How does age affect the way we should train?
First off, I think it's important to note that "age" is not a thing to be treated.
Just because you have more calendar years under your belt doesn't necessitate some sort of special delicate handling.
But what most people are concerned about when they ask questions concerning age is poor recovery.
"Can I really do X? I'm 42 years old."
What they're really asking (usually) is, "Will I be able to do X since I'm 42 and don't recover like a 20 year old."
First of all, 42 (or whatever number you put down when you come to me) isn't a problem and it's probably not even really all that old.
For the record, We have guys even into their mid-to-late 60's training with high frequencies.
It all depends on what you can tolerate. Some people in their 50's or 60's have a great ability to tolerate work while I have others in their 20's and 30's who can't. So this is a very highly individual concern.
The point is this, age and it's related problems get thought about in the wrong way among lots of us in fitness.
Here's the thing- it's very simple (but not easy). As a concept, you have to do work you can recover from so you can make progress in the short term.
Then in the long term, you have to increase your ability to tolerate work (in general).
So no matter where you are currently, if you're 22 years old or 68 years old, you have to be able to tolerate the workload. Then as time goes on, you need to develop your ability to tolerate more work.
Where this gets difficult for older lifters is that the development of that work capacity is not as easy to come by. And being able to recover in the short term can be more difficult as well.
So it's similar to dealing with recovery issues in any human being. The stress of the program has to be adjusted to fit the needs of the client.
Take care of the short term recovery first; without it you never make it to long term. Then over time, improve your ability to tolerate work.
Patrick Ciera
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