8 Ways to "Raise Your Floor" in training as an "Athlete of Aging" in 2026

Focus on Your Baseline Effort for a Standard Workout.

• Raising the floor is about improving your overall average workout not by improving your best workout but improving those poor workouts. Not all workouts will be great and you will not always be motivated. If you can do a little more on the days when you don't really want to you have improved. This is why strength training is so helpful in general, because by increasing strength you raise your baseline level and daily tasks like carrying luggage or hanging your bike in the garage become easier.

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Prioritize Consistency over Intensity.

• Showing up is more important than having a great workout or setting a PR. Remember the hardest pull of the workout is opening the front door of the gym. Make it a habit to show up. Even if you do just a little bit and leave this is better than nothing. This does not contradict point 1. it supports it. More often than not if you show up you will do more than you thought. Sometimes you will just squat and leave. That is ok, by doing that you did more than most people and it is better than nothing at all.

Adjust the Workout as Needed.

• Training / life for the Athlete of Aging never follows a perfect, linear path. Poor sleep, life stress, travel, nutritional inconsistency, tweaks and injuries can occur. It is always appropriate to adjust the workout as needed. That could be lowering the intensity by decreasing the weight or repetitions at a giving weight. It could mean decreasing the volume by doing less sets or repetitions. It may mean modifying the range of motion or the exercise all together.

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Adopt a Process Focused Mindset.

• Focus on the process of personal improvement and building on each workout. Focusing on the outcome can drive stress, frustration and decrease motivation. Training is a process of stacking workouts upon workouts consistently. They are about the work and what it gives back to us both physically and mentally. Enjoy the process of improvement, don't get hooked on perfection.

Track Your Progress

• because that athlete of aging is training and not just exercising there is a planned progression. In order to make sure you are progressing toward that goal you must keep a record what you are doing. I use a small paper journal. There are apps to help track your training but I like the old school hand written on paper. The key is writing it down. Remember if it isn't written down it didn't happen. You will not be able to remember what you did two months from now. I have one client who has doubled her strength in one lift and showing her that was very important because the sets always feel hard. She was exuberant when she realized what her consistency had accomplished.

Prioritize Recovery

• Getting as much sleep as you are able, prioritizing protein in your nutrition and finding ways to manage stress will help your training and allow you to progress

Celebrate Small Victories

• Nancy doubling her leg strength was a cause to celebrate. Find ways to celebrate success. In our group training sessions at Moe Strength a high five, pat on the back and a sincere congratulations are common place between Athletes of Aging.

Build Resilience Over Time

• Small consistent efforts can build big outcomes over time. Just like training will build the body stronger and more resilient over months of consistent training, it will expand your mental resilience as well. By regularly doing hard things your perspective will change making your mentally stronger and more resilient. Strength training builds muscle, bone, tendon, ligament an brain.

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• Moe Strength can help you train for the most extreme sport of all, aging well. I have just a few spots left in my Athlete of Aging group training sessions. Two days a week can make a world of difference. 605-695-0496