Staying Healthy with Age

Hey Jim,

Been following 5/3/1 for almost 3 years with great success and want to say thank you. You’ve helped a lot of people, immensely.

My question is, can you provide any insight on how to stay healthy as I keep lifting and get older? I want to strive to still be able to lift heavy into my 40’s if possible. I am currently only 26, but want to be in it for the long run.

I have a clean (enough) diet, I condition 2 days/week, lift 4, and rest one. I stretch/foam roll regularly, and deload every 6 weeks.

Is there any other measures I can take to make sure I don’t run down in the next decade?

Sounds like the right track to me. I’m 38 and need more recovery so I do less assistance work. What assistance work I do is high reps light weight or use bands. Make the necessary adjustments as you go.

Keep it up and learn to listen to the body!

The trick is to maintain a healthy lifestyle. As you get older things start to compete for your time; work, wife, kids, etc. it’s too easy to skip the gym so you have more time to something else, which becomes a habit, and next thing you know your a fat 35 year old who tells everyone how much you used to be able to lift when you were younger.

Maintain fitness as a lifestyle. Involve your family. Avoid being a lazy cunt.

At 38 ive run into small issues coming from lack of core stability and poor posture. Always sounded too boring to address. Its resulted in back and knee injuries. Just like id be stronger if id followed Jim longer, if i had followed Dan John, Ian King, etc years ago, id be much better off. Well better late than never.

[quote]Heisenberg13 wrote:
Hey Jim,

Been following 5/3/1 for almost 3 years with great success and want to say thank you. You’ve helped a lot of people, immensely.

My question is, can you provide any insight on how to stay healthy as I keep lifting and get older? I want to strive to still be able to lift heavy into my 40’s if possible. I am currently only 26, but want to be in it for the long run.

I have a clean (enough) diet, I condition 2 days/week, lift 4, and rest one. I stretch/foam roll regularly, and deload every 6 weeks.

Is there any other measures I can take to make sure I don’t run down in the next decade?
[/quote]

What do you mean by “healthy”? If you are going to push the envelope on strength, shit happens. Only fools think otherwise. So let me know what you mean by “healthy”.

What I mean by healthy is being able to still perform all the lifts at the highest level possible when I’m 40+. Trying to avoid wrecked shoulders, knees, constant joint pain, etc.But I realize that you have to put yourself in the uncomfortable spots to always progress. Like you say, lifting is a marathon not a sprint. So I’d like to be in it for the long run.

One thing, I wished I had worked on my shoulder and T-spine flexibility/mobility. I stopped pressing because I thought it was hurting my shoulder, but it turned out that my shoulder hurt when I pressed because I took several month BREAKS from pressing. When I added back in pressing my shoulder problems got BETTER. So #1 as you age, don’t stop overhead pressing. It actually keeps your shoulder girdle movement patterns healthy.

Number 2, don’t use high Omega-6 oils, or you will eventually get cancer and or heart disease. And don’t smoke. And I put these 2 together for a good reason, they lead to cell aging. Of course smoking also makes it hard to breath.

Number 3, figure out what foods interrupt your sleep, and eliminate them. For me, its wheat and added sugar.

Number 4, do go out in the sun on a regular basis, like every day or two at least.

Number 5, get your healthy fat soluble nutrients every week: 15-25 egg yolks, 2000-4000 IU vitamin D3, 1.5-2.0 pounds of fatty fish a week, vitamin A souces. The fats you eat today will effect your fat soluble nutrient stores 3-6 months from now.

This is easy: Balance.

But even with balance there comes a price.

I’m 39…“lifted” weights on and off since I was 16…but not like I have in the last year…my goal is “healthier” by 40…and a 1400# total. The heavier I went…the healthier I became…eating changed, sleeping changed. Things related to my health and strength became more important. In 9 months starting in 3/13 with a 0# 5x5 program, then to 5/3/1, I hit a total of 1065#. I lost fat, gained muscle…and I eat alot of good food. I don’t think age has anything to do with shit…if you want to be healthy and strong at any age…then do it. But, I believe it has to be a lifestyle…or it won’t last long. I’m married, 3 kids, full time job…it’s got to be a priority for me to be healthy and stay healthy…5/3/1 helps me with that! Thanks Jim.

[quote]Jim Wendler wrote:
What do you mean by “healthy”? If you are going to push the envelope on strength, shit happens. Only fools think otherwise. So let me know what you mean by “healthy”. [/quote]

LOL
I love that guy.

I just want to be tone. What exercises can I do to be tone when I’m older? is this the wrong forum?

If you find yourself going too far in one direction then go in the other for a while until you feel better. But your not going to squat and deadlift 600 pounds without fucking something up a bit.

I’m 40 years old and never have been stronger and fitter than now. Plenty of others like me also. I’m hardly an exception.
People age badly when they don’t take care of themselves and let things slide. If you take care of yourself, eat properly then I’m sure you’ll be fine and will be lifting heavy well into middle age and beyond.
The biggest and strongest guy in my gym is 53 by the way.

[quote]Bull Terrier wrote:
I’m 40 years old and never have been stronger and fitter than now. Plenty of others like me also. I’m hardly an exception.
People age badly when they don’t take care of themselves and let things slide. If you take care of yourself, eat properly then I’m sure you’ll be fine and will be lifting heavy well into middle age and beyond.
The biggest and strongest guy in my gym is 53 by the way.[/quote]

I’m 32 now, stronger than I’ve been, and I hope to keep it up. I’ve been preparing for getting older since my mid 20s, and I think it’s why some of my friends a year or two older than me are starting to tail off whereas I’m still on an incline. I’d like to be able to say at 42 that I’m stronger than I was at 32. There’s a guy at my gym that’s an absolute beast, guy has the body of a 25 year old linebacker and he’s about 55. I want to be that guy.