04/08/2025
GETTING IN PEAK-SHAPE AT 60
3 months ago I embarked on a mission to get in my best possible shape for my upcoming 60th birthday.
The goal was to get really lean while maintaining my hard-earned muscle mass as a lifetime natural lifter and show that even at 60 years of age it’s possible to achieve excellent physical condition.
My training regimen over 14 weeks consisted of weight training 5-6x per week for 60-75 minutes and in the last 7 weeks I added another 5-6 hours of cardio training per week to speed up the fat-burning process. The decisive factor for leaning out was undoubtedly my diet, which I followed strictly without fail for the 14-week period. Emphasis was on consuming 200g of protein per day to optimise protein synthesis and I eliminated all sweet foods and all alcohol, while keeping carb intake moderate to low (200-100g per day). Sources of fat included nuts and almonds, olive oil and whatever fat was found in eggs and other animal protein sources.
I managed to achieve this condition while only losing 2.5kg over 14 weeks. The ongoing challenge for strength athletes is to lean out without losing any substantial muscle mass, which means maximizing fat-loss while minimizing muscle-loss. While most people feel accomplished by losing lots of kilos on the scales, strength athletes obsess about conserving every possible gram of muscle mass. I like to refer to this as “quality weight-loss“, where weight is not the primary measure of progress by any means. Fat-loss is!
I am very fortunate to have a supportive wife who’s also a great cook, and eating “healthy” food is a pleasure, thanks to the tasty dishes she prepares. When I cook myself, it’s chicken, wild salmon and lean beef with a variety of vegetables and salads, which I really enjoy eating on a day-to-day basis.
The main advice I’d like to pass on to anyone over 50 interested in maintaining their health and vigor for the years to come is to:
- Get on a strength training programme, working out at least twice a week, and hitting all major muscle groups in the upper and lower body each time. Lift as heavy as you can, whatever that means for you in terms of weight. Playing around with light weights that aren’t challenging to lift is a waste of time and will not yield any benefits for you.
- Maintain a healthy weight (BMI under 25) and keep your waist circumference trim, because belly fat is the cause for most metabolic diseases and a major cardiovascular risk factor.
- Try to cover at least 8000-10000 steps per day, ideally more, or engage in some type of regular cardiovascular exercise like power-walking, jogging, biking or swimming.
- Never take off more than a few days from your exercise routine. Extended exercise breaks are B.S., unless you are recovering from vigorous, long-term athletic training.
- If you have an injury (which will inevitably happen at one point) , work around it, instead of finding an excuse to do nothing. Leg is injured? Work the upper body! Shoulder is injured? Work the legs!
- Never, ever stop for as long as you are alive! (Use it or lose it! )
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