You’re never too old to train: calisthenics for over 50
Don is a grandfather AND a Calisthenics Athlete
Don
Join the tribe of Movement & Calisthenics Athletes – people just like you that are working with their own body weight to get strength, lose fat build muscle, recover from injuries and live their best lives!
Don works in the healthcare industry as an engineer. A father of three and grandfather of four, he’s always been an athlete.
“If your life remains static you wither and die spiritually, physically and mentally. Keep moving, keep learning and enjoy life with zest.”
Don has always been an active person. As a teenager, he played soccer and ran track, then later focused more attention and energy on martial arts, which he still trains today. “I have worked out my whole life.”
“I wanted to find a form of exercise that would give me functional strength and flexibility that would fit well into my martial arts.”
Life always takes over, but Don still worked out
Even though he raised his three children with his wife and worked a full-time job, Don never neglected his workouts. In fact, as a weightlifter, he trained like a bodybuilder.
“I got real serious about lifting weights and increased in size until I was up to 240lbs and could throw some heavy weight.”
However, weight training became counter-productive for Don. Being a martial artist, he needed mobility more than he needed a body heavy with muscle.
“It slowed me down big time doing martial arts.”
“I have seen so many guys that lift lots of weight in the gym but cannot do a push-up or one pull-up. I can, which translates to functional strength that you can use in real life.”
“I absolutely love the program. It fits well with my martial arts training and is challenging.”
The 3 main benefits Don has gained since starting calisthenics
It fits with his martial arts training
Don has explored many different training programs, but none of them meshed with his martial arts training. “It complements my martial arts where I need flexibility and added strength is a plus.”
When he weight trained, he actually lost some of his range-of-motion, which is so important to martial arts.
“I think functional strength is extremely important for life and complements many other athletic activities. I teach self-defense and the calisthenics is the stuff that keeps a man in shape and prepares him for whatever comes his way.”
It’s always challenging
Despite being a lifelong athlete, calisthenics is a challenge to Don. The Calisthenics Academy program has actually forced him to start at the very beginning, despite being in very good shape. “Doing a plank for me for 10 seconds was easy but holding for 30 seconds is more difficult.”
“It was a slight blow to my ego to start at the very beginning but I really wanted to learn from the bottom up.”
He’s learning new skills
Don might be able to train and teach in martial arts, but he acknowledges that he still has a lot he can learn. “[The] hardest part of the journey is learning exercises I have never done before, like headstands.”
Over-training with weights can lead to injury
Don explored many forms of exercise over the years, but focused his attention on weight training. It helped him gain massive amounts of muscle, but caused him to lose range-of-motion in martial arts.It also caused him to injure himself by over-training. “I started getting injuries from weight lifting that forced me to stop all exercise for up to 4-6 weeks at a crack.”
These injuries started piling up and dogging him. “After a couple of years of back injuries, I started looking for other forms of exercise.”
He tried a variety of training programs, but none were motivating or attention-grabbing in the long-term. They also felt didn’t complement his martial arts training, not really helping him progress.
“I wanted to find a form of exercise that would give me functional strength and flexibility that would fit well into my martial arts.”
Don doing the side plank
Finding The Movement Athlete
Before Don started with the The Movement Athlete, he tried another program. “I came across a course I could do at home that promised I could do one arm push ups, one arm pull ups, muscle ups, etc in 9 months.”
However, once he started the course, he kept getting injured. Taking a step back from the program, he realized that he was going through the program too quickly to learn proper form. “[I] realized [I] needed the help of experts in gymnastics and calisthenics.”
And so Don went to find a program that would support him in his needs.
“I stumbled across The Movement Athlete and started the program…It fits well with my martial arts training and is challenging.”
Don Doing Dips
“Give it a try. If you really want to master functional strength and improve your health this is the way to go. I have tried just about everything in my life and this is the very best way to get in the best shape that translates to real life.”
Don’s advice to anyone interested in starting calisthenics
With any workout discipline, you need to train consistently and be disciplined. “Be patient, it’s a journey not a 12-week wonder makeover workout.”
“If you want anything in life you must be disciplined. If you take on the challenge to pick a time during your week and make this a priority you will see results.”
So you still think you are too old to train with calisthenics? Let me answer your question:
Is 50 too old to start calisthenics?
No, 50 is not too old to start calisthenics. Calisthenics may be done by people of all ages. In reality, doing calisthenics in your 50s can help you keep in shape while also improving your overall fitness level. It’s actually advantageous to begin calisthenics when you’re in your fifties because you can avoid age-related muscle loss.
The most crucial part of any training is the evaluation that will modify the training to match your strength and mobility levels (and this is what this free assessment does)
Here are a few examples of people in their 50s who started calisthenics.
Read their stories under the links to see how they got started:
BJ, 57 – Why BJ switched from weight-lifting to calisthenics
Gerhard, 57 -How Gerhard got insanely strong and mobile without a gym
Stijin, 54 – How calisthenics helped Stijn overcome chronic illness
Adam, 52 – How to get stronger as you age
You can read more about how to start calisthenics at any age here.