Tip Train Like This or Die Sooner Search Skip to content Menu Menu follow us Store Articles Community Loyal-T Club Loyal-T Points Rewards Subscribe to Save Search Search The World s Trusted Source & Community for Elite Fitness Training Tip Train Like This or Die Sooner Want to keep kicking ass in your 40s and beyond Then you have to add this training modality to your workouts NOW by Chris Shugart October 7, 2019March 14, 2022 Tags Bigger Stronger Leaner, Over 40, Training After 40 Just Give Up After a man turns 40, his muscles atrophy, his strength wanes, and his belly grows. And women over 40? Well, they just wilt like old banana peels. They even have to start buying "mommy swimsuits" at JCPenny, complete with butt-hiding ruffles. At least that's what a lot of people seem to think. As a T Nation fan, you already know those people are full of shit. Heck, with all we know now about training, nutrition, and supplementation, your 40s and 50s might just be your best years. But there is something that takes a Kamikaze dive in your middle years. After the age of 40 or so, even physically fit men and women start to lose their ability to produce power. And power, not strength, may be the key to longevity. Power is your ability to produce force and velocity. Moving weight fast – be that a barbell or your own bodyweight – recruits a lot of motor units. While strength and power overlap in many ways, power is the rebar in the concrete foundation of athleticism. In the gym, you can get more powerful by doing Olympic-lifting variations, torpedo'ing medicine balls, performing jump squats, and swinging a kettlebell like you're mad at it. Generally, you use lower loads, but try to move those loads with speed and ferocity. Acceleration is key. Outside the gym, sprinting up a set of stairs relies more on power than strength. "Functional strength" is all the rage, but functional power may be even more important. So what does power have to do with living longer? Let's ask Mr. Science. Researchers gathered up 3,878 men and women between 41 and 85. This age range was chosen because power starts to diminish after 40. All the participants took a power test, this one involving the upright row. (Maybe not the best exercise choice, but easy enough for non-meatheads to learn.) Then the scientists just sat around for several years. They caught up on Grey's Anatomy and did some fly fishing. After seven years, they tracked down the study participants to see who died, which must've been awkward. In a nutshell, those folks who displayed above-average muscle power in the original test outlived those with below-average muscle power. But those study participants who scored a little below average on the power test were up to five times more likely to suffer an early death. Those who scored WAY BELOW average on the power test were 10-13 times more likely to be chilling out in a coffin or a lovely urn. Researchers concluded that power is strongly related to all-cause mortality. No, you don't have to give up your strength or hypertrophy training and become an Olympic weightlifter, a full-time CrossFitter, or a plyo-obsessed skinny guy. The researchers noted that becoming super-duper powerful doesn't seem to extend your life any further than simply becoming more powerful than the average Joe or Jane. Just be above-average powerful. In the gym, add some power training to what you're already doing. Try power cleans or some O-lift variations. (I like the easy-to-learn muscle snatch.) Throw some medballs, try to accelerate a lighter bar quickly using the core lifts, and toss in some plyo push-ups, sprints, and jumps. Then tell those people that think life is over after 40 to suck it. Araújo CG. Optimising exercise training in cardiac patients. EuroPrevent 2019. European Society of Cardiology. Get The T Nation Newsletters Don' t Miss Out Expert Insights To Get Stronger, Gain Muscle Faster, And Take Your Lifting To The Next Level related posts Training Tip The Smart Way to Train Chest at Home Mechanical drop sets build a ton of muscle. Bonus: They're a great way to increase intensity when you work out at home. Training Tom MacCormick May 7 Training Tip The Frog Jump Part of Neural Charge Training, the frog jump involves the glutes and hamstrings, whereas a vertical jump is more pure quads. Athletic Performance, Exercise Coaching, Legs, Tips Christian Thibaudeau May 20 Training Tip Be Still and Boost Performance Here's a science-backed way to enhance your performance in the gym or on the playing field. Training Lisa Lewis, PhD January 21 Training Building Bodybuilder Triceps The triceps are the largest muscle group in the arms, not the biceps. So why are you spending all that time curling? Arms, Training Clay Hyght, DC December 15