Four-letter words are usually the ones people don’t like to be called. But in the case of lifters of a certain age, the most dreaded word is three letters long. “Old” isn’t exactly a curse word, but when it comes to lifting heavy things, the window of opportunity to make progress closes sooner rather than later. This window gets even smaller if you’ve accumulated injuries over the course of a long lifting career. When it comes to training older lifters (and by this I typically mean lifters 40 years old and up), I’ve found that the rules change a bit in order to keep lifters happy and healthy for the long haul.
Wait a Sec… 40 isn’t Old!
I’ll probably make some enemies for calling 40 “old” but in reality, some of the physical qualities important for strength training and sports performance tend to decline around that age. For example, as we age we often see:
- Decreased muscle mass
- Decreased testosterone levels
- Loss of power output
- Decreased insulin sensitivity
- Slower recovery from intense exercise
Exercise (especially quality strength training) slows the decline of all these things. All the more reason to start lifting at a young age and do it intelligently. But because research suggests many of these things start to slide at around 40 years old, that’s my baseline to qualify older lifters. This study specifically is a landmark review on the decline of physical qualities as we age, but suggests that while some of these declines may be inevitable, many of them can be slowed or even reversed via quality exercise and nutrition.
Here are six things I’ve come to consider whenever I coach a lifter on the other side of 40.
1. Re-Evaluate Your “Big 3”
Most lifters I coach have a “Big 3” whether they powerlift or not. We want to focus on maximal strength in several big lifts to hold us accountable to getting progressively stronger. However, with older lifters, the Big 3 often changes drastically depending on injury history, movement capabilities and personal goals.
While my non-powerlifting clients might use close relatives of the competition lifts (i.e., front squats instead of back squats, trap bar deadlifts instead of conventional deadlifts, etc.), sometimes our Big 3 strays even further with older lifters. And that’s OK.
I still try to keep somewhat similar categories, including an upper body press, and lower body press/push, and either a lower or upper body pull.
For example, one of my lifters has a history of shoulder issues that makes back squatting and straight-bar benching problematic. So our main lifts are SSB box squats, neutral grip bar floor presses and trap bar deadlifts.
Another lifter has lower back, knee and hip issues, making squats and deadlifts a poor choice if we want his quality of life to be tolerable. So our main lifts are board presses, sled pushes and chest-supported rows.
Nearly any lift can be treated as a “main lift” in that your primary goal is to improve strength in a low rep range steadily over time. If you frame it properly to the lifter, you can help them get excited about improving on these lifts and chasing personal records, even if they’re not the traditional Big 3.
2. Patience with Progressive Overload
When you’re brand new to lifting, you can hit PRs nearly every week. These gains slow down dramatically over time, so you have to get more strategic with your training. Instead of adding 5 lbs to the bar every session, maybe you change the rep range each week, or do the same weight for more reps.
With older lifters, I’ve found this progression should be even slower. In fact, it’s OK to do the same weight over and over until it becomes easy. Repeated exposures to the same load allow the lifter’s tissues to adapt (remember, we recover slower as we age), and you can still make strength improvements with lighter loads, as long as you move the weight fast and with maximum intent.
A common set-and-rep assignment I use for big lifts is sets of 5 at 8 RPE. After the first week of this, I may have the lifter stick with the same weight for multiple weeks until they can hit multiple sets of 5 at a 7 RPE. We don’t increase the weight until the current weight becomes significantly easier.
It’s important to remember that simply maintaining strength as we age is equivalent to getting stronger. If you can deadlift 315 at 40 years old and STILL deadlift 315 at 50 years old, you’re pretty damn strong. One might think, “I haven’t gotten stronger in 10 years.” Realistically, most people would naturally lose a notable amount of strength over that time span, so maintaining it is really a kick in the nuts to Father Time.
3. Reduce Spinal Loading to Once a Week
Frequent spinal loading via squats and deadlifts isn’t a big deal when you’re a spring chicken. However, I’ve found that for older lifters, axial loading multiple times per week, as the kids say, “hits different.”
Typically, most lifters train lower body twice a week, meaning they squat or deadlift twice a week for two days of spinal loading over a 7-day span. With slightly reduced recovery times and greater incidence of lower back injuries, I’ve found it often works well to still train lower body twice a week but put squats and deadlifts on the same day. This allows for a full 7 days between heavy spinal loading. For example, a typical 2-day lower body plan might look something like:
Day 1
Heavy Squat
Light Deadlift
Hamstring Curls
Abs
Day 2
Heavy Deadlift
Light Squat
Lunges
Abs
To reduce spinal loading to once per week, I’ll shift the plan to something like:
Day 1
Squat (one heavy top set plus light backdown sets)
Deadlift (one heavy top set plus light backdown sets)
Hamstring curls
Abs
Day 2
Lunges or split squats (loaded with dumbbells/kettlebells)
Glute Ham Raises or Back Extensions
Sled pushing or dragging
Abs
You can still push the accessory movements hard on day 2, but it’s a lot less loading on the spine and allows for more recovery between squat/deadlift sessions.
4. Lower/Upper/Full Splits
On that note, I love using a 3-day Lower/Upper/Full Body split with older lifters. It’s probably my favorite 3 day per week plan for ALL lifters, but it works especially well when we’re trying to maximize recovery and spread out the stress of doing multiple big lifts per session.
A powerlifter who can only train 3 days per week might be tempted to do all 3 big lifts 2-3 times per week. This is fine for someone getting ready to compete who needs lots of exposure and practice with the main lifts. But for the lifters I train who don’t compete or have compromised recovery, I still like to stick with 1 squat day, 2 bench days and 1 deadlift day spread out over 3 days. For example:
Day 1: Lower Body
Squat
Hamstrings
Rows
Abs
Day 2: Upper Body
Heavy Bench Press
Lats
Shoulders
Arms
Day 3: Full Body
Deadlift
Light Bench Press
Rows
Abs
This still lets us hit pretty much every muscle group twice a week (three times a week for upper back because who doesn’t want a huge back?), spreads out the stress of spinal loading and bookends the week with heavier squats and deadlifts.
5. Ultra High Rep Accessories
When choosing accessory exercises (i.e., your “bodybuilding” movements) to support a main lift, you have to consider the mechanical stress vs. the metabolic stress. A movement with high mechanical stress means using heavier weights and creating intramuscular tension through a full range of motion. Metabolic stress, on the other hand, results from using lighter weights and performing higher reps to flood the muscle with blood and metabolic byproducts, also known as “the pump.”
Both mechanical and metabolic stress can stimulate muscle growth. Mechanical stress is more measurable (i.e., you can progressive add weight to the movement over time) but more stressful on the joints and central nervous system. Metabolic stress is less measurable (the pump is more subjective) but less stressful on the joints and CNS.
I’ve found it helpful with my older lifters to focus less on mechanical stress and more on metabolic stress when picking accessory movements. This has led to fewer nagging injuries, less joint pain and better recovery, all while still adding muscle and improving weak points.
For example, rather than trying to increase weight or add volume to their DB bench press, we might use high-rep push-ups loaded with chains or a weight vest. Instead of chasing PRs on barbell or DB curls, we may use timed sets with band hammer curls for a ridiculous amount of reps. Many of the “finishers” found in our 12-week Hypertrophy program would fit the bill here.
Exercises that use bodyweight, cables, machines or bands tend to reduce mechanical stress more than free weights, so opt for those implements if you have them available. And think outside the typical “3 sets of 10” and “add 5 lbs a week” box. Get creative with your rep schemes and find ways to make exercises challenging without heavy loading. Some examples:
- Total reps (ex: 50 push-ups in as few sets as possible)
- Timed sets (ex: 10 band curls, rest 15 sec, repeat for 6 minutes straight)
- Rest-pause sets
- Drop sets (mechanical advantage OR reducing the weight)
6. Daily Maintenance
We don’t get stronger during training, but rather when recovering from training. And if recovery slows down as we age, we have to be proactive with facilitating the recovery process. Besides managing the obvious things like a well-designed lifting program, plenty of sleep and quality nutrition, I’ve found that a daily maintenance routine goes a long way to help older lifters recover faster.
Foam rolling has fallen off a cliff in terms of popularity in recent years, perhaps because we realized it’s not the cure-all we once thought it was. No longer is “just roll it out” considered sound advice for every little ache and pain. However, time and again I find that older lifters who spend just a few minutes each day doing self-myofasical release (SMR) of some kind feel better and run into fewer minor injuries.
SMR coupled with a bit of positional breathing and dynamic stretching movements seems to be beneficial when done on a daily basis. In this case, it’s better to do a little a lot than a lot a little. So I’ll often give my older lifters daily homework that includes some foam rolling, breathing drills and mobility work. Something that takes 5-10 minutes a day, nothing more.
Here’s an example of a daily maintenance routine I gave to a lifter who had chronic hip and lower back tightness. After an assessment, we found he had limited hip internal rotation (because of muscular stiffness in his glutes) and limited knee flexion and hip extension (from muscular stiffness in his quads). After ruling out bony blocks at the hips (because you can’t stretch bone), we decided on a SMR and stretching routine consisting of:
- Foam rolling/lacrosse ball on glutes, quads, TFL and calves x 30-60 sec each
- All Fours Breathing x 2 sets x 5 long, slow exhales
- Modified Pigeon Stretch w/ Reach x 2 sets x 5 breaths/side
- Couch Stretch x 2 sets x 5 breaths/side
That’s it. When done consistently, this lifter can squat and deadlift pain-free through a full range of motion. This particular lifter is a new dad, so he’ll often do this routine at night while down on the living room floor playing with his infant daughter. This makes the routine seem more relaxing and less of a daily chore.
Older Lifters, New Tricks
Ultimately, keeping older lifters happy and healthy is a matter of proper management of the training process. You have to appreciate the individual needs of the lifter and realize that what works for a 20-something lifter with no injuries and only a couple years under the bar isn’t going to work for someone with decades of training experience and a resume of previous injuries. Remember, training should improve the lifter’s quality of life, not detract from it, so keep these six thoughts in mind.
This article is amazing. So much wisdom. Great work coach.