6 Anti-Aging Muscle Building Rules for Weightlifters in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and Over
Make mobility a priority
If you move poorly and neglect mobility and suffer chronic pain and suffering, you are basically a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. Most gym injuries are the result of overuse problems, and the tiniest and most mundane things end up breaking a camel’s back.
A general rule of thumb is to address mobility and flexibility needs by thinking about stretches and warm-ups first. Before you do all your He-Man lifts, first make sure you master these mobility drills.
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Do compound exercises for strength and muscle mass
Large compound movements such as squats, deadlifts, rows, presses, and pulls are the foundation for building stronger bones, muscle strength and size, and enhancing the neurological function needed for later development.
Without compound movements as an essential component, most routines will not provide the testosterone and results of training muscle strength, bone health and density. That’s not to say it can’t be done, but it’s much harder to gain enough muscle mass without them.
Do unilateral exercise too
Unilateral training refers to single-leg or single-arm movements, such as lunges, single-arm presses, and single-arm rows. Unilateral exercises have been shown to increase muscle engagement and growth, and they also play a vital role in overall mobility health and longevity.
When you do unilateral movements, you force your body to adapt by increasing your balance and muscle coordination, and develop new muscle tissue that would not otherwise be affected when you train with two feet or two arms, such as with two Do barbell squats with your feet.
By increasing unilateral strength and muscle development, you maximize muscle growth and minimize muscle and movement imbalances that often lead to borderline injuries from overuse.
Note that this is not to say that you can’t or shouldn’t use a barbell, but make sure to include unilateral exercises to better develop movement and a healthy body.
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Maintain moderate repetitions for muscle growth
The norm for hypertrophic growth is to lift to near-failure in the 8-12 rep range. Lifting weights and doing it regularly can do wonders for strength development. However, this approach lacks the metabolic effects of the prolonged group like 8 or more times representing muscle hypertrophy and protein synthesis.
The goal when training to increase muscle mass and size is to use heavy loads to induce a feeling of fullness in the muscle pump or muscle belly. The easiest way to describe a pump is when your muscles are completely firm and you feel your muscles bigger, creating a tight feeling]. This is usually done by combining higher repetitions, 8-12 or sometimes more, with moderate to heavy loads.
This combined with timed rest periods of 30-90 seconds has been shown to increase muscle hypertrophy and increase the hormonal response of growth hormone and testosterone. This 9-week strength-hypertrophy cycle is the perfect combination of strength strength and muscle hypertrophy exercises.
Lifting weights helps
While lifting in the mid-rep range is great for muscle growth, sometimes you should add more weight and reduce your reps to 2 to 5 reps. For starters, adding more weight will increase strength, and over time, as you ascend on the higher end, the amount of weight you can move in the mid-rep range will increase. This equates to more training volume sets x repetitions x load being an important factor in muscle growth.
Increasing the amount of lifts also increases the body’s nerve and muscle demands, forcing the body to escalate through muscle firing and activation patterns, both of which increase the amount of active muscle tissue.
Lastly, heavier loads can have a huge effect on the hormonal testosterone response, but be sure not to overdo it, as too much can lead to sluggish anabolic processes, increased stress hormones, lower testosterone and recovery, sleep problems, irritability, decreased libido, etc. and recovery.
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Listen to your body
Sometimes it pushes itself, sometimes it pulls back. When we are young, we can get rid of problems such as lack of motivation, sleep, poor nutrition, exercise and poor form. Young people are inherently resilient, and as you get older, your room for error shrinks. Anything you do that makes your body uncomfortable over time puts you at risk of injury or other setbacks.
