Muscle is what it’s all about. Relentless weight training regimens, grinding sessions, sweat, blood, and tears. No pain, no gain. Anyone who pushes their body to the limits understands all too well the challenges that exist when muscles go up against iron. It feels easier when our bodies are younger as we punch through our self-imposed limitations, finishing another repetition, and another, and another.
The euphoria of ‘muscle pump’ makes it all worth it; we see chiseled physiques bursting through muscle T-shirts, biceps, triceps, supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, and subscapularis burning with muscle pump. It’s an awesome feeling, but one not without tremendous sacrifice. You are the safest bet you will ever make in your life, since you control what goes into your body, how you treat your body, and how much you can get out of your body.
It’s a win-win situation when you’re building your body. Now you can confidently make your play for big gains, on the field of play. Much like the avid sports betting enthusiast who knows how to spot great odds at a bookmaker and place a winning bet online, you can back yourself to explode out the gates once you’re ready to commit to a gym routine. As a contender, you can get big results every time you put your pedal to the metal.
Embrace the Burn
Anyone under the age of 40 invariably enjoys very little trauma in the gym. You work hard, you get results. As we age, our bodies tend to lose more muscle every year and gain more fat in the process. The muscle loss and the fat gain are not linked in the traditional sense; it’s our lack of hard work that lets the fat gain takeover. Our sedentary lifestyles.
For many erstwhile gym rats who could not imagine a time where bench presses, bicep curls, triceps pull downs, leg presses, lateral raises, and monster deadlifts were not part of a daily regimen. But for some reason, it just happens. You hit 40, and things start to go downhill, fast. Fortunately, you can arrest this decline by taking stock of your situation. Apply this mantra to get yourself back on track – Eat Big, Train Big, Sleep Big!
You’re Not Over the Hill – You’re on Your Way Up!
Many folks over 40 complain of lack of motivation, overburdened work schedules, family responsibilities, and general malaise. It’s true. Life can get you down if you let it. Aging is not a fast pass to decline – we can grow older gracefully by taking care of ourselves, starting with the basics. For the most part, a lack of motivation to hit the gym is born out of imbalance. We are either too committed to work, or responsibilities to other people, or we fall into bad habits that are hard to break. Yet, all of us gym rats can recall the time when we pumped iron and we loved it.
Light the Fires
Recall when cold hard steel would ignite a fire storm of excitement? That’s precisely what you’ve got to get back when you hit the gym after 40. It’s that passion for personal milestones, and smashing through glass-ceilings. There is nothing to beat the adrenaline rush of a fantastic one hour, hard-core gym session.
It is an achievement that cannot be quantified, and yet it takes just 60 minutes. It’s hard getting back into it, but once you’re back, there’s nothing like it. Camaraderie, bravado, muscle pump – it’s what legends are made from. This can be you, me, or anybody who wants it bad enough. Go for it!