What this covers
Here is a new video update to this one (at age 58): https://youtu.be/gcvjsV0LuKA
Important links in video: How to increase testosterone levels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnPQb0QTbeM&t=1s My preferred supplements: https://gertlouw.com/supplements-order/ PayPal donation: https://paypal.me/GERTFITNESS Advanced System II coaching: https://gertlouw.com/my-transformation-secrets/ T-MANAGE plan: https://gertlouw.com/2020/04/13/the-testosterone-management-bible-for-men-over-40/ My WEBSITE: https://gertlouw.com
Video Script Over 40 is not all that great for a guy. We start losing our hair, our gut is getting bigger by the year and well, we simply don’t look that great in clothes anymore, not to even mention without clothes!
Off-course we have a big contribution to this state we are in. We like our beer just a little too much, we smoke and sit just too frequently on the couch watching our favorite sport channel. We become very docile with limited activity. But it is not all just our fault. Our ability to grow muscle and burn fat has been stripped from us in a big way. Our sexual and erection ability is not even close to what it was when we were 20. And THAT says it all. Our testosterone levels are far from the levels that pumped through our veins when we were young. And if that is not all, even our Growth Hormone levels have declined significantly. Both these helped us to have that great body when we were 20 despite our laziness and beer drinking.
Now what can we do as over 40 guys to force the muscles to grow again? Everyone know it is much harder after 40. But it is NOT impossible. Sure, many sidestep this with anabolic steroids. But, this can be a dangerous game given the fact that our bodies are not young anymore and feeding it with potentially dangerous chemicals can have serious medical consequences. Sure there are some “safer” steroid options but this is not something you should be playing with unless you are an expert in the field and know EXACTLY what you are doing.
To force muscle growth in a natural environment is not about one or two things that must be done correctly. It is about everything that needs to be in place to create the perfect environment for growth and then to stimulate the growth and lastly feed it to be able to actually grow. Only then will the over 40 body respond in kind.
Surprisingly there is a lot we can do, and the following is some of the key concepts that needs to be in place to force muscle growth for the over 40. Let’s go through the 10-point plan.
REST OF ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE: https://gertlouw.com/2019/04/08/over-40-how-to-force-muscle-growth/
GertFITNESS social media links [My Fitness site] http://www.gertlouw.com [Facebook page] https://www.facebook.com/gertfitness/ [Twitter] https://twitter.com/FitnessGert [Pinterest] https://www.pinterest.com/gertlouw96/fitness/ [Tumblr] http://gertlouw.tumblr.com/ [Instagram] https://instagram.com/gertfitness/
Happy training! Cheers... Gert Louw
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Over-40 men can successfully build muscle and achieve optimal body composition by systematically addressing testosterone levels, diet alignment, resistance training, stress management, sleep, supplementation, and mental-muscle connection—contrary to the widespread belief that muscle building becomes impossible with age.
- The speaker demonstrates personal proof at age 55 achieving his best physique after age 40, refuting the notion that muscle growth is impossible for older men
- Ten specific, actionable mechanisms (testosterone optimization, precise diet alignment every 14 days, intense resistance training to failure, stress/sleep/water management, targeted supplementation, health optimization, proper warm-up/cool-down, character transformation, and visualization) must work synergistically to overcome age-related hormonal and metabolic challenges
- The core problem isn't age itself but the combination of low testosterone, inactivity, poor diet, and stress—all of which are addressable through structured intervention
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Diet determines 80% of success in creating a great-looking body for over-40 men, but this requires personalizing the diet to individual metabolic rate rather than following a generic diet, which is measured through bi-weekly weighing, fat calipers, body measurements, and then adjusting daily calories up or down by 10% based on whether fat or muscle was lost.
“a diet determines 80% of your success in creating a great-looking body so you have to follow a focused diet to produce the results that you want now this is not as easy as it sounds because it's not just about the diets it's about the diet but then aligning it to your body you can't just follow the diet it's not gonna work if you don't align align it to your body each of us have got unique metabolic rates our bodies it's the same diet for the same weight age people is not gonna work the same because each of us are you me we need to take that diet and we need to align it to our body”
Unless blood testosterone levels are in the upper regions of normal, over-40 men will not grow muscle or lose fat regardless of training effort, making testosterone testing the foundational first step before any body transformation attempt.
“absolutely nothing is gonna happen if your blood testosterone is too low you need to go for tests at the urologist or a sports doctor they must pull your blood and you need to get to know what your blood testosterone levels are unless your blood testosterone levels using the upper regions of normal you're not gonna grow if it's in a lower of normal or below normal you ready to struggle to grind you're gonna struggle to lose fat doesn't matter what you doing you're gonna work your ass off you're gonna get nowhere”
Continuous high stress in over-40 men causes elevated cortisol release, which puts the body into a catabolic environment that breaks down muscle and makes muscle building extremely difficult; intense workouts can help reduce daily stress levels.
“the stress levels are quite hard now when the stress levels are very high continuously you're going to release a lot of cortisol in your body the more cortisol your body releases the worse it's going to be for your muscle building efforts you might even decrease your muscle size if you release too much cortisol cortisol very easily to your body going into a catabolic environment it breaks down muscle and you find it gonna find it very difficult to build muscle”
Over-40 men have experienced progressive muscle loss from inactivity over years, and since muscles are the only thing that gives shape to the body, losing fat without building muscle will not produce an attractive appearance regardless of fat loss magnitude.
“as a result of your inactivity over many many many years sitting on that couch your muscle mass is actually slowly going down and down and down so the amount of muscle mass they took current you got is quite low now the problem is that the only thing that gives shape to a body great shape to her body is your muscles nothing else so it doesn't help you to lose a lot of fat if you lose a lot of fats and you don't have muscles he's definitely not going to look great”
Lower testosterone status (low-normal or below-normal) causes both difficulty building muscle and difficulty losing fat, making testosterone optimization a prerequisite for any body transformation in over-40 men.
“if it's in a lower of normal or below normal you ready to struggle to grind you're gonna struggle to lose fat doesn't matter what you doing you're gonna work your ass off you're gonna get nowhere”
The 'sweet spot' of diet and training for over-40 men is the state in which fat is being lost while muscle is being preserved (not lost), requiring continuous bi-weekly monitoring and adjustment to maintain.
“you would determine whether if you've lost fat or you lost muscle or you gain fat nor you gained muscle or what ever result your head after the 14 days depending on that result you didn't have to adjust your diet either upwards with 10 percent or downwards with 10 percent in the daily calories until you get to this point that you've fit your toilet you've lost fat but you haven't lost any muscle and that is like your sweet spots but do you think if you are in that sweet spot environment you still have to do every 14 days this body monitoring and adjusting”
Intense workouts serve a dual purpose for over-40 men: initiating the physiological signal for muscle growth through training stimulus and simultaneously reducing accumulated daily stress levels, creating a synergistic effect.
“your number one thing you need to do is to bring down your daily stress levels you need to find a way so one fantastic way is to go workout intensely jump because that is we can get rid of a lot of your stress”
Sleep deprivation in over-40 men limits or stops muscle growth and repair processes; at least 8 hours of sleep per night is required, and less than 6 hours per night causes approximately a 25% drop in blood testosterone levels.
“you cannot expect to grow if you don't get enough sleeping as an over 40 person to help your body to repair the damage that's been done during your training also help your body to grow that all happens during sleep if you get only like four or five six hours sleep a 19 that's gonna limit this process or maybe even stop it dead in its tracks you need to get at least eight hours sleeping at that I know it sounds a lot but that's the bottom line if you want to build a great body and you're over 40 you need eight hours sleep a night”
Alcohol-induced fat storage in the belly/stomach area of over-40 men is specifically resistant to fat loss efforts, creating a persistent protruding stomach even when overall fat loss is achieved.
“this is one of the key aspects why guys over 40 is struggling to lose fat and sitting with a sport rooting stomach stomachs now you're not gonna get rid of this if you don't drastically curb your alcohol intake”
Bodybuilding supplement marketing is among the shadiest industries with 99% false advertising and stolen before-and-after photos; over-40 men should only use supplements with proven scientific backing: caffeine (for focus and fat burning), creatine (most powerful natural supplement outside steroids, slightly increases testosterone), whey protein (post-training), and L-glutamine (pre/post training for healing).
“the over-40 guard needs a very focused supplement stack forget all the crap advertising out there I mean guys it's lovely this lies not sorry most 99% of it is lies fake photos or people that they bought to lie for them you know with their face or body honor on their advertising my before and after photo has been stolen more than a hundred times now about advertising companies and products there it's very difficult to mail these guys through legal channels so just don't listen to any advertising claim bodybuilding supplements is one of the most shadiest businesses on the planet you only want to stick to the all supplements that's been proven with the necessary science backup to actually make a difference”
Alcohol is one of the key reasons men over 40 struggle to lose fat and develop a protruding stomach; men must drastically limit alcohol to no more than one occasion per week with approximately 500ml of wine, and at that meal must not consume carbs or protein with alcohol to avoid sabotaging fat loss.
“this is one of the key aspects why guys over 40 is struggling to lose fat and sitting with a sport rooting stomach stomachs now you're not gonna get rid of this if you don't drastically curb your alcohol intake not if I talk about drastically curving it I'm telling you that you allowed once a week the equivalent or goal of about 500 milliliters of wine red wine and at that meal you're not allowed to eat any corpse any protein and salads without dropping your all-pole there is no way that you're gonna get success”
Cardio is a muscle killer; even moderate cardio will decrease muscle size or make it extremely difficult to build muscle for natural (non-steroid) over-40 men, whereas resistance training to the point of muscle failure is required to initiate the physiological signal necessary for muscle growth.
“cardio is a muscle killer no it doesn't I don't care what anybody tells you the only way you can get around this fact is if you do any bollocks steroids if you're going to be natural you must be very wary of cordial even moderate cardio but especially intense cardio you probably going to decrease your muscle size or going to find it extremely difficult to do build muscle”
Over-40 men are more susceptible to injury due to reduced flexibility and muscle/joint fragility; injury prevention requires extensive warm-up and cool-down protocols, post-set stretching, gradual progressive training escalation (avoiding sudden intensity jumps), and careful management of tendon and joint stress.
“warm up and cool down again now we have a 40 so injury is going to be much more prevalent to us we not that flexible we're not young our muscles and bodies just breaks much more easily so you need to make sure that you warm up well before you train get some nice cool down stretches and also do some stretches while you're training after every set I do my stretches for the muscle that I've just trained you need to start out with your training slowly and gradually step by step don't think you're gonna go and jump off the cliff and play with the big boys all you're going to do is going to hurt yourself severely it's one of the biggest hassles for over 40 guys is to try and stay injury free you can have much more tendon problems much more joint problems”
Body transformation must be simultaneous internal and external; over-40 men cannot achieve sustainable results by transforming only appearance without developing integrity, kindness, and character—becoming a 'better-looking man with integrity' rather than a 'better-looking jerk' creates genuine life impact for oneself and others.
“the core of my teaching for the over-40 person to transform his body is the fact that I strongly believe you cannot just transform the outside of the body you need simultaneously to transform the character your soul and change yourself from the inside it needs to be a whole transformation basically you need to make right with God on every level of your life you need to become a man of integrity a kind man a caring man you need to change so that when people walk away from you every time they think wow I've got the respect for this guy this is the person you need to become plus you need to transform your body that'll be a natural outflow when you doing such a total elastic body and soul transformation you don't just want to be better looking jerk they see not better looking jerks they don't meet more than you need to be a better looking man with integrity then it's not just superficial anymore but it actually makes a hell of a difference you notice your life but everybody else's lives that you touch around you”
Health optimization is foundational to muscle building; over-40 men must obtain approximately 30 minutes of daily sun exposure to activate vitamin D, take a potent multivitamin for nutritional baseline coverage, ensure adequate omega-3 and omega-6 intake, and use strong antioxidants like alpha-lipoic acid or coenzyme Q10.
“your health well you must remember if your health is not right nothing's gonna happen is you try to transform your body if you continuously sick and you're off gym so regularly that nothing is really happening but what your body doesn't get time to really build itself up then you're gonna crash completely so you need to make this a core principle to ensure that your health is very very good this means you need to get enough Sun in during the day you can't just be an offers DARP environment the whole day and whole nights your body needs vitamin D CH one of the critical vitamins for for good health and so make sure you get up in the Sun please let's say 30 minutes a day to activate the vitamin D in your body you must take a potent multivitamins just the basis to make sure that your body is covered from every angle regarding vitamins and minerals 3 you need to make sure that you get your Omega 3 and you may get 6 in and then I also recommend a strong antioxidant something like offer lipoic acid or Gao enzyme qt”
Over-40 men need to consume at least 3 liters of water per day to enable fat metabolism, kidney function, and overall body function, as inadequate water intake (1-3 glasses per day) prevents these processes.
“you need to take in enough water I'm talking about three liters of what they're doing of the day your body needs to make Taba lies your fetch to break down this it's not gonna happen if you dream just one or two or three glasses of water a day you need to get enough water to help your body get rid of the fat do to help your kidneys function correctly just to help your body functioning correctly”
Creatine requires grape juice intake for proper absorption, and creatine has been scientifically proven to slightly increase blood testosterone levels in addition to its muscle-building effects.
“creatine correcting is probably the most powerful natural supplement the side of steroids it's got a lot of science behind it it's been proven it really works and you have to take grape juice with it otherwise it's not going to be absorbed correctly correcting is actually also shown to slightly increase your blood testosterone levels”
Over-40 men give up on body development because muscle building is perceived as much more difficult than in youth, with easier fat gain and difficult muscle gain, creating a false learned helplessness that justifies sedentary lifestyle.
“the problem is that many over 40 guys pretty much gives up on trying to look after their body simply because it's much much more difficult than in comparison to when they were 20 years old they just put on much easier fat they just bought much more difficult muscles so many over 40 guys end up drinking the beer sitting on the couch smoking doing nothing just watching sport the whole day and that's even making whole situation that much more worse”
Mind-muscle connection and visualization during training significantly enhance muscle development; bodybuilders who mentally focus on the contracting muscle and visualize desired muscular development during each repetition achieve superior results compared to those who train without this mental engagement.
“this might sound a little bit off let me explain many bodybuilders including me believe that by having a mind muscle connection wall training and visualizing the whole time while you lifting that way it's visualizing on this muscle feel this muscle contracting and visualize how you want this muscle to look eventually and develop you doing all your exercises this way and you create a very focused mind muscle connection and visualizing with every rep that you do oh you want this muscle to be developed and I want this muscle to look eventually I'm telling you working out like that it's gonna make one hell of a difference and many guys believe that that is the key to develop a great looking body”
The speaker, now age 55, achieved his best physical shape in his life at age 50-52 and is currently pursuing further physical development, proving that muscle building and body composition optimization is achievable for over-40 men.
“I'm 55 this year do three months time I've got my best shape in my life after the age of 40 in fact I would say 50 51 52 that was my best shape so far in my life and I'm this year I'm going for another run to see how far I can push the limits guys it's really possible”
The speaker has developed an advanced coaching system specifically for over-40 men, based on 14 years of personal practice, that customizes the 10 steps to individual body and goals.
“now of course all of this form parts of my advanced system do which is the coaching system that I've developed for the over 40 and older guy it's a complete blueprints customized specifically to your body and your goals and it's a system I thought I'm following myself for the past 14 years so if you interest it I'm gonna put the link for your up and you can have a look at that link and there's also where you can sign up”
The speaker references a separate video on naturally raising blood testosterone levels in over-40 men, implying this is a solvable problem through non-pharmaceutical methods.
“I've done a very nice video on this subject how you can naturally get your black business around levels up so I'm gonna put the link for you up on the screen now and just check out that video to get this point sorted”