Workout Workbook

Hard-Body Over 40 7 Power Tips for Men to Regain Youthful Strength and Shape

Hard-Body Over 40 7 Power Tips for Men to Regain Youthful Strength and Shape

Copyright 2021 by Scott Abbett All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this eBook or portions thereof in any form whatsoever without the express written permission of the author. Legal Notice The information contained in this book is for entertainment and educational purposes only. It is not intended as medical advice or as a substitute for medical counseling. Do not use any of the exercise techniques or eating guidelines discussed in this book without first consulting a qualified physician. Only under the guidance and counseling of such a qualified physician should any of the information herein be put into practice. If you choose not to obtain the consent of your physician and work with your physician throughout the duration of your time using the recommendations in this book, you are agreeing to accept full responsibility for your actions. The author and publisher expressly disclaim responsibility for any adverse effects, damages, or losses arising from the application or misuse of the information contained herein.

Congratulations on your decision to download and read this special report. As you take just 10 – 20 minutes of time to read it carefully, you’ll get the most pivotal steps for gaining control of your physical image and wellbeing after the age of forty. Distilled in just 7 simple chunks of advice, this report gives you the foundation for becoming lean, muscular, and strong during so- called “middle age.” The 7 tips are comprised of three eating strategies and four workout or training strategies. When combined, they work synergistically whereby the total effect is greater than the sum of the individual parts. Who am I, you ask? I’m Scott Abbett, owner of the website Above-40 Body Hacker. The website’s name describes what I do. Specifically, I discover and share shortcuts (“hacks”) to help you get into better physical shape after age 40. This is something by which I live. As I write these words, I just had my 57th birthday. I’m actually stronger and in better shape now than I was at 27. So I’m not only a theorist; I’m a practitioner with results to share. I’m also not an under-40 youngster trying to tell older guys how to get in shape without being in their age group. I’m in the trenches with you, experimenting with a body well past its fifth decade. Here’s a big question: Is the formula for building a stronger, leaner, more muscular body “different” for older guys? Yes, Absolutely! And don’t take the word of anyone telling you differently. I claim that with utmost confidence because I’m convinced it requires a change even from how most young guys attempt it. This is something I explain with greater detail in other material. For now, let’s just stick with the basics. 4 7 Power Tips for Men to Regain Youthful Shape After 40

The 7 Power Tips in this report will sound simple. Combined, however, they’re extremely effective. My ability to keep getting in better shape with age is based on these simple but uniquely combined principles. So without further rambling, here’s number one… 5 7 Power Tips for Men to Regain Youthful Shape After 40

01 Train Your Body’s 3 Mass Areas for Muscle-Producing Volume First, what do I mean by your “3 Mass Areas?” I’m referring to your chest, upper back, and legs. These are the body’s areas that carry the most muscle. As we get older, they’re the areas that suffer the greatest loss of solid mass due to neglect. This process of age-related muscle loss is called ‘sacropenia.’ It does the most damage to our once-youthful shapes by shrinking these big bodily spaces. This further wreaks havoc on our metabolisms as calorie-burning muscle disappears from the body in large swaths. Actually, there’s a fourth key area that’s considered part of the legs: the glutes. The butt muscles are a huge reservoir of potential metabolism-enhancing, athletic-strengthening muscle mass. If you feel you’ve lost muscle or have never had it in these areas, do NOT despair. It is a totally reversible situation. How do we most easily reverse that? We aim for muscle-producing volume. We don’t go into a gym and start trying to 6 7 Power Tips for Men to Regain Youthful Shape After 40

raise our maximum lifts on bench presses or dead-lifts. That’d be a recipe for injury when above 40 in age. Instead, we use ‘volume’ improvements as our goals and measurement device. For example, let’s take our legs. Let’s say I’m on one of those horizontal leg press machines and I can set the weight pin at the 150-pound plate and do 10 repetitions comfortably, albeit with some hard work on the final repetitions. Let’s also say that I can do 5 sets like this. My volume is 150 x 10 x 5 = 7,500 lbs. What should be my long-term goal? How about being able to set the pin at the 200-pounds plate for the same performance? Once I can do that, my volume on the exercise will be 200 x 10 x 5 = 10,000 lbs. Why measure volume instead of dead weight? Two reasons. 1. It allows us to coax our muscles into growth rather than trying to force them. 2. It allows for precision feedback so that we can adjust for a precise amount of stress. Muscles need to be coaxed into growth, not forced. This becomes even more important when we’re over 40. In addition, to get muscles growing, there needs to be an effective ratio between 7 7 Power Tips for Men to Regain Youthful Shape After 40

the amount of stress (training work) and the length of recuperation (rest days). We’ll talk more about this later. For now, the point is that building these three key areas (chest, back, legs/glutes) is vital for youth-generating reversal of sarcopenia. It’s also essential for fat loss resulting from a more youthful metabolism. Using volume as our method and for our goal-setting is vital for building these areas back up. Does this mean we forget about showy muscles like arms and shoulders? Of course not. Those are the fun body parts that top everything off. But gyms around the world are filled with guys who have overdeveloped arms and deltoids, thanks partly to widespread use of steroids. However, when you do use the ‘volume method’ with your arms and shoulders as well, you’ll be VERY happy with the results. Just look at this testimonial I received from a guy who I put on this training method… “...It’s actually fun, and I’m not completely exhausted all the time trying to force my body into shape. I tear it down in the gym and it just grows bigger on it’s own! And I used to think if I didn’t go to the gym every day that I would lose size, like a deflating balloon, but I go to the gym less often now, and when I go to wash my hands at the sink and look in the mirror it’s like “HOLY SH*T who’s arms are you wearing?” Seth Young Killeen, Texas Let’s make sure we build the foundational muscles of youth and athleticism. Enough about Power Tip #1. 8 7 Power Tips for Men to Regain Youthful Shape After 40

02 Shift Eating Away from Starch/ Sugar and Toward Protein and Fibrous Veggies Most fad diets on the market have one thing in common. They ask adherents to reduce carbohydrate intake. More specifically, they require reducing or eliminating starch and sugar in favor of fibrous carbohydrates (vegetables). The reason is simple. Carbohydrates are our biggest source of food energy. When we get fat by consuming more energy than we’re expending, carbohydrate is much of the culprit. Even greater the culprits are the simplest forms of carbohydrates (sugars). The easiest way to begin losing body fat is to simply displace most of the starch “I lost 30 lbs. of body fat by simply switching from eating meals like that on the left to ones like that on the right. No calorie-counting involved.” 9 7 Power Tips for Men to Regain Youthful Shape After 40

and sugar in your diet with vegetables and a bit more protein. Does this sound too simple? I know from experience that it’s not. I lost 50 lbs. of excess body weight by starting with these three bulleted changes. While making my meals a bit smaller, I greatly decreased starch and eliminated sugar. I increased fibrous vegetables for better health. I slightly increased protein for muscle growth and better satiety. That’s it; I did nothing else to my eating. I added a vigorous daily walk to this and it accelerated the fat loss. No fancy fad diets, no calorie calculations, no macro-nutrient counting. It was an eyeball/go-by-feel approach. The “feel” part came by making sure I felt just a bit less than total satiety at the end of each meal. I wanted to feel just a little hungry still. When this simple ‘Power Tip #2’ is combined with #1 and (later) #4, their synergistic effect kicks in. But I also want to get you pumped up right now for Power Tip #7. When I said you’d still be able to eat some starch and sugar that you love, I meant it. We’ll combine that eating Power Tip with this one and the other eating changes. That’s when some good synergism really kicks in. 10 7 Power Tips for Men to Regain Youthful Shape After 40

03 Focus on Compensatory Recuperation from Workouts This third Power Tip has made more after each workout. Most guys do impact on my body than any other. I experience recovery (line moving believe it will do the same for you. upward) after each training session. But by being overly-focused on People often forget that improving the workouts, barely enough time is body with resistance exercise requires provided for “recovery”, much less two elements for success. It requires full recuperation. Thus, average ‘working out’ (training) the muscle. It results lay along the dotted line, then requires resting (recuperating) which is unchanged muscle size. the muscle. That’s because ‘recuperation’ is Not understanding the full importance actually not even enough. Much like of muscle recuperation causes many scar tissue forms on your skin after guys to experience stalled progress. a deep cut, muscle needs to build a Over time, this results in what’s little extra tissue after you’ve torn it illustrated on this graph… down with training… The yellow dots are workouts (training … Recuperation + extra tissue = sessions). The solid line represents Muscle Growth muscle tissue having undergone ‘damage’, shown by the line’s But this takes time. The muscles downward movement to the right need enough time to add the extra tissue. The following graph illustrates what really NEEDS to occur for natural muscle growth. In this graph, the blue dots are workouts (stimulus), the red dots are points where “recovery” took place, and the dotted lines are 11 7 Power Tips for Men to Regain Youthful Shape After 40

the additional time needed for the muscles enough time to acquire ‘compensatory recuperation.’ compensatory recuperation (extra tissue), they won’t grow bigger and stronger for your effort. If they don’t grow bigger and stronger for your effort, you’ve WASTED YOUR TIME. Compensatory recuperation means Really! The purpose of resistance that extra tissue was built so the exercise is to build size and strength. body can handle more volume next If you engage in the practice without time. It’s like the scar tissue made building size and strength, then by a cut on our skin. If we allow you’re right where you’d be if you compensatory recuperation (dotted didn’t engage in the practice at all. line) to occur before the next workout (blue dot) we’ll get a constant “Well, the muscles will be worked”, upward trend in muscle growth. one might argue. Stimulus + Compensatory So what? There’s no evidence that Recuperation Optimization “worked” muscles create any benefit. (SCRO) Unless, of course, those worked muscles are allowed to GROW from Just remember… “SCRO to grow.” being worked. Most people never think about how The work merely creates stimulation much time the muscles need. They for growth. But time off is what just make a schedule: “I’ll work out actually allows the growth to happen. on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and I’ll take Tuesday, Thursday and I don’t mean to beat a dead horse the weekends off.” here but this point has to be driven home. If we don’t provide enough That sounds like enough time off, time for compensatory recuperation, right? we’ll waste time with unrewarded effort. Maybe, maybe not; it depends on a number of factors. I wasted a LOT of time in the past. But here’s the point. If you don’t give How do I make sure I NEVER waste time now? How does every minute I train result in muscle gains? 12 7 Power Tips for Men to Regain Youthful Shape After 40

I keep a simple and easy record. Then I adjust the rest days to the volume feedback I get from that record. Remember the “volume” mentioned in Power Tip #1? Here it is again. It’s the example of a horizontal leg press machine. I set the weight pin at the 150-pound plate and do 10 repetitions. I do sets like this until I can no longer get 10 reps. If I can get 5 sets of 10 complete reps, my volume is 150 x 10 x 5 = 7,500 lbs. Once again, when I can move 10,000 lbs in the future with those five sets, my legs will be bigger and stronger. Here’s the key: If my records show me moving toward that higher volume within my sets, then I’m doing fine. If they don’t, I simply… … Add MORE rest days for my legs. I know, it sounds wrong. Adding rest days sounds like slacking off. But if muscles are given intense enough stimulation, then they need more days out of the gym resting than in the gym working in order to grow. This is especially the case after age 40. I can’t drive this point home enough. But we’ll come back to this topic with more detail later. 13 7 Power Tips for Men to Regain Youthful Shape After 40

04 Eat Breakfast Later and Dinner Earlier to create a Smaller Window of Eating Time This is the mini version of ‘Intermittent Fasting.’ It requires that you only reduce your eating time each day by about three hours. Just eat your first meal later and your final meal earlier. That’s super easy and super effective. What’s more, when you combine this small change with Power Tip #2 (‘Shift Eating Away from Starch/Sugar and toward Protein and Fiber’), it creates a super synergistic effect. A slight reduction in your eating time window and a decent cutting of starch/sugar can slash significant body fat over time. But how well does this Power Tip #4 work by itself? Researchers took 24 obese people and allowed them to eat only between the hours of 10 AM and 6 PM. What’s more, this experimental group was allowed to eat whatever and however much they wanted during those eight hours. A control group ate as normally and naturally had an extended eating time 14 7 Power Tips for Men to Regain Youthful Shape After 40

of between 9:30 AM to 8:30 PM. The study went on for a twelve week period. The results were significant. With just their three-hour cutback in daily eating time, the test subjects (10 AM to 6 PM eaters) had a 20% reduction in their calorie intake. This resulted in a 4.4 lbs. average drop in body weight. Even more compelling is that these people did not lose lean body mass (muscle); they dropped only fat. 15 7 Power Tips for Men to Regain Youthful Shape After 40

05 Use Progressive Volume Overload to Set Goals for Every Workout Recall the focus on volume introduced with Power Tips #1 and #3. We talked about how the three mass areas of the body need to be built in order to reverse sarcopenia and bring back youthful strength, size, and shape. We talked about volume needing to be the focus instead of dead workout weight. I emphasized how compensatory recuperation needs to be at least as important as workouts themselves. Here’s a key addition: Volume overload needs to be the goal during EVERY workout. Many guys realize they need to lift something heavier in the future in order to be stronger than they are now. However, they focus too much on dead weight instead of volume. To illustrate the difference, let’s go back to my leg press example. We said I’m currently doing five sets of ten repetitions with 150 lbs. (150 x 10 x 5 = 7,500 lbs.) I’m aiming to eventually get 10,000 lbs. of volume on these five sets of this exercise. How do I get there? Here’s what I won’t do. Here’s what doesn’t work for an above-40 ‘body hacker.’ I will never again start slapping on more weight and attempting to force the muscle into growth. That backfires, even for the young guys. That’s why many of them resort to steroids again and again. 16 7 Power Tips for Men to Regain Youthful Shape After 40

Instead, I coax the muscles using slight increases of volume combined with decreases in workout time. Okay, ‘time’… there’s something we haven’t talked about yet. But time is a very valuable tool for coaxing muscles. We’ll get to that in a minute. Let’s just say I decide to move the weight stack pin to the 160 lbs plate and try to force more strength from my legs. That’s what a lot of guys do. I might only get two or three sets of ten reps and then my muscles will fail. So even with more workout weight, I can’t move as much volume. Unless… I use more rest time. It’s possible when I did the 150 lbs for 5 sets of 10, I took about three minutes of rest time between sets. Maybe if I use 3.5 or four minutes of rest between sets, I could get the 160-pound weight for the same 5 sets of 10. I have another option. I can I can slowly start decreasing work the 150-pound weight for inter-set rest time again. Over and a few workouts until I work up over I do this, slowly augmenting to doing six or seven timed weight/sets/reps/rest time until sets. Then I can start coaxing I reach my goal of 10,000 lbs of the muscle to more growth volume. by slowly decreasing the time between sets. Once my legs are strong with that, I can increase the weight a bit, maybe by five pounds. THEN… I can start the process again, coaxing the muscles with this higher workout weight until I can get the same number of sets as before. Then 17 7 Power Tips for Men to Regain Youthful Shape After 40

Volume ≥ Time = Muscle Growth This resistance training formula provides a definite goal and concrete feedback for each and every workout. That precision feedback is then used to adjust rest days to the exact amount of stimulus that creates training goal achievement. This is the most effective natural muscle building formula I’ve experienced. When actual muscle growth – NOT just activity-driven weight lifting workouts – is combined with the eating changes of these 7 Power Tips, the results just keep getting better. 18 7 Power Tips for Men to Regain Youthful Shape After 40

06 Switch to Measurable Workouts and Flexible Recovery to Reach Workout Goals In order for results to just keep getting The key to making that happen? better, muscles need to consistently get stronger and bigger. When We adjust the number of rest days they do, they eat up more calories, – with no real upper limit to the displace body fat, and put youthful number – until our volume gains are shape back into the body. maximized and steady. For this to occur, the volume This runs counter to how most of us increases/rest-time decreases have been taught to train. We’ve described in Power Tip #5 must be been told to use “muscle confusion” maximized. They need to occur with resulting in un-measurable every training session. This provides workouts. Then we’re given very rigid each workout with a measurable schedules consisting of a fixed (low) goal. number of rest days between those workouts. Moreover, we believe if we extend those rest days by “missing 19 7 Power Tips for Men to Regain Youthful Shape After 40

workouts”, our results will suffer. What were the results? “Well, Scott,” you might say. “Where Ongoing muscle gains. Never a is evidence that this isn’t true?” plateau in progress. A continuously stronger, leaner, and more muscular Let’s start with anecdotal evidence. body. Many guys training with weights notice a strange phenomenon. It’s all based on the framework of They’ll go on vacation or away on measured workouts combined with a business trip resulting in a short flexibly extended rest days between hiatus from training. While doing so, workouts. they typically fear losing strength from their training layoff. What most often happens instead is illustrated in words I’ve heard again and again through the years… “When I returned to my workouts after two weeks off, I was STRONGER; not weaker.” Combine this with a bit scientific evidence. A 20 1 3 a ni ma l s tu dy showed that muscle molecules become de-sensitized to protein synthesis (recuperation) after a series of frequent training sessions. The study revealed the way to re-sensitize the molecules was with an intentional detraining session. I’ve taken evidence from both the anecdotal feedback and the science and simply added “detraining” after EVERY training session. In other words, I’ve shifted to infrequent workouts. I had nothing to lose by attempting this because evidence showed it would at least NOT cause a loss of muscle. 20 7 Power Tips for Men to Regain Youthful Shape After 40

07 Save Your Biggest Food ‘Weaknesses’ for 12 – 48 hours after Resistance Training How can you keep V-shaping your body and still enjoy fattening foods? How can you get more muscular, plus get leaner and harder while never totally depriving yourself of carbs you love? By first following Power Tips 1 – 6 and then topping them off with this one: Simply save your most calorie-dense sugar and starch cravings (‘cheat meals’) for the period of 12 to 48 hours after resistance workouts. When you get the rest of the formula So-called ‘cheat meals’ are more effective really dialed in, your body will when they’re well-timed absolutely NEED some simple sugar for replenishment and building. This Another factor is how much food is especially so in the first hours AFTER is in your system when you train. If a successful ‘volume-increasing’ you train on an empty stomach, as workout. But it can carry on for up to 48 I do, the post-workout calorie burn or even 72 hours, depending on other is greater and can carry on longer. factors. One concept being referred to What other factors? here is EPOC, short for Excess Post- exercise Oxygen Consumption. Well, for one thing, how intense the effort of training you put forth. This is tied to how far you excel on volume increases with each workout. 21 7 Power Tips for Men to Regain Youthful Shape After 40

it’s BEING constructed and while you’re at rest AFTER it’s been added. By the time the accelerated calorie- burn from recuperation has been exhausted, it’s time to start muscle- building workouts again. This is efficiency epitomized. Weight training burns calories only when it’s done Most guys don’t experience this effectively to build muscle because they train too often. Their weight training tears down fibers It’s an increase in oxygen uptake that never have enough time to above resting levels that happens build compensatory tissue we after exercise. Increased oxygen talked about earlier. Thus, their consumption requires energy. Greater resistance workouts simply become energy requirement burns calories. like aerobic workouts; they burn calories but never build calorie- But there’s another phenomenon at burning muscle. This is inefficiency play after lifting weights. It’s called Post at its worst. Heavy-Training Energy Expenditure (PHTEE). It’s energy needed by our Now, you might wonder why I’d bodies to recuperate torn down tissue advocate eating high-starch, high after resistance training. Research sugar foods after saying to cut shows it as an even more potent calorie them in Power Tip #2. This is not an gobbler than EPOC. encouragement to eat them; you’re better off eliminating them entirely. It’s especially most effective to abstain from them completely when you’re first starting out and building momentum with this formula. Here’s the strange and exciting But if you want to re-introduce thing I’ve discovered. When your them so as to not spend a lifetime optimal workout/rest-day schedule is in deprivation, consuming them in discovered – which likely requires more the hours after resistance training is rest days than workout days – fast and your best bet. Doing so has allowed steady muscle growth actually occurs. me to continually keep fat off while When this happens, the body turns into building muscle. It’s also helped a calorie-burning machine even as me build and keep high insulin rest days outnumber workout days. The sensitivity. added tissue burns calories both while 22 7 Power Tips for Men to Regain Youthful Shape After 40

Conclusion Let’s take a collective look at the 7 Power Tips of Above-40 Muscle Hacking for men. When combined effectively, they can produce outstanding results with nothing more than the basic implementation described in this report. Success with them is dependent only on an honest effort in understanding, combining, and practicing them. 1. Train Your Body’s 3 Mass Areas for Muscle-Producing Volume 2. Shift Eating Away from Starch/Sugar and Toward Protein and Fibrous Veggies 3. Focus on ‘Compensatory Recuperation’ from Workouts 4. Eat Breakfast Later and Dinner Earlier to create a Smaller Window of Eating Time 5. Use Progressive Volume Overload to Set Goals for Every Workout 6. Switch to Measurable Workouts and Flexible Recovery to Reach Workout Goals 7. Save Your Biggest Food ‘Weaknesses’ for 12 – 48 hours after Resistance Training The 7 Power Tips are all you need to be on your way to better strength, leanness, and shape. They’re the foundation of what I’m doing to defy the downward trend that typically accompanies “middle age.” However, each Power Tip can be enhanced to further effectiveness with more detailed attention. I’ve discovered powerful ways of boosting the results of each one. For example, just a simple shift in how you perform certain exercises can make an enormous difference in whether you change the shape of stubborn body parts. Or just one little-known, dirt-cheap supplement you can find on Amazon could make Power Tip #3 twice as potent (Btw, it’s NOT creatine). … And that’s just the beginning. Supplements are something I cover regularly in weekly emails that follow this report. This is information unavailable anywhere else. That’s because, frankly, nobody does body improvement the way I’m doing it. You’ll want to stay tuned for those emails so you’ll be updated on my latest findings – things that might make you wish you’d known these tips and shortcuts earlier. But alas, it’s never too late. Forty or above will be the beginning of a NEW YOU! To Your Success, Scott Abbett 7 Power Tips for Men to Regain Youthful Shape After 40 23

References 1. Kelly B Scribner, Dorota B Pawlak, Cristin M Aubin, Joseph A Majzoub, David S Ludwig. ‘Long-term effects of dietary glycemic index on adiposity, energy metabolism, and physical activity in mice’ American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism (Vol. 295, No. 5) Nov 2008 2. Riki Ogasawara, Koji Kobayashi, Arata Tsutaki, Kihyuk Lee, Takashi Abe, Satoshi Fujita, Koichi Nakazato, and Naokata Ishii. ‘mTOR signaling response to resistance exercise is altered by chronic resistance training and detraining in skeletal muscle.’ Journal of Applied Physiology (Volume 114, Issue 7, Pgs. 934-940) April 2013 3. Gabel, Kelseya | Hoddy, Kristin K.a | Haggerty, Nicolea | Song, Jeeheea | Kroeger, Cynthia M.a; b | Trepanowski, John F.a | Panda, Satchidanandac | Varady, Krista A.a; ‘Effects of 8-hour time restricted feeding on body weight and metabolic disease risk factors in obese adults: A pilot study’ Nutrition and Healthy Aging (Vol. 4, No. 4, pp. 345-353) June 2018 4. Rania A. Mekary, Anders Grøntved, Jean‐Pierre Despres, Leandro Pereira De Moura, Morteza Asgarzadeh, Walter C. Willett, Eric B. Rimm, Edward Giovannucci , Frank B. Hu. ‘Weight training, aerobic physical activities, and long‐term waist circumference change in men.’ Obesity (Volume 23, Issue 2, Pages 461-467) Feb 2015 5. Hwang, Paul S.; Andre, Thomas L.; McKinley-Barnard, Sarah K.; Morales Marroquín, Flor E.; Gann, Joshua J.; Song, Joon J.; Willoughby, Darryn S. ‘Resistance Training–Induced Elevations in Muscular Strength in Trained Men Are Maintained After 2 Weeks of Detraining and Not Differentially Affected by Whey Protein Supplementation’ Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research (Vol. 31 - Issue 4 - p 869-881) April 2017 Copyright 2021, by Scott Abbett. All rights reserved. 24 7 Power Tips for Men to Regain Youthful Shape After 40