You Are Losing Strength As You Age

Just by looking at a persons physical appearance and the way they walk I can pretty much tell if that person is strong, I've been fooled on occasion but rarely. The first thing we do is a proper FMS screen to assess mobility then we test strength. OK, I need to define strong.  Here is my definition of strong for a male in his 50's.  These are not elite standards by any means just baselines and in some circles considered minimums.

I use three strength screens, barbell, bodyweight, ketllebell.  I start with bodyweight first, I may have to do some instructing prior to the kettlebell and barbell tests and that is OK, our goal is to get a baseline to start our training program.

Body Weight

Do your age in push ups minus 10 reps adding 1 rep for each year over 50.
54 years old the target would be 36 reps (50-10-4=36)

Do your age in full squats minus 10 reps adding 1 reps for each year over 50.
55 years old the target would be 35 reps (50-10-5=35)

Pull Ups - at least 3 preferably 7-10, dead hang pull ups or chin ups
Dips - at least 5 preferably 7-10
Run 1 mile in under 10 minutes, or walk 1 mile in under 13 minutes

Kettlebell Movements

Goblet Squat 1/3 your body weight for 5 reps
100 - 2 arm swings with 1/3 your body weight in 5 minutes
Strict Military Press 1/3 your body weight with each arm
Perform a Turkish Get Up with 1/3 your body weight on each side

Barbell Lifts

Deadlift 1.5x bodyweight

Bench Press 1.25x bodyweight

Squat 1.25x bodyweight

What I usually find is the man is carrying around an extra 25 pounds, and it is most likely concentrated around the mid section.  The muscle mass has diminished in the upper body and in the posterior chain (glutes, hamstrings, erectors) and the thighs.

Nutrition habits will usually clean up most weight problems, unless there are medical issues.  Slight changes in what a person eats and drinks will show dramatic changes within 30 days.

For programming strength we start with bodyweight, then move to kettlebells then to the barbell.

In a short 30 days we can progress a unconditioned person through bodyweight to get them close enough to start adding in some kettlebell and barbell movements to aid in building the strength.

Over a 90 day training block using a session every other day as a guideline we can get a 50+ year old male to a reasonable strength level.  Then it is a matter of programming and goals.

90% of the males in this age bracket want to lose fat and gain muscle (strength).  Mobility is also key at this age so we do quite a bit of mobility movements and very little static stretching.  Our number one mobility movement is the Turkish Get Up.

Mobility, Stability, Strength is our goal as we move into our 50's.  Getting Strong is the #1 Goal.