Why cardio can do midlife men more harm than good

Is all this cardio doing more harm than good to midlifers hoping to get fit? Photo / Getty Images

Some 414,168 people took to the streets this year for the London Marathon. My husband included, who has in the last five years has become something of a Mamil: that's a middle aged man in lycra.

Along with most of the other dads in our Surrey village, he spends several hours each week running and cycling his way to midlife fitness; partly because he enjoys it, but partly to ward off the dreaded middle-age spread that was once an accepted part of entering your 40s.

"In the last few years I've noticed a real shift in attitudes towards ageing and how men expect their bodies to look and perform as they get older," says personal trainer Matt Roberts, who has trained David Cameron and is the author of new book, Younger, Fitter, Stronger: The Revolutionary 8-week Fitness Plan for Men.

"Reaching your mid-40s once meant hanging up your trainers, but now it means buying a new pair and signing up for a mid-life marathon or triathlon."

However, is all this cardio doing more harm than good to midlifers hoping to get fit? "While regular cardiovascular exercise, like running and cycling, is great and healthy, we know that doing too much of it has a negative effect on testosterone production," says Roberts. "And that matters. As men get older, they're effectively becoming a little bit more female as their testosterone levels decline and become out of sync with their levels of the female hormone oestrogen. So once men get into their 40s they should focus less on pounding pavements to burn off calories, or to get a new PB, and more on maintaining their decreasing testosterone levels."

Which is why, according to Roberts, those hoping to tone up their dad bods should ease off the lycra and start lifting weights three times a week instead: "Lifting weights is a quicker, more efficient way to get fit and burn fat in midlife," he says. "From our mid to late 30s, we all lose muscle mass through a process known as sarcopenia. Men start to lose around a fifth of a pound of muscle each year, which is a sharper decline than in women. After 50, men start to lose 1lbs of muscle per year, all because of decreasing testosterone levels. This reduced muscle mass results in fat gain, especially around the midriff and sides (the love handle area), the chest and stomach. Which, if left unchecked, can lead to obesity and an increased risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and certain cancers."

The answer, however, isn't to sign up for yet another midlife marathon or charity bike ride, but rather to start lifting weights, which boosts flagging testosterone levels. "Weight training, strength training, resistance training – whatever you call it, it's anything that involves lifting weights or working against a resistance: so hand-held weights in the gym, a Body Pump class, or exercises using your own body weight, like a press up, or working on a pulley or cable machine," say Roberts.

"It changes you hormonally. For this reason, lifting weights can also improve your libido and bone density levels, which along with muscle mass, are also casualties of age-related testosterone decline." In fact, a 2015 study from the University of Missouri in the US found that middle-aged men who regularly lift weights are at a reduced risk of osteoporosis. Such is the shift towards resistance training in recent years, the government now recommend everybody between the ages of 19 and 64 do strength training two or more times a week.

Roberts, who is 45 himself, says he's in better shape now than he was at 22 because he lifts as well as runs: "If men take the time to increase their testosterone levels through lifting, it will burn through body fat and build muscle mass," he says. "There's no reason why men in their 50s and 60s can't look and feel like guys in their 20s and 30s."

Roberts, who is said to have helped David Cameron lose weight by avoiding alcohol and cutting back on carbs in favour of lean protein, also recommends men eat more testosterone-enhancing foods, such as sardines, walnuts, salmon, eggs, mushrooms, leafy green vegetables and wholegrains.

"When you get older, it's not about eating less or exercising harder, but rather eating and exercising in a smarter way that works with your changing hormones," he says. "You'll end up exercising less, but getting better results."

This article originally appeared on the Daily Telegraph.