Breaking Fitness Myths

Getting fit after 40? Chances are, you’ve been lied to—by outdated science, bad Instagram advice, or even your own memories of a younger, fitter you. In this episode of Healthspan Digest, Aaron Shaw—occupational therapist, strength coach, and founder of Healthspan PhysioCoaching—exposes the 3 biggest myths that derail middle-aged adults from getting strong, staying energized, and living pain-free.

🔥 Here’s what you’ll learn:
• Why motivation and willpower aren’t your problem
• The danger of going “all in” with extreme workouts or diets
• Why resistance training beats cardio for health, longevity, and fat loss
• How to design a sustainable daily routine that fits your real life
• The 15-minute exercise that can change everything

Whether you’ve been inconsistent with workouts or just overwhelmed by conflicting advice, this episode gives you the clarity—and the realistic action steps—you need to finally build the healthy, resilient body you want.

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Transcript

The three biggest misconceptions about being fit after 40. If you're over 40 and you're trying to get fit, chances are you've been lied to or at least misled. Not by bad people, but really by outdated science, maybe some bad Instagram fitness advice, or maybe your own past experience. So today, I'm gonna break down the three biggest beliefs that may be holding you back from real results.

And I'll tell you what actually works if your goal is to stay strong, energetic, and pain free for the long haul. Hey, my name is Aaron Shaw. I am from HealthSpan Physio Coaching and I am the host of HealthSpan Digest podcast. I am an occupational therapist, certified strength and conditioning specialist and owner of a rehab practice. And I have almost three decades of experience helping people, especially people who are overbooked, high performers, stressful positions, stressful jobs, helping these people get strong, build healthy habits that stick for the longterm.

So they can have long, healthy, vibrant lives. So if you're tired of chasing motivation or starting over every January with some fad to try to bounce back from the wear and tear of life, then this episode is for you. I'm going to talk about how you need systems, small wins and strength. So let's get into it. Let me start by telling you a story. And this story is not about some specific client or a

influencer, if you will, this story is about you. So I want you to think about tonight, after a long day, you're going to walk into your bathroom, you're going to grab your toothbrush, you're to put it on some toothpaste, and you're going to brush your teeth. You don't need motivation. You don't need to hype yourself up or get psyched up. You don't need to search Instagram for hashtag dental inspiration or something. You just do it. Why? Because brushing your teeth is part of your system, part of your daily system.

You've got a default routine. know where the toothbrush is. The lights probably already out in the restroom, in the bathroom. The sink is right there and the timing is built into your day. It's easy, it's quick to start. And you do it every day because it's the environment, the habit and the expectation are already working for you, not working against you. So that's what I mean when I say if you are not hitting your health goals, it's not because you're lazy.

It's not because you failed at anything. It's just simply because your system, the environment, your energy flow and your expectations are out of sync. So please don't beat yourself up for not waking up at some crazy time in the morning, a 5 a.m., you know, having a 5 a.m. workout session or prepping your meals like a bodybuilder. That's not a failure of discipline. It's just a signal to redesign your system, redesign your life.

But now imagine this, what if getting strong, sleeping better, eating well, what if those were automatic? Is automatic as brushing your teeth? They can be. And I'll show you how you can build a system just like that, that kind of healthspan system that works in real life, will work for you and not against you. So typically what people believe, and this is lot of the clients that end up coming to see me, is that they've experienced this, again, these belief systems that if they just tried harder, I'll be fit again.

And if I, you know, I used to be able to push through things like this and I just can't push through it anymore. So they feel like a failure and it's a vicious cycle. It's a sad cycle to to see people go through because it's really just flogging yourself and feeling depressed. And I think it's a vicious cycle that can lead to, you know, not only not reaching goals, but just feeling frankly depressed. So the truth is we need to recognize that discipline is a finite resource.

And what really matters is the system, the systems of your life, the systems of your day to day moment to moment routine that you, that you flow through. so design will always beat willpower. And as somebody who I exercise regularly and I have a, I would say is a pretty healthy and dialed routine. is because it's just that it's a system I built my life to do that. So I don't have to rely on willpower or much less motivation because those are very fleeting things in my life.

And so life after 40, we know includes real stress, real fatigue, real obligations. And I say that as somebody who's already on the other side of his forties. So I get that it is overwhelming and it's certainly hard with all the demands of life to wake up one day and say, I'm going to try to push through, you know, rally and find some discipline or not feel motivated and not discipline

skip some healthy decisions and then beat myself up over it. That's just not a healthy way to live.

So we need to start with a mindset reframing, you will. So I want us to start with structure. Think about the environment, like literally. I mean, go back to that, that tooth brushing example and think about how that is so effortless and just seems to happen because the environment is perfectly set up. You know, the toothbrush is in the same place. A toothpaste is in the same place. It's the same time of day. It's the same situation. It makes it so easy. So we need to think about structuring our environment, our habits.

And our identity first. Then on occasion, when you get some discipline or some motivation, think about that as kind of, accelerator, you know, it's, it's, adding fuel to the fire. So how do we do this? Well, one of the best exercises I've worked that's been successful for a lot of my coaching clients is to take the time to design your perfect day. And I don't mean some fairy tale day. mean, a practical, realistic day.

But taking the time to do this, not in the heat of the moment, not when you're slapping yourself around because you didn't go to the gym like you really wanted to, but design a day by sitting down, pen and paper or a Word document on your computer and really write down what a perfect day looks like. That includes work, that includes family, that can include your commute, that includes time for meal prep, again, any family obligations and exercise.

And write that down. Like from the moment you wake up, I think of it as a 24 hour cycle, really. So from the moment you wake up, what are you doing? Get into the weeds get into the details. So when do you brush your teeth? When do you take a shower? When are you packing your bag for work or, uh, you know, helping the kids get ready for, for school or whatever that is, like write down every single detail to make sure that you are ticking all the boxes. mean, we're living in the real world here, but make it ideal.

not something you're doing right now probably, but what would the ideal day look like? Again, don't say I'm gonna quit my job and work on a organic farm and exercise five hours a day, let's keep it real, but recognize that you will likely need to cut something out of your day or at the very least rearrange your day to give yourself the time to invest in your physical health.

If you're not doing this already, it does take some practice. does take some time, but if you can't take 15 minutes and sit down and write down what your perfect day is, and you could do it both for a weekday or a weekend or a day that you work or a day that you're off, you have almost no chance of really developing, cultivating a sustainable, healthy lifestyle that will extend your health, extend your life. So please.

15 minute exercise, invest in it, design it, design your day so you're not gonna be beating yourself up over and over again, or certainly hopefully not starting every January like it's, you you're gonna come out of the gates, guns ablaze and sort of develop this perfect lifestyle. You have to design it first. That is the most important thing you can do. Because once you design your life, once you can see it and you have something to go towards, your chance of success is.

far greater than trying to wing it or hoping to wake up where you have, you know, you're lucky enough to have a window of time and motivation and discipline and your gym clothes are ready and you've got a, you know, healthy meals already made and then sort of fall into it by luck. That's not the way it works. And again, if you're listening to this and you're in your forties and older, you know, that's not the way it works. So let's move on to misconception or a lie. I'll even say.

Lie number two, and that is that you need to go all in to see results. Super intense to see results. So imagine this. Imagine you, let's say a friend of yours, or even maybe to make it, bring it more, you bring it home a little bit more. Imagine your child. They're on a road trip and they get a flat tire or they get stuck in traffic. You're not with them and they are behind schedule.

You know, the behind schedule for whatever their destination is. So they have a call and they say, Hey, running really far behind had this thing. There's some road traffic or had a delay or whatnot. So I'm going to make up some lost time. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to drive a hundred miles an hour, kind of weave through traffic just to make sure I get to my destination on time. Does that sound good? No, it doesn't sound good. It sounds risky and it's not really worth the risk of injury and exercise, nutrition plans, lifestyle. It's the same concept.

You cannot take shortcuts. cannot push so hard that you're going to make up, if you will, make up for lost time. You can't make up for days, weeks, months, years, and sometimes decades of poor health decisions by doubling down and just going crazy intense in the gym, drastic, dramatic changes to your nutrition.

your lifestyle, it's too much. And it's not intensity that's that wins its consistency. So we have to really kind of get away from, getting stuck in this all or nothing mindset. And that is the reason why most people quit. And that mindset is sort of baked into every, you know, six week ab shred nonsense fitness plan or some crazy fat diet that

Unreal expectation that super intense is built into that. And that's why they always fail. Always, always, always fail. So instead.

I don't want you to think that if you can't do it perfectly that you shouldn't do it at all. Also, I don't want you to think that you can train and exercise and live the lifestyle that you did when you were in your 20s in order to make progress. The reality is that our physiology responds to consistency over intensity. And it's unfortunate, I would say, because consistency is boring and is tedious.

but that is how your body responds. It responds when it's given time and subtle but consistent stimulation for building muscle, for developing healthy habits, healthy mindset. These things take time. And one of the terms that I like to think about is making sure that we have, that we kind of include this concept of a minimum effective dose. So we need to make sure we're doing just enough, the minimum effective dose.

to create change and compared to, you know, crazy exercise fads, which go way over the top and hence burnout or injury. We just need enough stimulation for any guy in this case, whether it's physical, you know, resistance training, whether it's cardiovascular training, whether it's nutrition changes, just enough to make your physiology change. And it's oftentimes less than what we think.

But the key is that it has to be done consistently. again, consistent habits, small changes, big results. The big results come from the duration of time that you're doing them, not some sort of crazy backbreaking intensity.

So here's a way to frame this up. Start with three well-structured strength workouts per week. Just three per week, three sessions per week of doing resistance training will outperform, six mediocre sessions. And of course the question is, well, what should I be doing? Well, here's a quick shortcut. I have a free program on my website, a free kickstart guide to get you started if you don't really know where to start, but also

lean into AI. You can literally type in your lifestyle and say, give me three workouts that are full body that are dosed according to wherever you are. you're a beginner and if you only have body weight or some exercise bands, you can get things spelled out for you pretty close to custom. Not totally custom because you're not going be talking to our human being. But the key here is to get at least a couple of weeks of

sustainable structured workouts, strength training workouts in three, if you can do three sessions per week.

20 minutes, 30 minutes would be great, 40 minutes would be almost more than what you need to get started. It is gonna be a game changer. And it doesn't include crazy ballistic movements. It doesn't include unsustainable planned or some 18 year old kid with six pack abs who's screaming at you because you're 40, you're an old person. The key here is getting started and making sure that it's.

that's written into your plan is making sure that it's sustainable for your week. So again, that was step one, but making sure that these three workouts per week are, sustainable for you. So again, you can find this stuff online. you can use AI to kind of develop it. If you, again, my shameless pitch here on, seeing that what most, a lot of stuff online is garbage. I did create a three week program myself. It's free. It doesn't cost anything. You can start there. It includes.

10 dinners and five snacks along with it and a whole bunch of other tips. So that's a great place to start and making sure that whenever you're thinking about making changes it is okay to, or to resign yourself that it's going to be a little bit uncomfortable. Exercising should be a little bit uncomfortable. Making changes to your lifestyle can be a little bit uncomfortable. There's a dis-ease with not,

Maybe eating the stuff that you currently eat and trying to explore some more healthier choices with your nutrition or sleeping habits, but it should be mildly uncomfortable and certainly sustainable. That is the key. So better results by doing less, but do it consistently. Now let's move on to the third and final misconception or lies. I will say have a big in our forties and trying to be sustainably healthy.

And that is, let me just kind of a combo way to put, put this one is I'll say it. There's this misconception that cardio is King. And there's also this misconception that weight training will hurt you. And it's, you know, here's the hard truth. The reality is if you're not strength training, if you're not doing resistance training, resistance, like pushing and pulling and lifting up things that are challenging for you, if you're not doing this in your forties and fifties and beyond.

You are absolutely 100 % weaker week over week over week. You're our, this is what sucks. mean, as we get older physiologically, we are losing muscle mass. We are losing strength every single day, especially in our forties and fifties and beyond. If we are not actively intentionally putting a demand on this, on our muscular system. So if there's nothing, if there's nothing else you take.

take away from any of my podcast episodes or anything I post online, it is this, you have to do resistance training. In fact, there's a study, a recent study in 2024 from the International Journal of Epidemiology, where the title of this article was, weight training and risk of all cause cardiovascular disease and cancer mortality among older adults. So in this study,

Compared to participants who didn't perform any weight training, so this may be you, so if you're not doing any resistance training at all, listen to this. Participants who performed any weight training had a 6 % lower risk of all-cause mortality, 8 % lower risk of cardiovascular disease mortality, and a 5 % lower cancer risk of cancer mortality. So again, we're measurable, absolute decreases in mortality

from resistance training and resistance training. Tell you what resistance training is not going for a walk. That is not resistance training. Yoga is not resistance training. you know, doing saunas, doing, you know, cold plunges, not resistance training, multivitamins, not resistance training, you know, fad diets, keto or high protein or high carb is not resistance training. We are talking literally

picking up, pushing, pulling, squatting resistance that is challenging for you. For you, not for some, again, don't scroll Instagram and see some massive person who's been strength training for decades and say, that's too hard. I'm not going to do that. Yeah. Don't do whatever that person is doing. Do what is challenging for you because we have to realize that, bust the beliefs here is that cardio will keep you lean. No.

That's not how it works. Cardio will not keep you lean. You can consume more calories in one halfway decent dessert than you could ever burn off in an hour of hard cardio. So cardio is not going to keep you lean. We've certainly been on the path of calorie intake and fuel utilization, but cardio is not going to keep you lean. The other thing that we just have to bust this myth that

Lifting weights is going to be risky at your age. No, it is not risky at your age. It is far riskier to not do resistance training. There's far more risks to not challenging your musculoskeletal system than there is to start an exercise program. Now that means you need to be smart about it, but that goes for whether you're a 20 year old or a 70 year old. And in my rehab practice, I've treated, I mean, I've treated teenagers who have

strength training related injuries, 20 year olds, 50 year olds, 60, 70 year olds who have resistance training related injuries. In 99.9 % of the time, the problem is that they just weren't doing the right exercise. So they weren't moving very well. It wasn't the exercise in itself. It wasn't the workout part that was the problem. It was their technique. So the truth is, is that resistance training is the only intervention.

That's been shown to reverse age-related muscle loss. call this sarcopenia. So if you are in your forties or even thirties, thirties, forties, fifties, and you haven't had a consistent resistance training program, worry not. The end is not over. mean, the world's not over for you. You can reverse that with having a resistance training program. And again, if you just do two days a week,

three would be great, but if you do at least two days a week with a thoughtful, intentional, well-designed program just for you.

you are going to reverse that muscle loss. So you can make changes. And of course, resistance training, you know, builds physical durability, builds bone density, insulin sensitivity, cognitive performance. There's absolute cognitive benefits to doing resistance training, meaning like dementia, Alzheimer's memory. So resistance training has nothing but wins all across the board. And you can lift heavy, you can lift heavy weights for you and do it progressively.

into your forties, into your fifties. And again, it's a, it's far, far, far greater risk not to be doing resistance training than the risk from engaging into it in a consistent program. The key is being wise about it and making sure that if you need some guidance, you get some guidance. If you need somebody to guide you through how to pick things up safely, find a coach, find a trainer who's experienced in that.

And specifically make sure that you're finding somebody who has experience working with somebody who's in middle age. Right? So if you're, you know, if you're 16, 17 years old, hopefully your gym teacher or somebody will can kind of, you know, guide, you know, a young person through that. But as we get older, we're not maybe in the habit of lifting things, much less the gym setting or even your home gym setting. Then yeah, get some, get some guidance. But the key is you can, and you will get stronger.

with a couple of days a week of doing resistance training. And again, if you don't know where to start, I've got a three week Kickstarter guide. can check that on my website. I'll put the link below. I also have an eight week program that with video instructions and nutrition and you know, meals and snack and sleep and stress management and all this stuff, you know, built in. But the key is just doing something.

So the pro tip is to start and to do it at least twice a week. So those are the three things. Those are the, those are the three main things that kind of stop people from, you know, those of us that are in middle age again, about, you know, really getting healthy and getting strong in our forties, in our forties and beyond. The first one as a recap is that you just need more discipline.

No, you do not need more discipline. You need a system, need a system, just like you have a system and a habit for brushing your teeth. You do the exact same concept for resistance training. Same results. You'll have healthy teeth and healthy metabolism. misconception number two is that you need to go all in with some crazy over the top diet and weightlifting program or something like that to see results. No, that is not the case. The reality is you need a

consistent program. Your physiology is going to respond to consistency over intensity. And the third misconception is that strength training is going to hurt you. You're going to get hurt. Well, no. Well, one, anybody can get hurt doing anything, but a well-designed, especially a custom-made program just for you, your chance of getting hurt is very, very low when you do things well. And that includes how well you move and picking the right resistance and the right set and number of sets and the right number of reps.

But those are the three things that are, I think, barriers to people being healthy and living a long, healthy, vibrant life, really extending their healthspan. So here's the one thing. With every episode I talk about, I make sure that there's one thing you can do today to extend your healthspan.

best thing you could do today. And this is absolute for somebody who's really not in an exercise routine at all right now. But also for somebody that you know, maybe you are in a routine, you just are inconsistent, you're not not routine enough where you can do it all the time. The exercise for today for tonight is to take 15 minutes. You're worth 15 minutes. So clear your schedule for 15 minutes, and write down your perfect day. Write down your perfect day.

to the detail of the time that you wake up, to the time that you time block your coffee intake or your breakfast or getting yourself ready or getting your kids ready or packing your bag for work or hopping on the computer to start work or whatever you're doing. Document that moment to moment to moment throughout the day, get all the things you need to get done, meal prep, family time, and right in there,

20 minute block for your self care. Your self care is gonna be resistance training. It is gonna extend your life. It's gonna decrease your risk of death across the board. Resistance training consistently. Again, 20 minutes. Where can you fit in those 20 minutes? And again, this is writing down your ideal day, your perfect day if you will, but.

You know, be realistic. If you have to work, you have to work. And if you have, you know, family obligations, certain days of the week, then, you know, maybe that doesn't, you can't exercise every single day, but I'm willing to bet that if you have some structure and a plan, something to work towards, if you can write up, man, my, you know, my perfect day would be getting up at this time. I would, you know, get in all my work as I need to, I'd have some family time carved out.

And this time of day is when I brush my teeth before I go to bed. Okay, I got that down. That's easy. Maybe there's a chunk of time, 20 minutes someplace else. Maybe it's right before you brush your teeth in the evening where you're going to do 20 minutes of self-love, self-care resistance training. Write that down because only after doing that can you work to create that. this isn't something that's going to be easy necessarily.

And it certainly may not be an instant fix and you may not wake, you know, write it down today and then tomorrow you have a perfect day, you know, follow. mean, hopefully you can do that and maybe just make a few simple changes and realize, Hey, this, this has been, the opportunity for a consistent, workout program has been sort of hidden in plain sight this whole time. That could certainly happen. So, you you may not need to overthink it may just need to kind of tidy up, tidy up your routine, tidy up your to-do list, if you will. But.

only after you document it and you see like, okay, this, would be really cool, man. I could, you know, take care of myself, take care of my family, take care of my household demands, take care of my work. So get some good sleep. All of these things. Once you can document that the chances of you literally implementing it goes through the roof. And that's really one of the biggest things that I work on with my coaching clients is yes, I want to be healthy and yes, I want to be fit Maybe I want to lose some weight. Maybe I want to sleep better and all those things. Great. What does that look like?

paint that picture and make that goal so vivid, so detailed, so clear that it gives us both the incentive to pursue it. But then we can start chipping away and making sure that as you've designed these habits, as you've created this system for your life, that it's going to be sustainable. You are worth it. You are worth it. I think that better health

for everybody that I know in the US, mean, better health for all of us is a few tiny, tiny changes done over a long period of time. And it's really sitting right in front of us. We just have to commit to say, you know, look in the mirror and say, hey, I'm worth tuning this up, tuning myself up here. Cause I want to live a long life. I want to be around my family. It's right in front of us. But the big, the number one thing you can do is document what that perfect day looks like.

So to recap.

Those are the three big misconceptions that, remind ourselves that it's not all about discipline. is certainly not about needing to go all in on some crazy, you know, spring break six pack abs sort of nonsense workout. And we have to remember that cardio is not King and strength training, resistance training is not dangerous. The truth is you need systems.

You need some small wins and need strength. So getting healthy after 40 is not about grinding harder. It's not about doing crazy stuff. It's just about training smarter. And the good news is you don't have to do it alone. That's what I do. As I've said before, I have a free, healthspan kickstart guide on my website and a link it below. If you do nothing else and you literally, I don't want to, you if you're, if you don't want to spend a dime and

but you're curious on like what's out there and how would you structure it? Just get this free guide is three weeks. It's only three weeks. So it's not like, you know, forever more, but it's a nice structure to say, Hey, three weeks, a couple of workouts per week. All you need is body weight and a couple of exercise bands. You're good to go. It's got 10 meals spelled out. Your shopping list is literally right there in front of you. Get your shopping lists. You got healthy snacks. Just start small changes.

done consistently is the win. So I hope that helps. if you're not consistently doing strength training in your past or thirties, there should be a red light flashing over your head at all times. Please do resistance training. Please invest in your health, your healthspan, the people around you love you and want you to be healthy. And if you leave an end with this, I saw this on

an article I was reading and this was a little bit of an instigating comment or the way this was shared, but I agree with it, is that if you are a person that says, I would do anything for my family, I will do anything to protect my family, to make sure my family is safe, to make sure my family is healthy. If you believe that you will do anything for your family and you're not taking care of your own health and not prioritizing your own health, then there's a problem.

because you're not doing anything for your family. If you wanna do something for your family and the people who love you, take care of yourself. So please invest in your health. Again, my name's Aaron Shaw from HealthSpan Physio Coaching. All my contact information will be in the description of this. If you have questions or ideas on other topics for me to talk about or to research, please comment on this. I have this on YouTube. If you're not already watching this on YouTube, I've got a bunch of videos on YouTube as well. Show us some exercises and whatnot.

And I respond to every question, every bit of constructive criticism. I appreciate that. And until next time, stay healthy, document your perfect day that will help you live a longer, healthier life because you're worth it. Cheers.