Without a doubt, staying fit at any age is critical to your physical and mental health. But it’s especially important as you get older and daily activities become more challenging to perform.
After you turn 50, fitness should be less about training to look a certain way and more about exercising to prevent cardiovascular disease, improve balance, and maintain muscle mass. Your health and well-being are what’s most important.
Workouts for 50-year-olds should prioritize cardio, resistance training, balance exercises, and stretching.
Getting Ready
Before you jump on the fitness wagon, it’s a good idea to get checked out by your physician. In fact, you should obtain medical clearance from all of your healthcare providers before starting any exercise program, says Paul J. Arciero, a doctor in the physiology of exercise and director of the Human Nutrition and Metabolism Laboratory at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York.
Dr. Arciero recommends addressing preexisting or chronic conditions before you begin a new workout routine. That will allow you to modify the exercises to meet your particular needs.
“In just about every case, the proper fitness routine will greatly enhance and improve most of these conditions, or at least overcompensate for these conditions in a good way and result in drastic improvement in overall health and physical performance,” he says.
Arciero adds that maintaining a fitness routine will enhance your heart health and reduce your risk for diabetes, and it could even increase your testosterone levels, all without the need for injections, pills, or patches.
Guidelines for Working Out After 50
Whether you’re just starting a workout routine or you’ve been on a fitness journey for years, knowing the most useful exercises can help keep you on track and allow you to meet your health goals faster. While performing any physical activity will make you stronger, there are specific workouts that should be included in a fitness program for men over 50.
“Without question, the best workouts for men over 50 include a well-rounded fitness program of resistance and interval training combined with a healthy dose of recovery, including stretching and a single bout of endurance training every week,” says Arciero.
Doing cardiovascular exercise will help prevent heart disease, which is why you’ll find it in any roundup of the best exercises for men in their fifties and beyond.
Adults should perform at least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise per week or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic exercise per week (or a combination of both) to accrue substantial health benefits, according to guidelines from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Try to include resistance training twice a week, and add some form of balance training, too.
Maximizing Your Time
Knowing what to include in your fitness routine is just part of the equation. You also need to know which exercises optimize muscle gains and health. Arciero says that men over 50 should focus on resistance moves: deadlifts, squats, lunges, and functional multijoint movements that include power cleans, squat-jump thrusts, and chest press exercises.
Arciero also says that high-intensity interval sprints can help boost your fitness level as you age. Experienced exercisers may try the following sequence on a treadmill or outdoors:
- 30 seconds all-out sprint with a two-minute recovery
- 60 seconds all-out sprint with a three- to four-minute recovery
Doing a full-body workout two to three times a week is another effective way to slow the aging process and maintain muscle mass. When building a routine, include exercises for all of your major muscle groups, including your legs, glutes, chest, back, shoulders, arms, and core. Perform one or two exercises per muscle group for one to three sets with 8 to 12 repetitions. Change up the exercises each time you work out.
A typical routine might include:
- Squats
- Lunges
- Dumbbell chest presses
- Push-ups
- Lat pull-downs
- Rows
- Shoulder presses
- Rear shoulder fly exercises
- Barbell bicep curls
- Tricep cable push-downs
Finding Time to Stretch
To fight the lower back pain and injuries that often come with age, Arciero urges men over 50 to stretch. It not only aids in muscle recovery but also improves your overall health and performance. Consider adding the following stretches and yoga poses to your workouts:
- Forward bend
- Low lunge/deep crescent
- Child’s pose
- Upward-facing dog
- Pigeon pose
- One-leg balance
Protect Your Core
Your core is home to some of the most important muscles in your body, including those in your abdomen, hips, and lower back. You need them to accomplish daily activities and perform functions such as twisting, reaching, bending, and balancing. Exercises that strengthen this area are essential, says Arciero, as they can further reduce injury risk and enhance your range of motion. Consider adding the following moves to your fitness routine:
- Dynamic plank with front and side movements on elbows or an exercise ball
- Airplane
- Alternate arm/leg lifts lying supine, on hands and knees, or on an exercise ball
- Reverse snow angels
Keep It Interesting
Staying healthy as you age is not just about choosing relevant exercises — it’s also about keeping things challenging and adding variety to your workouts. If you’ve been performing the same cardio session or lifting the same weights for the last three months, it might be time to switch things up. When you maintain the status quo for too long, you may start to plateau in your routine.
Working Out After Age 60
The benefits of doing cardiovascular exercises, balance exercises, and weight training continue to increase as you get older. Physical activity helps men over 60 keep their brains and bodies healthy and operating at peak levels — and the exercises don’t have to be too intense, either.
While getting clearance from your physician is vital at any age, it’s especially important for men over 60 to consult their healthcare provider about a new exercise program. Identifying any medical conditions before you start will help you design future workouts.
Fueling Your Fitness
You need to properly feed your body to get through any strength training or cardiovascular workout. Focus on eating complex carbohydrates, getting quality protein, and making sure that you have enough vegetables at each meal. Speak to a registered dietitian nutritionist to learn how to personalize an eating plan that meets your health goals.
The Takeaway
- For men over 50, a workout routine featuring a balanced mix of cardio, resistance training, balance exercises, and stretching is key to supporting heart health, maintaining muscle mass, and improving balance.
- It is crucial to consult with a healthcare professional before beginning a new exercise program — especially if you have existing medical conditions — so that the exercises can be tailored to meet your individual needs.
- High-intensity interval training and resistance moves such as squats, lunges, and deadlifts can be particularly effective in maintaining and even enhancing physical performance as you age.
- Incorporating flexibility and core-strengthening exercises not only aids in recovery and physical performance but also reduces injury risk by enhancing your range of motion and supporting daily functional movements.
