I don’t believe age to be an obstacle to building muscle.
There is no male equivalent of menopause where hormones are guaranteed to go bonkers.
Low testosterone in older men may be the norm, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
I don’t even see the synthetic testosterone route as being a requirement, a natural lifestyle overhaul can do it.
Dietary wise the older man is not to be eating processed garbage, while carbs in general, and grains in particular would be restricted.
Training wise for the older man I’d go light, high reps, less intensity than all out, and lower frequency than younger men.
A focus on strong legs, hips, and back.
However I’d still have them be physical daily. Walking for everyone, and swimming if there’s water access.
Of course stuff like shoveling snow and mowing the lawn is not to be dodged. The worst thing a man can do to himself physically is to let himself “lose it”.
Bigger than the diet, exercise, and general physicality is the mentality of the man who won’t allow himself to surrender to aging.
I know a man in his 80s who does pushups daily.
It’s bad when you’ve surrendered to being unable to walk normally and unassisted, or even worse… surrendered to being unable to stand.
I remember watching that old timer barely able to get himself up, then the look between husband and wife of “what do we do” when she couldn’t stand and he couldn’t help her stand.
(I walked over, offered to help, and it was accepted. “Thank you young man”, I’d let her hold onto one forearm and softly hugged her up with my other hand on her back. Weirdly the hospital staff member that day had been lost as to what to do. I was just in the vicinity and offered to help.)
I’m going to be the grandfather, maybe even greatgrandfather, that is used in an intergenerational version of “my grandpa/greatgrandpa can beat up your dad”.
It’ll go without saying my son/grandson will win that game for my grandchildren/greatgrandchildren, and they’ll have a physically robust grandpa/greatgrandpa.
It’s fond for me to recall, my grandpa never once didn’t play catch with me.
Up until that last six or nine months he never lost it. And he didn’t let me see him during that period. I visited in the summer, he was healthy, come the end of the school year he was gone. I only knew him healthy, which was til less than the length of the last school year.
Aging in number is guaranteed, but that’s it.
Old age physically decrepit is only for those who accept it.
For God’s sake women, girls even, are out there building muscle. For example I’ve seen a 60 something grandma deadlift 315. Any man out there has the hormonal ability to get jacked regardless of the number on their driver’s license as by the numbers low t in men is high t in women.
Persistence & Tenacity