Resistance training when you’re over the age of 40, has been proven many times to be hugely beneficial. It helps to keep your body in shape and slow down the process of aging. It also helps to keep your blood sugars controlled and has lots of other health benefits too.
But, How Often To Lift Weights Over 40?
Well, there are lots of things to keep in mind, as your goals will be different than when you were younger. Plus, your body might not be as fit as you once were either and injuries can be more frequent.
With that being said, here are some tips to help.
#1 – Protect Yourself From Injury
As we’ve just mentioned, when you’re over 40 there’s a good chance that injuries happen more often. They can take longer to heal too. So the first consideration when starting your over 40 weight lifting program is to make sure you take things slowly at the beginning. Otherwise, you could injure yourself and this will put your progress even further backward.
#2 – Variety Is The Spice of Life
When deciding which exercises to do, keep in mind that you should mix things up as much as possible. You can’t do the same exercises, in the same order every workout, and expect to get big changes. Your body will get used to it fast and hold you back.
So be sure to add different exercises into each routine that target different areas of your body. Keep your mind and body on their toes and you’ll get better results.
#3 – Do More With Less
When people think about lifting weights, they can often think that the heavier the weight, the better it is for them. But that’s not always the case, especially as we get older.
It’s actually more beneficial to do more reps, with a lower weight. This keeps the muscles under tension for longer periods of time, which will give your body a lot more benefit.
Here’s a diet that’s specifically for the Over 40’s:
#4 – Weekly Muscle Groups
Your body needs longer to recover when you hit your 40’s. So training the same muscle groups 2-3 times a week, may not give them enough time to recover properly.
A better idea is to have certain days for set muscle groups. You could have one day for legs, one for lower back, one for shoulders, etc. By doing this, you are giving each muscle group longer to recover and also prevent you from over-working them too.
#5 – Form Matters
It’s not all about how many reps you do, it’s about the quality of each and every rep that really matters.
Your form when doing each exercise should be slow and controlled. It’s much better to do a lower amount of reps, as long as each one is performed correctly.
#6 – Warm Up, Cool Down
Just as important as the workouts themselves, it’s very important to warm up and cool down before and after each one. Not only does it help your body to prepare and recover but it will prevent strains or muscle injuries too.
Just 10-20 minutes on either side of your workout will do you great benefit in the long run.
Summary
So as you can see, how often to lift weights over 40 is not the main consideration. It’s more about exercising regularly and doing it in a way where you stay fit, injury-free and keep working for all your different muscle groups.
