The Best Men's Fitness Over 50 Tips That Will Change Your Life

Men’s Fitness Over 50 – Introduction

I am the crash test dummy for men’s fitness over 50, sharing what works and what does not so you know exactly how to get fit in body, mind, and spirit, even if you are over 50 years old.

Maybe you’re tired of reading in magazines how a celebrity or other stars got ripped or lost weight.

So was I.

And I could not believe that losing weight and staying fit is so complicated.

At the age of 55, I embarked on a journey that I thought was impossible.

For many years I needed to achieve a weight loss of nearly 100 pounds to get down to an ideal weight.

My doctor said that my heart health and long-term health and fitness were at stake.

But, I had no clue how to go about it.

I didn’t have the resources for a personal trainer and chef.

But I found that it is possible.

An essential benefit of Hashi Mashi Diet + Training is to help improve the fitness of men over 50.

I felt very invisible at the height of my obesity and depression, and I imagine others struggle with the same.

Building Muscle Mass After 50

Rich “Hashi Mashi” deadlifting at age 64

It is not the Dark Side of the Moon

When I turned 50, my best friend told me that he was not as keen to hang out with me since I was now on the “other” side.

What?

It took me a few moments till I realized that he was abandoning me due to the fear of being reminded of his mortality because I was now closer to the other side by hitting the age of 50.

That hurt.

I was already in a dark place, attempting to recover from divorce, family estrangements, career loss, and identity crisis.

The last thing I needed was another reminder that I was now a member of a different group of humanity, those closer to the other side.

Isolation Breeds Depression and Obesity

The last thing I ever expected was to have any interest or belief that I could get fit over 50 since I had not been in any type of reasonable shape for decades.

I sunk deeper into depression after losing my best friend of the prior six years to my birthday.

Between 2011 and the spring of 2012, I hovered between 275 pounds at my worst and 250 pounds at my best.

My pants size was a 42-inch waist that should have been a 50 inch to comfortably fit my real 50-inch waist and avoid the dreaded overhang and extra-large size shirts and sweaters to hide the dreaded overhang.

I had been living alone in a studio for pretty much an entire decade.

With each passing year, being able to see my feet when standing was declining as I dove into more vanilla heath bar crunch Ben & Jerry’s to make me feel better.

I was battling depression, obesity, and anxiety, which, if I am not mistaken, can also be symbolized by the acronym DOA or dead on arrival.

Mens Fitness Over 50 with the Hashi Mashi plan — Men’s Fitness Over 50 before and after

Is Fitness Over 50 Impossible?

The last thing that I imagined back then was that I could ever get more fit over 50.

Also, I had no clue that getting fit over 50 would spill over in improvements to my state of mind and general spirit.

One evening as I was sitting and finishing off a second blueberry muffin at a corner deli in the City at midnight, I started to cry inside and practically outside.

Five years had already passed since hitting 50; I was now 55; life had become even more lonely; I had gotten fatter and more depressed.

It was not a pretty scene.

My mind was full of many resentments at how I believed other people should be treating me, and I realized that I treat myself even worse.

While how other people think of me and react to me is not in my control, surely stuffing more muffins into a hole in my face is!

I am no doctor and do not pretend to be one, but I reasoned, what could I do to get more fit over 50, the dreaded 50 that sealed my isolation?

I thought of the too many diet books that I had read, so when I said that I am the crash test dummy of getting fit over 50 or for that matter for any age, I was not kidding!

A Life of Dieting Failures

I started my life off; my first memory of a meal was a weight watcher pizza, an English muffin, ketchup, American cheese, and some oregano.

As long as I could remember, my parents were on weight watchers, and so was I from a young age, always being referred to as chunky, husky, and chubby.

My pants not fitting me was nothing new.

There were too many debates among the diet experts for me to ever feel confident that I was doing the right thing, but for sure, I knew that fitness over 50 would remain a dream if I kept eating blueberry muffins at midnight.

I figured that the least I could do was what most of the experts seemed to agree on; eat vegetables, fruits, some legumes, nuts and seeds, and whole grains and tubers like potatoes.

I knew that fat and animal products were under debate as well as processed grains.

I made up my mind while sitting in the deli with my distended stomach that I will focus on eating clean and avoiding processed food.

Eat whole grains, tubers, vegetables, fruits, nuts, even eggs, and fish once in a while.

And avoid plant manufactured junk food and the not so apparent fast food like highly processed bread.

Try sprouted grain bread instead.

How Complicated is Getting Fit After 50?

I sure thought fitness at any age was complicated, especially to get fit over 50.

To my surprise, within three months of starting Hashi Mashi, I was already down 30 pounds, which seemed impossible.

Six months after having begun to eat real food and avoid everything else, along with doing just a few core resistance training exercises like deadlifts, squats, and pushups, my 50-inch waist was all of a sudden 32 inches.

How was that possible?

I felt so much better, looked different, could finally wear clothing without the dreaded overhang, and had not counted one calorie, point, or portion size.

I just ate when hungry.

The answer is that getting fit over 50 is not that complicated, just as fitness at any age is probably not that complicated either.

We have made it complicated because we are accustomed to eating food that never existed in nature and is a processed creation of sugar, hydrogenated fat, salt, color, and slick packaging.

Sharing What Works

I started Hashimashi.com because I wanted to share what I experienced with others who are in the same battle for health.

By the end of only 6 months, I had dropped 75 pounds, and my whole life started to change for the better.

The physical changes on the outside also affected how I was handling depression on the inside.

While depression does not just disappear, getting fit makes it much more manageable.

I began to socialize more, leave my apartment, meet new people and friends that did not avoid me because I had crossed over to what he referred to as the dark side.

I had a new lease on life, and I want to share this with anyone else who is interested in men’s health or fitness in general, for themselves, their kids, or parents.

As you can tell, I am not just interested in the fitness of the body, but in fact, I am more interested in mental health and being able to battle the fire breathing dragon of depression.

I know that it is much easier to deal with depression when you are in better physical shape.

Now, whatever your interests are in fitness over 50, I am going to tell you everything that you need to know in this one article.

Fit over 50 is not impossible, and it is easier to attain than you might think.

My objective is to help you, or someone that you love get fit over 50 steadily and smoothly, no gimmicks, drugs, surgery is necessary—nothing beyond what any average person can do, even a crash test dummy like myself.

The Foundation of an Effective Fitness Program

My eye-opening experience has been that real food is the foundation.

You do not need to do much else other than eat real food that exists on the earth, especially food that grows from the ground and on trees.

It was only when I made vegetables the main fare that my body changed faster than I have ever experienced.

Men’s Fitness after 50 Meal Suggestions

Breakfast

Unless you’re an Olympian working out ten hours a day, you will never out-train a bad diet.

So if you want to change how you look and feel, you first need to change the type of food you eat.

For example, here is a simple HashiMashi Breakfast Omelette –

vegetables such as onion, garlic, tomato, spinach
sauteed in extra virgin olive oil with
2 or 3 organic eggs,
check with your doctor if you need to limit your cholesterol

Still, the most important point is to have vegetables.

You can also add some olives, avocado, and a little hummus or chickpeas to this dish for flavor.

HashiMashi Breakfast Omelette

Real Food is the Foundation of Fitness Over 50 or any Age

Some other breakfast options include:

Fruit with some nuts like walnuts or almonds
However, you can use fruits and nuts for a snack and vegetable-based meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner
If you’re stuck and do not have vegetables, fruits, nuts, or eggs, then you can go for a bowl of old-fashioned oatmeal

Mens fitness over 50 starts with eating clean, eating real food — **My Hashi Mashi Breakfast Recipe on the Menu at Tudor Cafe NYC**

Snack

A snack can be any fruit or berries and/or nuts
Plain yogurt would not be the worst choice in case you do not have fruit or nuts with you
Simple means banana and walnuts, apple and almond, plain yogurt with strawberries, how easy is that?

Lunch

Keep it simple, a bowl of black bean soup or
chicken and broccoli, or
tuna fish salad made with vegetables like onion, tomato, spinach, olives, and pickles.

Black Bean Soup

Snack

A snack can be any fruit or berries and/or nuts.

Plain yogurt would not be the worst choice in case you do not have fruit or nuts with you.

Simple means banana and walnuts, apple and almond, a plain yogurt with strawberries, easy.

Simple Snacking

Dinner

Broccoli and Veggie Burger

Again, keep it simple, some vegetables like;

broccoli, eggplant, mustard greens, asparagus, or okra,
and wild salmon, chicken, or lamb.
If you are a vegetarian, then go for lentils, beans, tofu, nut butter, or a veggie burger.
Real food is going to make a real difference.

You do not need to count calories or count points or measure portion sizes.

Eat when you are hungry, and make sure to stay hydrated throughout the day with water, and add a lemon to it when you have the chance.

Eat real food, and you are going to start to see your real physique.

mens fitness at 50 lose weight in your face — **Before and After The HashiMashi Plan**

Men’s Health and Fitness Over 50 Can Even Change Your Appearance

Even better, you will start to see your real face, yes, believe it or not; your face will look different after enough time eating real food.

Stay focused on eating real food when you are hungry, and you will begin to see your real body and your real face over time.

Believe it or not, if you just change from processed food to real food, you are going to see great results.

During the whole time that my body was changing, I did little to no cardio, except for walking.

I did a minimum strength training program with beginner pushups, deadlifts, and squats workout routines.

That is it.

The basics of getting men’s fitness over 50 and fitness at any age.

Eat nutritious food, the best that you can get.

Oreo Warning

Now after spending months if not years on transitioning from processed to real food, I have a warning for you.

Do your best to never touch processed food again.

I made the mistake and doing so set me back months.

My guess is that like me, you might have a real weakness for processed food like Oreos, snickers, bread, pasta, m&m’s, chips, pretzels, and ice cream.

This typical snack kept me obese for decades – Ice Cream, Snickers, and Oreos

We all grew up on these fast foods, at least I did (plus Swanson’s frozen chicken) and I have discovered that I cannot easily just have one cookie.

I have tried and failed, so once you make the switch, stay there.

If you do fall off the wagon, just get back on.

I know that there are many out there who say that you can and even should do one cheat meal a week and if that works for you, great.

But unless it is your wedding, birthday, or anniversary, the warning stays in place, keep it real, otherwise you might find yourself losing your fitness over 50 gains that you worked so hard for.

Men’s Fitness Workouts Over 50 Made Easy

Here, I am going to give you three basic strength training tips for building muscle that will further help the transformation of your body and mind:

Pushups

Start a pushup program.

Start with one if you have to and build up from there gradually.

Do pushups on the days when you do upper-body workouts, I will write a bit more about that shortly.

So, for example, I like to do 3 upper body workouts a week and 3 lower body workouts a week, Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday for the upper body and Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for the lower body.

On Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday I do pushups.

When I first began, I did one pushup because that is all I could do.

Now I do five sets of pushups, usually starting with 40 and decreasing each set by 5 pushups, so the pushup workout would look like this:

40 pushups
35 pushups
30 pushups
25 pushups
20 pushups
15 pushups
10 pushups

a total of 175 pushups for the day.

I do the pushups throughout the day on upper body days.

There are days when I am weaker or I am heavier and I cannot do 40 pushups straight, on days like those I settle for whatever I can do.

I try to hit a minimum of 100 pushups on upper body day, but the key is to not give up and stop doing any pushups cause you just don’t feel like it or have some other type of excuse.

Squats

What can I say, do you think I ever believed that I would start doing squats at the age of 55?

Yea neither did I!

But I did and the experience has made me a believer.

Instead of going to the gym to do wrist curls or bicep curls, why not use the time there for the most effective full-body workouts that you can do?

Squats and deadlifts are for lower body days, which for me is usually Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

For squats, I like to do 5 sets of 5 repetitions and gradually increase the weight.

Do not worry, if you never did squats before, you are not going to be able to walk the first week or so after starting your squat program.

As with deadlifts, you must make sure to use good form for squats, deadlifts, and pushups.

If you cannot use any weights, then just do squats with no weights.

Once you get stronger, start to add weight gradually.

I will be adding additional links for all of the Hashi Mashi Basics to this post, so stay tuned and come back again for more posts about fit over 50 workouts, schedules, and proper form.

Deadlifts

The deadlift is one of the best exercises that you can do and it targets almost every major muscle group of your body.

A consistent deadlift workout program will help you prevent muscle loss, boost testosterone levels, and increase your bone density and energy levels.

Deadlifting is great for a man’s body and for men of all ages.

As with squats, make sure that you are warmed up and make sure to use proper form.

Between pushups, squats, and deadlifts, you will start to build some real functional muscle.

I like to do squats and deadlifts on the same day.

I do 5 sets of 1 rep deadlifts or 1 set of 5 rep deadlifts immediately after finishing my squat workout.

Come back again for more fit over 50 deadlift workout resources.

Workout Advice for Older Men

Notwithstanding how fantastic the big compound lifts are to dramatically change your body, they might not be a great option for you.

Whether it is because you have high blood pressure or lower back problems, weight training is not the only effective way to achieve your fitness goals.

For example, you can use:

The most important thing is that you need to commit to adopting a healthy lifestyle which can be boiled down to six words:

Eat real food
Move your body

Men’s Fitness Over 50 – Wrapping Up

You can get fit over 50.

Do not give up because you still do not believe it is possible.

You can reclaim your health and fitness no matter what your age, whether you are over 50 or even 60.

What’s Next

The foundation for losing fat and gaining muscle in this article: Body Transformation: the Ultimate Guide.

Second, if you only want to focus on losing weight, use How to Lose 20 pounds in 3 Months Using 5 Simple Steps a free and simple guide.

Third, here is a simple fitness plan for a man over 50:

Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday

Upper body stretches
Pushups – Start with the max number of pushups that you can do and then add enough sets of pushups to get up to 100.
Shoulder Press – 5 sets of 5 repetitions
Dumbbell Rows – 5 sets of 5 repetitions
Bench Press – 5 sets of 5 reps
Pullups – 5 sets of 5 reps

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday

Lower body stretches
Leg Curls – 5 sets of 5 reps
Squats – 5 sets of 5 reps
Deadlifts – 5 sets of 1 rep, for example, deadlift 135lbs for one rep, then 140lbs, then 145lbs, 155lbs, and 165lbs
Leg Extension – 5 sets of 5 reps

The Best Men’s Fitness Over 50 Tips That Will Change Your Life