As a strength coach, I have to practice what I preach.  I’m no spring chicken anymore, so my body does not recover as quickly.   That said, I will never use age as an excuse for not pushing myself and demanding excellence.   Plus I need to be able to keep up with all of our young athletes and show them that I would never ask them to perform a movement I could not do. 

I definetly spend more time on my soft tissue work and corrective exercises before my workouts and many times I add my corrective exercises into my routine as an active rest station.

I have been focusing on bodyweight exercises  2 times per week, and deadlifts the other 2 days.  Bodyweight exercises are fantastic for any athlete or adult out there.  I highly recommend them, especially if you are lifting heavy, that will tend to beat up the joints in the long run.  As, I’ve learned,  I cannot train like a 20 year old anymore as I am in the 40 and over category, but I feel better than I have ever felt.  You cannot go wrong with push ups, pull-ups, chin-ups, single leg movements and calisthenics, from simple to more advanced.

Today’s workout I did my minimalist body-weight workout with my correctives added inbetween.  My bodyweight exercises consisted of: 1) Wall handstand Pushups 2) Jungle Gym Rear Foot Elevated Squats (with a 20 pound Vest) and 3) Jungle Gym Pull-ups.

My goal was to get 30 reps on my pull-ups and handstand push-ups.  I work at a sub-max rate so I can get good volume while not exhausting myself after the first couple of sets.  Try this on exercises that are challenging for you and one’s you want to get stroger at.

I performed the 3 exercises with no rest, once I completed a full set of them, I would perform one of my correctives, then go back at it until I hit my 30 rep goal. 

My sets (with reps) looked like this; 1) Handstand Push-Up- 5, 4 (should have done 5), 5, 5, 5, 3, 2

                                                                         2) Jungle Gym Rear Foot Elevevated Squat- 8, 10, 10, 10, 10 (did more reps on this one)

                                                                         3) Jungle Gym Pull-ups- 6, 6, 6, 6, 6

I finished off with Jungle Gym Decline Push-ups and Jungle Gym Low Rows (to offset the overhead pulling)

JG Pushups 10×3 and JG Low Rows 8×3. 

The workout took a little over 30 minutes.  Not bad.  I try to complete my bodyweight workouts between 25-35 minutes, depending on how many movements and reps.   Overall I felt great and ready to tackle the day.

More to come on my bodyweight exercises:  pistol squats and single arm push-ups.

Keep challenging yourself, no matter how old you are!

Best-