Old Man Athletic: How to Stay Strong, Mobile and Athletic After 40

The third evolution in the Old Man Series

There is one sentence I hear from guys in their late 30s, 40s and 50s all the time:

“I used to be athletic.”

I used to be fast. I used to jump. I used to play basketball. I used to run. I used to move better. I used to feel explosive.

Then life happened.

You built a career, started a business, got married, had kids, started sitting more and probably started sleeping less. You stopped playing sports multiple days per week, and eventually your training became lifting some weights, walking, doing a little cardio and stretching whenever something started hurting.

Then one day you try to sprint, jump, play basketball, wrestle with your kids or do something remotely athletic and wonder what the hell happened.

Here's what I want you to understand:

You didn't suddenly become old. You stopped training like an athlete.

That's exactly why I created Old Man Athletic, a 10-week training program designed for men and women 35+ who want to get stronger, move better, improve their conditioning and become more athletic as they age.

Ready to start training like an athlete again?

OLD MAN ATHLETIC PROGRAM:

https://my.playbookapp.io/jeremy-scott/offers/old-man-athletic/9537

WHAT DOES BEING ATHLETIC AFTER 40 ACTUALLY MEAN?

I'm 43 now, and I'm less interested than ever in simply looking like I'm in shape.

Don't get me wrong. I want muscle, I want to stay lean and I want to be strong, but I also want my body to actually work.

I want to do jiu-jitsu. I want to sprint, jump, row, SkiErg, ruck, carry heavy things, play sports and run around with my son.

More importantly, I want to still be capable of doing those things 10, 20 and 30 years from now.

I don't want to simply look athletic. I want to BE athletic.

For me, athleticism after 40 comes down to five major physical qualities:

Strength. Power. Mobility. Movement. Conditioning.

If your training addresses all five consistently, you give yourself a much better chance of staying capable as you get older.

1. KEEP GETTING STRONGER AS YOU AGE

Strength is the foundation.

As we get older, strength training shouldn't disappear from our lives. It should become one of the cornerstones of how we train.

I'm not talking about chasing one-rep maxes every week or trying to impress strangers with how much you can bench.

I'm talking about usable strength.

Can you squat, hinge, push, pull and carry something heavy? Can you perform pull-ups and push-ups? Can you easily get yourself off the floor?

I want strong legs, hips, back, shoulders and grip because those qualities make almost everything else we do physically easier.

Dumbbells, kettlebells, goblet squats, split squats, RDLs, rows, presses, pull-ups, loaded carries and sled work can all have a place.

You don't need to train like a competitive powerlifter.

You need enough strength that normal life feels easy.

Think of strength as your physical retirement account. Keep making deposits.

2. DON'T STOP TRAINING POWER AND EXPLOSIVENESS

This is one of the biggest things missing from many workout programs for men over 40.

Think about your last month of training.

When was the last time you intentionally moved fast?

When did you jump, sprint, throw something or change direction quickly?

For a lot of adults, the answer isn't last week. It's years ago.

You don't need to go outside tomorrow and attempt an all-out 100-meter sprint if you haven't sprinted since high school. You progressively expose your body to speed and power again based on your current ability.

That could include jump rope, small jumps, medicine-ball throws, kettlebell swings, controlled broad jumps, sled work or eventually sprinting when appropriate.

Start small and earn your way up.

Real life occasionally requires you to move quickly. You might trip and need to catch yourself, chase after your kid, play a sport or react to something unexpectedly.

Don't let getting out of your recliner be the fastest movement you perform all week.

3. MAKE MOBILITY PART OF YOUR TRAINING

Mobility has become increasingly important to me as I've gotten older.

Most guys don't think about mobility until something starts hurting.

Their hips get tight, their ankles stop moving well, their shoulders feel terrible or their lower back starts bothering them. Then suddenly they're searching for stretches and mobility exercises.

I'd rather make mobility part of your training before you reach that point.

You also don't need to spend an hour stretching every night.

Five or ten minutes performed consistently can add up.

Spend time squatting deeply, rotating, opening your hips, moving your ankles, working your thoracic spine, hanging from a bar and getting down onto the floor.

But don't focus only on becoming more flexible.

Own the positions you create.

Can you get into a position? Can you control yourself there? Can you produce force there?

That's useful mobility.

Being jacked is great.

Being jacked but unable to comfortably tie your shoes isn't athletic.

4. TRAIN YOUR BODY TO MOVE LIKE A HUMAN

Most adults spend almost all of their training moving forward and backward.

We walk forward, run forward, squat, bench, row and bike.

Those are all great things, but life doesn't happen in one direction.

Sports don't happen in one direction either.

Your body needs to rotate, move laterally, balance, reach, crawl, change direction and react.

Start putting some of those movements back into your workouts.

Lateral lunges, single-leg exercises, rotational movements, loaded carries, crawls and athletic footwork can all help expose your body to movements that traditional strength training often ignores.

You don't need to pretend you're preparing for the NFL Combine at 43.

You're simply reminding your body that we're still allowed to move like human beings.

The movements you completely stop doing are often the movements you eventually lose.

5. BUILD AND MAINTAIN YOUR CONDITIONING 

Being strong is awesome.

Looking muscular and lean is awesome.

But if walking up three flights of stairs completely destroys you, we've still got some work to do.

I want both.

Strength AND conditioning.

You can ruck, row, SkiErg, bike, push sleds, incline walk or run if your body tolerates it.

Some conditioning should be easy. Some can be moderate. Occasionally you should challenge yourself and go hard.

You don't need to destroy yourself every day, but you do need a heart and lungs capable of supporting the life you're trying to live.

The test isn't simply whether you can do something hard once.

It's how well you can recover and do something again.

That's athleticism.

THE PROBLEM WITH MOST FITNESS PROGRAMS AFTER 40

As we get older, I think one of our biggest mistakes is specializing too much.

The bodybuilder focuses almost entirely on muscle.

The powerlifter focuses on strength.

The runner focuses on endurance.

The yoga guy focuses on flexibility.

Personally, I don't want to be amazing at one physical quality and incapable everywhere else.

I want to be pretty damn good at all of it.

I want enough strength to move heavy things, enough muscle to protect my body, enough mobility to move freely, enough power to move quickly, enough balance and coordination to control myself and enough conditioning to keep going.

That's what being athletic after 40 means to me.

And that's exactly why I created Old Man Athletic.

WHAT IS THE OLD MAN ATHLETIC PROGRAM? 

Old Man Athletic is the third evolution of my Old Man Series.

We built Old Man Strength around getting stronger.

We built Old Man Shredded around getting leaner.

Now we're bringing everything together and asking a different question:

Can we become athletic again?

Old Man Athletic is a 10-week training system for men and women 35+ who don't just want to look fit.

You want to move like you're fit.

You want to perform.

You want to feel capable.

You want to be able to say YES when somebody asks you to do something physical instead of immediately wondering whether your back, knees or conditioning can handle it.

The entire program brings together the five qualities we've talked about:

Strength. Power. Mobility. Movement. Conditioning.

GET OLD MAN ATHLETIC:

https://my.playbookapp.io/jeremy-scott/offers/old-man-athletic/9537

START WITH THE OLD MAN ATHLETIC COMBINE

Before starting Day 1, you'll complete an Athletic Combine designed to give you a baseline for your current abilities.

You'll test areas including mobility, pull-ups, push-ups, goblet squat strength, farmer carries, dead hangs, broad jump, jump rope and conditioning.

Then after completing the program, you can test yourself again.

I don't want you guessing whether you're getting better.

I want proof.

The first four weeks focus on building your foundation. Week 5 acts as an athletic reset where we reduce volume, focus on movement quality and allow your body to recover and adapt.

Weeks 6 through 10 start bringing everything together as we continue developing strength, power, movement, conditioning and overall work capacity.

The goal is to finish the 10 weeks with a completely different level of confidence in what your body can actually do.

YOU DON'T NEED A MASSIVE COMMERCIAL GYM

One of the best parts about Old Man Athletic is that you don't need access to every piece of equipment imaginable.

The program primarily uses equipment such as dumbbells, kettlebells, a bench, pull-up bar, dip bar and jump rope.

If you have access to sleds, rowers, SkiErgs, bikes, boxes and other equipment, even better. We can use them, but they're not what makes the program work.

The goal is to make athletic training accessible without requiring you to live inside a commercial gym.

WHO IS OLD MAN ATHLETIC FOR?

I really created this program for the guy who keeps saying:

“I used to be athletic.”

It's for the dad who feels himself slowing down.

It's for the 40-year-old who still looks pretty good but realizes he doesn't move nearly as well as he used to.

It's for the strong guy who gets winded anytime he has to do something athletic.

It's for the person who no longer cares about impressing strangers with a one-rep max but still wants to challenge himself physically.

You want a body that works.

You want to stay strong.

You want to move freely.

You want enough conditioning to do hard things.

You want to remain capable for as long as possible.

That's the philosophy behind Old Man Athletic.

FITNESS AFTER 40 ISN'T ABOUT TURNING BACK THE CLOCK

I'm not trying to become 23 again.

I'm trying to build the most capable 43-year-old version of myself possible.

Then I want to build the most capable 50-year-old version.

Then 60.

Then 70.

Because the goal isn't simply adding years to your life.

It's adding LIFE to your years.

I want to hike, travel, train, play sports, do jiu-jitsu, chase my kid, carry my future grandkids, learn new things and continue doing hard things.

And I want to wake up the next morning feeling good enough to do it all again.

If that's the future you're training for, Old Man Athletic was built for you.

START OLD MAN ATHLETIC TODAY

You don't have to accept that your strongest, fastest or most athletic years automatically have to be behind you.

You can still get stronger.

You can improve your mobility.

You can build better conditioning.

You can work on power.

You can learn new physical skills.

You can improve how your body moves.

And you can still surprise yourself with what your body is capable of.

Inside Old Man Athletic, you'll get the complete 10-week progressive training plan, step-by-step video demonstrations, Athletic Combine testing, mobility work, strength training, athletic movement, conditioning, recovery recommendations, nutrition and supplement education, plus lifetime access to the program.

You don't have to figure out what to do.

You just have to show up and do the work.

40 isn't the finish line.

For a lot of us, it's just the beginning.

READY TO BECOME ATHLETIC AGAIN?

GET INSTANT ACCESS TO OLD MAN ATHLETIC:

https://my.playbookapp.io/jeremy-scott/offers/old-man-athletic/9537

Welcome to Old Man Athletic.

Let's get to work.