Last year, I wrote about how I train at 62 — the full program, the reasoning behind each component, the weekly structure, including an Enough, Better, and Optimal framework for each domain. It was the longest and most detailed account I’ve ever written of what I actually do and why I do it. A lot of you responded, and a number asked some follow-up questions I thought I would address. Especially since I age-up very soon.
Here it is.
ICYM the original training post:
Training at 62: What I Do, Why I Do It, and What’s at Stake If I Don’t
Sit back for a moment… this might be a lot longer than you anticipate. Not only will I go through my training week, but I will also discuss the rationale for it. So, some science, lots of training. And a downloadable guide at the end for Members.
But I want to be clear about what this post is and isn’t. It isn’t a rehash of the same program with a new number at the top. It’s what a year of actually living that program taught me — what held, what changed, what surprised me, and what the biology did that I didn’t fully expect. If the first post was the plan, this one is the honest accounting of the previous year.
What Worked: Strength
The most straightforward thing I can report is that progressive overload works. It works at 63 the same way it worked at 43. You load the tissue, the tissue adapts, you load it more. The timeline is longer than it was, and the recovery between sessions requires more attention, but the adaptation is real, and it keeps coming.
My bench press is close to what I was putting up in my thirties. My leg extension numbers rival those of athletes at my training facility who are decades younger. I didn’t expect that. I expected meaningful strength decline by now, and what I’ve found instead is that if you give the tissue a consistent, progressive mechanical signal, it responds. Sarcopenia is not inevitable — it is the consequence of an absent signal. Provide the signal, and the muscle strength holds up reasonably well.
I progressed more slowly than I wanted to early in the year, and that turned out to be right. When I tried to accelerate loading, I felt it in my connective tissue before in the muscle. At 63, the tendons are the rate-limiting factor, not the muscle. The muscle adapts faster than the connective tissue can keep up with. Patient progressive loading — more patient than felt necessary — was the approach that actually worked
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What I’ve Had to Accept: The Running Ceiling
I have hit a ceiling with running, and I’ve made peace with it.