At Everybody’s Gym we help all ages, shapes and sizes get active. We always have lots of advice for any ages and goal but this blog is for the over 40s.

This is our advice…

1. Don’t skip the warmup

As we age, our muscles and tendons become less flexible and more subject to injury. A solid 10- to 15-minute warmup of light motion helps counteract that unavoidable truth. It’s time to start thinking of the warmup not as a thing you do before the workout, but rather the first part of the workout.

2. Try not to be too busy

Middle age is a demanding time. Kids, a spouse, a job, your community, and maybe a minute for a hobby conspire to leave very few hours in the day for you to spend on fitness. But you have to make it happen. Here are a couple of strong options:

• Exercise early in the morning, before things go wrong with your day that could impinge on your workout time.
• Make exercise a necessary part of your daily routine. For example, bicycle to work.
• Exercise with your family to combine quality time with exercise.
• Find a workout buddy who will harass you into showing up even when it’s hard.

3. focus on flexibility

Flexible muscles and resilient joints will prevent you from sustaining a sidelining injury you may not fully recover from. The best way to insure them is to build in a cooldown stretching routine lasting 10 to 20 minutes at the end of your workout. Stretching while muscles are warm is a flexibility-force multiplier. Take advantage of it.

4. Structured workouts

Those crazy workouts of our 20s are no good anymore. One-rep maxes, rounds in the right, lifting tractor tires like Rocky are still within our capacity, but we pay for them with soreness and injuries.

Instead, focus on medium-weight, medium-rep exercises with large ranges of motion. Good calls include:

• kettlebells
• barbell exercises
• Flexibility training
• cardiovascular training

These exercises produce exactly the kind of strength and flexibility your older body needs.

5. Mind what goes into your body

No, you don’t have to deprive yourself of all earthly delights to stay fit and healthy. But fueling your 40-plus bod with the right balance of whole grains, protein, veggies, and fruits can help keep you energized and strong. Be sure you’re getting enough of the right nutrients, whether from food, protein powders or supplements.

For any other advice come and see us at Everybody’s gym

01775 768500