Your Fitness Weak Link is… Lack of Strength
Why Strength Matters?
Strength is a vital component to health. Studies have repeatedly shown that being strong with some muscle mass will help you live longer. Not only will being strong give you extra years, it will give you greater healthspan, that is, it will increase the quality of life over those years.
Benefits of Being Strong
Greater healthspan is really what it’s all about. It’s when you’re free of disease, without pain, and doing physical things with your body.
Being strong with muscle mass will allow you to be more flexible with your diet because you’ll have more muscle glycogen (stored carbs in muscle tissue) which acts as a “dietary buffer.” Those jacked dudes you see scarfing down pizza and staying lean? Yup, that’s because of muscle glycogen!
You’ll also be more insulin sensitive with more muscle mass, meaning you have a better functioning glucose metabolism, and therefore a lower chance of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
You’ll increase your resting metabolism so you’re burning more calories at rest. (Muscle tissue requires more energy to maintain, which burns more calories.)
Ultimately, being strong with some muscle on your body will give you a leg up on fighting the aging process.
We naturally lose muscle as we get older so it’s crucial that we do whatever we can to preserve the muscle we have and in many cases to even build some more through smart functional strength training.
You’ll look and feel better.
You’ll increase bone density and tendon strength making you more resilient.
You’ll have more capacity with your body.
You’ll increase metabolic health (the way your body generates and processes energy).
What to do next?
The answer to getting stronger is straight-forward. Commit to a basic strength training program with a minimum of 3 strength workouts per week and stay the course for at least 12 weeks.
This can be as simple as a bodyweight routine of push-ups and squats or as complex as an olympic weightlifting routine performed with specific weights, sets, and reps.
The goal is to stress your muscles so that they grow back stronger. There are 100’s of ways to do that – some are better than others. Head over to my Nick Holt Fitness IG page here where I share all the details.
And Don’t Make This Mistake!
In an effort to build muscle and get stronger I see so many men over 40 getting injured by doing the wrong exercises.
Don’t do that!
I mean, listen, I’m always going to celebrate anyone for taking ownership of their body and putting in the effort to lift weights and get stronger. I love that…
But there is a smarter way to train as we get older!
There’s a way that you can get stronger, build lean muscle mass, and maintain a pain free flexible body without putting yourself at unnecessary risk for injury.
Here’s the reality – almost all of our aging bodies get beat up from life. Especially if you played sports, there’s a very high chance that an old injury has created some imbalances in the way you move through life.
Combine that with lots of sitting and a lack of stretching and this can lead to some pretty messed up movement patterns for most people, myself included.
This is why so many guys over 40 blow out a shoulder, throw out their back or tweak their knee when getting back into strength training.
But if you train the right way and avoid certain exercises that don’t work for your body, there is no reason why you can’t build muscle and get stronger as you age without getting hurt.
In fact, you can actually get more flexible as you get stronger if you do the correct type of exercises using full range of motion.
You can pack on lean muscle tissue that will drive up metabolic rate and create a healthier metabolism with only a few workouts per week. Again, if you’re doing the right exercises at the right intensity.
Special Offer — A Free 20-min Strength Consult
We’ll get on the phone and chat about your issues that might get in the way of you building muscle and getting stronger.
You’ll share what you have access to (gym, weights, bands, etc) and I’ll share a basic template for you to get started. Or if you’re already strength training but you want an expert opinion on how to maximize your time, I’ll give you my advice on that.
Here’s how the free consultation works..
- Use the button below to find a time that works for you.
- Be prepared to share what you’re currently doing and where you want to be.
- Based on what you share, I’ll give you my advice on what you should be doing. If I think there’s a program that might help, I’ll share how that would work. But there’s really no strings attached. Grab a time, answer a few questions, and we’ll hop on a call.
I only open a few of these sessions every week, so make sure you grab a time while they last.