If you are reading this because you want to train with weights to build muscle and you are over 35 years old then here are a few pointers which will help you get fast results. The first is that exercise in mature adults has now been studied extensively and there is conclusive proof that it works.

The Medicine in Sports and Exercise journal has found on many different studies done over the years that adults who start training with weights for the first time who are over 50 years old will be able to beat the age-related loss of muscle that happens in all of us.

Simple progressive resistance can take on many different forms and it does not only have to be "pumping iron" in the gym. The concept of increasing strength and adding more muscle occurs because the muscles fibers are stretched and our bodies adapt to this "stress".

From using training bands to your own bodyweight the process of resistance training comes from increasing the normal resistance on a muscle so that it will increase in size in order to adapt and prepare for the next workout. It is exercising the natural born adaptation ability that we all have in our bodies.

Science has proven that after the age of 35 we start producing less and less testosterone every year after that. It was the inspiration for a comprehensive study that was done with adults over the age of 65 who had never trained with weights previously.

The result was astounding as they were able to prove that even with less testosterone floating around we are still able to adapt and gain good quality muscle until we die. There are obviously some very specific conditions under which this will happen.

The first is to be honest about your health and any illnesses or injuries that include connective tissue problems that you might have had in the past like a torn ligament or shin splints etc. This also needs to include diseases like arthritis, sclerosis, etc.

Getting medical clearance is highly recommended if you have never trained with weights previously. It does not mean that you cannot train if you have had knee surgery or some other connective tissue surgery, it means that you will need to adapt your training program accordingly.

The key to gaining muscle on a continuous basis after the age of 35 comes from knowing how your body recuperates from high intensity exercise. This includes your localized repair done to the muscle as well as the systemic repair done to your body which includes the lymphatic system etc.

The care in the monitoring of your OVERALL recovery from an intense training session is vitally important if you want to continue gaining muscle after the age of 50. This can be adapted in your training to suit your own specific requirements by training at a slower pace.

That does not mean training slower but rather lifting the weights slower when you are doing repetitions. Taking 2 or 3 seconds to raise the bar and 2 or 3 seconds to lower the bar will not only increase the time under tension (TUT) and increase the muscle but it will also result in less injury.

In conclusion you should always try to do the basic compound movements so that you can increase your core strength and gain muscle. If you have other joint pains or range of motion problems there are many creative alternatives like static holds or partial-range movements.