5 Physical Abilities You Should Never Lose (And How to Train Them)
Anyone who says your body doesn’t change over 40 is either:
A: Lying
B: Still in their 20s or 30s
Personally, my vision is worse, my joints are more cranky, and I can’t recover from the same training volume as quickly.
Beyond the physical stuff, life changes happen too.
More financial pressure as the price of seemingly everything soars.
More family responsibilities with kids and aging parents.
All of these very real ingredients create a recipe that makes it easy to let your physical abilities and overall health slowly slip away.
Before you know it, the stuff that used to be easy gives you pause before going for it.
That hike sounds fun, but can you actually finish it? Getting down on the floor to play with your kids, grandkids, or dog sounds great, but how confident are you about getting back up?
Left unchecked and untrained, eventually you can lose abilities that used to come naturally.
We don’t want that to happen to you, or us.
That's why Blakley and I sat down on the Digital Barbell Podcast to talk about 5 physical abilities you should never lose, along with how to train them.
Because building muscle and looking like you work out are great. But the point of training is to use those results to do more of the things you enjoy in life.
Let's get into it.
1. Getting Down to and Up From the Floor
This might not sound like the most exciting fitness goal in the world.
Nobody's putting "got off the floor without assistance" on their vision board.
But think about how often you need this ability.
Picking something up off the floor. Working in the garden. Getting into the cabinets in your RV. Playing with your dogs, kids, or grandkids.
And if you trip or fall, being able to control your descent and get back up safely becomes even more important.
Getting down to the floor and standing back up requires a combination of lower-body strength, upper-body strength, coordination, and mobility.
The good news? You can train it.
How to train this ability
Squats: Build the leg strength you need to lower yourself and stand back up. Goblet squats are a great option, and you can gradually increase the weight as you get stronger.
Push-ups: Develop upper-body strength to help you support and move your body.
Down-ups: Think of these as burpees without the jump and clap at the top. Start by lowering yourself toward the floor in a controlled manner, then work your way back up. You can use your hands for support and progress as you get stronger.
You don't have to start with a full burpee. In fact, you probably shouldn't if you're not ready for one.
Start with a version you can perform safely and work toward more challenging variations over time.
2. Carrying Heavy Things With One or Both Hands
You know the drill.
You pull into the driveway with groceries, and suddenly you're trying to carry eight bags, a gallon of milk, your keys, and your phone in one trip.
Making two trips would be admitting defeat. 😜
Carrying things is one of those everyday abilities that requires more than you might think.
You need grip strength to hold onto the objects, core strength to stabilize your body, and enough balance and coordination to move without tripping.
And sometimes you need endurance, too. That cooler isn't getting any lighter on the walk to the beach.
How to train this ability
Two of our favorite exercises are farmer's carries and suitcase carries.
Farmer's carries: Hold a weight in each hand and walk while maintaining an upright posture. Dumbbells, kettlebells, or other appropriate weights work well.
Suitcase carries: Hold a weight in one hand and walk without leaning toward the weight or letting your torso bend to the side.
Farmer's carries challenge your grip and trunk strength while you support weight on both sides. Suitcase carries add a greater challenge to your ability to resist leaning sideways.
Start with a weight you can control, walk a manageable distance, and gradually increase the load or distance as you improve.
These exercises have a lot of carryover to real life. (Pun absolutely intended.)
3. Climbing Stairs and Hills Without Running Out of Gas
Strength is great.
But if you can squat a respectable amount of weight and get winded walking up a flight of stairs, we have a problem.
We don't want you to be the person who can lift a heavy barbell but has to stop halfway up a hill to reconsider every decision that led to that moment.
Climbing stairs and hills requires leg strength, hip strength, coordination, and cardiovascular fitness.
It's a good example of why being strong and being well-conditioned are not the same thing.
You need both.
How to train this ability
Squats: Build the strength you need to repeatedly stand up and push through your legs.
Step-ups: Step onto a stable platform or step, then lower yourself under control. Start with a height you can manage without losing your balance.
Incline walking: Walking uphill on a treadmill or an appropriately challenging outdoor incline builds conditioning while making your legs work harder.
Cardiovascular training: Include conditioning that challenges your heart and lungs, not just your muscles.
As with the other abilities, start at your current fitness level. You don't need to start with a giant box or the steepest hill in town.
The goal is to make stairs, hills, and everyday walking feel manageable, even when you're carrying something or have already been on your feet for a while.
4. Jumping, Balancing, and Moving Explosively
This is the one that tends to get neglected most.
People understand why they need to get stronger. They understand why they need some cardio.
But jumping? Moving explosively? Practicing balance?
Those things can disappear from a training program without anyone noticing.
Here's why they matter.
Power is your ability to express strength quickly. It's what helps you react, move quickly, and produce force in a short amount of time.
Balance helps you stay steady as you move, particularly when you're stepping over obstacles, navigating uneven ground, or recovering from an unexpected change in position.
Both are worth maintaining as you age.
You don't have to be a competitive athlete to benefit from training them.
How to train this ability
Step-ups: These are a useful starting point for building leg strength and practicing controlled movement on one leg at a time.
Single-leg Romanian deadlifts: Train your hips and legs while challenging your balance and coordination. Use support if needed.
Bird dogs: A lower-intensity option that challenges coordination and stability.
Jumps: If you're ready for them, start with small, controlled jumps and progress gradually. Box jumps can be a later progression for people who have the necessary strength, coordination, and landing control.
Power cleans: For those with appropriate technique and training experience, power cleans train explosive hip extension and the ability to move a weight quickly and safely.
You don't need to be doing sets of 20 box jumps to benefit from power training.
And you certainly don't need to start jumping on tall things if your current strength, balance, or joint health doesn't support it.
Choose the appropriate variation for your ability and build from there.
The important thing is not to ignore power and balance entirely just because your regular workouts already include squats, presses, and other traditional strength exercises.
Use it or lose it applies here, too.
5. Having the Endurance to Go Long
Imagine someone invites you on an eight-mile hike.
It sounds fun. The scenery looks great. Everyone is excited.
But you know you probably won't make it past the first mile or two without feeling completely spent.
That's the kind of limitation we want to avoid.
Being able to do something for a few minutes is different from having the stamina to do it for an hour or several hours.
We want you to have the cardiovascular capacity to say yes to a long hike, a bike ride, a day exploring a new city, or whatever adventure happens to come along.
And while strength training is important, it doesn't replace cardiovascular training.
Your heart is a muscle, too. It deserves some attention.
How to train this ability
A well-rounded conditioning program should include different durations and intensities of cardiovascular exercise.
Easy aerobic work: Walking, cycling, or other activities at an easy pace help build your aerobic base. You should be able to carry on a comfortable conversation.
Moderate, sustained efforts: Work at a pace that requires more effort. You can still talk, but the conversation becomes a little choppy.
Short, harder efforts: Intervals, sprints appropriate to your ability, or brief conditioning circuits challenge your capacity to work at higher intensities.
Longer efforts: Gradually build toward sustained activities such as longer walks, hikes, bike rides, or runs, depending on your goals.
Walking your dog is great. Keep doing it.
But if that's your only cardiovascular training, you may be missing opportunities to improve your overall conditioning.
The answer isn't to make every workout miserable. It's to train a variety of intensities and durations so you're prepared for more than one kind of physical challenge.
And no, you don't have to run a marathon. You just want enough endurance to do the things you enjoy without your cardiovascular fitness being the limiting factor.
How to Maintain These 5 Physical Abilities as You Age
If you look at these five abilities together, you'll notice something important.
They don't require five completely separate workout programs.
A well-designed strength and conditioning program can train several of them at once.
Squats build strength for getting off the floor and climbing stairs. Carries improve grip strength and trunk stability. Step-ups help develop leg strength and balance. Power exercises challenge your ability to move quickly. Cardiovascular training builds the stamina to keep going.
The trick is to avoid focusing so narrowly on one area of fitness that you neglect the others.
You don't want to be incredibly strong but unable to walk up a hill.
You don't want to have great endurance but struggle to carry your own luggage.
And you don't want to spend years building muscle only to stop practicing the movements and skills that help you use it.
As you get older, training should help you maintain your independence, expand your capabilities, and keep saying yes to the things you want to do.
That doesn't mean every workout needs to be intense or that you need to do every exercise listed here.
It means being intentional about what you're training for.
At Digital Barbell, we believe fitness should enhance your life, not take it over.
Build strength. Maintain your conditioning. Practice the abilities that matter outside the gym.
And keep giving yourself reasons to say yes to the next adventure.
Blakley wrote a 5-Week workout program that will help you. You can grab it for FREE →HERE←
Want to Hear Us Break It All Down?
Blakley and I discuss all five abilities, why they matter, and the exercises that can help you maintain them as you get older in episode 499 of the Digital Barbell Podcast.
Watch or listen here:
Here's to staying strong, capable, and ready for whatever life has planned for you next.
Jonathan
