Men over 40 fitness

[Dnyge79 0]

Looking for some input on workout programs, curious to know what other players over 40 are doing to stay in shape. Ive used hockey training.com men’s league program as well as next level hockey over the last 5 yrs or so. Considered trying relentless hockey, but at 42, Im wondering if I need to change things up and move away from heavy strength training and move towards HIIT or something more specific for “seasoned” men for general fitness and less sport specific training. Thanks 

[marka 526]

Howdy,

I have no particular advise, but I would assume its going to be reasonably specific as to where you are today and what your goals are.

My "I'm a computer guy, not any type of exercise expert" opinion is that with age comes things like:

*  a slower metabolism, so diet is even more important / you will struggle more to lose weight

* slower injury recovery time

* more incidence of 'cumulative stress' type things like bad joints / arthritis

I've certainly experienced / am experiencing all of those (I'm 52 now).

I'll be interested to hear what people say.  My gut reaction is that you don't change because you're older per se... You change because something about being older makes what you were doing before not work as well.  So if you're doing a bunch of strength training today and its working for you... Don't change just because the odometer rolls over to the next decade.

Mark

Edited September 8, 2022 by marka

[BenBreeg 493]

I'm 48 and have been lifting and working out I guess since HS sports.  There are a few things I do differently now, based on all kinds of sources, Joe DeFranco has some things, some of it is just knowledge and common sense.  I have a lot of chronic issues at this point: nerve impingement, lower back issues, as well as random stuff that just shows up and goes away.  I'm probably at 80% what I was in my late 20s/early 30s for the most part.

1) My warm-up is much longer than it ever was, at least 10 mins on the treadmill, a general dynamic warm-up, then slowly working up for the first set.  I don't lift a working set for probably 1/2 hour after getting into the gym.

2) I don't do 1 rep max any more.  My heavy lift is 3-5 reps.

3) Learn to work around injuries.  You can't just rest completely.  First, you are always having little aches and pains, so you might be off more than on.  Second, activity helps healing.

4) I do trap bar deadlifts, single leg work exclusively.  I don't do squats right now as I work through my back issues.  Sled drags and prowler pushes as well.  This isn't only for older people, lots of transition to the TBDL even for younger athletes.  WAY easier to teach and pretty much the same effect (Jim Wendler tested this with his HS football players).

 

You can do the same thing you like, just understand how each component affects you.  Sleep is really important.  My sleep pattern stinks, and it kills me.  I wake up almost every night at 3 am, it's weird, and am up for an hour or two, then get up at 5:30.  The days I get a full night's sleep are so much better.

[caveman27 208]

On 9/8/2022 at 1:39 PM, Dnyge79 said:

Looking for some input on workout programs, curious to know what other players over 40 are doing to stay in shape. Ive used hockey training.com men’s league program as well as next level hockey over the last 5 yrs or so. Considered trying relentless hockey, but at 42, Im wondering if I need to change things up and move away from heavy strength training and move towards HIIT or something more specific for “seasoned” men for general fitness and less sport specific training. Thanks 

Depends on your fitness goals. I like weight lifting and ice hockey. Now, ice hockey is on the shelf, so to speak, for me.

Do you want to lift more and carry more muscle in lieu of having less muscle mass and more cardio endurance? I did a lot of weight lifting to gain muscle and strength in my 20s and 30s. Didn't care so much for endurance, so I was strong and fast, but my endurance wasn't the best on the ice. I could fly around the ice in the first period, but would get slower as the periods went by. 

Into my 40s, I was trying to keep muscle, but also be fit. Playing ice hockey is a HIIT workout in and of itself. I balanced out my gym workouts so I was doing more cardio in my workouts. My main cardio workout was running.

Now in my early 50s and having had various surgeries and having another one coming up. I'd say watch what you eat. I got a stent put in from a clogged artery. I was "in shape" but not eating healthy all the time. Basically, I could burn off calories from a high cholesterol meal (like a whole medium pepperoni pizza)  by working out at the gym.  But, burning calories doesn't equate to burning cholesterol.

 

 

[shoot_the_goalie 281]

My 2 cents.  I'm pushing close to 50 now, and I have definitely changed my off-ice routine.  Most of my workouts are now short HITT workouts (10-15 mins).  They are still very challenging (going max all out), but much shorter than what I did in the past.  I don't do nearly as much weight training and have shifted more to pilates style/core strength work.  I still do weights from time to time, but my joints just don't take kindly to heavy reps anymore.  Also STRETCH!  I cannot emphasize this enough, but stretching has become so important as I've gotten older.  Dynamic stretching pre-workout, and static long stretching (with timed breathing) for post workout.  Beyond actual workouts, I try to focus on a good diet, getting good sleep (still working on this...lol), and reducing stress through meditation.

[Jimijames 1]

Hello, I just turned 47 myself. My training is still specific to hockey, in the gym. Old habits I guess. But I have to say that I’ve changed a few things in the more recent years that have allowed me to go on essentially unimpeded with the same type of programs I used as a younger man. 1) I put a lot more effort into the recovery phase, with thorough yoga stretching pre and post workout. Hydrotherapy as often as I can. Continuous research into how to best help a body recover. Knowledge is power.  2) while I’ve kept the same level of intensity — increased it even — my overall volume of work is lower. Just as an example, I don’t do 6-8 sets of deadlifts anymore. I just pyramid up with three, the third being a 4RM. 3) I have altered my diet greatly from being a super high meat protein diet, to being a 95% vegetarian diet w/ just 5% meat protein, eaten one of every 10 meals approx. This type of pseudo-vegetarianism has changed the way my body manages energy, and that is per some of the latest science, that isn’t entirely popular as yet. I tried it just to see if certain claims would come to fruition, and I’ve found that they did. My endurance energy level has gone through the roof. I have yet to determine the detriment to muscular hypertrophy/hyperplasia, but I suspect there is one that I hope to find a way to mitigate. 4) I now also practice time restricted eating on a daily basis, where I don’t consume any food other than coffee from wake up until about 8-9 pm. It sounds odd, but once my body acclimated to this tactic, I am no longer hungry or interested in food for the duration of my entire day, despite the fact I usually do one strength/conditioning workout session in the morning, and one plyometric, or on ice work out in the after noon. I just don’t start getting hungry until around 7. And I’m left with more than sufficient energy for a whole day of activity. It feels weird, in a good way. It’s like, for a whole day, my body never has to switch from musculoskeletal blood flow into digestive system blood flow. And I feel more energetic thought the day because of it. Makes u realize that eating often throughout the day means your body has to keep diverting resources to and from systems other than the musculoskeletal system, which is obviously less efficient than just doing the switch once per day. 
All these things I’ve made part of my training as a 40+ athlete, come with better results than that which I saw even in my earlier decades. Some of these things weren’t even understood when I was 25, or, 35. So we’re lucky actually. We got older but science got better, and we can benefit from that. I highly recommend exploring some of these. And good luck to you. 

[puckpilot 312]

I'll be 50 next year. And fortunate for me, after some lifestyle adjustments, I feel way better now than I did when I was 40. My fitness goals are just to remain healthy and active heading down the back nine. For the most part I don't care how strong I am or how good I look. Here are the things i do.

First thing is I stretch. After some issues with a pinched nerve in my neck, I learned to stretch out my upper body. And then I learned to stretch everything else. I do a mix of static and dynamic stretching. Over time, I found out what muscles tended to tighten up and bother me most, and I'd stay on top of them. Since I started doing it, no more pinched nerves, carpal tunnel in my wrist nipped in the bud, back and shoulder are pain and spasm free, and hips nice and loose, so stride is better than ever.

Second, I started running. Aside from the obvious cardio benefits, I found the impact of of running helps to stress my body in a positive way that hockey really can't. I think it helps with the small stabilizing muscles, so I feel more stable and solid in my day to day. I use to get knee pain, but now that's gone. Because of this I just don't get as worn down from sports anymore. Playing hockey is way easier now. I don't even count playing hockey as a workout anymore, because no matter how hard I go, I feel fine. I feel great, like I can keep going and going. I line change because it's time to change not because I'm out of breath or tired.

Third, I made a shift in diet, and payed attention more to what I was eating regularly. I looked towards low calorie, but voluminous foods to help me cut weight. It wasn't an earth shattering change, but it mattered. I started using egg whites instead of whole eggs. Instead of chips, I'd eat popcorn. Instead of cookies, I'd make an open-faced sandwich. Doing that, and over the long haul, 25lbs fell away with not much effort. I still got to eat burgers, fries, ice-cream, etc. I just make sure on the average, I'm eating well.

Fourth, I do light, body-weight exercises, push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups. I do them not to gain strength, but just to maintain, and make sure I can still do them. To be honest, this is the most neglected/inconsistent part of my fitness routine. The first three things were easy to incorporate into my life. This one, it's a little tougher to find/make the space for it.

Fifth, after reading up on a bunch of things, I recently started taking a supplement, creatine specifically. Found it really helped with my explosiveness and endurance levels. Our bodies naturally make creatine and we get it from foods like meat, but I found out as we age, the stores of it in our muscles decrease, which I believe plays a part in loosing that young man's jump.