Ted Talk 153: 4 Reasons Every Man Over 40 Should Get into The Best Shape of Their Life

Podcast Transcription: 4 Reasons Every Man Over 40 Should Get into The Best Shape of Their Life

Ted Ryce: I talk a lot about tactics on this podcast, I talk about fat loss, how to do it, how to build muscle, sleep optimization, stress reduction. But I feel like I don’t talk a lot about the underlying reason we should do these things. It’s not so that we can hit some arbitrary number on the scale, or achieve a certain body fat percentage. There’s nothing wrong with having those goals.

But today, I wanted to talk about “4 reasons every man over 40 should get into the best shape of their life.” And it’s not going to have to do with any type of tactics at all. We’re going to talk about the mindset here, the ‘why’ here. So, what is up, my friend, and welcome back to the Legendary Life podcast. I’m your host, Ted Ryce, health expert and coach to entrepreneurs, executives, and other high-performers.

I’m coming to you from Lisbon, Portugal today. I’ve been here for about a week now, having a little bit of a European summer, and just so excited to be here. Anyway, let’s get into it. I’m a big believer that getting in shape has the power to change your life. Why do I say this? Because although I’ve been a health and fitness coach for 23 years, I got out of shape in my mid-30s. And then I got into the best shape of my life at 41. And I’ve kind of stayed there.

Now I had a bit of a setback after my dad’s death in October of 2020. But I still was able to weather that emotional storm of grief, and stay in a place where I feel like I’m 25 years old. And this has improved my confidence in my life. It’s boosted my sex drive, where in my 30s, I actually, you know, not to go into the full drama here. But I had some sexual performance issues, even though I was shredded and everybody would say, “Oh, you got the perfect body, you’re so low body fat, and you’ve got muscles and you do jiu-jitsu.”

But I struggled with my sex drive. I also struggled with energy. And now I feel like I am full of energy. I have been doing nine-hour flights. I’ve had four nine-hour flights and about to have five nine-hour flights. I do these things…Well, five nine-hour flights in the span of just a few months, is what I’m saying here. So, I can push my body and recover quickly. And I just have the energy, I don’t have energy issues.

And if I do feel a little bit down, when I have a bad night of sleep or get jetlag from traveling the world, I know how to bounce back quick. And it’s not just me; the changes that happened to my clients, both men and women. Today, we’re going to be talking about men, because I’m going to be sharing my own personal experience—about to make a joke about the political situation, but I’ll just skip right over that.

And even my clients, both men and women, the types of changes that happen in their life as a result of getting into the best shape of their life, it’s incredible. And I would even argue this: there’s three big areas here, there’s your health, there’s your wealth, there’s your relationships, all of them are important, but the health is a foundation.

It’s hard to work hard if you don’t have energy, maybe you can do it for a while, but as your body gets fatter, and your energy gets lower, and your stress gets higher, you’ll hit a wall and you won’t be able to get beyond it. And in relationships, one of the most important things you can do in your relationships, is be in a calm state of mind.

If you’re constantly getting triggered in conversations with your partner and feel like you get into arguments with them or just emotionally shut down from them. Again, that’s a sign that you’re not paying enough attention to your health. And when you start to make these changes, it’s incredible. One of my clients— shout out to you, Trevor. He’s getting compliments from so many people about the way he looks. And when he talked to me, he’s like, “Listen, it’s not just the way I look; it’s, I’m making more money, and I feel less stressed and more present with my family.” This has improved his life in so many ways, and I can relate, too.

So, if you’re over 40, don’t buy the supercar, don’t go buy a Corvette or Ferrari, invest in your health, invest in getting into the best shape of your life. And here are the four reasons why. Number one, having a fit body over 40 is rarer than being wealthy. I remember one of my first personal training clients back in Miami Beach, his name was Anwar Zaidan. He’s unfortunately passed away. But he said something I’ll never forget.

He said, he’s like, “I have so many friends in the writing…” he was very wealthy, by the way, and he was an art dealer and had an art framing shop, and he decorated the homes of like Sylvester Stallone and a bunch of other celebrities. And what he told me, he’s like, “I have so many friends who they drive around in their expensive Rolls Royces or Ferraris, or Bentley’s. But when they get out, they just look like out of shape people.”

And that was like 15 years ago, it’s even worse now, obesity is even higher, it’s more common to see out of shape people than it is to see…I’m sorry, it’s less common to see in shape people than it is to see someone driving around a status symbol. And what I’ll tell you is this: it’s the ultimate status symbol. Because it’s not something you can work your health away for and make a lot of money and then go buy it somewhere.

You can buy a Bentley, of course, you’ve got to earn it by growing your business, but it’s something you have to work on. Most things, it’s like once you make enough money, you can just purchase them, but not relationships, and certainly not fitness, you have to work for it. And it’s so rare to see someone over 40 in shape, that it captures people’s attention.

And if you’re in shape over 40, especially if you’re 50 or even 60, I’ve had people reach out to me, entrepreneurs told me—one entrepreneur on Twitter told me, John Crum, he’s like, “Oh, I can tell you 100%, I’m one of the fittest people in my friends groups, and it’s way more rare, and it gets you a lot more attention than just having some money or driving an expensive car.”

Reason number two is you have control over your fitness. Aging, I’m not going to lie, it… I’m not going to say it sucks, because I think there’s a lot of good things that come with age, wisdom, the ability to not get so… Man, when I was in my 20s, and 30s, I used to get so stressed about some things. You have a bigger picture, you know what’s important, a lot of good things come with age.

But some things you don’t want. For example, you can’t control how much hair you have, or how your skin wrinkles. But you can control how your body looks with diet, sleep, and exercise. Every single person. It’s not your hormones, it’s not your age, it is your habits, and you have control over them. Especially if you’re doing well financially, you just aren’t doing the right strategies if you’re not getting results at all, or you have strategies that work, but they’re not sustainable for you.

So, you tried a strict diet, you lose weight, but you’re like, “Man, I got to go hang out with my friends or go on vacation,” and you fall back off. Or you’ve got a workout routine, it gets you results, but it’s so hard to keep up. And maybe you’re experiencing some joint aches and pains, or maybe even a full-blown entry. Those aren’t sustainable. So, every person can get results. Every person has control over their fitness. If you’re doing well financially, there is no excuse for you. You just don’t know what you’re doing, or you have the wrong strategies for your lifestyle.

Reason number three, you can do all the things you want. Right here…Right now, rather. Right here, I’m sitting on my butt. But right now, I’m in Lisbon. And if you’ve ever been to Lisbon, and other cities in Europe, they’re not…They’re hard to walk on. The stones here, especially in Lisbon are uneven. There’s a lot of hills. In fact, Lisbon’s known as the Sudden Hills. So, there’s uphill walking, and it’s slippery, and there’s stones missing so you can get your foot caught.

You’ve got to be in shape to do that. If you want to retire and travel the world, guess what? It’s not flat, and with handicap accessible service, you’ve got to be in shape to do it. You can’t just lose your strength and lose your fitness. You’ve got to stay fit, if you want to do the things you want. And I see so many professionals, they’re just like, “Okay, you know, I’m in my 40s or in my 50s and I’ve got another 10 or maybe 15 years before I retire here, so I’m just going to make as much money as I can. So when I retire I’m going to be able to travel the world.”

Except they have no muscle strength. They’re way overweight compared to the amount of muscle strength they have. And if you think you’re going to be traveling the world and doing all the things you want, I’ve got news for you, it’s not going to happen. You have to find a way to get in shape and do it now. What you do now in your 40s, especially. If you don’t get in shape and your 40s or 50s, you think it’s going to be easier in your 60s? It’s not. It’s going to be harder.

If you want to do all those things that you say you want to do when you retire, it starts right now. Oh, and I can’t wait, I got an episode coming out on “Why the Right Time is Total BS.” But I’m not going to go off on a tangent, I’m going to stop myself. So, you can do all the things you want. I’m walking around, I don’t get tired at all. I walk all day, I walked 20,000 steps. Well, I do get tired at the end of the day, but I can handle it, I recover fast.

So, you can do all the things you want. And if you want to be doing the same things that you did in your 20s and 30s, you’ve got to take care of yourself. And just imagine, a lot of people don’t want to live a long time, because they think about how their fitness level is. And they’re like, “Well, I’m not going to be able to do things in my 80s.” Well, I’m telling you, you can hike bike, live your life, travel the world in your 70s and even in your 80s.

And I see people doing this, and the one thing that allows them to do that is their health. Maybe they’re in the gym lifting weights. Maybe they just had an active lifestyle, or maybe a little bit of help from their genes. But it doesn’t matter whether you have good genes or not. I don’t have good genes, I’ve had to work very hard for all the fitness I have. You can do it, just like I said in reason number two, because you have control. So, if you want to do those things, you’ve got to be in shape.

And reason number four is how you feel is more about your fitness level than your age. Too many people blame their age for the way they feel, “Oh, just wait until you’re in your 40s.” I can’t tell you how many people told me that. Well, maybe not that many, maybe just a handful of people. But so many people, or a large handful of people that say, over the years, “Just wait until you’re in your 30s. Just wait until you’re in your 40s Just wait until you’re in your 50s.”

And it’s like, “Listen, I’m 45, I’m about to be 46, I feel better than I did in my 30s. Part of that psychological, but even physically, even with some of the injuries that I gave myself with some of the crazy things I’ve done, I still feel great. Can’t you feel my energy coming at you? Yes, that’s a little bit of caffeine, for sure. But let me tell you, I feel great. And it’s because of my fitness level. And I’ve also felt terrible. And it was also because of my fitness level.

So, it’s more about your fitness level than how many years you’ve been around. Now, I want to say this, because you might say, “Well, Ted, that’s bullshit. You know, my age, it’s harder to get in shape.” Yeah, guess what age is working against you. Age, your levels of low grade chronic inflammation, start to increase your mitochondria, the powerhouses of all your cells start to become dysfunctional, and you start to lose them.

And that’s why getting in shape is even more important as you get older than when you’re younger. You don’t even need to be in shape— that in shape, let’s say, in your 20s and 30s. But as you get into your 40s, 50s and 60s, 70s, it becomes more important. So, if you’re someone, especially a man who’s getting in shape, let me know. I’d love to connect with you. I’d love to help you. I’d love to create more episodes that address the questions that you have on making this happen.

Because I want to tell you, it is worth it. So many people wonder like, “Oh, if I do all this, is it really worth it?” And I want to tell you, yes, with the right strategies, you can eat in restaurants, you can try the dessert at that famous restaurant, the legendary Tiramisu that has this chef’s name on the dessert menu, you can do those things, but you need the right strategies and you got to get started.

All right, so that is just kind of a quickie one today. But just to hit you hard with this idea, get in shape, it’s one of the best things you can ever do. Just to recap here, not only is…Well, reason number one is, it’s a status symbol. Or if you want to say that a different way, it’s inspirational. It’s more inspirational to see someone who’s in shape taking care of themselves when they’re over 40 than it is to see some obese or out of shape, overweight 50-year-old driving around in an inexpensive car, who he can barely get out of.

Number two, you have control over your fitness; it’s not your age. It’s not your metabolism. It’s not your genes. It is what you are doing and you have control over it. Number three, you can do all the things you want when you’re in shape. You can take those long flights, you can go to Thailand or Bali or Lisbon, or wherever you want. And you’ll be able to do the things that you want: the skiing, the golfing, the tennis, if you maintain your fitness.

And number four, how you feel is more about your fitness than your age, okay? So, if you’re not feeling good right now, and you’re like, “Oh, it’s just part of age.” No, it’s not. It’s not normal to feel bad. Well, it’s common to feel bad, but it’s not normal, and you can reverse that with the right strategies. That’s all I’ve got for you today. Kind of a quick one, but I wanted to just share this message with you, all right? So, get in shape if you’re over 40, it’s one of the best things you’ll ever do in your whole life. Hope you enjoyed that. Have an amazing weekend, and I’ll speak to you soon.