The most important factor for fitness success after the age of 50
~6 minute read
The most important factor for fitness success after the age of 50 is your ability to be consistent.
It sounds simple, but it’s true. Consistency allows you to keep making progress through all the ups and downs that life brings.
On the other hand, inconsistency will prevent you from making any worthwhile changes.
When you commit to consistency (rather than perfection) you’ll continue to make progress, even in the face of set backs. This could (but doesn’t always) mean slower progress at first, which may not sound as exciting as a full sprint towards your goals. But the important thing to remember is that the health and fitness journey is a MARATHON NOT A SPRINT. 🏃♀️🙂
The #1 Obstacle is injury 🩹🤕
After hundreds of meetings with 50+ folks we’ve recognized an all too common theme. Injuries are always in the way of their aspirations to live a healthy, fit and independent life.
In other words, all health and fitness goals will be impacted by your ability to move freely without pain. Not addressing this issue head on will not only stunt any progress we’re hoping to make, but it will likely lead to the issue only worsening with time.
The top reasons people come to Evertrain
As pointed out in the image above, all of the reasons for hiring a health and fitness coach will be hindered by injuries.
As we all know, the 50+ body is more prone to injury. With more years of “wear and tear” and possibly neglect, we’re left with a body that can’t afford to have any avoidable injury setbacks.
At the same time, we as coaches, are often presented with a new client who eagerly wants to achieve a healthy and fit state of being.
If we don’t address our client’s injuries (past, present and future), we won’t get very far on their journey towards their ultimate goals of living a fit and healthy life in their later years.
The common path to failure 🤦♂️
The common path to failure is one most people find themselves on when trying to tackle their health and fitness goals. They usually move straight to the getting in shape part 🏋️♀️ and neglect the “fixing” 🔧 part (picture a car getting on the race track without first doing the necessary repairs). 🏎
Eventually they exacerbate a pre-existing issue (or maybe create a new one). This sooner than later leads to an injury that sidelines them. At this point, discouragement zaps any remaining motivation and they’re likely to not stick with their fitness efforts.
If this happens to you, instead of stopping at the injury part (or maybe skip it all together? 🤔), move to steps 4 and 5 to GET OFF the common path to failure.
1. Neglect.👎
2. Exacerbate.👎
3. Injury. 🤕 🛑 Most people stop here. But it’s important you keep pushing to 4 and 5. Doing these 2 things will ensure that you’re on the road to long-term success. NOT doing them will guarantee an injury either sooner or later. 👇👇👇
4. Assess and train smart. 🧠
5. Navigate and take charge. ⛵️👩✈️
Ideally you would never go through steps 1 through 3. But if you do, the best course of action is not to stop, but instead move to steps 4 and 5.
The solution 🔑
The solution is to create a strong and healthy body (the fixing part) while consistently training towards your goals (the getting in shape part). In order to build a strong and healthy body we must correct imbalances and build up from there.
This image provides a brief overview of which muscles are weak/long/inhibited and the corresponding muscles that are short/facilitated. We can use this to guide us on which exercises we need to do in order to make the changes we’re looking for.
One helpful framework to understand is Upper and Lower Crossed Syndrome developed by Vladimir Janda. By learning more about this you’ll be in a better position to address your specific issues when it comes to staying healthy and injury-free. 😀
The 4 Best Practices 🦸♀️ 💪
In our next blog post we will do a deeper dive into our 4 Best Practices for training people over 50. Until then here’s a snapshot:
Train smart 🧠. Your training needs to meet you where you currently are. The goal is to get out of the “rehab zone” and stay in the “performance zone”. Also getting the right training frequency (days per week) is crucial for making measurable changes.
Mobilize🦵. By implementing stretching and rolling routines, you’ll move better during your workout —> improve form —> reduce risk of injury —> have better longer lasting results. Mobility work every day keeps the physio away (don’t get us wrong, we love a good physiotherapist 😍).
Train the Big 3 🏋🏽♀️. By prioritizing upper back, glutes and core, results will come a lot quicker and your body will be feeling better in no time!
Progressive program 📈. Avoid plateaus and continue seeing results by updating your training program every 4-6 weeks and gradually progressing towards new training variables.
Make 2022 a Success 🏆
Today a lot of the heavy lifting has already been done for you. In this article we’ve summarized over a decade of our learning and experience and simplified it to give you a big head start on your fitness journey.
80% of New Year’s Resolutions fail in the first 2 weeks. By overcoming the #1 obstacle that plagues people over 50 and getting off the common path to failure you can move yourself into the 20% that succeeds. 🏆
This past year we learned a lot about the struggles people over 50 face. We’re on a mission in 2022, to help people over 50 in a BIG way. 🚀
If you want help to get unstuck, get back in shape and get rid of the aches and pains, schedule a call with us TODAY. 🙂👇
Brandon - Online Personal Training Expert, Neuroscience and Mental Health graduate and Triathlete