4 Simple Ways To Feel, Move, And Look Better Over 40

last weekend I was in Oban delivering a fitness workshop to group of 7 clients I coach remotely.

I noticed some things over the two days I’d say are critical and universal for men over 40 to know if they want to feel great (and look as good as they feel).

If that’s you? Great, read on and lets dive in:

1) Men over 40 MUST prioritise mobility training.

All 7 of the guys have been training a while, yet had their own unique mobility problems.

And most guys do neglect mobility/flexibility in favor of the intense workouts.

(or just don’t know how to address it).

I get it.

You’re low on time and just want to look good with the top off in summer.

But having stiff, achy joints or lower back issues will also limit your ability to do that, or get you injured and on the side lines. 

And that stuff only gets worse as you get older.

The good news?

These are usually simple fixes, and can make you feel awesome (and get way stronger) when you do sort it.

Now I don’t know if and what mobility issues you may or may not have, that’s up to you to figure out. 

But you don’t need to neglect the sexy stuff that gets you strong in pursuit of better mobility, either.

I incorporate this stuff into my program workouts so you get the best of both worlds.

Here’s a few exercises that serve as both ‘tests’ and a way to fix mobility issues:

Hip Rotational Strength:

Lower Body Flexibility & Upper Body Rotation:

Shoulder Mobility & Upper Back Strength

Hip (Abduction) & Core Strength:

Upper Back Rotation:

2) Non drinkers are the leanest of folks.

I suppose that’s obvious.

But spending a weekend with a group of lads who, I have an insight to their individual lifestyles and habits, it’s a good reminder. 

The guys who I know either never or rarely drink booze are the leanest.

And I don’t suspect that’s just down to the lack of extra calories that come from booze, either.

There’s a host of other byproducts of being a regular drinker, like:

• Crap sleep and recovery.
• Shit mood and energy, which lead to missed workouts and poor food choices.
• Rubbish performance in workouts.

All things I personally really don’t miss.

Now, I’m not telling you not to drink or what to do with your life.

It’s your body, do what makes you happy, man.

But when you have a goal of looking and feeling better, it’s really worth weighing up if something like regular drinking is adding or subtracting more value to your life.

3) You don’t need to squat ass to grass (Under Load).

Almost every trainer or influencer on the internet says you should squat ass to grass.

I used to be one of them.

BUT.

Squatting heavy loads makes you move different from squatting your bodyweight.

And many guys have this ‘butt wink’ thing going on at the deepest depth of the squat, where their lower back rounds underneath them.

^^ when that happens, you tend to lose tension.

Which isn’t good when a heavy barbell’s on your back, or dumbbell held in front of you.

When squatting with weights, go as low as you can whilst keeping your whole back flat (no rounding).

Go ‘ATG’ with bodyweight or squat mobility drills.

4) “most people train wit the intensity of a hamster taking a shit”

^^ I stole that quote from Phil Richards because it makes me LOL.

And there’s some truth to it.

Although my guys do train hard (many made insane progress following my online program whilst training solo), but I knew everyone would set new PBs across the board over the weekend.

And they did.

Why?

Well, if you’ve never had a very experienced trainer (or more specifically, an Infantry PTI 😉 push you beyond what yo thought your limits were, chances are you don’t know what your true limits are.

Let’s say you do a set of dumbbell bench presses and you say “I’m done” on rep 7.

If I put a gun to your head and tell you to keep repping…

You’ll likely crack out another 7.

And here’s the thing…

To stimulate muscle growth you need to take your sets very close to failure.

So most people are completely wasting sets.

And could get waaaaayyyyy better results without having to do more workouts or spend more time training, simply by maximising the efforts on every workout they’re already doing.

So, you need to ask yourself how often you’re pulling faces like my mate, Dunc’s, when you’re training …

If not on every hard set? Then you’re leaving results on the table.

That’s enough talk, time to get training…

Dean

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