Weight Loss Workouts: Top 3 Exercises For Men Over 50

When you’re searching for the best weight loss workouts for men over 50, you’re not just after some ‘tips and tricks’ are you?

Hell, no! You don't want gimmicks or fads — you want results, and you want to know exactly what to do to get them!

We'll show you right here, right now, with three tried and true weight loss workouts for men over 50 that have benefited thousands of men just like you — men who have made the decision to change their bodies, health, and, ultimately, their lives.

The Fit Father Project is a team of men's health doctors and trainers with a combined 40+ years of experience in men's health, and we want to provide you with all the information you need to lose weight, get fit, get healthy, and live longer for yourself and your family.

We have helped thousands of men lose weight and are on a mission to help thousands and thousands more. We're increasing our team of men’s health professionals so we can bring you more great resources to help you on your journey — so stay tuned!

So now that you know who we are and what we’re about, let’s get into what you came here for — the three best weight loss workouts for men over 50!

This article will teach you the proper way to do:

• • Strength Training To Build Essential Muscle

• • High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) To Increase Your Metabolism and Burn Fat Fast

• • Flexibility and Mobility To Prevent Injury and Get Rid of Aches and Pains

The 3 Best Weight Loss Workouts For Men Over 50: Your New Workout Plan

Workout 1: Strength Training To Build Essential Muscle

You may be thinking, “Do I really need to do strength training at my age?” The answer is a big YES!

For all guys over 50, strength training is essential to losing weight and staying strong.

I'm sure you have done strength training before, but remember that strength training workouts for men over 50 are noticeably different from the ‘bodybuilder splits' you may have tried back in the day.

As a man in your 50s, you no longer need to be doing specialized body-part-specific workouts like ‘chest and triceps on Monday' and ‘back and biceps on Tuesday.'

New research actually suggests that full-body strength training sessions a few times per week are one of the big secrets to losing fat and building muscle for guys over 50.

You will get the best results by training all muscle groups in a single workout, and full body strength training will help you maintain lean muscle and stay strong well into your 50s, 60s, and beyond.

It’s no longer all about building up the beach muscles to flex for the ladies! Don’t get me wrong, you’ll still be looking good, but strength training for health and weight loss should now be your primary focus.

As a guy over 50, you need to continue using the most effective “bang-for-your-buck” exercises, like squats, deadlifts, shoulder presses, and bench presses — these exercises are the foundation of any good strength program and will get you feeling fit and strong again in no time.

One of the most important things to remember is to do these exercises in a safe way and with strict form:

• • With squats, don't go lower than a 90-degree angle in your knees.

• • With deadlifts, work with a weight that allows you to keep a natural curve in your lower back.

• • With ANY full-body strength training workouts, you need to make sure you protect your joints.

• • Use dumbbells for these compound exercises instead of barbells to take pressure away from your shoulders and encourage joint stabilizer muscles to work.

Sample Strength Training Workouts

You can do your full-body workouts in a few ways.

You can complete the prescribed reps and sets in a basic format, in a circuit-like fashion, or as super-sets.

Here are some examples of each workout type:

Approach 1: Basic Sets and Reps (best for pure muscle building)

• Squats 1 x 12 – 30 secs rest – 1 x 12 – 60 secs rest
• Dumbbell bench press 1 x 12 – 30 secs rest – 1 x 12 – 60 secs rest
• Deadlifts 1 x 12 – 30 secs rest – 1 x 12 – 60 secs rest
• Overhead press 1 x 12 – 30 secs rest – 1 x 12 – 60 secs rest
• Bent over row 1 x 12 – 30 secs rest – 1 x 12 – 60 secs rest

Approach 2: Circuit-Style Strength Training (best for burning fat and increasing your metabolism)

• Squats 1 x 12 – no rest
• Bench Press 1 x 12 – no rest
• Deadlifts 1 x 12 – no rest
• Overhead Press 1 x 12 – no rest
• Bent over row 1 x 12 – no rest

Continue through all exercises on the plan with no rest in between, take 60 seconds rest, then repeat the circuit.

Approach 3: Super-Set Workouts (a time-efficient hybrid approach for muscle building and fat-burning)

• Squats 1 x 12 – no rest
• Shoulder Press 1 x 12 – 30 secs rest
• Repeat the super-set, then move to the next super-set of two different exercises

These formats mix up rest periods to include cardio work or to keep them more muscle-focused. The circuit would include the most cardio, with the super-set a happy medium and the sets and reps more on muscle.

Lifting weights after 50 might be even MORE important than lifting weights while you are young. Find out why!

Workout 2: High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) To Increase Your Metabolism and Burn Fat Fast

You should know right off the bat that low-impact HIIT training is your new fat-burning best friend. HIIT workouts are much more effective than long, slow cardio sessions in both time and results. That's great news for you as a busy man who needs to get stuff done!

Here are some top benefits of low-impact HIIT vs steady-state cardio:

• • HIIT requires a shorter overall workout time for better results.

• • HIIT Increases your metabolism for hours after your initial workout is completed – this is called “the afterburn effect.”

• • Studies show that HIIT can be up to 9 times more effective than traditional cardio, like jogging, at burning fat long-term.

• • With HIIT, there is much more variation, so you won't get bored with doing the “same old” workouts.

• • Studies show that HIIT can help lower glucose levels and aid with type 2 diabetes.

A low-impact HIIT workout will only take you 20 minutes and can be done on any piece of cardio equipment. It consists of a one-minute burst of high intensity, then one minute at a lower intensity.

An example would be walking on a treadmill at 3.5 mph (5 km/h). Your HIIT workout would look like this:

• Walk for one minute at a 1% gradient.
• Increase the gradient to 6% for one minute for your higher intensity.
• Continue to alternate between a 1% and 6% gradient every minute for 20 minutes.

As you get fitter, you can increase the gradient or increase the speed. We recommend walking on a steep incline gradient as your main way to increase intensity — rather than jogging to avoid too much impact on your knees.

As a guy in your 50s, low-impact HIIT should be your main formal workout for fat burning. The last thing you need to be doing now is box jumps and burpees! Keep it simple and keep it low-impact.

Here's a great HIIT bodyweight workout for fat loss that can be done from inside your home with NO equipment!

Workout 3: Flexibility and Mobility To Prevent Injury and Get Rid of Aches and Pains

You know how it feels as you get older. You start to feel the aches and pains kicking in, and you find that some movements aren’t as easy as they used to be. If this is how you feel right now, you need to get some flexibility and mobility workouts into your weekly plan!

I’m going to show you below how you can start to improve the discomfort of these aches and pains and maybe even get rid of them completely. Becoming more flexible and mobile will help you with everything you do in life, not just exercise.

Try to get into the habit of doing these three things:

• • Mobility exercises each morning to prime your body for the day ahead.

• • Dynamic flexibility before your workouts (active warm-up; not holding long stretches).

• • Static flexibility (holding stretches for longer) after your workout sessions.

I’m going to quickly break down each of these categories above to show you how to stay flexible and pain-free.

The Morning Mobility Routine For Guys 50+

In the morning, your main aim is to mobilize your body by doing these six exercises for 20 seconds each.

• Neck twist flexions and extensions (slow and controlled)
• Shoulder rolls and arm swings
• Spinal twists, flexion, and extensions (slow and controlled)
• Hip flexion, extension, and rotation
• Knee flexion, extension, and rotation
• Ankle flexion, extension, and rotation

If you practice these exercises, you will soon notice an improvement in any stiffness you have in your body and joints. Add in the flexibility exercises, and you'll feel like a new man ready to take on the day.

Another consideration when you start exercising is the risk of injury, especially in later life. Lots of guys will go headlong into new weight loss workouts for men over 50, only to have to stop after a few weeks due to an injury of one type or another.

The most common injuries we see as trainers are in the knees, lower back, and shoulders. These are key areas you need to look after and ensure you get enough stretching into the surrounding muscles and mobility into the joints.

Remember to stretch before and after every workout!

Here's how to warm up before a workout:

And here are some great post-workout stretching exercises:

Last, and Certainly Not Least, Remember That A Healthy Diet Is By Far The Best “Weight Loss Workout” Of All!

This is one of our most famous mantras here at the Fit Father Project:

You can't out-exercise a bad diet!

What that means is that no matter how well you carry out the exercises we have shown you above, if you have a bad diet, you will find it hard to make consistent progress in your weight loss.

Let me give you a little perspective on what I mean.

A large order of McDonald's fries contains 510 calories. To burn off those calories would take one hour of jogging. I'm sure you'll agree, it's easier not to eat the fries!

Instead of asking you to count calories (because we know that's a pain), here at the FFP, we use a method called the Perfect Plate — three basic rules to follow for each meal:

• • Fill ¼ of your plate with lean protein, such as chicken, turkey, lean beef, or fish.

• • Fill ¼ of your plate with complex carbs, like sweet potato, brown rice, or quinoa.

• • Fill ½ of your plate with veggies. Try to get a good mix of colors (but greens are best) and a combination of vitamins and minerals.

You will lose weight if you follow these simple steps and use good, healthy foods. Combine it with the weight loss workouts for men over 50 that we have shared above, and you are on the right track to being in the best shape of your life in no time at all.

Having found the FFP, you are joining a brotherhood of men on exactly the same journey as you. We are excited to have you on board and will be here every step of the way to support and guide you to achieving your weight loss goals.

 

*Please know that weight loss results & health changes/improvements vary from individual to individual; you may not achieve similar results. Always consult with your doctor before making health decisions. This is not medical advice – simply very well-researched info on weight loss workouts for men over 50.