Shortcuts For Building More Lean Muscle Mass after 40 years old
Most people are familiar with the phrase “Go hard, then go home.” But we’d like to trade it up for “Work smarter, not harder” where your fitness is concerned.
Building muscle mass after 40 doesn’t have to be hard work.
THE BRIEF
Time to read: 5 minutes
Time to action: 10 minutes
Mantra: Less effort, better results
Main message: Big muscle wins through the most minor of adjustments
Stat: Only 24.3% of adults meet the objectives for strength and aerobic exercises. Let us put you in the other 75.7%
Going to failure is valid, but sometimes – if it can give you the same sort of gains – why not take a few shortcuts and cheat your way to more muscle mass?
If it still delivers, cut a few corners; at 40-something, you are old enough and wise enough to know your body – and know better than to make it more tired than it needs to be. Here are a few novel tactics to bring up the intensity of your workout when you’ve hit a brick wall regarding progress. Use them to turn back the clock and make some fresh young-person-gains.
1. Welcome to - static holds
THE GAIN
Hold a weight in a fixed position for 20 seconds. This hold forces your muscles to resist gravity, and you’ll dramatically improve your balance.
THE RANGE
Do it at the end of a set, holding at the point where the tension is the highest for best results.
2. Welcome to - rest pause
THE GAIN
Take a break of between 5 and 20 seconds mid-set to hit the refresh button on your strength and muscle endurance.
THE RANGE
Aim to do 10 reps with a weight you’d typically only manage 5 reps with, but take breaks between the sets to recover.
3. Welcome to - peak contraction
THE GAIN
Flex your muscle when it’s most stressed during a rep. Extra blood floods the muscle to create more growth.
THE RANGE
With bicep curls, for example, hold the weight at the top position and tense your muscles until they feel like the barrel of a freshly shot Gatling gun.
4. Welcome to - one and a half reps
THE GAIN
Go for a full range of motion rep, then immediately do a partial rep of the same exercise without putting down the weight. Even a half rep is great at adding muscle if you have a limited range of motion.
THE RANGE
Aim for between 3-6 sets of 10-12 reps on any compound multi-joint exercise.
5. Welcome to - negative reps
THE GAIN
Lower the weights slowly, forcing your muscles to work during the negative phase. It makes you gain more muscle and strength than regular reps.
THE RANGE
Raise the weight at an average speed, then take between 4-10 seconds to lower it to the start with form and control.
6. Welcome to - pre-exhaust superset
THE GAIN
You’ll work a muscle using two exercises: an isolation move followed immediately by a compound multi-jointed move. It can be taxing on the body, but it’s worth it in small doses.
THE RANGE
As an example for legs, you’d do 6 reps of leg extensions followed by 6 reps on a squat to get a burn that’ll bring tears to your eyes.
7. Welcome to - cheat reps
THE GAIN
Use a speck of body English to help get past a sticking point in a lift to trigger new strength and growth. Does it work for 40-year-old people? Yes, but use isolation lifts, don’t over do it and avoid moves that load your spine.
THE RANGE
When you reach failure at around rep 6, make a form adjustment to get the momentum to put out another rep.
Use these 7 time-saving devices in your workout to get a more intense burn in fewer minutes. This will help you trigger new muscle growth without taxing your joints. And if you know anything about decades of paying taxes, you want to avoid it where you can!
PT WOLF
PT Wolf is a personal trainer who tries and tests every programme we put together. A celebrity trainer, Wolf has been a fitness journalist, practising what he preaches for over 20 years. Now into his 40s, Wolf has added muscle to his frame in every decade of his life and has an annoyingly healthy body fat percentage. He tries it before he says it, but even more importantly, he lives it every day.
