The Stupidly Simple System I Use to Stay in Shape at 47
A low-maintenance approach you can stick to, to reap the benefits of looking and feeling great as you get older
Yeah but whadda YOU do?!
I get that question from folks all the time, in person and online, when I give them some (solicited!) advice about getting in shape.
- I lay out a really simple, low-maintenance approach;
- They nod and look at me;
- They say, “Yeah, but that can’t be all YOU do. What’s the REAL secret, the hardcore stuff you’ve clearly done to still look pretty good at 46?”.
But it’s true — I don’t put much effort into all this health and fitness stuff. What I do, I do week-in, week-out, though.
So yes, over several decades, I have put in A TON of effort in total. But day-to-day, not so much. I even do all sorts of ‘counter-productive’ stuff because I’m a busy Dad-of-3 human and love Doritos and Guinness.
I want you to look and feel fabulous as you get older, too, so strap yourself in for a rollercoaster journey through the ups and downs of a typical, really low-maintenance week for me (that you can copy or use as inspiration) that helps me stay slim and healthy at 46, with arms my Mrs likes squeezing ;-)
I Train for 2–3 Hours a Week, Tops
“Ah but you’re a personal trainer, you have your own gym, and you can work out all the time”
Yeah, I could… but why the f*ck would I want to?
I’ve been working out for 30 years — believe me, the novelty wore off long ago. Nowadays, workouts are like vacuuming for me — a necessary thing I need to get done so things don’t get messy!
I workout out for 3 sessions of 40–60 mins a week (depends if I get side-tracked by Wordle or Sports gossip websites between sets), whole body routines.
Every muscle group gets hit 3 times a week with a wee dose of damage because I am too damn old to waddle around for days after some hardcore Legs Day.
Takeaway for you
If you can fit in 2 hours of resistance training each week (you can grab my free over-40s friendly workout program here by the way), aiming for a burrrrn in the final set of each exercise, maybe throw in a few minutes of intervals on a bike/rower/cross-trainer at the end, you are golden.
I Never Run, as I Hate It, but Walking Is a True Health Hack
Ask yourself, why do you never see a happy jogger?
Is it because jogging is dumb, and they know it?
I have no desire to run at a medium pace for an hour, messing up my knees and shins. If I need to get somewhere 4 miles away, I’ll drive. Thanks.
But I do plenty of brisk walking — around 14 miles a week. I know this because my training facility is 1.2 miles from my house, and I walk there and back about 6 times each week. This has enormous payoffs on several levels:
- Low-impact stamina-building.
- Vitamin D for hormonal balance.
- Clears my head like nothing else does.
- Torches around 2000 calories per week.
Takeaway for You
If you hate a particular exercise, please don’t force yourself to do it — there’s more than one way to skin a cat.
Walking is fantastic, by the way. Also, I have no idea how many calories cat skinning burns <opens Google>.
I Take a Few Supplements I Can’t Get from My Diet that Help Me Thrive
You can easily find yourself taking handfuls of pills and potions daily because you want the outcome that each pill is supposedly “good for”. But if you’re eating a varied and healthy diet and exercising, you don’t need to supplement with much at all.
There are a few things I take that even my mostly-healthy diet doesn’t provide, but I know exactly why I’m taking each one:
- ZMA for hormonal balance and sleep
- Ashwagandha for Cortisol control
- Fish Oil for my slightly achy joints
- Creatine to enhance my workouts
- Whey protein shakes for muscle retention/building
- Saw Palmetto for Prostate Health
Takeaway for You
If you’re taking tons of supplements, do an audit and ask yourself, “What happens if I stop taking this for a month”
If the answer is “nothing,” then save your money, and then send that cash to me cos I have 2 teenage sons who won’t stop growing out of shoes :-(
I Eat 2 Big Meals a Day and Never Anything I Don’t Like
I want to maintain my weight while eating enough to build a wee bit more muscle if I can. This means I aim to eat at my maintenance level in total each week (calculate yours here).
Whether I split that up into 1 to 10 meals doesn’t matter.
So I do what works for me, which is a form of intermittent fasting Monday-Friday:
- black coffee and plenty of water until lunchtime;
- a big lunch of protein and veg and some carbs if I trained that morning;
- a protein shake mid-afternoon;
- a regular dad-sized dinner, regular meals;
- no calories after dinner.
I don’t eat kale — it’s gross. I don’t drink green smoothies — see kale. I don’t eat any food “because it’s healthy”, I eat what healthy food I like because I like it.
So Food and I have a great relationship.
Takeaway for You
Start with the healthy foods you like. Base your meals on those. Keep protein high for muscle retention and satiety. If it’s not a planned meal, don’t eat.
Avoid calories after dinner (nothing good is ever eaten after dinner!). This approach will transform your body shape a lot faster than some weird diet.
My Weekends Are Messy but Not a Complete Sh*tshow
You could get in great shape if you gave up sugar, alcohol, and junk food and ate only grilled chicken and broccoli for dinner for 12 weeks straight. But you’d also hate life and everyone around you, and after 12 weeks, you would be desperate to embrace everything you’d manage to avoid.
I learned long ago that an 80/20 approach to eating works best for long-term weight control.
20% of the time (weekends) I eat and drink whatever the hell I want, having earned this ‘wiggle room’ by sticking with my Monday-Friday style of eating.
The key to avoiding weight gain with this approach is to still control portions. So if I’m having pizza, I have 3–4 slices, not the Mega Meal Deal of a large pizza + garlic bread + weird cheesy dipper things + a gallon of Coke all to myself.
Takeaway for You
Controlling your weight long term, there are no Evil Foods, just Counter-Productive Portions. Live your life and eat what you want sometimes, but don’t take the piss.
So What Do You Think?
Can you build a similar approach into your life? Or does even my fairly minimalist approach seem like too much to you?
I get it. If you’re doing nothing to get in shape right now, then anything looks like a lot, right? Suddenly changing diet, workouts, sleep, supplements, etc, feel like shaking things up too much.
Don’t worry — start smaller and build from there, Baby steps:
- Do a couple of 10-minute home workouts each week— a continuous circuit of Wall Squats, Push Ups & Plank — to show your limbic brain that exercising isn’t something only other people do. You can be someone who works out too.
- Don’t worry about changing your meals just yet. Just cut out anything that’s not a meal, and cut yourself off calories-wise after dinner. Earn some Weekend Wiggle Room.
- Don’t feel the need to take those supplements I take, but understand what YOU may benefit from for your hormonal balance, sleep, stress, or to support eventual workouts.
There is no big secret.
Nothing remotely hardcore is needed to get your *ss in shape. The real ‘hack’ here is to find a viable approach to ticking all those health and fitness boxes you can turn up and do week-in, week out.
