Training for an Older Bloke

G’day lads,

One of the older blokes at work has asked me for help. He has put on a lot of weight since having his acl reconstructed about 12 months ago. He is due to deploy overseas in about 4 months and wants to lose about 15kg (35lbs, give or take)

Given his lack of fitness, I’ve told him to start walking his dogs for about 60min each night this week, just to get him moving.

I’ve also instructed him to remove all sugar from his diet. Just two basic things that will get him started, and he should see a drop in weight at the end of the week.

He wants to get into the gym soon, but I’m not too sure how to approach it. He’s not into crossfit, or training heavy. I was thinking cardio based, with a fair amount of rowing and simple bodyweight exercises.

What do you guys suggest? He isn’t too confident with his knee to be squatting or moving large amounts of weight around, and I don’t think he will pay much attention to me showing him how to squat properly.

Thanks,
02Thief

Welcome, Thief! Out of curiousity, what exactly is your background? Are you a personal trainer?

Diet-wise, have you considered cutting back on grains and/or dairy? Some people have reactions which keeps fat on.

Has he done rehab work for the knee? If it’s shaky, that may be the place to start.

You seem to be on the right track with the low impact cardio and sugar. Get his diet dialed in or under control and he should see progress, once he stalls hopefully he’ll come back to you for advise. If he does come back to you for help, you should have a good base relationship to encourage lifting, be in CF or actual lifting.

I’m not a personal trainer, just the ‘fit guy’ at work, and someone he felt comfortable in approaching I guess.

I haven’t suggested cutting back on grains or dairy yet, I didn’t want to overload him with too much initially. Hopefully I can convince him, a lot of people have ‘bread is good’ ingrained into them.

He is seeing a physio for his knee.

I’ll work on his diet a lot more, and see how things go.

Thanks!

Swimming if he has access to a pool or beach. Walking as much as he can. Since he’s an Aussie, cut back on the beer :slight_smile: