When I came out of college I thought I wanted to be a coach. Always working with athletes. That seemed fun to me.

Then I started being a personal trainer. I worked with all different types of people. Young.. Old… Athletes… Normal population… Injured…

But then I realized something.

What I am good at and what I truly enjoy is helping 40+ people turn the clock back on their life.

They are so grateful for what it means in their life.

Now don’t get me wrong, I like to “moonlight” with a few athletes to keep me sharp and hip when it comes to the latest music and Tik Tok videos:).

But I know that I understand the 40+ year old body well since that is where I am at.

One of the questions asked in my mentor group the other day was:

“Do you do power training for “older” adults?? Well you should and you need to know the correct way.”

As our clients age, they lose strength and power and their ability to move fast. This is why they fall too often.

“Older clients who train for power will be more independent, fall less often, and get better faster after an injury. A real trifecta. (Mike Boyle- Strength Guru)

Key Takeaway:

We need to forget some of the crap about safety and start to figure out how to train all of our clients for power.

Check out this research:

Between the ages of 65 and 89, explosive lower-limb extensor power has been reported to decline at 3.5% per year compared to a 1-2% per year decrease in strength (Skelton et al. 1994).

Power is one of the major performance variables associated with independence (Foldvari et al. 2000), fall prevention (Whipple et al. 1987) and rehabilitation following injury (Lamb et al. 1995).

So how do we train older adults?

We train our clients for power, somehow.

Does this mean cleans and plyometrics for the boomer population or your grandparents? Probably not.

Just remember…Power is relative.

What constitutes a power exercise for an athlete is an exercise in insanity for the average adult.

We do this instead:

  • Lots of med ball stuff for general populations
  • Kettlebells/Sandbags
  • Speed/Agility Ladders
  • Plyometric/Olympic Lifts & variations for those that are “qualified.”

Real training provides our clients with real results that really affect their lives in a very special way!

We’d love to show you how we program here at Pinnacle Fitness in Scottsdale, so reach out for more information!

Building from the ground up.

~Luke