Building muscle over 40…

Is it really possible?

Most men are under the impression that building muscle happens in your late teens, 20’s and 30’s…

But once you hit 40-years old, it becomes a little more difficult.   

But you CAN still build muscle. 

Here are 4 building muscle over 40 tips that you can take with you to the gym today.

Progressive Overload

In order to keep building muscle over 40, you need to keep pushing yourself in the gym…

Listen, man.

You’re not 20-years old anymore.

So you shouldn’t train like a 20-year old…

But pushing yourself in the gym to lift heavier weight, complete more reps, or increase your overall workout volume isn’t lifting like your 20…

It’s lifting like a well-seasoned gym veteran.

You can't continue to lift the same weight for months on end and expect to build muscle in your 40’s…

In order to build muscle, you need to compete with yourself, expecting to be better today than you were yesterday.

See, your muscles won’t grow unless they’re forced to adapt to your training.

They only grow in response to the training stimulus, and so if your muscles are going to continue to grow, you need to continue in a pattern of progressively making demands from them.

A consistent pattern of progressive overload will guarantee more muscle growth after 40.

If you want to try a new training routine for men over 40, click here.

Focus on Form

How you perform each exercise is the gym is crucial not only for building muscle over 40 but also to prevent injury.

Have you ever seen someone in the gym perform a bench press with his whole body?

You know, the guy who lifts his butt off the bench, bounces the weight off his chest, and throws his shoulder into each rep?

Sure he may get the weight up, but his chest is hardly receiving as much stimulation as it could if he were to focus on perfecting his form rather than stroking his ego.

Every exercise is designed to initiate a response in your muscle fibers.

And you’ll stimulate the most muscle fibers by performing the exercise with proper form…

And as a result, you’ll build more muscle over 40.

Also, because you’re over 40, you don’t have as much room for error at this age as you did when you were younger.

Your body is naturally more prone to little tweaks that can lead to big injuries if you aren’t careful…

But when you focus on form in the gym, you won’t only build more muscle, but you’ll also prevent injury and ensure that your body will be healthy enough to hit the gym for the long haul.

If you want workouts with step by step form walkthroughs, check these out. 

Full Range of Motion

Like I mentioned above, every exercise is designed to initiate a specific muscular response…

And within each exercise is a built-in range of motion that ensures maximum stimulation.

Let’s go back to our bench press example for a minute.

The bench press is designed to stretch your chest in order to activate the muscle fibers in your chest tissue…

And the more muscle you break down through a full range of motion, the denser your muscles will become when they repair.

But if you perform “half-reps”, you miss out on the full stretch and stimulation that the exercise is meant to provide.

Don’t cut the range of motion short…

If you do, you’ll cut yourself short on muscle growth.

When it comes to building muscle over 40, it’ll be more advantageous for you to lift less weight with a full range of motion, than to lift more weight with half or even three-quarters range of motion.

Mind-Muscle Connection

If you want to build muscle after 40, you can’t just bring your body into the gym…

You need to bring your mind with you, also…

This is known as mind-muscle connection…

Mind-muscle connection is simply paying attention to the muscle you’re actually working.

So if we go back to the bench press example... 

Mind-muscle connection requires you to think about your chest muscles throughout the entire bench press to ensure that you are lifting the weight with your chest, and you aren’t simply going through the motions of the exercise.

Visualize your muscles, feel each stretch and contraction, and squeeze your muscles when you get to the top of the movement.

The same principle applies to every single exercise you perform in the gym.

So don’t check your mind at the door…

Bring concentration and focus into the gym every time you work out for building muscle over 40.

Your Next Step

Building muscle over 40…

Is it possible?

Absolutely.

Implement the 4 easy ways to build muscle over 40 that I’ve given you throughout this article into your next workout.

If you want to give a new training program a shot that's specifically created for men 40+ check these out.

You'll be glad you did.