How to gain muscle when you are over 40?
Building muscle after 40 isn’t simple and you need to focus more on various things that will help accomplish your goals. When you are over 40, it becomes difficult to build muscles due to aging and other problems. On the other hand, several exercise plans are available for you to gain muscle after 40. You should have enough patience and motivation to build your muscles. Muscle building allows you to live a healthy lifestyle and make sure that you follow tips from health professionals that will help obtain optimal results.
Here are some tips to follow in muscle building when you are over 40.
1. Choose a training program and stick to it
To build your muscles, you need an effective training program to get the desired effects. Consult with fitness experts to pick an exercise plan that fits your lifestyle. Stick to your training plan that will help keep your health in good condition. Since your body muscles respond slowly, make sure that you follow some smart rules while performing exercises. Ask your trainer to suggest the best training program for your muscle-building program.
2. Exercise smarter
While carrying out exercises, you should consider using light weights to lift them slowly. This is because lifting heavy objects will result in heavy pains and aches. Moreover, they will interfere with your training program and you need to avoid them. You can consider doing exercises with a combination of light, medium, and heavyweights that will do major wonders.
3. Don’t push hard
While performing exercises, make sure that you don’t push hard to get quick results. Sometimes, you may think that you are not training enough hard in your exercise program. Get ideas from your instructor to select a program that satisfies your fitness goals. Start by warming up for 15 minutes before carrying out exercises.
4. Change up your workouts
As a bodybuilder, you shouldn’t do the same exercises for longer periods. This is because they will stop growing your muscles. Furthermore, performing the same exercises will result in some disadvantages. Another thing is that they lead to overuse of muscles causing injuries and other problems. Therefore, you should consider changing your workouts to avoid boredom. By doing this, you can build your new muscles to ensure a perfect shape.
5. Increase your exercise volume
It is a known fact you will become lazy when you get older. This will lead to difficulties while performing your exercises. You shouldn’t lose your patience at this stage and increase your exercise volume. Using different workouts will help you build your muscles with high success rates.
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6. Cut down your cardio workouts
Since muscle building involves resistance training, you should consider cutting down your cardio workouts. This, in turn, paves ways to meet essential needs in muscle growth that will help keep your health in a perfect state.
7. Slow down your repetitions
You should slow down your repetitions that will help enhance muscle growth. When your muscles are under tension, they will undergo soreness that causes various problems. Hence, do your exercises slowly to reduce unwanted issues.
8. Stretch your muscles
Stretching is an important part of your muscle-building program because it allows you to increase your fitness levels. You should consider doing stretching exercises after completing your exercise activity. When you are over 40, your muscles may lose flexibility, and stretching enables you to feel tight. It is wise for you to do a stretch for 60 seconds that help improve flexibility to a large extent.
9. Make time for recovery
Your body will take more time to regain your strength. Hence, you should know how to improve your bodily functions effectively that will help gain more advantages. Make sure that you get a good sleep to grow your muscles. If you are having any injury, you should get enough rest to start your exercises again. You should consider doing exercises in a safer environment to prevent pains, injuries, or other issues.
10. Pick your exercises properly
Your muscle-building program should cover some effective exercises. At the same time, it is not easy to choose them because they need guidance from fitness trainers. For example, your bone structure won’t support you to some exercises such as deep squats, floor deadlifts, bench pressing, etc. In the same way, your body doesn’t support you when you have got short arms and long legs.
Use a suspension trainer when your wrists get hurt while doing chin-ups from a straight bar. By doing this, you can move freely without any difficulties. In the same way, consider trying the floor press when your bench press hurts your shoulders. Some exercises may hurt you in the beginning and don’t lose your heart. Instead, try to replace them with other activities that will help grow your muscles.
It is good for you to carry out exercises with a combination of machines and free weights. Discuss with your trainer to know the options available for your muscle-building program which gives ways to choose the right one accordingly.
11. Follow a healthy diet program
Diet is necessary for your muscle-building program and make sure that your diet plan increases the metabolism because they get slower as you age. A good nutrition program should support your muscle building. You should consume carbohydrates before and after your workouts. Ensure that your food is healthy and avoid processed foods in your diet.
Besides that, your diet plan should contain protein content to cut down cholesterol levels in your body. Nowadays, different types of protein powders are available in the markets and you can select the best one among them after consulting with a nutritionist.
Choose a diet that has a rich variety of vegetables and fruits that will promote energy levels. At the same time, your diet shouldn’t contain foods that are rich in fats. Professional advice is necessary when selecting a healthy diet program that will promote a healthy lifestyle. Your diet program should tailor your needs when you want to build muscles.
