some muscle-building mistakes that can affect anyone lifting weights at any age, and then when you’re 40, some mistakes are even worse. In this video, I’ll show you the 8 biggest muscle-building mistakes you can make and how they can magnify as you get older.
1. Turn your warm-up into a workout
The first is to warm up. This one is tricky because many people completely forget to warm up when preparing to lift weights. On the other hand, those who turned their warm-ups into workouts were doing too much themselves, which actually hindered the progress they should see in their workouts. Four sets to your working weight in compound exercises and two sets to your working weight in single-joint exercises is good advice. General whole-body core temperatures boosters like jumping rope or cycling are also important for overall preparation.
2. Not Pursuing Responsible Power
When it comes to the actual training, you never forget to prioritize strength training. No matter how old you are, building strength through progressive overloading on big lifts should always be the foundation of your training pyramid. The problem arises when this power is pursued at the expense of responsible training. That means chasing numbers at the expense of joint and muscle health is a big mistake. Make sure you own the weight you’re lifting by adding suspended lifts at every opportunity.
3. Forget the value of the mind-muscle connection
Not focusing enough on developing your mind-muscle connection (and maintaining it as you age) is the next big workout mistake for men over 40. That’s because ego tends to get in the way, and focusing on moving your weight from point A to point Z becomes more important than making sure the muscles you’re trying to train are actually doing the work there.
4. Neglecting Metabolic Training
Since we’re focused on the quality of reps, the way to extend this to your entire set and your entire workout is to include some metabolic training in your program. This actually matters for trainees of all levels, since metabolic stress is one of three known drivers of muscle growth (along with eccentric muscle damage and progressive overload), but especially for men over 40. The reason it works so well is that it doesn’t leave you sore, making it harder to recover between workouts, and the joints rest from the lighter weights.
5. Not training like an athlete
Next, you can’t forget to do what we’ve always preached on this channel, which is to train like an athlete. This means not only taking a scientific interest in the type of training you do but actually going out and including some physical activity in your workouts. Things like running, jumping, and doing agility work are things your body loses if you don’t use them. The age-old phrase of using it or losing it has never been truer.
6. Skip corrective exercises
This also brings with it the importance of doing corrective exercises. Things like pulling your face and unzipping your straps might seem like small, unnecessary exercises, but they’re not. Especially as you get older these exercises are of great value, just making sure there are no imbalances getting in the way will allow you to get more out of the more common exercises.
7. Doing the wrong type of cardio
If you spend a lot of time doing long-distance cardio, you’ll also inflict impact damage on your joints. As you age, there is an increasing need for what I call “backup cardio,” which will save you a lot of stress on your joints, ligaments, tendons, and muscles. That means finding low-impact workouts that still get your heart rate up while maintaining the intensity of your training. At the end of the day, you need to expand your cardio training options.
8. Thinking nutrition is only important for being “pretty”
Last but not least, when it comes to gaining muscle over 40, you need to look at your nutrition. As your metabolism slows down, your reliance and consistency on quality nutrition is quite possibly the most important factor in gaining muscle over 40. Quality nutrition is not only the number one determinant of your body fat level, but it will also support your efforts in the gym; the less excess body fat you carry, the more productive your efforts in the gym will be.
As you can see, if you want to look your best not only in your 40s but in the past, you have to make sure you’re doing a lot of things right. That’s what the ATHLEAN-X training system lets you do better than any other program. If you’re ready to start training like an athlete again and looking better than ever, click the link below and start training with me today.
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