“My goal was to get a best body at 40,” says Johan Du Plessis, a Regional Sales Manager from Pretoria. “Once you get older it gets more difficult to lose a kilogram of fat, but I just look at the benefits: you have energy throughout the day, you’re not that tired anymore and it’s easier to stand up or run up a flight of stairs, whereas in the past I would avoid those.
Related: 8 Factors That Make It Harder to Lose Weight As You Get Older
Johan du Plessis, 41, Pretoria, Regional Sales Manager
Weight: 6, 5kg | Waist: 10cm | Chest: 10cm
“It’s such a change,” he adds. “I had to buy new pants! Even now the size 36 is becoming too big. I haven’t stopped training since. I’m still hitting the gym at least four times a week, and I dusted off my mountain bike.
The big challenge is to keep it going but that’s not so difficult once you see the results and you get remarks from people.”
Related: Hit A Plateau? Here’s How This Guy Broke Through & Dropped 26kg
1. Slash Your Starches
“Cutting back on starch was one of the best things that worked for me. It took discipline but once you get going it becomes second nature and in the end you can’t eat white bread any more.”
2. Fuel Your Fat Burner
“If you eat a little bit before training, it helps you keep your energy going longer,” he advises.
Related: 6 Foods You Should Never Eat or Drink Before Your Workout
3. Total-Body Workout
Steal Du Plessis’s killer move: take two dumbbells, put them at your feet, stand bent over them, pick them up to waist height and continue with the move as if doing an arm curl. From there you continue straight up as if doing a military press. “It’s one movement, so you come back all the way and then you put it down on the floor again.”
Related: The 12-Move Dumbbell Workout You Can Do Anywhere
4. Find Your Niche
“Once you get the recipe right in terms of what works for your body, you just have to stick to that. Once you see the benefits, the way you can move and pick up stuff, it really motivates you to go forward.”
