Things All Guys Should Stop Doing by Age 30
Experts Reveal the 14 Habits You Need to Drop When You Hit The Big 3-0
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There are some things that you can get away with in your 20s that simply don’t fly in your 30s – like drawing a boner on the face of a drunk friend because “he passed out with his shoes on! Everyone knows that rule!”
And then there are the things that aren’t overtly offensive, or even wrong, per se, but will ultimately hold you back, be it in your career, your relationships, or with regard to your health.
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Now, we’re just going to go ahead and assume your dick-drawing days are behind you and focus on the latter (and if they aren’t, well, you might be too far gone – and you’re also not invited to any of our parties, ever).
Some of these will make sense right away, others might seem feeble, but you’d be surprised by the cumulative positive impact that small changes can have over time. After all, you live life one day at a time and yet here you are ... 30. Man, when did that happen?
Remember how when you were little you used to think the grown-ups had everything figured out? By now you’ve probably realized that there’s no such thing as a “grown-up” and we’re all just trying to do our best while making sense of this world. Well, the same applies to our goals, dreams, and personal standards. Many of us go through our teens and 20s with a feeling that change is going to come eventually, and when it does we’ll start living the lives we envisioned for ourselves.
Spoiler alert: That day never comes. You have to create it. And the sooner you start creating that life, the sooner you’ll get to live it. “Not fighting for what you believe in is the same as quitting,” says George Foreman III, founder of EverybodyFights. “Whether it’s in the gym, at work, or in a relationship, you have to fight for what you want. You may not always win, and that’s OK; but it’s not yours until you fight for it.”
Many of us can get through our first 30 years on Earth without even understanding what the word “metabolism” means. Then, all of a sudden, we get real familiar. Not only is most fast food void of any significant nutritional value, but it can also tax digestion and litter your bodies with harmful ingredients.
Meanwhile, you could be eating something that will actually help you look, feel, and perform better. “Just stop,” says Eric Hinman, a CrossFit athlete, two-time Ironman Kona finisher, and co-founder of Syracuse-based healthy eatery Original Grain. “Find a healthy fast-casual restaurant that dishes out satiating salads and grain bowls. They're popping up everywhere, and you won't have heartburn and stomach pains for the next two days!”
On that note, it’s time to start paying attention to what nutrients you are getting in your diet to control potentially rising blood pressure and help keep the lbs from creeping up on you. Dr. Lisa R Young, Ph.D., RDN author of Finally Full, Finally Slim, suggests “enjoying more potassium-rich foods and less sodium, eating more produce [which] is rich in antioxidant nutrients vitamins A and C, and limiting saturated fats from red meat and full-fat dairy and enjoying more plant-based proteins and fatty fish like salmon rich in omega-3s.”
Dr. Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., CNS, author of 15 books, adds that fermented foods, too, become more important in the diet as we get older. “This includes yogurt (with live cultures), kefir, kimchee, real fermented sauerkraut, etc. These foods are teeming with probiotics, which we now know are vitally important for a healthy microbiome.”
When you drink alcohol, your body prioritizes the fat calories, causing a good amount of surplus calories from food to be stored as fat rather than being burned for energy. Combine a regular drinking habit with slowing metabolism and before you know it, the number on the scale might start rising – regardless of how much you work out. And we haven’t even gotten to the two-day hangovers yet. (Welcome to 30!).
"It’s harder and harder to bounce back after 30,” says Brian Mazza, president of the Paige Hospitality Group and co-creator of The Ainsworth, who years ago made the decision to leave drinking behind in order to accelerate his productivity both at work and in the gym. The decision has since paid huge dividends for Mazza (quite literally), but he sees cautionary tales all the time. “Before you know it, you’re going to be that guy everyone talks about,” he says. Don’t be that guy.
You don’t need to give up your beer or glass of wine entirely, just don’t push it. Dr. Bowden adds, “While small amounts [of alcohol] have health benefits — and red wine has a lot of them — the difference between “enough” and “too much” is very small and not everyone masters it well. This is the time to start paying attention.”
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For the most part, we tend to take our health for granted through our teens and even our 20s; our bodies seem mostly indestructible and require minimal maintenance – so we maintain them minimally. Then we turn 30, settle down, and before we know it we don’t seem to have the time to take care of ourselves even if we wanted to. The cruel irony, of course, is that’s when we need our health the most, as our bodies and immune systems are less resilient after 30. That’s why it is absolutely critical to make annual doctor appointments a priority.
“Because hormone levels are dropping in men faster now than in any time before in history, getting hormone levels checked is important,” says Dr. Kien Vuu Longevity MD and author of Thrive State. He adds that “since insulin resistance and prediabetes is so prevalent in the United States and is associated with so many symptoms and chronic conditions, getting checked for insulin resistance early is good to prevent diabetes and other chronic diseases, as well.”
As you get older the pressures of life tend to grow, too. Now that you might have more stress in your personal and professional life, your mental health shouldn’t be neglected in favor of saving time. You might consider meeting with a therapist, starting a journaling habit, or adding meditation to your weekly routine.
“It’s not selfish to put yourself first when it comes to mental health,” says Foreman, who advises hitting the gym first thing in the morning followed by a short 5 to 10-minute meditation to center your mind.
We’re not going to act like this is easy to do. When you’re deep in the throes of sugar addiction (let’s just call it what it is), it can be extremely difficult to quit the sweet stuff, especially if it’s been a central part of your diet for three decades. But the benefits of taking in less sugar on a daily basis – from lowering your risk of life-threatening diseases and shrinking your waistline to setting a healthy example for your current or future children – are so powerful that it’s worth at least making the effort.
Hinman suggests picking one avenue of sugar intake, like, say, your morning cup of coffee, and starting there. “If you need a dash of sweetness, add some steamed almond, oat, cashew, or coconut milk,” he says. “And splurge for a pour-over! It's worth it for the taste and caffeine content.”
Remember that old college rule where if a professor was more than 15 minutes late everyone got to leave? Well, that’s how people in the real world feel about you when you don’t show up on time, except they’re not smiling. Time is money – quite literally, especially when you’re dealing with self-employed entrepreneurs – and wasting that time is an unequivocal sign of disrespect, not to mention that it could cost you some serious missed opportunities.
“Being late to meetings is usually a sign that you are not prepared to succeed,” says Mazza, who, through years of consistent integrity, authenticity, and, of course, punctuality, has earned one of the most widely respected reputations in the hospitality world and beyond. “Seriously, stop being late for meetings. You shouldn’t be doing it in your 20s, so you definitely shouldn’t be doing it in your 30s,” he says. “Break that habit.”
Listen, if you’re over 30 and you’re managing to make your way to the gym, you’re already doing better than plenty of guys your age. That said, let’s be honest: Proximity to the treadmill doesn’t increase your fitness. You have to get after it. You already found time to get to the gym, and your body needs these workouts, so don’t waste your time.
“Your time is valuable, so make the most of your workout,” says Foreman. “Don’t go in and cruise on the elliptical machine.” And if you simply feel like you just don’t have it in you to motivate yourself to exercise with the kind of intensity you’d like to, consider taking up a physical activity or sport that you actually enjoy, like boxing, and then use that as a vehicle to upgrade your fitness. “A high-intensity workout like mitt work or a boxing circuit will get you in fighting shape,” says Foreman. “And you’ll also learn a new skill while you’re at it!
Whatever workout routine you take on, make sure to add some weight training into the mix.
“As we age, our bodies are increasingly responsive to lethargy and slightly less responsive to working out,” says Noah Neiman, co-founder of Rumble and trainer on Equinox+. “I’ve found that training in my 30s has been an era of tough, but SMART training: making sure I’m focusing on strength and longevity, and not just running into the gym and smashing my body to bits because I know it’ll be all good in the morning.”
What is a SMART Training program? “A smart training program focuses on getting stronger and more adapted to the motor patterns our body increasingly needs as we age, trading curls for proper deadlifts, trading those extra set of crunches for some postural exercises. Smart weight training in your 30s will lead to you doing Jack LaLanne push-ups in your 70s!”
To be clear, people of all ages should be drinking water and staying hydrated, no matter if you’re 16 or 60. However, if you haven’t gotten into the habit of drinking the daily recommended amount of water, why not start now?
“It is always important [to stay hydrated] but we feel the effects of its absence more as we get older,” says Bowden. “Water is needed for practically every metabolic reaction including (and maybe especially) weight loss,” he adds.
Not sure if you’re drinking enough? Here are some guidelines: “If you’re not drinking water every hour (or almost every hour) you’re not drinking enough. If you’re trying to lose weight, the ideal goal is to drink this number of ounces a day: your weight divided in 2. (So if you’re 160, drink 80 ounces.) At the very least, follow the 64 oz a day rule.”
Of course, you might aim to get the daily recommended dose of essential vitamins and minerals through diet alone, but that’s not always possible. Be realistic with your body and your needs and consider adding a vitamin or two to your daily routine to help fill the gaps.
“If a guy in his 30s asked me which four vitamin supplements are most important, or which ones should they take, my answer [would be]: vitamin D, magnesium, fish oil (omega-3), and a high-quality multiple (which fills in all the gaps in your micronutrient intake, such as selenium, folic acid, etc),” says Bowden.
The days when you could pull an all-nighter and still show up to class or work in the morning bright-eyed and bushy-tailed might be a thing of the past. While the following advice might be difficult to apply if you are a new dad, keep it in mind nevertheless. “Seven to nine hours of quality sleep is important for maintaining peak performance and optimal health,” says Dr. Vuu.
“Men should go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day to promote a healthy circadian rhythm and hormone cycle. [You] need to stop burning the midnight oil as chronic sleep debt leads to many chronic conditions, and also leads to poor mental and physical performance.”
He recommends “stopping blue light from cell phones, laptops, and TVs a few hours before bed” to improve sleep quality.
Stretching and massaging your muscles post-sweat sesh might not be as sexy and exciting as reaching a new PR on your run or going up a weight on the bench press, but they’re necessary if you want to continue tackling your fitness goals.
“We often undervalue the importance of maintenance work on our own bodies. Balance, stretching, and recovery work becomes increasingly important as our bodies age,” says Neiman. “Actively and dynamically warming up the body and central nervous system before a workout, and recovering properly and appropriately to the level of stress and exertion put on the body, will become increasingly important as well.”
Dr. Sherif Tabbah, DPT, CSCS (aka Dr. Reef), who works with NFL, NBA, MLB, NCAA, and Olympic athletes, swears by Cheribundi tart cherry juice for its recovery properties. "The number one thing I recommend after a workout for recovery which is very, very easy, is drinking 8 oz of Cheribundi tart cherry juice," he says. "It helps promote recovery after a workout, cure muscle damage and pain, and reduce inflammation. In fact, tart cherries have the highest anti-inflammatory content of any food."
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