Is your goal to get strong? Is your goal to get healthy? (I would argue that strong and healthy are synonymous—more on that later.) Is your goal to look better? (As Dan John suggested in a T-Nation article1, you “just want to look strong”…”to look good naked”.)
If the goal is to simply look better, you are missing the point and, probably not having much success. You are probably dieting (restricting caloric intake) too much and exercising wrong. As for “looking good naked”? Good luck with that, if you are like the most of us. (And if you look good naked, you probably look pretty average in clothes since the emphasis has likely been on pursuing the ever-elusive “six-pack”.) Personally, (for men, at least) I think, if the goal is to “look strong”, train the neck. The neck is exposed and, no matter, what is under the clothes, a skinny neck looks weak. Strong, however, looks strong no matter what the body composition.
Strong is healthy. While cardiorespiratory endurance (AKA “cardio”) is important, it is rather easy to gain/maintain and, thus, only moderately affects one’s health. Of course, it boosts one immune system and heart health, but try maintaining your aerobic exercise (e.g., running) with ever-decreasing muscular strength. Strong supports the continuation of the activities of daily living (e.g., work and recreation) much more effectively than cardio. Too much time spent doing aerobic exercise relative to strength training exercise may actually contribute to declining health (albeit at a rate much slower than being sedentary) because muscle weakness leads to declining activity (intensity and duration) and to a vicious cycle of increasing frailty.
An early amassing of skeletal muscle (and corresponding bone mineral density) allows for reserve tissue should age-related loss be inevitable. Additionally, maintenance of muscle mass permits the maintenance of physical activity—and thus active living.
I am not suggesting that everyone take up bodybuilding or powerlifting. I am merely suggesting that we prioritize the right goals. I am suggesting that we give at least some greater emphasis of strength training—no matter our age or abilities.
Hypertrophy training necessitates strength training. To get bigger, one has to get stronger. Hypertrophy training requires volume, and strength adds weight to the volume equation (weight x repetitions x sets = volume). So, even if you “just want to look good naked”, you will want to get stronger.
Stronger actually requires less time commitment than hypertrophy (the bodybuilding kind of hypertrophy—high volume sarcoplasmic hypertrophy training). A simple 3-day-per-week 5×5 program involving the ‘basic 5’ (squat, deadlift, bench, row, and overhead press) can be accomplished in sessions that are shorter than 45 minutes. One need not spend hours at the gym. One need only focus on complex movements and progressive overload.
To old? No such thing. Proper technique suggests appropriate overload and proper movement. Progress from where you are with no regard for how you might compare to others. Remember….
Be your best today; be better tomorrow.
Carpe momento!
1https://biotest.t-nation.com/articles/the-40-day-program?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=article&fbclid=IwAR2RCGucIvd4-H0bMURdckY-_mvds-PfkRnObaZpNk_lVZDcH0iHqY8v2x0