Should 40-Year-Olds embrace Just a little Broscience To Gain Muscle?
After 40 years of practical application, is broscience due some credit, or is it still just science-y-science that can help us hit our fitness goals?
Science or experience? What matters most for building muscle?.
THE BRIEF
Time to read: 2 minutes 10 seconds
Time to action: 10 minutes
Mantra: Don’t think, feeeeeeel
Main message: Find your form in tension, stress, and damage
Stat: 16–40%: Amount of muscles strength blokes over 40 can lose
Possibly the two most arse-clenchingly clichéd phrases in the fitness world are ‘‘Do you want to get big, bro?” and, in a joyful juxtaposition, “According to a recent study…”
If you are training in your 40s, you’ve been subjected to both sides of this equation. The 80s inspired the muscle man who knows the shortcuts and the precision-addicted fitness scientist who measures macros to the milligram.
When it comes to bro vs science, the advice can be contradictory at best, stupefyingly dull, or just plain stupid. So, who do you listen to to see or feel the results of all your efforts? After all, muscle made from years of practice can just as quickly be substantiated as the science that changes with each study, can’t it?
How 40+ muscle gets stronger
Here’s a quick refresher on what helps your muscles get stronger:
Mechanical tension: lifting really heavy weights.
Metabolic stress: steady, constant contractions, or “the pump”.
Muscle damage: caused by stretching the muscle while it’s activated, or giving it an unfamiliar stressor.
The paradox is more mechanical tension usually means less metabolic stress, and vice versa. Lift with 90% of your max, for instance, and you’ll put tremendous tension on your muscles. However, you’ll struggle to get more than 3 reps, so metabolic stress will be low.
Grind out reps with an empty barbell, and you’ll be able to push for more, but mechanical tension will be minimal.
The muscle-gaining sweet spot
Really, you just need to spend some time working out which of these training types lets you work the hardest. For perfect FORM, try all 3 and take a personal view. As Bruce Lee once famously said, “Don’t think, feeeeeel.”
If you usually enjoy low reps on big weights, try grinding out 12-rep sets that leave you too sore to train a day or two later; if you like high reps, go for the low-rep option. Switch up whatever you usually do to trigger new muscle growth – especially for a workout in your 40s.
Quick note: you must understand there is a feel-good and a too-far here. Don’t push it past the point of comfort – we want faster growth, not hospitalisation. Perhaps the best advice in the bro/science axis is to find a lifting style you don’t mind repeating.
Lifting is undeniably good for us, and never more so than at 40+ years of age. Just do it how you like it, and you’ll take the pain away from the pleasure.
Your 40+ triple-threat training plan:
Mechanical tension
Generate the most significant force possible, using 80-90% of your maximum bench press, squat, deadlift, and military press. Stop when the technique goes, and the wobble replaces your swagger.
Sets: 3-6
Reps: 3-6
Metabolic stress
Do not give your muscles a break. You stop before locking out on any lifts, drop sets, or forced reps.
Sets: 3-4
Reps: 10+ (or to failure)
Muscular damage
Concentrate on the eccentric/downward motion, then hold the stretch at the bottom; it maximises muscle “damage” during your workout.
Sets: 3-5
Reps: 8-12
ANTHROPOLOGY ANTELOPE
Sociology may have been that degree way back when, but can you honestly think of a time when we needed to understand our society more than we do today? Antelope is a respected and published author of numerous thesis on the human condition and the nature of human interactions.
