3 Exercises You Need to STOP NOW for Longevity at 70, 80 & Beyond

that he was showing me videos doing

workouts and he was just pointing out

all of the horrible mistakes they were

making.

>> Said, "You get hurt at 50 or 60. It's

really debilitating. You don't heal."

People get on me because I have what I

call the iron graveyard, right? There's

a few exercises that just belong in

there. And one of them for me is the

upright row. It's a garbage exercise.

>> Most people think they're training for

longevity. They're training for injury.

Here's the truth about aging and

recovery. As Mike Bole explains,

>> look at my son and his friends. They'll

get hurt and two days later they'll be

like, I'm fine. And I look at them and

think, I'd be 6 months crippled if I did

what you did.

>> That's the reality. A 20-year-old

recovers from shoulder pain in days. A

60-year-old might take months or maybe

years to recover. And by the time you're

70 or 80, one bad decision in the gym

can steal your freedom. I'm going to

show you three exercises that look

legitimate that most people do, but are

quietly destroying your future. More

importantly, I'll show you exactly what

to do instead because safer alternatives

exist that deliver the same results.

Exercise number one, the upright row.

The upright row is everywhere. Crossfit

boxes, commercial gyms, YouTube

channels, it looks like a power move.

It's not. It's a shoulder impingement

waiting to happen. Here's the problem.

When you do a traditional upright row,

your elbows go high, your hands stay

narrow, and your shoulders internally

rotate. You know what else puts your

shoulder in that exact position? The

test physical therapists use to diagnose

shoulder impingement. Jeff Cavalier, a

physical therapist himself, makes this

point crystal clear.

>> Hold the barbell and you lift it up here

up up under your chin. Your elbows are

much higher than your wrists are. That

position is literally the test as a

physical therapist that we put somebody

in to try to see if they have

impingement in their shoulder. We

>> think about that. You're voluntarily

putting your shoulder in the exact

position used to diagnose injury. Now

imagine doing that position repeatedly

under load 10,000 times over decades. At

50, you might feel fine. At 60, you

start noticing tightness. By 70, you

can't reach overhead without pain. By

80, you can't brush your hair

comfortably. This didn't happen

overnight. It happened because of

accumulated stress on tendons that were

never designed for that range of motion

while loaded. The worst part, you don't

need this exercise. The high pull does

everything the upright row does. It hits

your traps, your delts, your shoulders.

But here's the difference. Your elbows

stay lower than your wrists. Your

shoulders externally rotate instead of

internally rotate. Same muscle groups,

same strength gains, zero impingement

risk. Why would you pick the dangerous

version? Exercise number two,

unsupported bench flies. Bench flies are

the second exercise killing your

longevity. And I get it, they feel

amazing. That deep stretch across your

chest is addictive. It makes you feel

like you're building muscle. Might be.

You're building shoulder problems. When

you lie on a bench and bring dumbbells

out to your sides, you're putting your

shoulder in endrange extension under

load. For a 25-year-old with resilient

shoulder tissue, this is fine. For

someone 60 or older, your anterior

shoulder capsule, the connective tissue

holding your shoulder joints together,

becomes progressively more fragile with

age. This repeated stretching stresses

that capsule chronically. Over years, it

degrades. Instability develops. Then

comes the pain, the inflammation,

sometimes the need for surgery. Jeff

Cavalier addresses this exact concern

directly.

>> I I put the unsupported bench fly in the

graveyard simply because probably

because of my history working with with

pitchers and knowing how susceptible the

the shoulder capsule can become from

chronic overstretching and then we apply

a load in that position at the same

time. And

>> Arnold Schwarzenegger tore his pec doing

this exercise. He had elite genetics,

elite recovery, and access to the

world's best medical care. He still got

hurt. If it can happen to Arnold, what

makes you think your 65-year-old

shoulder is immune? Here's what you do

instead. Floor flies. Same movement

pattern, same chest activation, same

stretch, but now the floor provides a

safety net. You physically can't

overextend. Better yet, you can use

heavier weight because the floor gives

you an eccentric advantage. You get more

muscle stimulus with less joint risk. or

use a machine fly or dumbbell presses

all deliver chest hypertrophy without

the anterior capsule vulnerability. The

principle is simple. If I can get equal

results with less risk, why do the risky

version? Exercise number three, Cuban

presses. The Cuban press combines

internal rotation with overhead

pressing. It's a shoulder specialist's

worst nightmare and a longevity killer.

What does it give you that a standard

overhead press doesn't? Honestly,

nothing worth mentioning. Maybe a

slightly different angle, maybe a tiny

bit of novelty. What does it take away?

Joint integrity. The shoulder is already

the most mobile, most unstable joint in

your body. Add age into the equation and

mobility becomes a liability rather than

an asset. You need stability more than

you need another creative pressing

variation. People do Cuban presses

because it looks cool. It looks like

something an athlete would do. But

here's the critical insight most people

miss. Elite athletes can get away with

movement patterns that would destroy a

normal person. Their nervous systems are

so refined that they compensate

flawlessly.

>> How much did you see that Mike when you

were training pros?

>> I literally just wrote down the better

the athlete, the better the compensator.

That was a note that I

>> of compensation is what we used to call.

>> Yeah. I used to look at these guys and

think like my god it's amazing what they

can get away with at that level.

>> You're not them. Your 65-year-old

shoulder isn't as gifted at

compensation. This is the mistake

everyone makes copying elite athletes

without understanding that their success

isn't because of how they train. It's

despite how they train. They're

exceptional at compensating for poor

mechanics. You're not exceptional. Your

70-year-old shoulder isn't built for

experimental pressing angles. At 70 or

80, you don't need Cuban presses. You

need robust shoulders that move through

pain-free ranges. A standard overhead

press with dumbbells gives you exactly

that. Same strength, same muscle, same

results without the unnecessary

rotational stress that accumulates into

chronic pain. The cumulative damage. All

three of these exercises share one

critical thing. They create cumulative

joint stress that doesn't manifest as

acute injury. It manifests as

progressive degradation. At 50, you feel

fine. At 60, you notice tightness. At

70, you have limitations. At 80, basic

movements hurt. This is the insight most

people miss. Your training at 45

determines your quality of life at 75.

Not from one dramatic injury, but from

thousands of repetitions in poor

positions. The damage is invisible until

it's irreversible. Each rep isn't

dangerous in isolation, but 10,000 reps

in internal rotation equals chronic

inflammation. 20 years of bench flies

equals anterior capsule degradation. By

70, you're paying the price with limited

mobility and chronic pain. Jeff Cavalier

articulates this perfectly. So, it's

okay to to understand that this is a

long game and you might want to take a

step back and and stay with the

exercises that don't cause pain and

allow yourself a chance to be actively

mobile to still recover at the same

time.

>> The framework is straightforward. Any

exercise that creates chronic joint

stress, especially in the shoulder,

needs to be evaluated against

alternatives. If a safer version exists

that delivers equal results, the choice

is obvious. The real goal training

changes after 50. It's not about

aesthetics anymore. It's not about who

can lift the most weight. It's about

preserving independence. It's about

playing with grandchildren without

shoulder pain. It's about reaching

overhead shelves, throwing a baseball,

moving freely without discomfort. The

healing capacity of your body is not

what it was. The stakes are higher. The

recovery is slower. The consequences are

steeper. When you're young, you have

time to recover from mistakes. When

you're 60, 70, 80, you don't have that

luxury. One significant shoulder injury

could limit your function for years. A

75-year-old who moves well and pain-free

is living in a completely different

reality than one with chronic shoulder,

knee, and back pain. That difference

isn't determined by genetics or luck.

It's determined by the exercises you

choose now. It's determined by whether

you prioritize joint health over

short-term gains. Your future self will

either thank you or curse you based on

decisions made today. The upright row,

the bench fly, the Cuban press, they're

not making you stronger for longevity.

They're obstacles to it. Replace them

with the alternatives I mentioned. Your

shoulders at 80 will thank