#13: On Aging

Q: Hi Guy,

I read that you’re over 40. Amazing! Do you plan to compete again? Do you feel that you can still keep improving past, say 45, or do you foresee a time when age will finally catch up to you? It hasn’t seemed to yet!

...Roger Kalley

A: Thank you for your questions. I don't see myself ever competing on the European front again – there is just too much bias towards their athletes. I am too young to say that I never will compete again, but for me to return it would have to be a high-level show on North American soil, and preferably blood-tested for drugs. For now, I just keep training, which I have always found to be the fun part of bodybuilding.

Alas, aging! The five-letter word that should be a four-letter one. Certainly, the benefits of exercising and healthy eating habits are well documented as slowing the aging process but, unfortunately, do not stop it altogether. I am sure that some day there will come a time when my progress will peak, but at 45 that time has yet to arrive.

It is certainly unclear at the moment whether for me it will be an age restriction or a maxing out of my genetic potential. Only time will tell. I have successfully helped people in their 50s and 60s make significant muscle and strength gains by following my training regimen, but with aging come some natural occurrences: slower recovery times, slower metabolisms, and less-forgiving joints which become more prone to injury. All are inevitable signs of aging. However, with the negatives also comes a big positive – knowledge, which in turn leads to smarter training.

I look back at some of the training techniques and methods that I tried in the past and I shudder at the foolishness of some of them. When you are young, you tend to attack a problem with brute energy, but as you become wiser with age, you learn to analyze the problem and come up with the best solution. Youth brings with it an air of indestructibility, whereas the wisdom of age brings with it an understanding of the body's limitations and needs.

The three signs of aging that I listed above are the most common issues which every bodybuilder must face. As a young man, I made the mistake of following Arnold's method of hitting all muscle groups three times a week (serious overtraining for a natural bodybuilder), but as I grew older, I recognized that only by training each body part once a week would sufficient recovery time for each muscle be achieved. This led to a relative explosion in growth and strength compared to Arnold’s method of training.

The metabolism of a young active man generally hums along at a hundred miles an hour, making fat gains much more difficult, but that high metabolism also hinders muscle growth in those who do not supply their bodies with sufficient food to meet the demand. As you get older, your metabolism slows down, which results in more body fat storage unless you take measures to prevent this from occurring. First and foremost, nutrition becomes crucially important, and your new knowledge of what you should be eating actually becomes part of your bodybuilding arsenal. You must learn how to supply the body with the necessary building blocks that it has needed all along. Aerobic activity gets added into the equation to help control fat levels, and it also has the added benefit of improving recovery time.

Unfortunately, not all aging-related symptoms can be so easily combated and turned into benefits. The most common trouble spot for bodybuilders is joint pain. As you age, your joints become less forgiving and take longer to heal. Whereas in the folly of my youth I could jump right into a heavy workout with little ill effect, at my current age such action would undoubtedly result in an immediate injury. Warm-ups become crucial to ensure that the joint is ready to handle the load. Also some exercises need to be avoided for a time until strained joints heal properly – sometimes you just have to listen to your body and take a much needed break in your heavy training to allow for full healing to occur.

Returning to training after a holiday or layoff must be more gradual than when you are young to reduce the risk of injury. Case in point: I recently needed to undergo minor gum surgery to correct some tooth-brush abrasion. After a two-week layoff to ensure that I did not blow out what the periodontist had corrected (doctor's orders), I started off with a week of light training, followed by a week of moderate training, waiting until the third week before resuming my heavy training regimen. This was necessary to reacclimatize my joints to the demands of heavy training without causing injury, something which I might have gotten away with 20 years ago.

Above all, it is important not to let your age become an excuse for not initiating an exercise regimen. "I'm too old" or "at my age" are just excuses that hold no water. The benefits of exercise at all ages are well documented in numerous publications, but use your acquired wisdom to train smarter to maximize your potential and avoid injury.

Good luck and good training!

...Guy Bourgon, Canadian Champion 2006

If you would like to ask Guy a question, please e-mail: askguy@seriousaboutmuscle.com.

SeriousAboutMuscle.com contributor Guy Bourgon is from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and is the winner of the Tall class in the Classic Bodybuilding division at the 2006 CBBF National World Qualifier. Guy also competed at the 2006 IFBB World Bodybuilding Championships held in Ostrava, Czech Republic, where he placed fifth in the Tall class of the Classic Bodybuilding division.