Your 12-Week Training Plan for Burning Fat and Building Muscle After 40

3 min readAt 40, work, kids, and everyone else’s demands have a way of pushing training to the back burner. If this sounds familiar, you don’t need a complex routine; you need a plan that fits your life. That’s why Men’s Health teamed with Andrew Heffernan, C.S.C.S., for this 12-week training program, Muscle After 40 at Home, because your healthiest, strongest days are still ahead of you. The good news: you can get there without leaving the house. No pricey gym membership needed, just a few dumbbells, consistency, and some serious grit.Over 12 weeks, you’ll develop the skills to kickstart your longevity and see real results so you can stay strong in your 40s, 50s, and beyond. In just three months, you’ll learn how to spot good pain versus bad pain, learn the moves to avoid injury, and get the energy you need while improving health markers your physician has been nagging you about. You’ll also build strength, athleticism, and a toolkit to maintain your body for the long haul.​GET THE BOOK HERE​A plan built for the body you have nowForty is not the new twenty, but that doesn't mean that you can’t reap the same gains you had in your youth. Over the next 12 weeks, you’ll learn exercises to boost your muscle mass while avoiding injury—heavy barbell squats and deadlifts, upright rows, behind-the-neck presses and Olympic lifts won’t take center stage here. Instead, you’ll focus on joint-friendly workouts like goblet squats, lunge variations, dumbbell Romanian deadlifts, pushup variations, and core work.12 weeks. 3 phases. 4 weeks each.Phase 1: Three full-body workouts a week that start at 60 percent effort.Phase 2: One full-body session, one arms-and-legs session, followed by one chest, back, and shoulders sessions each week.Phase 3: Four weekly sessions: two lower body, two upper body, with increasing sets.You’ll start each workout with a mobility warmup and quick explosive moves like skips and shuffle steps. Speed fades with age, so these quick warmups will help you maintain your agility for years to come.In addition to rigorous training plans, you’ll also get a whole-life health approach to training, complete with nutrition guidance, tips for better sleep, smart cardio, an actionable plan for keeping your gains once the 12 weeks are up, plus an illustrated glossary of nearly 60 exercises.Here’s a look at what you’ll get from week one:No rep counting neededTraditional training models focus on reps; Muscle After 40 at Home is effort-based. Instead of mandating 10 reps per exercise, each set is assigned an effort level on a scale of 1-10. With only light, medium, and heavy dumbbells to choose from, every workout remains challenging whatever your starting strength. You’ll begin with an overhead-press test to help you pick the right weights. This book also comes with a built-in workout journal to help you track your progress with each set.What you’ll needThis training plan keeps it simple. You’ll need:Dumbbells in light, medium, and heavy weights1 Exercise mat1 Resistance band (preferably with a door attachment)​Why you should start nowStagnation comes at a cost. According to a recent article published through Harvard Medical School, starting around age 30, you begin losing muscle at nearly 1 percent a year if you remain inactive. That gradual loss is called age-related sarcopenia. Over time, this sets the stage for a cascade of health issues: more fat, less function and mobility, and a host of illnesses, including heart disease and even serious, life-threatening injury.With Muscle After 40 at Home, you’ll pack on muscle, avoid injury, and see real results in a matter of weeks. GET THE BOOK HERE​Double down on your wins.Join the MVP program and unlock unlimited access to the Men’s Health Training Lab, complete with downloadable PDFs and more than 450 in-app workouts through All Out Studio. Get exclusive content and newsletters delivered to you, plus an annual print magazine subscription to keep the momentum going on and off screen.JOIN NOW​Discover more Men’s Health training plans to shred, chisel, and sculpt: