Innehållsförteckning för Menss Health: Muscles after 40 från Men's Health South Africa

Doctors once told men that, as they aged, they needed to tone it down–trade in their weight-training gear for leisurely bike rides and long, slow slogs in jogging shorts. Wrong! Leading exercise physiologists have discovered that by age 40, the body’s metabolism has slowed 4% since age 20, meaning your body simply cannot burn as many kilojoules as it used to. Meanwhile, sarcopenia, the natural deterioration of muscle mass that starts when we’re 25 and advances at about 90 grams per year, has kicked in. By 50 we’ll have lost a good two-and-a-bit kilograms of muscle. In its place? Fat. As our body-fat percentages creep up, so does our size. But there’s a cure: weight training. And that’s where this handy guide comes in. Within these information-packed pages, you’ll find…

Quadruped Walk Before you run and jump, you should learn this basic but important walk. Start on your hands and feet, shins off the floor Keep your back parallel to the floor and “walk” forward, moving your right arm and left leg in unison, and your left arm and right leg in unison. Go for 30 seconds. Expect your core to burn. Speed Vault Start by jogging directly towards a box that’s lower than waist height. As you get close, jump towards it. Reach your right hand towards the box; place it on the box as you swing your legs and torso up and over it. “You’ll build coordination with this one,” Crews says.…

Sometimes, in your quest to lose weight, you can start to lose muscle instead of fat–and that’s not a great scenario. “It’s bad to lose muscle instead of fat, because muscles are the key players in body movement and function,” says Dr. Gerardo Miranda-Comas, an assistant professor of rehabilitation medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “With loss of muscle mass, strength and endurance are affected negatively, leading to decreased functional performance.” This goes double if you’re an experienced lifter, over 40, who’s already working around some injuries and movement restrictions. More of the same exercises you did when you were younger (and felt invincible) probably won’t take your body to the next level now–and worse, they may hurt more and hold back your progress. A better…

getting older doesn’t mean you have to work out less. In fact, you should probably add more exercises to your repertoire as you age, to help you stay spry and prevent injury. David Jack, the creator of the Men’s Health Muscle After 40 (MA40) programme, says, “Guys over 40 need to focus on moving better.” He recommends doing exercises that will have you moving in multiple planes. “The more directions you can control your body moving in, the stronger and more stable you’ll be.” With that in mind, we enlisted an elite military and mountain trainer to give you the tools you need. Rob Shaul doesn’t judge workouts the same way you do, and he doesn’t care about the size of your biceps or the flatness of your abs. As…

for decades, ab training meant sit-ups, curling your upper body all the way up off the floor, rounding your lower back. Some people got nice-looking abs doing this–and lots more ended up with back pain. Today smart trainers don’t advocate isolation ab training, but focus on core training: exercises that make all the ab and lower-back muscles work together, to stabilise and therefore protect the spine. David Jack, the creator of the Men’s Health Muscle After 40 (MA40) programme, says that proper core training is even more important for men over 40, who can be even more injury-prone than they were in their younger years–especially in their lower backs. “When we lose the natural arch in our lower spine, that’s big trouble,” Jack says. “The trick is to train your…

Hips and core This test tells you whether your problem is tight hips or a weak core. Lie on your back and assume a squat position lying down: bring your knees as close to your chest as you can. Can’t get them past your hips? Your hips are too tight. If you can bring your knees high, then your core just isn’t strong or stable enough to support your squat position while standing, Sanchez says. Ankles Your ankles need to flex enough to let your knees track over your feet, allowing you to distribute your weight evenly. This test tells you whether your ankles are too stiff to allow that. Stand in a staggered stance facing a wall, your front foot 12cm away from it. Push your front knee as…

YOU HAVE… 1 MINUTE Drop and give us 20 (or more). Push-ups are a quick, efficient way to target the pecs, deltoids and triceps. See how many you can crank out in 60 seconds. Lead with your chest rather than your hips or your neck, says Zack Daley, the training manager at Tone House in New York City. You’re working quickly, so get the most out of your minute with good form: avoid tilting your head up, and keep your neck aligned with your spine. Try a wall sit. With your back flush to the wall, sit until your thighs are parallel to the ground, and stay there for 60 seconds of hamstring and quad hell. Watch your form, says certified Brick New York trainer Ben Sweeney. Press through your…

A recent study found that a third of the more than 600 000 knee replacements done annually in the US may not be necessary. “You need to have moderately advanced arthritis and to have failed conservative care for total knee replacement to be appropriate,” says orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Nicholas DiNubile. Before going under the knife, ask yourself these 5 questions. 1. HOW BAD IS IT? People who are dissatisfied after surgery tend to have had only mild or moderate pain, or no severe limitations on function, beforehand. Your surgeon should be able to see X-ray evidence of narrowed space in the joint or bone-on-bone. 2. HOW STRONG ARE MY QUADS? Thigh muscles move and stabilise the joint, so the stronger they are, the more satisfied you’re likely to be after…

indulge us for a moment by flexing your right arm. Assuming you have an average build–and trust us, you do–your arm is packing about 2.3kg of muscle. It represents nearly 10% of the total muscle on your body. Now imagine that muscle gone. No biceps, no triceps–only a jiggly mass of skin and fat covering your bones from your shoulder down to your fingertips. That 2.3kg of muscle is about the same amount most men lose between ages 24 and 50. And that number doubles by age 60. In fact, once a man passes the half-century mark, he can expect to lose 1% of his muscle each year for the rest of his life That is, unless he does something about it. And there’s good reason for intervention: the natural…

Brandon Lilly is one of the strongest men on the planet, an elite power-lifter who has squatted 382kg. But then a knee injury sidelined him in 2014. “I had to look at myself in the mirror,” he says. “The whole reason I got into powerlifting was to look better, feel better, and get stronger. The only thing that had improved was my strength.” At 156kg, Lilly couldn’t walk through a shopping mall without getting winded. “I wouldn’t have been able to run to save my own life,” he says. As he rehabbed his knee, Lilly found Dr. Belisa Vranich, a clinical psychologist who is also a breathing coach to celebrities, athletes, and military personnel. It’s not news that deep breathing confers many benefits. But like Lilly, many overlook its workout…

1. Lie with your back flat on the floor, a sandbag on your right shoulder. (Keep most of its bulk on your chest.) Holding it steady with your right arm, extend your left arm straight at a wide angle, palm against the floor. 2. Roll to your left. Kick your right leg up, almost straight; then drive it back down, securing your left foot on the floor. Use the momentum to shift your torso upright; plant your left forearm to stabilise your upper body. 3. Shift your left hand to near your left glute and straighten your left arm. As you do, tighten your glutes and elevate your hips and upper body. Then begin to shift your weight onto your right leg. 4. After you shift your weight, swing your…

there’s almost nothing older lifters like to laugh at more than when younger bucks in the gym overload a barbell and spend an entire workout straining through endless sets of curls. Muscle size does come from lifting progressively heavier weights–but not every muscle group needs to be maxed out to grow. Arms are the perfect example. The elbows are relatively small joints, and they’re just not built to handle ever-increasing weight on isolation lifts like the curl. Forcing them to, year after year, will lead to joint pain and injury; yet men still go so heavy that their curls turn into back bends. Ah, the folly of youth. More mature lifters know that arms respond just fine to lifting light weights for high reps, and that’s what David Jack–the creator…

Let’s start with a few assumptions: you’re a busy man. You have work and volunteer commitments, home duties, friends and family with whom to share your time. You don’t have the luxury of spending hours in a gym like a pro athlete or an underwear model. You don’t have much workout equipment at home. You’ve found it hard to stick with an exercise plan over the long term. Welcome to the club. But we’ve found the solution: it’s called the Body Weight 200, and it addresses all those obstacles. In fact, you need only two items–a Swiss ball and a chinup bar–to perform this 20-minute, total-body routine designed by Craig Ballantyne, the owner of TurbulenceTraining.com. So you can do it in your basement, your garage, or even your bedroom. It’s…

THE GOAL Improve Dead Lifts and Squats What to test: Hip mobility and lower-back stability Toe Touch Stand with your feet together, knees locked. Hinge forward and reach for the floor. Your goal is to touch the floor with your fingertips; or at the very least, be just 5cm short of that goal. Daily Fix 1. Foam roll your glutes and hamstrings, 30 to 45 seconds a side. Spend 15 to 20 seconds on sore areas. 2. Do a forearm plank; shift to a left-side plank, then a right-side plank. Hold each for 30 seconds. Do 2 reps. ✓ Pass You touch the floor with your fingertips. ✕ Fail You don’t, or you feel pain while bending. THE GOAL Boost Your Bench Press What to test: Shoulder and core strength…

nine years before he had the chiselled physique you see now, Andre Crews was like most guys: an average joe who wanted more out of life and his body. By day, he was a banker poring over financials at his company headquarters, and by night he was a party animal with a taste for Jameson Irish Whiskey. Here and there he’d squeeze in a workout or a run, but his body–at 91kg, the same weight he is now–was more flab than muscle. That all changed in 2010, when Crews decided to ditch the desk job. “I wasn’t happy doing banking,” he says. After a stint of bartending, he found his true calling–as a trainer. Now he’s in the best shape of his life, and co-owns a CrossFit box called 150…

Is Beer What Makes a Beer Belly? Research shows there may be a link between alcohol intake and excess weight, but it’s not a huge effect. Studies find if you stick to the recommended two brews per day, you won’t broaden your belly any more than a non-drinker. Belly fat is such an important (and dangerous) factor for your overall health that it’s now discussed as an organ. The visceral fat that makes up a spare tyre, or worse, a beer belly–and that surrounds your liver, stomach, and intestines–isn’t flabbily inert. It appears to be biologically active, pumping out hormones and other substances, and it may even increase your risk of metabolic problems like cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, and maybe even cancer. That’s pretty scary for South Africans,…

COUNT KILOJOULES, SKIP THE FAT: For 40 years, these have been the pillars of most mainstream weight-loss advice. But according to Dr. David Ludwig, the author of Always Hungry?, the best way to lose weight is to do neither. Fat is not the villain, he writes; processed carbohydrates are. “For 40 years we gobbled up low-fat foods,” he says, “but they were actually making us fatter because they were filled with processed carbs instead of fat.” Epidemiological data backs him up: in the US, the rise in obesity rates began in the late 1970s, around the same time the US Department of Agriculture began recommending that Americans eat a low-fat diet. After 30 years of scientific research and watching his patients struggle with their weight, Dr. Ludwig decided there had…

Lack of flexibility is a huge problem for people who are attempting to get back in shape, because they often exercise without priming their muscles for the stress of all that running, jumping, and twisting. It’s sort of like trying to run your car without lubrication; the engine will seize up without oil. By the same token, if you don’t get blood flowing to your muscles, your body won’t move as well and you’ll risk tearing something or developing imbalances. And an orthopaedic surgeon will probably cost a lot more than your car’s mechanic! Stretching prepares your muscles, joints, and connective tissues for your workout. It elevates your core temperature, improves blood flow to your tissues, and loosens tight muscles and ligaments. When performed correctly, it can even stabilise the…

i’m not an elite athlete. I’m just a guy on the precipice of middle age who enjoys running, biking, soccer, and tennis. If I can push myself to my physical limit a couple of times a week and still have the energy to crawl around with my daughter, then I’m satisfied. That makes me a useful filter. The pros have unlimited budgets and few demands on their waking hours beyond making themselves fitter. If you want to spend thousands–or tens of thousands–to sleep in an oxygen pod wearing infrared pyjamas, then knock yourself out. But chances are you care only about things that work, are safe, and fit your schedule and budget. So trust the guy with a day job, a bad back, and a new baby. Here’s what I…

do your knees, hips, or back sometimes hurt for seemingly random reasons? Do running, lifting, and playing sports leave you sore in the wrong places? Do you walk around gingerly, feeling stiff all over? This three-second test may reveal the reason. Stand up and kick off your shoes. Spread your feet hip-width apart, with your toes pointing straight ahead. Now squat. Go as low as you possibly can, making sure you don’t raise your heels off the floor or slump your body forward. If you couldn’t drop your butt to just a few centimetres above the ground, you just discovered your problem. “Sitting in a squat position is the most natural movement for the body,” says physical therapist Roop Sihota. That’s because the joints and muscles you need for squatting–hips,…

Give celebrity fitness trainer Joe Dowdell a month to get you in shape, and he won’t put you through a series of fancy HITT workouts. Instead, the founder of Dowdell Fitness Systems will give you a list of tried-and-true exercises guaranteed to pack on muscle. Then he’ll tell you to do them at strict tempo. That’s how he gets the likes of Gerard Butler and Mario Lopez camera-ready–and it’s how he’s going to push you to your best body yet. STEP 1: THE WORKOUT Muscle Up! Train Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays; alternate between Workouts A and B. Do Workout A twice (on Mondays and Fridays) in Weeks 1 and 3; do Workout B twice in Weeks 2 and 4. Before all workouts, do the drills on page 77. On all…

Put down that dumbbell and listen up: muscles aren’t everything. “It’s your joints that make the whole body tick,” says Douglas Comeau, the director of the Boston University Sports Medicine Fellowship. But like any mechanical system, they’re prone to wear and tear. And without well-functioning joints, it’s challenging to add muscle, shed fat, or get anything done around the house. To maintain them, you need to understand how they work and the threats they face. Here’s how to keep your six major joints jumpin’. SHOULDERS TYPE OF JOINT: BALL-AND-SOCKET Shoulders have an exceptional 360-degree range of motion, but a shallow socket and relatively loose ligaments. “What you gain in mobility you lose in stability,” says Dr. Brian Sennett, the chief of sports medicine and vice chair of orthopaedic surgery at…

Sun salutation forms the core of Migliarese’s method. It combines dynamic movement, stretching, and focused breathing to build strength, enhance mobility, and hone focus and endurance. breathe through your nose!” shouts the burly martial arts instructor, clad in a T-shirt and sparring shorts. Eight muscular fighters flare their nostrils in response, inhaling deeply as they assume a low pushup position on a worn wrestling mat. To a bystander, the scene in this sweaty Philadelphia combat gym might resemble a typical MMA class, and the students, all scarred and tattooed, look the part. But the next command reveals a different purpose. “Exhale slowly and flow from upward dog into downward dog,” says Phil Migliarese, a fifth-degree black belt in Brazilian jujitsu and master-level yoga teacher. “Inhale again as you reach the…