Why is the RSMP Training Method So IMPORTANT for Guys over 40…?
- Geoff Neupert
- 10 minutes ago
- 3 min read
This is the plan I recommend you use for your BIG R work if you don’t currently have one – the same one I use myself.
There’s a lot of noise online about the “best” way to train after 40.
I’ve been training men in this age group since 1996, I’m over 50 myself, and I still catch myself thinking:
“Yeah, but back in the day I could…”
That’s exactly why I use the RSMP Training Method.
In this video, I’m breaking down the first part:
R = Restoration / Reclamation / Rejuvenation
I call it The BIG R.
For me, this starts with joint health and muscle pliability.
If your joints don’t work well, your muscles aren’t going to work well either.
Restricted range of motion, stiffness, soreness, tightness, and especially pain can interfere with how the muscles around a joint function.
One of the mechanisms involved is called Arthrogenic Muscle Inhibition — AMI.
I know this firsthand.
I dealt with chronic knee pain for 25 years.
Toward the end of that period, the “teardrop” muscles on the inside of my quads started getting smaller because bending my knees hurt so badly.
Once I got rid of the pain, I could actually feel those muscles working again.
And then they started growing again.
For years I tried foam rolling, traditional stretching, and later mobility drills.
Some things helped for a while.
But eventually it started to feel like playing whack-a-mole.
I’d deal with stiffness in one area, only to have it show up somewhere else.
In January 2010, I started focusing more seriously on neurodevelopmental-based restoration work. First as the co-creator of Original Strength.
And now through P3.
The outcome was much better.
I returned to Olympic lifting.
I permanently got rid of my knee pain.
I restored function in my lower back and both injured hips.
And I’ve been able to lift and do things in my 50s that I couldn’t do in my 20s.
Including 6 days a week, for 6 straight weeks, of full Olympic barbell Snatches, Cleans, and Back Squats — pain free.
That’s why I believe restoration should be treated as part of training, not as an afterthought.
Whatever approach you use, I think the key is this:
Make sure you’re making measurable improvements.
You should be able to tell that what you’re doing is working because the stiffness, soreness, tightness, and pain start to go away and stay away.
And when your body stops working against you, you can start getting more out of your training again.
That might mean:
Getting stronger in the Press, Swing, Squat, Snatch, Clean + Press, or Clean + Jerk.
Moving from a 24kg to a 28kg.
Dusting off that 32kg that’s been sitting across the room.
Looking like you actually train.
Feeling better hiking, biking, or playing with your kids or grandkids.
Recovering better so you can train harder again.
How much BIG R work should you do?
That depends on what you have going on.
At one point, I reorganized my entire training schedule around restoration for 18 months.
Other times, it might be 10–20 minutes a day.
For me, it’s typically 5–10 minutes daily.
Or it may be as simple as changing your warm-up and adding a cool down.
My personal philosophy is simple:
BIG R work is the vegetables.
Training is the steak.
I hate vegetables.
But I need to eat them so I can eat my steak.
And every time I stop doing the restoration work for a few weeks, things start to come apart.
Stay Strong,
Geoff Neupert.
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