Ok guys and girls…back from. My extended holiday. One and a half month. To Singapore, Maldives and Pearly Beach. Well rested and also took a break from gym for the most part although had a couple of weeks training midway through in Maldives Which was great since it helps a lot to keep the shape during my long break.

As of yesterday, start hitting the gym again after holiday. Did not pick up 1kg and bodyfat close to the same as before holiday. Muscle size also the same, although I might have lost a little tone. But that will be recovered within the first month back at gym. At my age I am keeping the balance. It is not all about just training and more training. The balance is what equals to a happy life.

But with this vid I want to focus on a question one of my clients asked me. Jeff (of the USA) asked “ Lots of sites are claiming for men over 40, that they need to work each body part 3-4 times a week. Gert, what is your take on this?”

This is a rather critical point an boils down to the basics as to why older guys get it wrong.

First you must determine what your goals is.

If it is to add maximum lean muscle size and shape, then key muscle groups more than once a week is out! Muscle growth is initiated through applying strain on the muscle to the point that it cannot cope (muscle failure). Doing a whole sessions of a particular muscle group with this failure training will mean the body needs significant time to recover and repair the damaged/strained muscle. And only after it has been fully healed does the body start with the growth process.

Both of these process takes significant time (5-7 days in total depending on how strained the muscle was) Training the muscle again before the above cycle is complete will simply mean smaller muscles since the muscle never have enough time to repair and grow before it is strained again.

Thus, key muscle groups, meaning everything except calves and abs, should be trained intensely once a week. Abs and calves can be trained 2 up to 3 times a week. They are a muscle type that responds to intense more frequent training better than all other muscle groups.

There is a place for working each bodypart 3-4 times a week for the older guy. But that is only the first few months of starting out with training or during a rehab training environment which I for example had for 18 months after my disasterous 2017 illness.

But the moment that rehab is over then you should go back on the training key muscle groups once a week. This obviously applies only to a training regime where in each session you train to failure with your sets. This is and always will be the way to ignite optimal growth.

Sure moderate growth can be obtained through different training mechanism and more frequent training, but that is why you need to decide what your goal is. If it is maximum lean muscle then training to failure is the undisputed king.

Until what age? Take it as far as you can but with wisdom. Never train through pain! The moment pain is a problem, alter your exercise, way of training or even your intensity. I for example apply supersetting stringing up to 5 exercises back to back to allow me to reach muscle failure with lighter weights to make the strain on the old body less.

But the key remains muscle failure by which ever way you obtain it…just not cardio because then your muscles will literally shrink! Cardio is the biggest muscle size killer.

So guys go and train hard but train WISE!

Those that want to find out more about how you can obtain my system customized for your body and goals, just follow this link: https://gertlouw.com/my-transformation-secrets/

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 Lastly, you can order any of the supplements/training gear/TRT/Peptides/Sarm’s/etc. that I discussed in all my articles through my SUPPLEMENTS ORDER page. Specifically created for my clients but now also available for my followers. Some good discounts also on that page. Only supplements that WORK listed and with the necessary science studies to back it up.

Cheers everyone…see you next week!

Gert Louw