Reaching 40 years old doesn’t mean you have to simply accept the changes to come and, therefore, stop trying to progress in sports. At this age it is common to notice that the body reacts differently: it costs more to gain muscle mass, recovery is slower, and you may even notice you have less energy, which gives rise to those typical discomforts. However, the main problem isn’t the years themselves, but trying to train with the same guidelines and paces as when you were 20.
To achieve real results without ending up injured, the personal trainer and founder of Malagaentrena, José Ruiz, has explained in an article for THE OBJECTIVE what changes are necessary in the training routine once you reach this age.
Why You Shouldn’t Go Crazy After 40
As the years pass, it is necessary to begin taking into account that you cannot push your body in the same way or make mistakes that make everything even harder. In other words, at 20 you can sleep little, warm up poorly, or lift too much weight without suffering major consequences, but from 40 onward factors such as sleep, nutrition, stress management, and technique take on a fundamental role.
A recurring mistake when turning 40 is trying to recover in a few weeks the time lost during years of sedentary behavior. This rush often leads to signing up for very intense classes, copying routines from social media, doing cardio daily, or drastically reducing food. As José Ruiz warns: “From 40 onwards you should not stop training hard. On the contrary. Strength training becomes more important than ever. But you have to stop doing crazy things.”
All of this instead of helping can cause extreme exhaustion, fatigue, joint discomfort, and frustration. The body truly needs is proper progression.
The Ideal Strategy: Strength, Walking, and Mobility
Rather than ending exhausted after each session or training in an excessive manner, the key is to train with your head. A person aged 40, 50 or 60 can lose fat, gain strength, and improve their health significantly if they do it gradually and with good planning.
To achieve this, the best strategy is to combine walking and mobility exercises with three or four days of strength training per week, interspersed with rest days. It is not necessary to perform twenty exercises per session or aim to finish with severe soreness; the goal is to build a routine that the body can maintain over time.
Technique and Rest Are Fundamental
From 40 onward it is common to begin noticing stiffness, back discomfort, knee pain, or shoulder tension. For this reason, the expert emphasizes the importance of performing exercises correctly and without faults. Executing movements such as squats, deadlifts, or shoulder presses with poor technique or on poorly adjusted machines can end up causing injuries over time.
Additionally, rest should also be considered an important part of the routine. Training daily without letting the body recover accumulates fatigue and slows progress. “It is not the same to train with eight hours of sleep as with work stress and two kids. Training must adapt to the person, not the person to a generic routine.”
Signs That You’re Overdoing It With Training
To know if you’re overdoing it with exercise, it is essential to learn to read your body’s signals. Many of these are fairly clear and warn you that you’re pushing yourself too hard. They can vary, and José Ruiz gives examples such as: continuous joint pains, being tired all the time, noticing that you have less strength, sleep disturbed, being more irritable, losing the desire to train, or soreness that lasts too many days.
If you notice any of these warnings, it doesn’t mean you have to quit the gym altogether, but simply that you should lower the intensity and adapt your routine, seeking help from a professional if needed.
