This story is part of This Is 50+—an in-depth look at guys who are thriving later in life, with tips and tricks on how all of us can future-proof our bodies.
JUST HOW VITAL can you be at 50? As vital as you want. Yes, if you let it, fitness can diminish as you age. Or, you can stay strong, wise, and at the top of your game, and even keep getting stronger. These ten rock stars, actors, and jack-of-all-trades notables know a thing or two about staying on their best game at and past age 50. Here’s how they do it.
Get Outside
Lenny Kravitz, rockstar/producer
LENNY KRAVITZ KEEPS rocking it at 59. “My best shape is not behind me,” Kravitz recently told Men’s Health. “It’s in front of me right now. We keep moving that bar as we get older.”
His workout routine includes one very important element: the great outdoors. For cardio, he trail runs on his property in the Bahamas. For strength, he pulls out a handful of dumbbells, a barbell, and two 45 pound bumper plates to a spot in the garden. He even uses a coconut tree that’s grown sideways as a makeshift bench.
Embrace Routine
Paul Rudd, actor
FOR HIS LATEST role in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Paul Rudd, 55, had to get back into superhero shape (even though they cut the only scene he had where he was shirtless). The kickstarter of the series was released in 2015, and was a standout difference from the string of romcoms and dramedies that packed his resume until that time.
The base of his transformation, whenever he is training for a role, is the same: routine. Wake up. Have coffee. Do cardio. Lift weights. Eat the foods (his staples are eggs and salmon). Protein shake (just water and protein).
“It sounds like hell. It’s really not. I find routine comforting,” he says. “Routine is a human need. It’s grounding in a really positive and healthy way.”
Prioritize Recovery
Mark Wahlberg, actor/producer
KING OF THE 3 a.m. club (seriously, he works out every day at 3 a.m.)—Mark Wahlberg is known for taking fitness to the extreme. At 52, he has the body to prove it. And yes, a body like his takes a lot of time, dedication, and hard work. But it also takes substantial recovery—a lesson he learned way later in life.
Now, he’s staggering rest days into his training schedule. “Training smart,” he calls it. He’ll work out for three days, rest for one, work out again for two days, and then rest again, he told MH. He also works in daily cold plunges.
“I’m putting as much emphasis on rest and recovery as I am time under tension and intensive training,” he says. “It’s sad that it took me until I was 52 years old to figure this out.”
Never Neglect Your Warmup
Arnold Schwarzenegger, bodybuilder/actor/ex-California governor
A PROPER WARMUP is the key to an effective workout at any age—but it can safeguard you against injury as you get older.
“We always start off with high reps, so we kind of warm up the area,” Schwarzenegger, 76, said when we caught up with him at the famed Gold’s Gym Venice Beach. “The first set we start with 30 reps, or sometimes 50. The same when you do squats you warm up your knees, or when you deadlift you warm up your back. It’s all about warming up and cooling down.”
These low-weight, high-rep sets draw blood flow to the muscles you’re trying to target. This will lubricate your tendons and ligaments, making movement both easier and safer.
Eat so You’re Never Hungry
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, actor/wrestler
YOU CAN’T JUST keep grinding things out in the gym or at work, because your body can’t sustain that at any age. Performing your best, at any point in your life, means nourishing your body properly. “It’s better to stay in shape than to get in shape,” the 51-year-old told us. To do that, he ensures his diet lines up with his goals. He looks at all the variables—sodium intake, carbs, and everything else, he says. “The best strategies are often the ones where you never feel like you’re hungry.”
How he supports his training without feeling hungry: He spaces his food across 6 meals a day, and prioritizes protein, which helps keep you fuller, longer. Forty to 45 percent of his calorie intake comes from lean protein sources like eggs, chicken, bison, and fish.
Eat More Veggies
Dave Bautista, actor/retired pro wrestler
DUNE STAR DAVE Bautista says training is therapeutic—he does it because he enjoys it. His careful diet supports his efforts in the gym. Way back in 2010, right around the time he retired from WWE, he was training with Jiu Jitsu legend Cesar Gracie—and most of the guys under Gracie’s wing were vegetarian or pescatarian. So, Bautista ate that way, too. He started to cut out red meat and pork, and eventually also cut out leaner meats like chicken and turkey.
With the exception of some helpings of fish a few times a week and some eggs, Bautista is fully plant-fueled, he told us when we visited him recently—and still manages to stay supervillan-level-jacked at 55.
Incorporate Compound Movements
Christopher Meloni, actor
WHEN CHRISTOPHER MELONI started bulking for Law & Order: Organized Crime, his trainer starting programming a ton of compound movements—exercises that incorporate multiple muscle groups at once. Such movements include squats, deadlifts, and chest presses.
Although Meloni had been working out for quite some time, “squats—I’m ashamed to say—were kind of new to me,” he says. “I always shied away, because they’re really tough.”
Since adding them into his routine, he’s become stronger and more in tune with his body at age 62. Plus, they’ve helped him crush the action scenes he has to do for the show.
Try Intermittent Fasting
Terry Crews, actor
TERRY CREWS IS well known for his insane size and lively characters in projects like Brooklyn Nine-Nine and White Chicks. At 55, he’s maintaining his jacked pecs and biceps. Part of that he credits to intermittent fasting.“When I wake up, the first thing I do is have a glass of water…and I put amino acid powder inside—I like to call it stardust,” he told us. “I drink that all morning and afternoon.” He’s up at 5 a.m., throws on his pre-selected workout kit, drinks up the stardust, then hits the gym. He doesn’t have his first meal until roughly 2 p.m. The practice of intermittent fasting makes him feel good, he says.
Balance Your Training
Michael Jai White, actor/martial artist
FOR THE MARTIAL artist and actor Michael Jai White, training after 50 is all about ensuring the effectiveness of movement. In a recent interview with MH, he discussed how he used to focus so much on bench pressing to build a superhero chest that he neglected his back, which left his shoulders pulled forwards. The 56-year-old had to spend the next several years focusing on training his back muscles to realign himself.
“Fitness for me is all about balancing your body,” he says. That means working out your muscle groups equally, to better your movement efficiency. That’s especially true as you get older, he says.
Find a Partner
Rob Lowe, actor
ROB LOWE, 60, passed down a lot of things to his children, including a love for acting and working out. Now, Lowe and his son John Owen, do everything together, they revealed in their joint MH cover story—including starring in Netflix’s Unstable. That’s not the only thing they do together, though—you can often find them working out together in the California sunshine in their backyard. They keep each other accountable, and push each other to get stronger.
They enjoy staying active in other ways, too. Lowe took up surfing when he was 40—interestingly late in life for someone who grew up in Malibu. He taught his son as well, and they occassionally hit the waves together. You can also find them on the golf course.
This is just the beginning. See what else guys at 50+ are thinking, doing, and crushing here.
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