This is me at 47 on the left, and today as a 50 year old on the right. I will take this to give a bit of insight into the tactics I took to get into the best shape of my life during the years that society tells you the days of building muscle while losing fat are behind you:
At 47, I found myself in the worst shape I had been in in over 15 years. Covid plus an leg injury took its toll, and I was a bit bloated and soft. I was still lifting and relatively strong, but let’s face it my belly was getting softer and i was getting (and looking) older and older. I was convinced my best days were behind me as I stood in the bathroom and took that photo. But, I wasn’t ready to throw in the towel just yet.
From that day, I took a winding road that involved lots of burpees (thanks to @ChongLordUno), Tactical Barbell, and joining Jim Wendler’s personal forum. He discussed how his training had shifted from barbell-focused training to the weight vest. He laid out what he was doing: throwing on a vest, and doing rounds of the Airdyne plus push ups, pull ups, and squats. I copied him and took to this style of training. I also learned this was basically Crossfit’s Murph Challenge. Why not do it? I didn’t like Crossfit, at least what I knew about it and the few times I had tried it years back, but it was Crossfit gyms that held this challenge. I found a local one that was hosting the Challenge, and signed up for their “3 free classes” to check it out. This was early 2022, about one year after that first photo.
Fast forward a bit: I was hooked. I loved the community, the insane yet short workouts, the blend of conditioning and strength, the coaches, and learning new things I thought I’d never learn. I was actually pretty good, too, often setting the best time on a given WOD or lifting the most weight on the strength portion. My training shifted dramatically from pure slogs of strength work and long runs to really none of that. Training was condensed and moved quickly. Strength work was minimal. There was literally zero steady state cardio, very little isolation work.
I started doing DEXA scans when these were offered at the gym. The scale doesn’t tell me a lot, and I learned this method was about the best option for a more complete picture. This leads me to the progress I have made over my three readings, the first being May of 2022, the latest this morning:
Now, I find this pretty incredible. I have lost 7 lbs of pure fat, and gained 7 lbs of lean tissue between the ages of 48 and 50. My %BF has dropped by 4% points, while my weight has remained unchanged. Although not shown, my bone density is off the charts (in the top 1%), and my lower abdominal fat percentage has gone from 18.1% to 10.1%.
My belly is gone, and I have clearly added lots of size to my shoulders. You can’t tell by the baggie shorts, but my legs have added quite a bit of mass as well. Here’s a couple more pics from today:
As you can imagine, I’m thrilled to have found a highly effective way to train that is literally the most fun I have ever had training. I feel like a 10 year old at recess when I go to CF. But really, I didn’t at all expect to have these results at my age no matter what training a chose. I also feel like I’m 25 in terms of joints, energy, and how spry and athletic I feel.
If anyone is interested, here are more details:
Diet: I follow a varied diet and don’t count calories. I eat almost only unprocessed foods: meat, whole eggs, full fat dairy, raw nuts, fruits, vegetables, rice and potatoes. I don’t totally avoid anything, but don’t eat a lot of breads and pastas. I also avoid artificial sweeteners, flavors, and colors. All that said, this is not 100%. I eat pizza this week, and have been known to pop a sweet tart or two. I have, though, tightened up my diet as I’ve gotten older. I’ve also largely cut out alcohol and do pay more attention to prioritizing protein.
Supplements: The only athletic supplements I take are whey protein, creatine, and Surge. I have never used testosterone or steroids. Not that anyone would accuse me of that with my physique, and not that I’m judging those that do. But I want to also show that even at this age you can make great progress with no enhancements. For overall health, I also take medicinal mushrooms, wheat grass juice, and kimchi and kefir (not really supplements). I’m a bit hippy dippy, as you can tell.
Schedule and work: I am an acedemic at a University, which lends itself pretty well to training. I train in the mornings at 7 most commonly, and am in the classroom or lab by 9. I meditate regularly, and walk about 12K steps a day. My work stress is pretty low (yay tenure), and I commute by bike.
Other health issues/markers: I am lucky that I have never had any real issues with weight or any bloodwork. I have always had low blood pressure, a low resting heart rate (in the 40’s), and low cholesterol and the like. Well, there’s luck but I’ve also been pretty healthy and active my entire life. My VO2 max is at 51 as of this week, which is pretty good for even a 20 year old.
Thanks for reading if anyone actually made it this far. In real life, I have been getting from people I meet more and more of “What? You’re 50?! Tell me exactly what you’re doing.” I know those on these boards are not the average, uninformed person I run into, but figured I’d put this out there. Plus, there aren’t a lot of people in real life who want to hear about a DEXA scan.
