If you’ve ever tried to arm wrestle your grandfather, you’re familiar with the concept of old man strength. Although grandpa might have a bit less muscle than he had when he was fighting commies in Vietnam, he still has an uncanny level of strength. In this OA physicality guide, we’ll give you the tactics and strategies for unlocking old man strength (even if you’re still a young guy). But before we can dive into unleashing your inner grandpa, we must understand the science behind why old guys are so damn strong in the first place.

The Science of Old Man Strength

Old man strength (OMS) is more than just a physical illusion. There’s some real science behind why men tend to get “stronger” as they get older. Contrary to popular belief, this power increase has nothing to do with muscles (muscular density actually deteriorates with age). In reality, achieving OMS is all about developing the nervous system. 

As you get older, performing repetitive actions and movements for decades reinforces the neurons and brain connections that make those movements occur. Also known as “mind-muscle connection,” these improved neural pathways make your muscles contract more efficiently, and, therefore, with more strength. This mind-muscle link is the same reason why young kids who play sports are generally more coordinated than their unathletic classmates – they’ve already started forging strong neural connections for movement, balance, explosiveness, and stability.

Typically, these neural networks are reinforced as people get older – hence, old man strength. But there’s good news! You don’t have to wait till you’re 60 to improve your nervous system and unleash your inner grandfather. Here are three ways you can start building your OMS today.

1) Be More Smart than Strong

Achieving old man strength isn’t about using brute force to power through everything you do. It’s about having the physical intelligence to understand how your body works and how you can use it to your advantage. A person with OMS knows how to utilize leverage, weight, and balance to move more weight with less effort. Work your balance and movement to supplement your strength training. Stability is at the core of old man strength.

Learn more about balance and movement training by reading our OA guide,
Balance Exercises for Performance

The best way to learn your body mechanics is to start cross-training in multiple disciplines. When you try various sports and athletic activities, you get exposed to new ways of moving your body. Although you might not plan to become a competitive athlete at these sports, you’ll be able to take your new physical understanding and use it to get better at your primary training style. Excellent cross-training disciplines include martial arts, swimming, rock climbing, and explosive sports like basketball and volleyball.

2) Save Your Energy

Just because you can exert energy doesn’t mean you should. Having old man strength means choosing your battles wisely and saving your strength for the right time. Be smart with how you move, and don’t use power if you don’t have to. Take the opportunity to rest and recover whenever you can – you never know when you’ll have to jump into action.

Learn more about rest and recovery by reading our OA guide,
How to Recover from Tough Trainings

3) Lift the Way You Move

The final step to achieving old man strength is to dispense with the useless gym workouts you’re likely doing regularly. When your grandfather was growing up, he probably didn’t have access to a fancy fitness facility, weight room, and Pilates classes. He got strong by running across town, throwing boulders, and wrestling bears (or so he claims). 

Does this mean we advocate going into the forest and starting fistfights with the local woodland critters? No. We’re saying that if you want to unlock old man strength, you must train how you move. This means prioritizing compound lifts and functional fitness over isolation exercises on gym machines. 

In the weight room, focus on heavy full-body movements like deadlifts, bench presses, pullups, and squats. Then, supplement these training sessions with functional fitness movements like weighted rucks, running on uneven terrain, and even rock climbing. If you really want to train like an old bull, make nature your gym. Grab a log or stone and do a few squats or do some pullups from a tree branch. The uneven and unpredictable shape of natural weights makes your body work overtime to stabilize, thus improving your mind-muscle connection.

Working out every day is the key to improving your strength and physical ability. The more consistent you are with your training, the better results you’ll experience in the long run. Unfortunately, it can be challenging to discern whether the workouts you’re doing are effective in helping you achieve your goals. That’s why we teamed up with Navy SEAL commander, Greg DeLuca, to create our OA training programs. These workout plans are tailored and curated for aspiring operators who want to prepare for selection and life in the teams. Our workouts are tough, but they’ll make you even tougher. Click here to browse our training plans now!