Tips For Strength Training over 40: Part 1
- Make time for mobility
The days are over where you can just show up and hop right into a workout. Why do you need mobility?
Reason #1: Safety. If you cannot move well through proper ranges of motion, the odds of injury during exercise drastically goes up.
Reason #2: Chronic Pain. If your joints don’t move the way they are supposed to, you’ll likely be in some amount of chronic pain. This pain usually ends up in the knees, lower back, shoulders, or some combination of the three.
Reason #3: Results. The better quality of movement you have, the better your results can ultimately be. By working through a greater range of motion, you’ll spend more time under tension, which is where the magic happens when we are working to build muscle.
Your mobility warm up doesn’t have to be anything too extensive. Your best bet is to pick a few areas where you need the most help in terms of mobility, and make sure you do those before you get started with your strength training. Even one or two mobility exercises is better than nothing.
When you get more experienced, you can base your mobility warm-up off of the exercises you’ll be doing that day for your workout. For example, if you’re squatting that day, doing some quick ankle mobility would be helpful in your warm up that day, because ankle mobility is helpful for a better squat.
Please see the video below for a sample mobility warm up. I hope this helps!
Steve Hlavac, CSCS
