How Men Over 50 Burn Fat & Build Muscle
3 principles to build lean muscle while burning fat fast—at any age.
Medical science has proven that the keys to a long and healthy life are body composition, strength, cardiovascular conditioning, and joint range of motion.
You can fight back against time, but it requires doing the work. Just like with everything in life—There's a smart way to do it. Here's how.
You know that working out and eating well are important components to being healthy. But do you know the best approach to getting the results you want?
Proper training and nutrition goes WAY beyond just making you healthy. It transforms you, inside and out.
It can add decades of high quality years to your life without the use of risky drugs—AND, you can have fun doing it.
3 Principles to Rebuild Your Body
- Strength training with free weights
- Metabolic conditioning
- Adequate intake of high quality protein
These principles will put you on the direct path to becoming better—Both physically and mentally.
Read on to discover how!
1. Strength Training With Free Weights
Lean muscle doesn't grow without good reason! Here's the tried and true way to pack on muscle and build strength.
As men, we are meant to move, do work, compete, build things, and bend nature to our will.
If we aren't pushing our bodies to be productive, we lose the essence of where our power comes from.
You know the feeling—when you've been off your game for weeks, months, maybe even years—When things just don't operate like they used to. The only way to back on it, and stay on it, is to train up.
Strength training with free weights is the answer.
Why? because moving heavy metal through a full range of motion with proper technique is THE BEST bang for your buck time spent in the gym.
There's nothing else that compares. Machines and cardio alone will not do you justice.
If you want results that will last you a lifetime, real strength training is your ticket.
The Benefits of Strength Training
But there's confusion about what REAL Strength Training actually is.
Real Strength Training—With Barbells
We recommend utilizing barbells to train your body. Why?
Because barbells are the most versatile, well rounded training implement in the gym.
Barbells require you to balance, stabilize, and move your body the way it is meant to.
They are incrementally loadable, so you can dial in the right amount of resistance. You can train every single part of your body with this one tool.
The only draw back? To use barbells safely, you must have proper technique. This is where a good coach makes all the difference.
The Over-50 Strength Training Checklist
Incorporate this checklist to ensure your strength training is up to par.
2. Metabolic Conditioning
Stoke the fire that burns fat and provides you the stamina to get the job done.
If you don't have the energy to stay in the game, you're going to get left in the dust.
We want your metabolic machinery firing on all cylinders.
Keeping up with the (grand)kids, manual labor, putting in long hours at work, and playing your favorite sport all require varied demands on your metabolic systems.
You need to have enough go at a moments notice—whenever the situation demands. This requires dynamic metabolic conditioning.
Your body has several different systems to utilize the fuel you eat. Your ability to tap in to them quickly and effectively can be trained up.
And it must be—if you want live longer, go harder, and keep pace with the best of them.
The Benefits of Metabolic Conditioning
But plodding along on the treadmill or elliptical isn't going to cut it.
If you want a lean physique—that's just as much go as it is show—you need to properly program your metabolic conditioning with a variety of functional movements.
Anaerobic and Aerobic Work
We recommend training all the pathways of your metabolic system. This means HIIT and Restorative Cardio.
H.I.I.T. (High Intensity Interval Training) allows you to pack a huge punch in minimum time.
In essence, it's alternating VERY hard work with intervals of recovery.
This allows you to get great results without putting in hours of boring cardio.
Restorative Cardio can be thought of as longer, low intensity, easy movement. Walking, yard work, bike riding, playing golf. Anything It gets the blood flowing with low stress and low impact. It helps clear your mind, aids in recovery, and trains your body to burn fat as fuel for sustained, long lasting energy.
Combining both HIIT and Restorative Cardio to your weekly program is how you will melt off body fat, build stamina, and continue feeling great for decades.
The Over-50 Metabolic Conditioning Checklist
Incorporate this checklist to ensure your metabolic conditioning is optimized
3. Eat High Quality Protein
Fuel your body with the nutrients it needs to pack on muscle and make burning fat easy.
After age 40, most men begin to lose their ability to digest food and utilize nutrients effectively. Especially protein.
This is one cause of Sarcopenia—the rapid decline of muscle mass—that plagues us as we get older.
If we aren't getting the nutrients to thrive, the resources to grow muscle, or the fuel to provide us with energy; our body ages faster. It doesn't heal as fast. Nor does it function at its prime. Therefore, we must prioritize high quality nutrition to optimize your program.
The Benefits of High Quality Protein Intake
How much protein?
Research indicates .7-1 gram per pound of body weight is adequate to optimize muscle growth, prevent sarcopenia, and provide your body with the raw materials necessary to thrive. An additional benefit of high protein intake is that it will keep you fuller, longer; making it easier to avoid junk food and excess calories.
Hit The Threshold
In order to stimulate maximum muscle development, a certain threshold of amino acids (protein building blocks) must be consumed in one sitting.
For younger men, this is around 20-25 grams of protein. For men over 40, this threshold goes up to 40 grams due to the inefficiency of digestion.
Sources: Lean Meats & Dairy
Protein sources from lean meats and dairy products will provide you with the best amino acid profile.
Plant sources of protein are beneficial too, but it's best to make sure you are getting a variety of sources.
Supplements, like whey protein, can be very useful to hit your daily requirements and threshold.
The Over-50 Protein Intake Checklist
Use this checklist to ensure your getting the building blocks for muscle
Note: Overall nutrition is critical in any fitness and health goal. Pay attention and work towards a diet that is based on high quality, whole, natural foods.
Make your 50s, 60s, and beyond your best years yet!
In order to look, feel, and live at your full potential—you've got to work for it.
This means training and eating in a way that comprehensively develops your body to build muscle, burn fat, and provide sustained energy all day long. It doesn't have to be complicated, nor painful.
In fact, training can be enjoyable, fun, and part of a lifestyle you love!
Want Help?
Training up is what we help people do. In a private, no-nonsense environment, our coaches will teach you the techniques and methods to get fitness results effectively.