Once you turn 40 and haven’t done much for your health and fitness, it becomes hard to ignore the negative effects. Around this time, most people are forced to prioritize getting healthier and start doing some kind of exercise. Picking the right approach is essential since you don’t get a lot of second chances anymore.
Here’s the two ways we normally see this go:
The Default Way
You start jogging because that’s what you associate with getting in shape. But soon your knees start to hurt and you stop again. Maybe you do some stretching at home and it helps a bit. But even when you stick with jogging, there’s not much weight lost because your metabolism gets used to the effort, and jogging burns surprisingly few calories.
You try out a bunch of supplements and weird diets, yo-yoing yourself to more and more body fat. It’s a constant fight between starting, being overworked, stopping, realizing you have to do something, and starting again. Exercise always feels like a chore and never feels like it’s really helping much. You resign yourself to managing the decline.
Sometimes you get injured while exercising, either acutely or from doing the wrong things too often. That sets you back quite a bit, and since your training is ineffective, you will never fully regain those muscles and their abilities.
The Smart Way
You start out doing strength training to grow muscle, focusing on abilities and skills to be safe and capable till old age. Working on pull-ups, push-ups, and single-leg squats keeps you engaged and growing stronger.
Also, you do movement snacks during the day as much as possible to stay limber and active. This also helps to manage your posture and energy levels.
Your diet is healthy and keeps you satiated by prioritizing protein and timing your meals well.
You start to enjoy movement and your body feels better and better. Getting more in touch with your physical side helps make the training even better, and you are fitter in the second half of your life than the first. Injury and pain-free, you excel at your work and your body keeps getting stronger.
The Turning Point
The moral of the story: Make sure to direct your motivation and energy toward the right efforts, basing your health regimen on facts instead of feelings.
It’s never too late to change course but at the same time, you don’t have time to lose!
