TL;DR What is a Masters Athlete?
Strength Wise client recently set two United States Powerlifting Association state records. He began his powerlifting career at 80.
The term "masters athlete" refers to specific age divisions within competitive sports. Many sports begin this division at age 35. Powerlifting federations officially define masters athletes as those 40 years old and above.
Table of Contents
Why Athletes over 40 benefit from Strength Training
You don’t need to be an aspiring powerlifter to gain potent effects from barbells.
A healthy dose of strength training improves performance in sports ranging from golf to running.
But it also builds resilience and longevity in your sport, which is part of healthy aging.
A 2018 Journal of Lifestyle Medicine proposed "masters athletes . . . as a model for successful aging." They found decreased health risks associated with various chronic diseases and reduced premature death. (Click here for the full article)
Lifting also pushes athletes outside of their comfort zone. This is important to maintaining your identity in your sport. Some studies have found that adopting a sedentary lifestyle decreases performance more than the actual effects of aging. Continuing to train like an athlete help avoid the common myths that decline is inevitable.
Who chooses to Pursue Powerlifting?
If you are interested in powerlifting, aging is not a barrier to entry. Many of clients have chosen to compete for the first time in their 40s,50s,60s,70s, and 80s.
Some actually have a different primary sport and want a new challenge. My client Mary, an elite triathlete, decided she wanted to push her athleticism.
Some have made huge gains in the gym and want to see how a powerlifting meet works. We have a group of women - Lori, Heather, and Katie - that decided to register together.
Others have fallen in love with powerlifting and made it a big part of of their lives. Art Muir is a record-setting mountaineer. After Strength Wise coached him for about a year he decided to enter his first event. He’s now done 4 meets in 12 months by qualifying for US Regionals, Nationals, and Worlds. He’s set 8 Illinois state records with the USPA.
What Are the Main Benefits to Masters Powerlifting?
There are a few reasons why powerlifting in your 40s and up makes sense.
Barbells are accessible
Strength sports are an excellent outlet. But Strongman gyms are often hard to find, and Olympic lifting requires more specialized equipment.
By contrast, every commercial gym now has a power rack and barbells. You can also create a quality powerlifting home gym at various budgets.
Powerlifting is Efficient strength training
Powerlifters focus on only three main lifts: the barbell squat, barbell deadlift, and barbell bench press. See my article to learn about the mechanics of each and how to program effectively.
These compound movements work a variety of muscles and joints simultaneously. That means you can get a full body workout with minimal time, while also scaling your training as much as you’d like. You can keep it simple if you’re time crunched or add more variety like arm work.
The movements are relatively easy to learn
Power lifts are relatively simple. If you’re interested in competing they take less time to master than the Olympic lifts.
New motor skills improve cognitive function
Learning new skills, such as the barbell lifts, has powerful effects on cognitive health. Research shows that we gain strength initially by forming new neural pathways. Our brains learn to coordinate specific actions like gripping the bar and contracting muscles at the right time.
You stay Healthy with Load management and progressive overload
You might have seen clips from a powerlifting meet or watched a PR attempt in your gym. These max-effort lifts are typically brutal. But they're also the results of months or years of training with heavy but manageable weights. Lifters will stay within 70-85% of their capability, and then slowly peak before a meet. The idea is to express all that practice as top-end strength.
Load management helps lower the risk of injury. Interestingly, one paper found injuries were less common in older and more experienced powerlifters. That suggests wisdom, maturity, and discipline - the hallmarks of masters athletes - correlate with success. (Click here for the full paper).
Training builds discipline and self-awareness
Powerlifting is hard, but only sometimes in the ways you expect. We often assume the most challenging sessions are the ones we lift the heaviest weights.
But for motivated masters athletes, the ability to hold back can be the biggest hurdle. Your coach may program a restoration block that requires restraint, or perhaps your drained from caring for a sick kid.
Practicing self-discipline bring a lot of self-awareness. You might notice, for example, that you perform much better on meet day with a longer taper that improves recovery. That insight might pop up elsewhere, such as better work performance with scheduled days off.
In addition, powerlifting requires a process-orientation. After your novice gains, the rate of progress slows down. As a result, you need to get comfortable following an extremely deliberate plan with delayed gratification. You may lift for 4-5 sessions before you see the results.
To learn more about mindset training, read my article here.
Powerlifting gives you a foundation for other sports
Resistance training comes with many upsides. If you train like a powerlifter for six months and decide it's not for you, you've still developed an excellent base. You will see substantial carryover, whether it's another strength sport like functional fitness (aka CrossFit) or a basketball league.
Even better, you can hold onto those strength gains with relatively little effort.
Lifting builds camaraderie
Like any other hobby, people who have a shared interest enjoy spending time with one another. Your training and your health will improve not just from getting stronger but also from joining a community.
Powerlifting competitions are also really fun events. My masters powerlifters like Art get tremendous feedback from the crowd for pursuing their passions and trying something new despite their age!
Conclusion
If you train and compete in a sport in your 40s, continue to do so.
Whether you've participated in athletics previously or would like to find the sport for you, there’s always time. Training and competition provide unique physical and mental benefits. They're an opportunity to build meaning into our lives that will carry us through the decades.
And regardless of your experience or status, make your training challenging. Research shows that performance declines because people pull back, not because of any inevitable age decline. As a strength and conditioning coach, I've witnessed remarkable feats when people simply refuse to accept myths about aging.
The sport of powerlifting is ideal for masters athletes for many reasons. Participating in a strength sport builds physical and mental fortitude for meeting the challenges of this unique life stage.
If you’re interested in beginning powerlifting or continuing to compete in your 40s and beyond, please reach out. You can find my contact information at this link.
About the Author
Chris Van Nostrand is the Head Coach and Founder of Strength Wise Barbell in Evanston, IL. He built the coaching practice from a small side hustle into one of the North Shore's premier strength training studios.
He is certified as a Strength & Conditioning Specialist, Conditioning Coach, Exercise Nutrition Coach, and Women's Coach.
Chris has competed in powerlifting and brings equal passion to those pursuing strength sports or looking for a fun outlet for community and fitness.