Personal Training for Clients 50+
Fitness in your 50s, 60s, and 70s is different. You aren’t as agile as you were. You’re not as stable. You’re not as flexible. Too many people focus on one sport, like running, swimming, or pickleball, and let every other muscle deteriorate. Most people who work out are not smooth and graceful. I train clients on all of it:
Basic stability
Weight lifting for hypertrophy
Body weight exercise
Balance
Grip strength
Coordination and motor units
Plyometrics
Movement
Bone building
Zone 2, 3, and 4 cardio
Whatever sport you actually play
David is the real deal. We’ve been working together for six weeks, he has changed my mindset and motivation. I’m getting stronger with less weight. With his program, you start to see results immediately.
— Steve, Virginia
Do the basics right
Did you know that 67 percent of all gym memberships go completely unused? People sign up in January, pay in full, and never set foot in the gym the entire year. Then they’re back the next January with their credit card in hand.
Gym owners love this. Many have gotten rid of their mirrors and heavy equipment. That keeps the daily bodybuilders out, because they run up the costs. Then they install a bunch of light equipment that looks good on the tour and takes your money. It keeps fixed costs down and keeps the focus on sales. Why? Because people say they want to get fit, but they don’t want to put in the work.
If you’re over 50, you’re almost certainly using the gym improperly. First, I assess where you are, then we start on the basics. You probably think you don’t need the basics, that you know what you’re doing in the gym. But you’re here because you want results, and the basics give you long-term stability. You’ll never be 50 again, but you will be 70, so stick with me and let’s do this right.
The basics
Upper body: pushups, pullups
Grip: farmer carry, plate carry, dead hang, grip tools
Core: situps, obliques, floor moves, get up from the floor with no hands
Lower body: knee stretch, deep knee bends, squats, toe raises, step-ups and step-downs, tibialis raises, jumping
Stairs: four flights with no handrails, then ten
Backward walking: flat, then angled
Balance: stand on one leg, stand on challenging surfaces, hop
Agility: get off the floor without hands, slalom, parkour moves
Movement: counterbalance lunge, lateral lunge, lateral and floor moves
Stretches: knee bends, hamstrings, and more
Rucking: carry weight on your back at least twice a week. More weight is better.
Cardio: tennis, running, cycling, swimming, rowing, hiking, or another sport, three times a week, ideally one to two hours.
From there, we add new exercises only when we can fold them into the routine without losing anything we’ve already built. It might be a new skill that takes months or years to build, but it pays off in later years. That’s the beginning. It’s an incremental program: low stress, more weight over time.
Stability and balance foundation
You lose flexibility as you get older, but you can build it back before it’s too late. I work with every client on knee, hip, and core flexibility, which forms the foundation for everything that comes later.
Motor units are the signal generators that link muscle to brain. Too many people lose their motor units and end up off balance, with slow reaction times. Can you stand on one foot and put on a sock and tie your shoe without touching the ground? Can you get off the floor with no hands? Can you handle a fast-moving situation and make a split-second decision?
The back of the leg is a critical piece of aging well. Ask anyone in his or her 70s about going downstairs. It’s harder than it used to be, because the control starts to go. We work very intentionally on a range of movements designed to maintain fine motor control in the legs for future stability.
David came along at the right time, offering the right kind of advice. He gave me the incentive to get active again and work back into the shape I was in 20 years ago. He’s making sure I don’t get injured, but it’s still very challenging. I should have started sooner, but I’m catching up now.
— Mike, United Kingdom
Movement
Muscles need to work together. Don’t be a specialist. Build a strong foundation for the future, and spend as much time on coordination and movement as you do building muscle or training for your sport.
David knows all about hormone replacement therapy, which most women start too late. He encourages you to build muscle safely. David is a great resource!
— Kathleen, Arizona
Bone and hormones
I broke both hips in my early 50s. My bones are far stronger now than they were 20 years ago, and I work with every client on building bone. I go through the numbers and the program in full on the Bones page. Hormone replacement therapy changes what’s possible in your 50s and beyond, for women and for men, once you find the right doctor and the right combination. I cover the benefits and the tradeoffs on the Hormones page.
Plyometrics
Plyometrics is explosive jumping and hopping. It keeps your motor units firing and maintains the small muscles that otherwise fall into disuse. I try to get some plyometrics into every workout, always chasing a new personal record. It’s all incremental improvement and small steps. Set up challenges for yourself and beat your previous time or your previous best. Jump higher. Hop farther. Explode faster. Keep your fast-twitch muscles firing so you don’t lose them.
Zone 2, 3, and cardio
I have every client doing cardio three times a week in zone 2, a 45-to-90-minute run, bike, row, hike, or swim, plus twice a week in zone 3: hard work for four to five minutes until there’s nothing left in the tank. That raises your VO2 max, and you don’t even need to measure it, just do it. I go deeper on how to structure that session in this post.
Rucking
Rucking is carrying weight on your back. It’s much better to walk two miles with a ten-pound vest than to walk four miles without one. Walking alone doesn’t build bone or muscle. You can use that same time more productively. I get every client into a weight vest, then a ruck vest or pack once they’re ready, and I want everyone walking to the grocery store, buying groceries, and carrying them home on their own back. I show how in this post, and I cover grip strength, the other half of a good ruck, in this one.