When I’m talking about bodybuilding, I’m not talking about standing on a stage, drug-enhanced with a fake tan in a little g-string, having stripped away every ounce of body fat.
This is not healthy and not what bodybuilding is supposed to be. What we need over 50 is to build our bodies, developing them in such a way to protect us from injury, illness and disease, things that we become more susceptible to as we age.
Bodybuilding should be about creating a natural, strong, muscular and aesthetic physique through resistance training and good nutrition. The muscle balance that comes with this improves our posture and protects our joints, like our knees, where they work as shock absorbers.
Making sure our joints stay in proper alignment with a symmetrical aesthetic that doesn’t allow one muscle to be over-developed, pulling us out of line against a weaker underdeveloped muscle. Protecting us from pain, especially in the most common areas like knees, hips and back.
If you would like help losing excess body fat and building muscle, please email me at 1shark1bite@gmail.com for information on my personal training services.
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The shorts I was wearing in this video were supplied by FortisFight. Here is the link to their website for all your gym apparel needs; and use my affiliate discount code FITAND50 at checkout for 15% off your next purchase on all of their apparel.
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Osteoarthritis is a disease that affects the tissue in our joints, causing them to break down and is more common in older people.
Knee Osteoarthritis is well studied, and they’ve found a relationship between muscle weakness and the symptoms of osteoarthritis, including pain. The more muscle strength you have, the less pain you’ll experience.
We should look at this in two ways those of us who are over 50 and still relatively pain-free want to continue to train and build muscle to protect our joints and ourselves from future debilitating pain.
For those who are already experiencing pain from arthritis and may feel any sort of strength training would be far too painful, they did an interesting study using people over 50.
When we think of strength training, we might think we need to train heavy, like with 80 percent of our one rep max. Well, in this study, they had one group exercise with 60 percent of their one rep max for 3 sets of 8 reps which isn’t anywhere near failure.
Then they had a second group work with only 10 percent of their one rep max, but they increased the volume to 10 sets of 15 repetitions 3 times a week. We need to make our workouts progressive, but we can start light and gradually work our way up as our joints and tendons allow us.
What they found after 8 weeks is both groups had significant improvement in knee pain, physical function and muscle torque.
Weight training, when done right, doesn’t just protect our joints, but it strengthens our bones, keeping them strong and protecting us from fractures.
One thing bodybuilders are very good at is getting super lean into single-digit body fat levels. Much of this is done through nutrition, but another thing that helps is their increased resting metabolic rate.
Now I’m not proposing we should be striving for single-digit fat levels. There is a healthy range, but as we get older and our metabolism starts to slow down. We can use weight training to reverse this and reignite our metabolism.
They took 12 untrained men and put them on an 18-week resistance training program.
They found while the weight training subject's overall body mass didn’t change, they gained 2.1 kg of fat-free mass and lost the equivalent in fat mass. This additional lean mass resulted in a significant increase in their average daily metabolic rate. So they burned more calories every day even though they were only training twice a week.
Staying at a healthy body fat percentage helps to protect us from a host of Illnesses
They took a group adults did progressive Resistance training program 3 times a week for 16 weeks annd increased lean mass, reduced Systolic blood pressure, and decreased trunk fat mass.
21 replies to "Why Everyone Over 50 Should Be Bodybuilding (Men and Women)"
Can women build the same amount of muscle as men without steroids?
Men and women are pretty different when it comes to building muscle but that doesn’t mean they can’t build an amazing physique. Women will tend to carry more body fat and if they get too low, it will start messing with their hormones and men are subject to those issues as well. I would think that men have much stronger upper bodies but women are comparable to men in the lower body area in terms of strength.
In general women will build less muscle than a man. But a fit woman will able out perform a unfit non-training man.
The simple answer is NO. Women NATURALLY have much lower levels of testosterone. Women can develope a lot of strength but in general having large muscles isn’t an issue.
Would be nice if we were all equal for strength potential, women are made for more resistance exercises and have muscle fibers built for stamina. Women last longer, men are more explosive and tire out faster. Women’s ability to utilize body fat as immediate fuel is something men aren’t designed to efficiently used in comparison to women.
If you would like help losing excess body fat and building muscle, please email me at 1shark1bite@gmail.com for information on my personal training services.
Check your testosterone levels from home. Just click this link http://trylgc.com/laurence and receive 30% off with code: LAURENCE30 I receive commissions on referrals to LetsGetChecked. I only recommend services I know and trust.
The shorts I’m wearing in this video are supplied by FortisFight. Here is the link to their website for all your gym apparel; https://www.fortisfight.com/product-category/men/ and use my affiliate discount code FITAND50 at checkout for 15% off.
Check out, Bells of Steel for all your home gym equipment needs, https://www.bellsofsteel.com/#a_aid=FITAND50
I’m 55 and I have been following this channel for about 3 months and it is the most helpful channel that I have come across. I love being 55 years young and this channel keeps me motivated to remain fit over 50. Thanks for all the work you do!!!
Awesome to hear the channel helps you to stay motivated! Keep working out my friend!
Nice one sir 💪
Thanks David!
Thank you very much. Turned 58 last November.
You’ve got me beat by a year. Our 50’s are prime years.
I love all the priceless information, you give those of us, who are seeking to become a better version of oneself, over 50. Peace ✌️ and infinite blessings #Coach!
Life over 50 has limitless possibilities!
I joined a bodyweight gym (with a few dumbbells) off the back of these video.
Nice! Enjoy the gains.
i feel like you made this video for me thanks Lawrence
There are so many like us, Ken. Our 50s bring challenges, but we’re still young enough to take on those challenges.
@Fit and 50 im almost 58 this year and Im a bit more fearful of doing more damage but I cannot stay static much longer or I will get weaker and just lose what I have left
Excellent presentation. Funnily enough I had been wondering about some of this. I recently read that doing push-ups strengthened the muscles that are needed to “catch” yourself if you fall, so this topic was very timely indeed. Thanks.
The old saying, if you don’t use it, you lose it, applies even more as we age. Having the strength to protect ourselves if we fall is a skill that becomes even more important with age.