Regardless of where you are currently with your health and fitness, you can get in shape at 50. Not only can you get in amazing shape at 50, you can drastically improve your strength, your health, your energy, and basically every other area of life. The damage is not done! So keep reading and find out the best way to get in shape at 50.
Do Weight Training
If you want to get in shape at 50, then you absolutely need to be doing weight training. As you age, you start losing muscle, so to combat that loss you need to be doing weight training even more so than in your younger days.
Another reason to be doing weight training at 50 is to improve bone density. As you age, you become more susceptible to bone density issues. Resistance training helps create stronger bones and helps improve your bone density.
A third reason to be doing weight training at 50 (or any age) is because weight training builds muscle, and muscle helps burn fat. As you age, you have less muscle to help you fight fat gains, so the more muscle you have the better you are able to burn that fat.
Do Cardio
If you want to get in shape at 50, then you need to be doing cardiovascular exercise in addition to Weight Training. In addition to burning calories and fat and helping you look better, cardiovascular exercise will also help your heart health, your lung health, your circulation, and many other health benefits.
Cardiovascular exercise also will help your endurance. You will be able to handle your strength training workouts better and get better results from them. You will also be able to handle daily living better and get more out of work, hobbies, etc.
For cardio, remember, it’s all relative to where you are in your journey. If you do nothing currently and you have a low level of health and fitness, then walking will suffice until you get into better shape. If you are physically able to work harder than walking, then you need to do something more than just walking, like jogging, running, elliptical, exercise bike, stair stepper, etc.
Find more specifics on cardio options in my article 9 Easy But Effective Workout Tips for Beginners.
Choose the Right Workout Program
Chances are, if you are near 50 years of age, then you probably aren’t trying to be a body builder and you are just wanting to get in great shape and look and feel good. With that in mind, you need to choose a workout program that is safe, efficient, and effective.
At 50, life is busy, so the days of spending 2 hours in the gym are probably over. Look for workouts that are 45 minutes or less and cover pretty much every body part. This way time is not wasted and you won’t miss working any specific areas of your body. My workouts at Hoover Fitness and via my Virtual Personal Trainer are all 45 minutes or less and cover every body part. We also superset exercises and do combination exercises which make them very efficient.
The other concern for working out at 50 is to have a workout program that is safe. The last thing you need in life at 50 is to be injured. But, you can get in great workouts that produce great results and great strength gains without getting injured. In our programs at Hoover Fitness and via my Virtual Personal Trainer, no one ever gets injured. The reason is because the moves are designed for the individual and can be adjusted to their limitations and also because we use dumbbells instead of bars and racks. The benefit of dumbbells is that they conform to your body’s movements, whereas a bar requires more that you conform to it.
There are lots of great programs out there. I recommend finding something to follow that uses dumbbells, is not competition based, and that works multiple body parts per workout.
Choose the Right Diet Plan
To get in shape you need to eat right. But you also need to choose a diet plan that is realistic and that will set you up for success, not failure. At 50, you have a lot going on in life and the last thing you want to do is go on some strict diet that makes your life even more complicated. And not to mention the last thing you want to have to do at 50 is give up foods you love!
With the diet, start simple and with small changes. People fail on their diets because they change too much too fast and deprive themselves of everything and then they quit. And when they quit, they quit everything, including their exercise.
Find ways to cut calories without being miserable. One way to do this is to take something that you normally eat and replace it with something that you like that has less calories. Then it becomes relative to what you normally eat, not relative to what the actual food item is.
Skip a meal. Yes, skip a meal. This is by far the easiest way to cut calories. The bottom line is your calories in vs. calories out. You have already increased the calories out by your exercise, so find ways to reduce the calories in. The bigger the deficit is each day, the faster you get results. You don’t have to eat 5 times per day, and you don’t have to eat breakfast. Never eat because you think you have to.
Avoid snacking. Grab a cup of coffee or a piece of gum. Cut out those snacks and you have cut out those calories.
So, make simple changes and cut calories. At 50, make it your goal to eat good, not great. Enjoy life, but still get results.
If you really want to live your best life at 50 and enjoy life in the process, read my latest eBook, Calorie Budgeting 101. It is a quick read and the ultimate diet guide for the person who wants results and still wants to eat the foods they love and enjoy life.
Take the Right Supplements
There are a lot of supplements that can help you get in shape at 50. Supplements will help you get more out of your workouts and diet. Supplements also are an easy way to boost your results and health without having to work harder. At 50, it is important that you take the right supplements for this stage of life and for your personal health and fitness goals. Don’t just grab something on display at Walmart or something that the kid at the nutrition store says that he takes.
There are a lot of quality supplements out there that can help you get results in the gym and with your diet. While there are a lot of great supplements on the market today, I am going to talk about the supplements that I take and recommend professionally to my clients that are near the age of 50. As always, do your own research. But if you want my professional opinion, then I would advise these.
As for workout performance supplements, I personally take and professionally recommend Prestige Labs products. One specific supplement that I personally take and recommend for 50 year olds is Prestige Recovery, which helps recovery from workouts and ultimately aids in muscle improvements. At 50, if you have let yourself go and gotten out of shape, then your energy is probably low and you will struggle with your workouts. To combat that struggle, I recommend Prestige Energy. If you are looking for something to help you lose weight and burn body fat without having to do anything other than take a product, then take a look at the Prestige Heat and the Prestige Crush. These are two of the most popular products we sell in our weight loss workout programs. Check out all of their amazing products by clicking HERE.
As for health-type supplements, I recommend Juice Plus+ fruits and vegetable capsules. I have personally been taking Juice Plus+ for almost 20 years and it is a great way to get real, whole food nutrition without having to eat a ton of calories. The recommended amount of fruits and vegetables is 7-13 servings of raw fruits and vegetables per day. If you eat this amount, then you will reap amazing health benefits, including heart health, feeling better, better immune system, and much more. The problem is that it is impossible to physically eat that amount. Plus the cost and the calories would be way too high. Juice Plus+ gets you this amount of fruits and vegetables daily, in a capsule! learn more at by clicking HERE.
Have the Right Mindset
The problem that I have seen the most in my 25 years of working in health and fitness is that as people age and get out of shape, they develop a mindset that the damage is done and it’s too late to get in shape. Or if they try to get in shape, they think that it has to be an all or nothing perfect diet and exercise plan.
The key is to have the right mindset. Know that it’s never too late to do the right thing. Also, understand that your results are relative to your current status. All you have to do is make progressive improvements and work harder than you currently are working.
At this point in life, you have a lot going on, and you are going to eat bad and miss workouts. The key is to get back on track after you do. Eating bad and missing a workout shouldn’t mean that you quit everything. It should be a part of your plan. Work hard and eat better on a consistent basis, and cheat and take days off when needed. Just avoid quitting all-together whenever you fall off.
Make your health and fitness a priority. Make health and fitness a nonnegotiable part of your life, like work, and set long-term, but realistic expectations.
If you really want to dive into the mindset aspect of all this and see how you can easily win the battle in your mind that has been holding you back with your health and fitness all these years, read my eBook.
Final thoughts
You can be in the best shape of your life at 50. It’s nowhere near too late to get in shape. Working out and taking care of yourself is the fountain of youth. It is the closest thing to reversing the aging process. Workout with weights, do cardio, budget your calories, and do everything you need to do to get in great shape and your quality of life improves drastically. You will feel better, sleep better, have more energy, go to the doctor less, and just be able to do more in life. The results are endless.
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