When I was younger, my training goals were fairly easy to understand. I wanted to get stronger, improve my performance, and become a better athlete. If I could add weight to the bar, skate faster, or perform better than I had a few months earlier, I knew I was moving in the right direction.
I still care about strength and performance. I do not believe getting older means that a man should suddenly stop challenging himself or become satisfied with physical decline. However, as I have gotten older, I have started asking myself a different question. What am I actually training for now?
I am no longer preparing for another hockey season or walking into a training camp with the Philadelphia Flyers or Pittsburgh Penguins. My life is different now, which means the purpose behind my training has changed as well. I still want to be strong today, but I also want to think about what my body will allow me to do decades from now.
Start With the Life You Want at 70
I think men should occasionally picture themselves at 70 and consider what they want an ordinary day to look like.
Do you want to travel without worrying about whether you can manage your luggage? Do you want to walk through an airport, climb several flights of stairs, spend an afternoon on your feet, work around your house, or get down onto the floor and stand back up comfortably?
Perhaps you want to play golf, hike, swim, or continue strength training. Maybe your goal is much simpler. You might simply want to carry your own groceries, maintain your home, and remain physically independent.
These goals are not particularly exciting when compared with adding another plate to the bar. Nobody walks into a gym and announces that their lifelong goal is to put their own suitcase into an overhead compartment at 70. However, these ordinary abilities become much more important when you consider what independence actually looks like.
Once you have some idea of the life you want later, you can begin working backward. You can ask yourself what strength, endurance, balance, and mobility that life will require and what you can do today to preserve those abilities.
Planning for 70 Does Not Mean Training Like You Are Already 70
There is an important distinction that I think sometimes gets lost in conversations about aging.
Planning for your future does not mean treating yourself as fragile today.
I sometimes see healthy men reach their 40s and suddenly become afraid of challenging themselves physically. They begin treating normal aging as though they have crossed an invisible line into old age. I do not think that is useful.
If you can safely become stronger now, then become stronger. If you can improve your conditioning, work on your mobility, or build more muscle, there is no reason to voluntarily give up those opportunities.
At the same time, I do not believe we should pretend that nothing changes.
I can look back at the way I trained when competitive hockey was a major part of my life. My priorities were different, my schedule was different, and the physical demands placed on my body were different. What made sense during that stage of my life does not automatically make sense forever.
There is no prize for recreating your 25-year-old training program at 50 simply to prove that you still can.
Strength Gives You More Options
One reason I continue to value strength training is that being strong makes ordinary physical tasks easier.
If picking up a heavy object requires nearly all the strength you have, that task is difficult. If the same object represents only a small percentage of your physical capacity, the task becomes much easier.
Consider a 40-pound suitcase. A healthy 45-year-old man who trains regularly may barely think about lifting it into a car. Now imagine performing the same task at 70.
I want that suitcase to remain an ordinary object rather than become a physical challenge.
That is one reason I think about strength as building a reserve. I do not know exactly how strong I will be decades from now. Nobody does. However, I would rather enter those years with more physical capacity than I need than discover that everyday life requires more strength than I have maintained.
That perspective has changed the way I think about progress. Strength still matters inside the gym, but what that strength allows me to do outside the gym matters even more.
Your Future Body Has Jobs to Do
There is nothing wrong with caring about appearance. I have spent enough of my life around bodybuilding and strength training to understand why someone wants to look muscular, lean, and athletic.
However, appearance cannot be the only measurement that matters.
Your future body will have jobs to do. Your legs need enough strength to get you out of a chair. Your upper body needs enough strength to lift and carry things. You need balance to move confidently. You need cardiovascular fitness to remain active without becoming exhausted. You also need enough mobility to comfortably use the strength you have built.
That is why I would rather see someone develop a broad base of physical ability than become obsessed with one number.
Can you squat comfortably? Can you hinge, push, pull, and carry? Can you walk a meaningful distance without becoming exhausted? Can you control your body through useful ranges of motion?
The answers will be different for everyone, particularly when previous injuries or medical conditions are involved. The larger principle remains the same. Training should prepare your body to do things, not simply change how it looks.
Short-Term Goals Still Have a Place
Thinking about your health decades from now can sound good in theory, but there is an obvious problem. A goal that is 20 or 30 years away does not always provide much motivation on a Wednesday afternoon when you are tired and would rather skip the gym.
That is why I still believe strongly in short-term goals.
I set quarterly goals for myself and write them on index cards. I put the goal on the front of the card and the specific actions required to achieve it on the back. I want something concrete that I can work toward rather than relying on a vague promise to improve someday.
The difference is that I try to make those shorter goals fit within a larger direction.
Becoming stronger over the next three months is a goal. Remaining strong enough to live independently decades from now is the direction. Improving your conditioning this year is a goal. Being able to enjoy an active vacation at 70 is the direction.
You need both perspectives.
Your Training Has to Survive Real Life
I have also become less impressed by perfect training programs that people cannot realistically maintain.
Life after 40 can become crowded. Careers become more demanding. Family responsibilities change. Travel happens. Stress happens. Sleep is not always ideal. There will be weeks when the schedule you planned simply does not fit the life you are actually living.
I have always believed strongly in effort, and that has not changed. However, experience has taught me that consistency sometimes requires adjustment rather than more punishment.
Three productive workouts that you can recover from may accomplish more than five sessions that leave you exhausted and eventually cause you to stop training altogether. A shorter workout is still a workout. Changing an exercise because something does not feel right does not mean you have failed.
If the goal is to train for decades, you have to protect your ability to continue showing up.
Think About What You Still Want to Say Yes To
When I think about getting older, this is ultimately what matters to me.
I do not want every decision at 70 to begin with a question about what my body can no longer handle. I want to be able to travel, walk all day when necessary, carry my own things, get onto the floor and stand back up, and participate in the activities that matter to me.
None of us has complete control over how we age. Genetics matter. Injuries happen. Illness can change plans quickly. Training cannot guarantee that everything will work exactly as we hope.
However, we can influence the amount of physical capacity we bring with us into those later decades.
If you are in your 40s or 50s, I still think you should chase ambitious goals today. You should get stronger, improve your conditioning, build muscle, and challenge yourself in ways that make sense for your body.
At the same time, it is worth occasionally looking farther down the road and asking what all of that work is preparing you for. Your 70-year-old self may not care very much about your best bench press from decades earlier. You may care much more about whether the work you did gave you the strength and physical freedom to continue participating fully in your own life.