My paternal grandfather died at 61 from his 2nd heart attack. His first was at 46.
My maternal grandfather died at 73 from a stroke. He had a triple bypass read more ~10 years earlier.
And my dad had a triple bypass at 56. (Thank God he’s still alive - about to be 79.)
But the way of thinking of those two generations - The Greatest Generation and the Baby Boomers - is/was that getting old is “just the way it is.”
Which is why I think a lot of guys over 40 today believe their best days are behind them (just like their dads and granddads thought).
And you know what?
All of them are right, because the old adage is true:
“As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” - Proverbs 23:7
Which is why many guys over 40 today still languish in the dullness of their later years…
Quietly withering,
Watching their bodies deteriorate before their very eyes, as if there’s no way to change it…
Que sera, sera - Whatever will be, will be.
That’s just the way it is. (Cue Bruce Hornsby & The Range…)
But not me.
Am I as strong as I was in my early 20s?
Depends on how you measure strength.
Can I hit the same numbers in the Olympic lifts or Powerlifts?
No. I’m probably in the 85-90% range. (And to be honest, I no longer really stress about it .)
But... I can do things like Pistol Squats and One-Arm-One-Leg Push Ups now, and TGU’s with the 48kg, which I didn’t do back then. (And I'm not in pain all the time, which is its own bonus - quite the opposite of how most guys age.)
And from what I’ve seen firsthand with the guys I’ve been training, it’s totally possible to hit PRs well into your 40s, 50s, 60s, even beyond.
It all depends on your beliefs - what you personally believe to be true .
For example, I got this feedback from Brett on one of my YouTube videos:
As you can see when he made this comment , he was just approaching his 55th birthday.
He reported he’s:
Never felt stronger
More powerful than ever
Brimming with energy
Improved his VO2Max
And his resting heart rate has gone down 10 beats per minute ...
… All in just 10 weeks .
As you can see, it quickly leads to see improvements - at any age.
All you need is -
1- A plan
2- To consistently execute that plan
That’s. It.
That’s the “secret” to getting fitter as you get older.
So, it is irrelevant where you currently stand or what you’ve done in the past.
All that matters is that you can find ways to improve from your current baseline.
If you want to follow Brett’s lead, check out “The King-Sized Killer”.
Not ready for Snatches?
Use the Clean + Press.
@mjhastings54 said this about ‘THE GIANT’ Clean + Press program -
At the end of the day, we all get to determine how we think about getting older and how we age.
That choice influences both the quality and the length of the life you’ll live from this day forward.
Me?
I CHOOSE to be STRONG .
What about you?
Stay Strong,
Geoff Neupert.