What is the reason you decided to exercise and workout? Was it for looks? Or was it to live longer? Maybe it was for a different reason? Perhaps to feel better so you can move with more ease and engage with your children more?
Looking sexier, more fit is not the only reason for working out and exercising. In fact, it’s the least important reason. We all want to live longer and with more mobility right? We don’t want to be sitting there at 60, 70 and 80 not being able to move or be stuck with a cane or wheelchair. These are far better reasons to workout than just looking good.
Lifting For Longevity
For decades now, the fitness industry has pushed the idea that aesthetics are the only thing that matters when it comes to working out, lifting weight and exercising in general. The ultimate fitness goal? Get shredded, have a six pack, get as lean as you can. While attaining these goals isn’t bad, they can be fleeting. First of all, it’s hard to maintain especially if you’re over 35 and have kids and a full time job. You won’t be able to keep up with the work it takes to maintain a six pack. But your ability to just stay strong, move well and not have basic aches and pains that other people have that don’t work out? Well that is the ultimate goal and one you can maintain for life.
Muscle Is The Foundation
Muscle isn’t just for looks, it’s what enables us to live a long and healthy life! As we age, we lose muscle. After the age of 35, we can lose up to 5% muscle. That may not sound like much, but it’s more than you think! And the percentage only gets higher as you get older. The effects of not having as much muscle as you get older are great. And these include: decreased metabolism, bone loss, increase injury risk, joint deterioration and reduced balance and coordination. Your ability to do simple daily tasks are significantly less.
Working Out For Life
Working out for life, for health is the opposite of working out for looks. It doesn’t mean punishing your body and leaving you with days and days of recovery. It doesn’t include workouts that are three hours long and workouts that are so gruelling, you’re completely exhausted afterwards. What does it include then? It includes principles like progressive overload, form over ego, balancing intensity with recovery, and also leaving you stronger without torturing yourself.
The key principles to adopt in this kind of workout are :
- Compound Movements With Functionality. Think Squats, Deadlifts, Pulls and Presses. These will translate into every day movements that you do all the time and throughout the day. This isn’t about achieving your one rep max, it’s about consistency and repetition.
- Full Range Of Motion. This is about increasing your mobility and slow controlled repetitions to prevent joint pain and injury.
- Balance and Stability. This includes unilateral work, which just means working one side of the body at a time to correct imbalances that you may have. It also includes balance training to prevent falls and injuries when you’re older.
- Recovery. This includes the required sleep and rest days you need to properly recover. As you get older you will need longer recovery times so that might mean more hours of sleep and more rest days in between your workouts.
What Workouts For Longevity Are Not
We’re not talking about high intensity workouts that leave you sore for days. No HIIT workouts, no training 6-7 days a week, or starving yourself and calling it discipline. If your workout plan requires you to obsessively think about your macros, ignore your hunger cues or be in constant pain and soreness, it’s not a work out plan for life!
Bonus: You Will Still Look Good!
The focus isn’t on looks, it’s for longevity but that doesn’t mean you won’t look good as a side effect. You will see better body composition and that’s a fact. You will see things like
- Increase in muscle mass
- Decrease in stress levels
- Possible reduction in body fat
These kinds of workouts are for everybody including people who are tired of repeatedly starting over in the gym, who are worried about age and injuries and joint health, and people who are just simply busy and don’t have time for three hour workouts!
My Final Thoughts: Workout For The Life You Want
You don’t need to train like a fitness influencer or model to be healthy and fit! What you do need though is strength, muscle and a workout plan you can do for the rest of your life. It’s about being able to move freely, carry groceries, be active with your children and travel if you want to without worrying about being stiff and in pain on the plane. Don’t get me wrong, looking good’s awesome but feeling good is even better!
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