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I’m a yoga teacher and I’ve just turned 40—here are five things I’m changing about the way I exercise
Forty is the new 30, right? Try telling that to your aching muscles and creaking joints as they gear up for their 40th (and counting) lap around the sun.
In reality, as we age the elixir of youth starts to fade and we have to work harder and train smarter to protect our bodies from the general wear and tear of modern living.
This has recently dawned on Nick Higgins, co-founder and head of teaching at Hotpod Yoga. “I’m 40 now and I’ve noticed a massive difference between 30 and 40,” he tells Fit&Well.
“In my 30s, I might have done a half marathon without much training and I’d just crack on. And yeah, I felt sore after, but I definitely couldn’t do that now.
“Now, I’m much more conscious of tightness, injuries, and doing too many high-impact sports like running. I notice my body getting challenged more by all that.”
As we get older, Higgins says we should all adapt the way we move and exercise to offset the body’s natural aging process.
This includes doing more weight-bearing and strength-building activities to combat the loss of bone density and muscle mass.
These natural processes will only accelerate in our 50s and 60s, he adds, so the earlier we start, the better.
“I’m conscious that speed, strength, mobility, agility, cardio, all of those [attributes] are going to start to dissipate,” he says.
“I know it’s coming and if I want to be able to play with my kids for longer, and play with my potential grandkids, I need to do as many activities as possible that will slow the aging process down.”
Higgins says he will continue to regularly practice yoga, which he describes as “anti-aging” due to its low-impact, strengthening and mobilizing effects, but now he plans to add these other activities into his routine to “address weaknesses” and “prevent atrophy”—the wasting away of body tissues.
If you don’t already practice yoga, Higgins says this should also be on your list to help keep you feeling young for as long as possible.
Here are the five ways that Higgins is exercising differently in his 40s to train for longevity.
1. Strength training
(Image credit: Getty Images / ljubaphoto)
Higgins has started to spend slightly less time on the yoga mat and more time in the weights room—or at least with his set of dumbbells at home.
“I’m much more aware that I’m not as strong as I was in my 30s,” he says. “I’m noticing more weakness in my legs. I’m not as stable.”
Now Higgins will try to hit at least two 30-minute full-body strength workouts per week, targeting all the major muscle groups of the legs, chest, back, shoulders and arms.
2. Calisthenics
To counter-balance all the pushing and pressing actions involved in yoga, Higgins has turned to bodyweight training to strengthen his back, biceps and grip.
“I do a lot of pushing activities in yoga. I do a lot of stretching, a lot of mobility, and that’s great,” he says. “But calisthenics has been a real eye-opener.”
Now he will incorporate lots of pull-ups, chin-ups, rows with resistance bands and simply hanging from a bar to balance out his physique and strengthen his pulling power.
Combined, these exercises should also boost his grip strength, which several studies suggest has a direct correlation to a longer life.
3. Low-impact cardio
(Image credit: Getty Images / Halfpoint Images)
In place of high-impact running, Higgins plans to swap in more low-impact cardio like swimming.
“Swimming is incredible for cardio, it’s soft on the joints and it’s also strength building,” says Higgins.
“As a longevity piece, that’s a great activity. Add to that the range of motion you get with every stroke, its benefits for breathing and the mind, and it is a real game changer.”
4. Reaction training
With each passing year, Higgins has noticed himself slowing down—or at least his reaction speeds slowing down.
“I’ve started to become more conscious of my weaknesses, and therefore I’m having to make a more conscious effort to not let that atrophy,” says Higgins.
Now he plays more games and sports that involve fast reactions and agility.
“I’ve thought, how can I make this fun, rather than really dry, so I’ve started playing more activity games, like badminton, and I use this boxing game mounted to a wall with lights that tests your reaction speed.”
5. Removing roadblocks
Lastly, with time an ever-diminishing resource, the Hotpod Yoga co-founder has tried to make all of the above activities as frictionless as possible.
“How do you create your environment to suit what you want?” he asks. For Higgins, that meant buying a pair of parallettes and a pull-up bar for his yoga studio so he can do more calisthenics.
“At home I’ve done the same thing so I basically can’t get away from it. That’s the only way I’m going to do it or else I’ll get distracted by work and life.”
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