Episode 4, The Perfect Workout
This is the starting point of a small series around the topic “health and fitness” as promised by the end of episode 3. We already stated that your metabolism changes in your midlife. It is a wise decision to jump on that train and change your nutrition and training as well when you don’t want to end like jabba the hutt. This time we are looking for the optimal workout routine for your 30s and 40s. Pull out your sweatbands and let’s get it done!

When I was in my early 20s, I was jogging a lot. My father was running 2-3 times per week for almost 40 years so it felt natural for me to join him. I started with 3-4km runs and worked my way up to the Lübeck Marathon. The finishing-time was not that good, but at least I made it to the end. After that, I was done with jogging and stopped immediately. I switched my focus and concentrated on strength training only from my mid 20s to my mid 30s. One of my idols is Markus Rühl who has a fantastic sense of humour! Speaking in this sense, I followed one of his wisdoms “Cardio vermeiden” with determination. The question is what is right? Or in the context of this newsletter, how should you train in your midlife?
I stumbled over the NY times article “How You Should Change Your Workout Once You Hit 40 (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)” when I was doing some research. In my opinion, it summarizes two essentials quite well: As we are getting older, our heart and lungs’ ability to take in oxygen and convert it into energy decreases. Furthermore, we are losing roughly 5% of muscle mass per decade while our bone density starts to decline. We need to work against that. And the only way to do so is by establishing a hybrid training plan i.e., a mixture of cardio and strength. The article suggests two sessions of strength and one session of cardio per week. Sports like CrossFit or Hyrox as the more competitive one try to combine both elements. I personally have to work on the cardio part since jogging used to be so much more fun when I was living in a tiny village with lots of forests and seas next to me. But I guess this is just an excuse if I am being honest. There are parks nearby and there are alternatives like HIIT (high intense interval training) when the weather is bad.

I hope the last two paragraphs had some kind of inspiration to either keep you going or finally start off! Next week’s newsletter will connect to the workout topic. Without anticipating too much, it will be entertaining- I promise!
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