By Craig Huntington

I've been hearing this disturbingly foolish notion lately from a lot of men my age that weight lifting just isn't for them anymore. It was something they did when they were younger for sports or to look good for the ladies.
 
Now in their late 30's and early 40's, many have taken up other activities in the pursuit of fitness like triathlons and marathon running.  These guys are selling themselves short if they believe lifting weights should only be done by pro athletes and young guys who want to pump their pecs.
 
I believe the main issue here is that most men don't want to spend 10 hours a week in the gym beating up their joints the way they used to do it in the old days. I don't blame them because I wouldn't want to either. The problem is they don't think there's another option.
 
Fantastic results can be achieved in as little a 2-3 sessions a week, lasting no longer than 20-40 minutes per workout. Because the movements are performed in a smooth controlled manner this can also be accomplished with very little wear and tear on the joints.
 
Two of the more common age related problems for the average male are muscle loss and declining hormones. A man's testosterone and HGH levels begin to decrease at approximately 20-30 years of age. Jogging and other forms of low intensity work are not demanding enough to stimulate the muscular and hormonal increases desired to slow the aging process.
 
Performing intense bouts of physical activity is the most effective way to slow down this process*. The high intensity style of strength training practiced by us and our clients is by far the safest and most productive form of exercise for this purpose.  Plain old physical activity just won't cut it.
 
If triathlons are your cup of tea, fine, but you should be engaged in regular weekly strength training. Weight lifting will enhance your ability to do any activity and yes - make you manlier! There should be no need for that little blue pill no matter how old you are.

* Want to know what the second most effective way to slow down this aging process is? Good, we'll tell you: eat real, whole foods not tainted with hormones and antibiotics (i.e, grass-fed beef; cage-free eggs; nutrient dense organic veggies; raw dairy).  Neither the watered down, nutritionally-bankrupt food supply brought to us by our government, nor the synthetic-vitamin enriched, 'engineered food' crap that the sports supplement industry has been shoveling down our throats is helping anyone.