As we get older, we have to be more aware about the way we train our body. The body changes and recovers differently. It can also be more susceptible to injury if we aren’t careful.
Even though this post focuses on building muscle after 40, many of the principles can be used for people that are training in their 30s or if they are approaching their 40s.
Below are a few things that you should keep in mind when building muscle after 40.
Avoiding the risk of injury is key.
Injuries will always cause setbacks with your gym performance. But it becomes more difficult to recover from those injuries after 40 years old. You will find that the injuries will take much longer to heal and that the progress that you have made will be reversed quite quickly.
This means you need to learn how to:
- Train the muscles without overloading them.
- Train the muscles with the correct weights and intensity.
- Learn to listen to your body and adjust to avoid injury.
- Understand the splits and recovery that’s needed for your muscles to grow.
Training progressively is necessary.
One of the big mistakes that we make is training in the same way that we did when we were in our teens or our twenties. Especially, if we have taken time off from training.
Lifting with really heavy weights or a high intensity when the body isn’t conditioned to do so will ultimately lead you to getting an injury.
Focus on a weight program that will allow you to progressively overload the muscles. This means you will be starting with lighter weights, but that you will train and condition the muscles over time to handle more weight as you become stronger and more powerful.
You need to train like an athlete.
This is because your muscles need to get used to the different movement patterns to handle the load and stress from the weight and the body changes that will occur.
So you will need to do strength, explosive, and dynamic training to help you develop your muscle strength, size, and flexibility.
Follow the process with your training and progressively overload the muscles. You will notice the strength and muscle increases as you track your progress.
