Stay athletic to stay young…

Stay athletic to stay young

My goal for you is the same as it is for myself. 

It’s to move and feel your best as long as humanly possible. With or without kids it’s easy to let your fitness slip, but I’ve got too much riding on my shoulders (literally). 

The physical freedom that comes from being strong, lean, conditioned and overall capable is the gift that keeps on giving. This means we’re going to have to add some level of athletic training into your workouts. 

Training like an athlete doesn’t mean throwing weights around like a gorilla or practicing your mid court dunk. What it does mean is keeping a little spring to your step, some strength to back it and the ability to avoid injuries like the plague. It means adding in play into your sessions in some capacity. It means pushing the intensity so that you can actually see improvements in your performance and physique. 

As we get older we stop playing games to win and rarely replace it with something else. We lose that drive, that ambition, and the feeling of pushing ourselves. If there’s ANY sport that calls to you I’d urge you to get involved. I don’t care what it is. Martial arts, basketball, pickleball, it literally doesn’t matter. 

The next best thing is to treat your training as if you’re getting ready for a sport whether you step on a field or not. 

Here are the components of a good program that will benefit athletes and pretend athletes alike…

1. Mindset 

2. Mobility and Priming the System 

3. Power/Speed

4. Strength

5. Agility/Coordination 

6. Endurance 

7. Recovery and self care 

These components will deliver a few things. It will prepare you for most sports activities and give you a TON of physical freedom to play, run, jump and have some fun. If your workouts are very one dimensional this will breathe some life into them. 

I’ll keep it broad to give you some ideas on how you can add things in and at the end I’ll give you a full workout to try. Mindset encompasses all of this, but the rest will go in order.

Mindset: everything starts and ends with a strong mind. Don’t allow negative thoughts of being tool old, too tired, too uncoordinated or the like to creep in. Age is just a number. Some of the youngest people I’ve met were decades older than me. You get old the second you give into the aging process. It doesn’t mean ignoring your body’s limitations, but it does mean to keep a youthful mindset as long as possible. To those younger than me you might shrug this off and to those older than me you might say “wait until you get to MY age.” Either way this isn’t my advice. It’s the advice of my 80+ year old clients.  

1. Mobility/Warming Up: Don’t take too long to get started, but do what’s necessary to prime your tissue. I’ve been a fan of joint mobility drills for a very long time and if you’ve done any of my programs you’d know that. Here’s an example of what I like (insert YouTube video). This is a great way to light up the nervous system and lubricate your joints without taking away from the intensity of your workout. 

1. Power/Speed: Heavy kettlebell swings/cleans/snatch/jerks are all solid choices if your form is good. Jumping, bounding, and other versions of plyometrics are good starting points, but make sure you ease into them. The Olympic lifts with barbells can have their uses, but in my opinion the juice isn’t worth the squeeze unless you have a great coach and program to run off of. Through the years I’d dabble occasionally and even joined an OLY school for a couple months to get the technique down. Dumbbells are probably the most accessible for things like snatches and jerks, but this is where I’ll throw in some heavy, explosive kettlebell work. 

1. Strength: Any movement that you can progressively load in the 6-10 rep range is a good movement. Rows, presses, squats, deadlift variations, etc. The key here is to use movements that are scalable. You can easily progress a row or a squat whereas as a medicine ball throw will be a little more difficult. No matter what program you’re on TRACK your numbers. Make sure you’re progressing each week. If you’re on Kettlebell Elements go for more presses with a heavier weight. If you’re on The Kettlebell difference increase the intensity of the ring pushups. This is the bread and butter of your program that will help you increase strength, muscle, tendon density, and overall joint function. Don’t just go through the motions. 

1. Agility/Coordination: This is where I’d use kettlebell flow if I’m keeping the workout kettlebell-centric. Bodyweight drills like skater jumps, shuttle runs, cone work to practice back pedaling and change of directions are fun as well as different bodyweight flow drills to connect the dots.  Make it fun, make it challenging and stay within your limits. 

1. Endurance: Higher rep kettlebell circuits are great for this as well as jumping rope. I like to use short density rounds (setting a timer for under 10 minutes and doing multiple exercises for a prescribe number of reps as many times as possible) as well. The goal here is to get your heart rate up and keep it there without crazy spikes. There was a time where I used to use a slow paced mile run as a finisher to the workout, but if my lifting was too intense I’d forego it. 

1. Cool down/recover: Breath work and some focused stretching will help you stay mobile and flexible while getting your heart rate down. It will also bring you back into a “rest and digest” place with your nervous system. 

Here’s a sample workout I gave a client who was into basketball that I’d easily scale for an older/non-athletic client.

Warmup - 5 minutes of joint mobility

Block 1: 

1A Kettlebell Dead stop Swing - 3x6

1B Double Kettlebell Push Press - 3x

• Rest 60 seconds between movements 

Block 2: 

1. Goblet Squat (kb or dumbbell or front barbell squat) - 2x6-10

2. One Arm Row (kb or db) - 2x6-10

3. Single KB Floor Press (or db or bb bench) - 2x6-10

• Perform the exercises as straight sets. Don’t do this as a circuit. Rest 2-3 minutes between sets. If that feels too long you’ve got to go heavier and up the intensity

Block 3: 

Kettlebell Flow - Set a timer for 60 seconds and do the following:

1. Deadstart Rotational Clean + Reverse Lunge  + Press + Windmill - switch

-Do this for 2-3 rounds with a light weight. The goal is to flow from movement to movement as seamlessly as you can. Rest as much as you need. 

Block 4: 

Jump Rope - 5 rounds of 1 minute on 30 seconds off. 

Cooldown - keep it simple and focus on the areas you worked. 

There ya go! Give that one try and enjoy. For my follow along programs I try to blend all of this in a way that’s fun, accessible, and faster paced.