It was my birthday a couple of days ago,
and with “life experience” some things become painfully obvious…or just
painful! I guess that if you are even remotely a regular reader of my blog, we
agree that physical conditioning is a very important part of one’s training
process. Well, as so many other things, that part gets to be increasingly
harder to achieve and maintain after certain age. In order to make it, there
are some guidelines that may come in handy, as they have proven to be quite
effective in my case. With that in mind, do not take these suggestions as any
kind of recipe or program, but rather a framework to work with.
First, the main challenge that “advanced
experience” presents in view of conditioning (besides the hectic life stuff,
with job and family) is the need for more recovery. In simple terms, you just
cannot train as much and as often when 40+ as you could in your teens of
twenties. Therefore, you need to be picky about what you do and when.
Essentially, I strive to have two days off between workout days, which means
that I will do dedicated conditioning session two or sometimes three days in a
week (if it fits Monday, Thursday and Sunday). Personally, I then focus on
strength at those workouts, while using my martial art training sessions for
conditioning purposes, i.e. harder drilling to that end.
Basically, this kind of approach is
detailed in a very good book “Ageless Athlete”, by Jim Madden. He does include
roadwork, i.e. specific conditioning sessions, but in my experience it can be replaced
by more skill/drill training slots. Also, I normally conduct strength training
in the form of so-called “lazy circuits”, and that that supports the
conditioning aspect as well, if done adequately.
Still, there will be stretches of time
when the above approach is not viable, so what do you do then? In these
circumstances the method known as greasing the groove, made popular by Pavel
Tsatsouline’s “Naked Warrior”. Basically, picking two or three essential
exercises to be done in single sets dispersed a few times during the day (one
arm pushup and one leg squats in my case), enables you to do it even at work or
at home…or wherever; so, with good exercise choice and a little commitment it
is possible to achieve solid results this way. In addition, I subscribe to the
idea of using stairs instead of elevator, walking or running instead of driving
whenever possible, doing some vigorous, playful movement daily etc, because
cumulative effects can be surprisingly pleasant.
Finally, it bears mentioning that I do
some sort of mobility training every morning, before commencing other
obligations that await me. Similarly, before going to bed in the evening, I do a
short sequence of static stretching, in order to relieve my mind and body of
stress and tightness that might be left from the day, thus maximizing the
chances for successful recovery, and subsequently optimizing the further
training process.
In conclusion, ageing brings poses new
challenges and obstacles, and the chief hindrance in tackling them could be the
memory of our younger selves and trying to do things the same way as 10 or 15
year ago. Embracing the new circumstances will allow you to learn more about
yourself and your training, and possibly make you even better in what you do
owing to this new perspective.
