The types of movement skills we focus on at GMB might look a bit intimidating to people over a certain age. In fact, we get comments and questions about getting started with this kind of movement for the “over 40s” folks pretty often.
And you know what we tell them? This type of movement is great, no matter what your age.
You may or may not know that Ryan is actually 41, and while he was a gymnast as a kid, he took a long break, and didn’t come back to this way of moving until about four years ago. And many of our Alpha Posse members are a lot older than that when they get started.
Here’s a snippet of what Andy had to say on staying (or getting) fit as you get older:
Take care of yourself. Learn proper maintenance and recovery now. It’s going to accelerate your progress and keep you from regret.
This episode is not just about staying fit as you get older, however. Ryan and Andy discuss staying fit at any age, even for the whipper snappers in the audience.
They also talk about reasonable goals for hold times of certain exercises, such as the hollow body hold, the L-sit, and others.
- (04:28) How you can continue – or even start – this stuff if you’re 40 and beyond.
- (13:36) Shoot for small benchmarks at first.
- (16:55) We’re about building greater body control and strength, and that’s necessary at any age.
- (19:20) Don’t compare yourself to younger folks (or to anyone for that matter).
- (20:09) As we get older, we bring physical baggage.
- (25:57) If you’re a bit older and need some inspiration, take a look at some of the stuff Ross Enamit posts on his site, RossTraining.com.
- (28:09) As you get older, be more selective with what you spend your time doing.
- (31:02) You can’t pick your favorite if you haven’t tried anything out.
Andy: All right, all right, all right. Breaker one-niner on the interweb. Get your ears on for the GMB Fitness Skills Show. For the next 30 minutes plus or minus, we’re going to be talking about how to get stronger, how to get more agile, how to gain control over your body, so you can use it to do the things you actually care about doing.
My name is Andy Fossett and here with me is Ryan Hurst, our head coach and all-around good guy. How are you doing Ryan?
Ryan: I’m very well today. Thank you. Very well, sir. That’s my formal way to say, “What’s up?”
Andy: Not a lot, not a lot. I like the formal version. Next time we should do this in tuxes.
Ryan: I think we should. That would be wonderful. Speaking not of tuxes but of suits, actually I just had to purchase a new suit for all of the events happening here in Japan. I haven’t bought a suit in a few years and it was pretty interesting, but yeah, just one of those things. It’s kind of cool actually because I always show up to work in my sweat suit, my trainer, my track suit depending on where you are in the world.
Andy: Yeah.
Ryan: But not a suit. Every once in a while feels pretty good, so …
Andy: Yeah. Actually, like I think since people wear suits a lot in Japan, I think – yeah, the professional culture is a lot more formal than it is anywhere else that I’ve ever noticed. But suits are actually relatively easy to come by and it’s actually – I bought a couple of suits there and it was nice actually.
Ryan: Yeah. The ones – it’s funny because I actually got two right now because of course we’re coming up to April. So it’s the big change. Of course in Japan, a little bit different than overseas. So everything starts from April in Japan so people, they start the new school year, new work and everything. So that is huge suit sale and it was buy one, get one free. I was like, “All right. I’m there.” So I got a pink one and an orange one. I’m good to go.
Andy: Awesome, awesome, good.
Ryan: That’s how you do it.
Andy: So we can look forward to the next GMB tutorial in a pink suit.
Ryan: Yeah. Whoo! That would be awesome, wouldn’t it? Yeah. I don’t think it’s going to happen. What are we talking about today?
Andy: Yeah, all right.
Ryan: What’s going on today?
Andy: So today we’re going to be talking about – we’re going to be talking about how to adjust your training as you get older. The last couple of episodes, we talked a little bit about adjusting your training to your body type, adjusting your training if you need to work on your body composition, adjusting your training for when you’re coming back from an injury or something.
So this is kind of the next extension of that how to adjust things as you get older. Since you are old, it seemed like it was a really good opportunity to take advantage of your expertise in that area.
Ryan: Because I’m so old. That’s right. For those of you …
Andy: So yeah, I mean some people don’t know that you’re 41.
Ryan: Yeah, I’m 41 and which – I mean it’s not that old but looking at …
Andy: No, it’s not old at all. But I think a lot of people see …
Ryan: Yeah, and a lot of people might think I’m younger. As a matter of fact, it was funny because talking with one of our good friends Al and he didn’t know that I was in my 40s. He figured I was in my 30s, early 30s or something, which makes me feel good.
But the thing is, is there’s not a lot of people doing what we’re doing at this age. So if you look around, like some of the other guys and I hope I don’t get in trouble for saying this. But like Mike Fitch, Al, those guys, early 30s. I believe even Ido Portal, I believe he’s in his early 30s.
But I’m 41 and still doing this stuff and I plan on being able to do it for a while now. That’s kind of what we’re going to be talking about today is how you can continue doing this or even how you can start doing this kind of stuff even if you’re 40 and beyond.
Andy: Yeah, absolutely. I am only 23. So I don’t have nearly your level of experience with this thing.
Ryan: Yes, that’s correct. That’s correct. That’s correct. You sound like my wife. Yeah.
Andy: So we will get to that in a second but first, let’s answer some questions.
[Music]Andy: How about this? We get asked variations on this for a lot of different exercises. So let’s kind of like just list a few. We do a lot of things that are holds. There are certain types of exercises that you do for reps, certain that you do for duration and there’s other ways that you might count exercises too.
Obviously we always suggest that you focus on quality over quantity, be that rep, sets, or duration or whatever. But assuming good quality, people ask, “Well, what’s a good time to hold the hollow body or what’s a good time to hold the L-sit?”
When it comes down to those, I think people want to know how many seconds do they have to do it before they can pat themselves on the back.
Ryan: Sure, sure. There’s a couple of ways I can answer this and I can flat out just say the way that we have it written in the manuals, the hollow body hold you want to work up to being able to hold each level. Like if you start with your legs bent and then work on straightening them and then get into the full hold for a minute. That’s what you’re aiming for.
But let me tell you why we do that. The reason why is because most people don’t actually spend enough time working on the basics to get themselves strong enough to do the other stuff that comes later.
So that’s why we give out a number, aiming for that one-minute mark. Handstand is a good example of that, looking at holding a freestanding handstand for one minute before you move on to something else.
But I got to tell you, really that’s just a number. It’s just a number. If you have put in plenty of time and you’re very – and I like to use the term “very comfortable” with the term and comfort to me is for example I can lie down on the ground in a hollow body hold and watch TV and be OK.
Yeah. I mean I’ve spent so many years doing it. I don’t want to say it’s natural because it’s not like just yeah, I’m walking kind of thing, but extremely comfortable with it.
So really it all comes down to, “Are you able to perform that particular hold for the proper amount of time that allows you to start working on the next whatever you’re working on?”
So like say you look at the L-sit and you want to do the L-sit on rings. The reason that you want to do the L-sit is because you want to start going to the L-sit to a bent arm stand. Well, you’re not going to have to hold the L-sit for a minute.
I mean really it’s like just a second or two seconds before you transition into the bent arm stand. But we want to make sure that you have the proper core strength in the hollow body hold or the L-sit that will allow you to freely move in and start working on that more advanced movement. That’s what it is.
So yes, I don’t necessarily think you need to be able to hold the L-sit for a minute. That’s pretty, pretty long.
Andy: To do a good L-sit for a minute …
Ryan: That’s crazy long. I’m going to flat out say I don’t think I can do that. Honestly, I know I couldn’t do a one-minute proper L-sit right now. But I can pop up right now on the rings, hold an L-sit for a good 20 seconds, no problem. That’s just the fact that I’ve spent so much time before working on that.
[Music]Ryan: This is another thing too that is good to bring up. You work on being able to hold something for a minute whether it be the hollow body hold or the handstand.
Now once you get that and you start working on the other things, you probably won’t be working on those one-minute holds as much maybe as you did previously. So that’s why I said that I don’t think I can do it now.
So this wave, this – looking at OK, I put that aside on the maintenance, on the back burner for now so I can focus on something else is a good way to look at things. So just because …
Andy: So there’s no – yeah, there’s no rule that a one-minute hollow body hold is a prerequisite for doing handstand training and that you should always – here’s a one-minute hold and you will always be above this level.
If you go on and practice mostly actual handstands and you’re not working the hollow body much anymore because you are sure that your core strength and core control is adequate, you might actually not be able to hold it as long because you’re not doing the exercise anymore. That’s fine unless it becomes a problem with being able to control your handstand and you need to go back and train it.
Ryan: Exactly. That’s right.
Andy: Yeah. Another thing I think to point out is that when we say you work up to like a minute for the hollow body, right? Obviously one minute is not magical and like you said, it’s not that you need a full minute but it’s a good thing to shoot for.
Actually with training, it’s not that hard to get up to a one-minute hold in the hollow body for example. Now for L-sit, getting up to a minute, that would be pretty impressive.
Ryan: Yeah, that’s pretty crazy. Yeah.
Andy: Yeah. Also the thing to keep in mind when we say a minute or 30 seconds or whatever, we’re not talking about the last 15 seconds you’re shaking and dying and your form is going crazy. We mean getting in a position, locking it out, sitting there and holding it. Then when the time is up, that’s about the time that you start like losing it, right?
Ryan: Right.
Andy: Being able to, as you say, comfortably maintain that position. That’s what we’re after, not forcing yourself to make it regardless.
Ryan: Yeah, that’s exactly right. Yeah, it’s a good point. You’re breathing, huffing and puffing. We don’t want that. I mean really as if we’re having a conversation right now. That’s what you want to be.
[Music]Andy: So then what are some benchmarks? So hollow body, we like to say a minute because it’s just a good round number that is attainable. L-sits, obviously a minute is not going to be attainable for most people. What’s a good goal for L-sit?
Ryan: You know what? I mean a solid, legs locked, arms locked out, 20 seconds and other places. I might have said 30 or something like that but realistically, a long 20 seconds. This is another thing too.
Most people count one, two, three, four, five. I had somebody send me a video yesterday. He’s like, “I got a solid five-second X.” I’m not going to tell you what he was doing and I looked at it and I counted to two.
I was like, that isn’t five seconds. So when you’re doing it, it’s tough because you’re like oh, yeah, that felt like 10 seconds. You look at the video and you’re like that was like four.
Same with me, same with me. So I just get in the habit of doing one 1-1000, 2-2000, 3-3000. So that’s how I count it. So I mean 20 seconds counting that way is a long time. So …
Andy: Yes, it is.
Ryan: For the L-sit, I think that would be a pretty good thing to shoot at. Other things like if you’re working on the Planche. A five-second solid hold, that’s pretty long. On some of the lower levels looking at just like a tuck hold, the – if you start off with – some people call it the frog or call it the crow, also the crane, things like that. You know, working up to 20 seconds is pretty impressive.
I know some other places say you got to hold it for a minute. I understand the reasoning for that, working on showing strength. Baby is crying. One of the guys just came in with their kid because it’s a holiday over here. Anyway, sorry about that.
Other people mention the one-minute mark for the Planche. I totally understand that and that is – one of the reasons is because you’re working slowly on the joint strength and tendon strength and the joint stability. So that makes sense.
But as you get going, I don’t think the people should just shoot right away for a one-minute mark in the Planche because they’re going to get overzealous and actually I think over-train it and end up enduring themselves.
So shoot for little benchmarks first and then take those times and put them together later. Handstand, one minute. That’s just kind of one of those things with the handstand because there’s so much going on with the balance and everything that I sit against the wall facing in and out, everything like that. A minute is a good mark.
Other holds, the front scale, back scale, those kinds of things. I mean I don’t think you need to hold those for a minute. If you could, that would be great but it’s similar to the L-sit for me.
Get your leg at an angle where you can hold it for a good 20 seconds and work on gradually bringing it higher and I think that’s good. I hate to say this but good enough. That really is.
Andy: Yeah.
[Music]Andy: I also want to mention you said some other people might recommend different hold times and that’s totally OK too. It’s not that those people are wrong and it’s not that they’re right either. What it comes down to is that we have specific goals for our programming and our style of doing things, which is basically for general fitness, for people who are not competitive athletes and for people who really just want to learn how to have better control over their bodies.
It’s not for weight loss. It’s not for maximum hypertrophy or any of those things and it’s not to become like a circus performer either. Not that any of the physicals are wrong but other people might have different goals. So if another discipline or if another method is saying that you need a one-minute hold time, well for those goals, that may very well be exactly right. But it doesn’t also mean that for our goals, that that’s necessary either.
Ryan: Yeah.
Andy: Some people say, “Oh, you should never do rings until you’ve been training for a year because it’s dangerous.” Well, it’s dangerous to jump up and try to do iron cross training but it’s not dangerous to do pull-ups on rings. I’m sorry. You’re not going to injure yourself because you’re not ready for pull-ups.
Ryan: Yeah.
Andy: It depends on the goal.
Ryan: Right, exactly. There’s a reason why that person set up that time because they’re looking at the end goal, the goal. So figure out what you want to be. If you want to be a circus performer, you probably don’t want to train with us. I don’t really …
Andy: Even though we do have circus performers who do train with us.
Ryan: Oh, yeah. As a matter of fact, yes, yeah.
Andy: We actually have several circus performers who train with us.
Ryan: Just recently, yeah. But if you – likewise, if you want to be a gymnast, if you’re – and this – all right. I will just flat out say it. If you really – if you think you want to go to the Olympics to be a gymnast and you’re 22 years old, sorry buddy, it’s too late.
Andy: Yeah.
Ryan: Sorry.
Andy: But on the other side, even if you’re older, even if you’re 40 for instance, even if you’re 60, if you don’t want to be a gymnast, there’s no reason that you can’t start doing something. That was my clever segue into what we’re going to be talking about now.
[Music]Andy: I want to say going into this that a lot of what we do is some of it is better for younger people. Some of it is better for older people. But all of it is based on the idea of building greater body control, greater physical autonomy, being able to do the things you want to do.
Now, people at different ages have – we have to generalize when we say this. They have different things that they can and can’t do and different ways that their body responds to things. That’s going to be individual of course.
If you’re 60 and you’ve been taking great care of yourself versus being 30 and you’ve treated yourself pretty poorly, you might have a different situation.
But we have clients ranging from minors and children. You teach children all the time and also up into their 60s and 70s. Many of them are doing very similar things in their training and being able to make progress. So it’s not that you can’t do it.
Ryan: No, I want to say this too. I’ve been involved with fitness before we started GMB. I was involved with the different organizations. I wasn’t doing gymnastic type movements, the stuff that we’re doing here in GMB. I was a gymnast all the way up until high school but I took a break, a long break, and it was about four years ago actually when Jarlo sent me the rings that I started back into the stuff. So I’ve only really been doing this now for about four years, a little longer.
Andy: Yeah.
Ryan: So looking at it that way, I mean a lot of people think, “Well Ryan, he has been doing this since he’s five, and he hasn’t stopped.” No! Yeah …
Andy: You had like a 15-year – no, 19-year break, I think, when we actually figured it out.
Ryan: So that’s quite a while. That’s a big break. So obviously I was involved with fitness and it wasn’t like I was really overweight or something like that. But coming back into this, it has only been four years for me.
So what I’m saying is that if you are at a certain level of fitness, in other words, you’ve been moving your body, and your body hasn’t gone on the pot, then in a relatively short duration of time, you can get whatever you want to do.
[Music]Ryan: Now there are other things that we need to look at though depending on age and things like that, that – expectations. This is a big thing too is expectations. I don’t look at the younger guys nowadays. A good example is for example the barbarians and the guys from – the Ukrainian …
Andy: Calisthenics street workout.
Ryan: Calisthenics, thank you. Amazing! Those guys, I’m like wow, OK. But I don’t judge myself and go, “Man, I need to be doing that,” or “I wish I could do that.” No, I have a realistic expectation of what I want to do.
For me right now, I don’t have the ego. Even a couple of years ago, that ego, it’s gone and so I focus on the stuff that I want to do. It’s going to make me better for whatever I want to do.
So that’s huge and the reason I’m saying this is as we get older, we’re bringing in baggage. Physical baggage as we get older, there’s stuff that we’ve done in the past where we’ve basically done something to our body.
Andy: Yeah.
Ryan: I don’t know what it is but we have to understand that. So a good example is there’s a person on Alpha Posse recently who’s pretty frustrated with himself because he’s not getting the results that he wanted overnight.
Well, the guy is older than me. He has got a lot of injuries previously and it’s going to be a long journey. It’s just the way it’s going to be and the big thing as you get older, whenever you do something new, is you have to take stock of where you’re at and be realistic about that.
If you’ve had reconstructive surgery on your shoulder, your knee or something like that, don’t expect to be tumbling like the kids these days in a month or something like that.
Andy: You did have both of those and you did do a lot of tumbling on a concrete floor.
Ryan: On a concrete floor. Yeah. So …
Andy: But you didn’t just do it. You prepared over time and that’s the basis of our Floor 2 Program actually is the preparation for being able to do that. That preparation might take you shorter or longer depending on your age too of course. Yeah.
Ryan: The programs that we put out and it’s really tough for us to create programs and the reason why is because it’s just a general overview and we have to take a look at the average person that’s going to be doing our program and think about how we can program it for them the best way possible.
The unfortunate thing though is that we can’t look at every single individual and make a program for them unless you want to train personally with me. So what I’m saying is that there’s going to be things in those programs that you’re going to have to take with a grain of salt and change in order to match you.
So if I say, “OK, we’re going to do this in three months,” it might take five months. It might take six months and you’re going to have to really take a look at yourself. Where are you right now physically and mentally? That’s another thing too. Figure out what’s going to be good for you in order to get those results.
Andy: That’s really important.
[Music]Andy: When we say average too, and that you’re going to have to change it. I don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea and think oh well, I have to customize everything because most of us are average.
When we say average too, keep in mind we’re not talking about statistical average stats of US male or anything like that. We’re talking about over the past four years, the thousands and thousands of emails we’ve gotten and messages and people that we’ve worked with in person and people that we work with online and the feedback we’ve gotten. Every program we have out now I think is into its second or third or fourth revision.
What that means is people have purchased the programs. We have beta testers that go through them first. We make adjustments based on that. Then when people buy them, people ask questions. We look at their feedback and make adjustments and improvements and like Rings 1 is on its fourth revision, third.
Ryan: Fourth. That was the fourth because I completely …
Andy: Yeah. So our very first program, we’ve actually rewritten it three times since we released it. So that’s because we’ve been adjusting it to what works and for average people that are using our stuff.
So if you find us and are interested in our stuff, there’s a very good chance that you’re going to be a lot closer to that average than you might think.
Ryan: There are – it’s a great point and the program itself – a lot of people think, “Oh, I need a custom program.” We talked about this before in another show but really, what is this about is trying it out and seeing how it goes with you.
There are some special cases like for example with my shoulder and my knee. But the thing is, because I’ve had these issues, there’s a good chance that I’m going to program it to make sure that other people can do it.
That’s the big thing and that’s what separates us from a lot of the other places and that is that we’re thinking about the people who want to be able to do this stuff but maybe they are 20 years old and don’t need to worry about their diet and they have tons of time on their hand. They can train eight hours a day and they can already tumble or something like that.
That’s not the kind of people that we were thinking about when we created these programs. So that’s what we’re talking about, about the average.
[Music]Andy: So we will get to some specifics I guess in a few minutes but first, you were kind of alluding this a little earlier. Let’s talk about people who are a little older because now, we’re going to also talk about people who are younger. This isn’t just an old folks episode but people who are a little older, you were kind of alluding to earlier that they might need to change their priorities or be realistic and I don’t want it to sound like they can’t do what they want to do.
Actually Ross Enamait at RossTrainnig.com regularly posts videos about guys that are into their 60s and guys that started when they were in their 40s and are just in amazing, amazing shape. If you want some inspiration, go to Ross’ site and there are all kinds of stuff on there.
So it’s not that you can’t do things but you need to – I guess maturity is the word and I don’t want it to be like maturity meaning old but just personal maturity. Like you like to say knowing who you are and being mature enough and comfortable enough with that to say – to be realistic and not in a negative way but just this is the thing I need. This is what I really want and not thinking that you have to chase after everything because it’s one, bright and shiny; and two, because you need it for your ego.
Ryan: And everybody else might be doing something. But if you don’t want to do that, then why are you going to do it? It kind of reminds me of like guitar. When I was learning guitar, it’s just me, but like everybody else was learning the popular song or something at the time. I was like no, I want to learn the song like I like.
Maybe I won’t be able to jam with everybody on the weekend but that’s fine. I just want to learn what I want to learn and it’s like that for me right now too and I think as we get older, we need to become more aware of that really.
Is that really what you want to do or is it just the fact that you saw something and everybody else thinks it’s cool and you feel that you should be able to do it?
A good example is the Planche. I mean it’s a cool trick and I got to be honest. Right now, the GMB trainers and I, at least Junior and I, we’re getting our Planches back and the thing is though, I’m not doing it because like everybody is like, “Oh dude, can you do a Planche?” It’s not that at all. It’s like really, that’s something I want to be able to do and so working on it.
The thing is, be selective and as we get older, I think we do this because we are mature but life is too short to be messing around playing another person’s game.
Andy: Yeah.
Ryan: I think that’s kind of what it just comes down to. Even in some of the programs, there might be – in the GMB, we have all these different programs but just find something you want to do and do it.
Andy: Yeah.
Ryan: That’s all it is. That’s all it is really for me right now. So even you might not be hitting the full body spectrum of making sure that you’ve got the equal workout percentage for lower body to upper body. That’s fine right now, man. Just start off or do what you want to do right now and then worry about the other stuff later because it might …
Andy: Just start. Follow a program. See how it treats you and then make adjustments as needed.
Ryan: Yeah, yeah.
Andy: Yeah, I like that.
Ryan: It goes for the young guys too.
Andy: Yeah, let’s about young guys because I don’t want to leave that out.
[Music]Ryan: Yeah. So if you’re a young guy or gal, I mean what you should be doing is working out at least eight to nine hours a day. I’m just kidding. I’m really just kidding and I got to say this too. The one thing that – all I did was work out. That’s all I did. I did my martial arts. I lived it. I breathed it. It was like I couldn’t get enough of it and I think trying out a whole bunch of different stuff is good when you’re young.
It’s one of those things Dan John talks a lot about. Dabble in a little bit of a lot of stuff to figure out what you really want to do. But then when you figure out what you really want to do, hit it hard because that’s a good opportunity for you to get really good, really good at something because your recovery is going to be better and if you’re really young, you could probably put anything you want in your mouth and just going to be fine because you’re not going to have to worry about getting fat.
Of course case by case but that’s the time for you to really focus on something to get good at it and the trouble comes about with the ego. This is the thing with every person in the world and you’re going to be like, “Yeah, I want to get really good at this,” and your friends are going to go, “Dude, you should also do this.” You’re going to start thinking, “Oh, I have to do that too because my buddy is talking about it.”
The only advice I can give to you about that is live your own life. Yeah, if you want to dabble a little bit in that too, hang out with your friends, it’s great. But if you can find something that you can be really good at, do it and just stick with it.
That’s all I’m going to say about that. So …
Andy: Yeah, and that’s not to say that everyone needs to be a specialist or anything either.
Ryan: No, no, no.
Andy: You start out dabbling in different things. You can’t pick your favorite if you’ve never tried anything else. There are 31 flavors of ice cream. You’re not just going to like decide, “I like chocolate.” There’s a lot more than 31 too. But you’ve got to figure out what you enjoy.
Go rock climbing and try slacklining. Learn how to do some parkour. Take some Capoeiraclasses. Do some martial arts. Take an adult gymnastics class if there’s something near you. Go to the weight room and get pretty good at the basic lifts.
Ryan: Yeah, and I got to say. I got to interrupt because also don’t get on Facebook and think that you shouldn’t do something because somebody that you admire says it’s bad.
Andy: No.
Ryan: Like Zumba, if you want to try Zumba, go do it seriously. Screw everybody else. Go try it.
Andy: I know a girl that loves Zumba and she does it all the time and it’s like her social life. It’s her exercise. It’s the most fun thing that she does. It’s like it’s great.
Ryan: Good for her!
Andy: Good for her.
Ryan: That’s awesome. So don’t let other people’s opinion dictate how you end up living your life. So this is something for me that was tough. I got a coming out thing here but I live my life a lot about opinions of others. Being in Japan and having other people tell me the way that I should be doing stuff and like now that I get older, I’m like, no, no, this is how I want to do it and as you get older, you realize, you don’t need a lot of the negative people in your life. They just hold you back.
So when you’re young, find what you want to do. You do Zumba, that’s awesome; Capoeira, that’s awesome; Karate, whatever. It doesn’t matter. Do it. Enjoy it. Don’t worry about what other people say about it.
Have fun. That’s what you got to do. Put in the work. This is a good opportunity when you’re young to really put in the work and do it hard but enjoy what you’re doing.
[Music]Andy: Keep in mind nothing is the best. Nothing is the best. If you’re young and somebody says something is the best – even if you’re old and somebody says something is the best. Nothing is the best. You just got to figure out what you’re interested in.
Ryan: Yeah.
Andy: If everybody jumped off of a bridge, would you too? Come on! Be honest.
So if you are young on a practical side, do a lot of things but also remember that just because you can get away with things, injuries you have now are going to come back for the rest of your life. Take care of yourself. Learn proper maintenance and recovery now.
Ryan: Yes.
Andy: For one, it’s going to accelerate your results or your progress so much but for two, it’s going to keep you from having things that you regret. It’s going to prevent you from being that guy that’s 40 years old and it’s like my shoulder is all messed up. Can I do this?
Ryan: Exactly.
Andy: You don’t have to have that question if you don’t let your shoulder get messed up.
Ryan: Word to that. I needed this talk when I was about 22. I think everyone …
Andy: You needed this talk when you were about 32 also.
Ryan: I did! Exactly. I was still doing crazy shit when I was at …
Andy: Yeah.
Ryan: Yeah, yeah.
Andy: But then on the other side, older people, it’s also – it comes down to also the same thing but not as much from a preventative side is that your body probably – as a metabolic process has slowed down. Your recovery is also going to take longer and nutrition is going to be more important and rest is going to be more important.
You have to be even more careful to avoid injury because those – that recovery is going to be less complete and take even longer to heal and slow you down even more. So that’s really what it comes down to with age for adjustments is just being even more careful and mindful of where you’re really at, continuing to take your ego out of it as much as possible, and just focus on quality and recovery.
Ryan: Boom, that’s it. That’s it. That’s good. Yeah.
Andy: Yeah, it’s like we’ve talked with this about like hundreds of people. It’s almost as if we’ve coached hundreds of people.
Ryan: Yeah, almost as if every single day we say this or something.
Andy: Yeah, I don’t know.
Ryan: It’s kind of weird. All right. I think that’s a good place to stop. Good topic. Yeah. So it doesn’t matter really your age. It’s taking care of yourself. That’s what it comes down to and enjoying the process. So …
Andy: Yeah, find what you want to do and take care of yourself and you will be able to make progress and be happy with what your body can do for a long time.
So, thank you for watching, listening, being a part of the Posse. Leave us a message. Send us a note. Review us on iTunes. Send Amber chocolate. Yeah, and we will see you next time.
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Hi, I'm Rachel đź‘‹
A graduate of our Trainer Apprenticeship, Rachel wore a lot of hats at GMB for almost eight years. As content manager, she authored some of our most popular articles and guides.
