How to get stronger as we age

[mz_jess]

The key as most here knows, is consistency, mobility and strength training.

One inevitable problem with training over 50 is Joint Pain:

Joint pain is another reality of getting older. While your training can cause this, it’s often due to a lack of movement. Getting stronger as you age will help you avoid age-related joint pain.

At our age, Pain just isn’t weakness leaving the body. If something doesn’t feel right, don’t push through it. Try modifying the movements or get coaching to refine your technique.

Mobility exercises like single leg drills, together with stretching and strength training for the whole body is the key to getting stronger and fitter.

Which specific routines are you doing that is working for you?

 

[sharon123]

@mz_jess Keep moving and lift things symmetrically. Run easily and do gym stuff. Weightlifting can do wonders, even if using light weights.

 

[tiger2727]

@mz_jess Preach!

I have modified my deadlift to allow my SI joint to strengthen.. my chiro and coach both agree better to still do the routine but plan a long term path to resolve the issue.

Knee pains are gone once I dropped some weight and increased general mobility through circuit classes..

Some arthritic toe joints still exhibit issues, but improvement in flexibility is noted. I avoid over doing it in certain routines and find easy modifications like knee based pushups and static planks.

 

[klonopin48]

@mz_jess Low/no impact cardio and bodyweight exercises are my "go-to." I don't do any weightlifting ATM.

 

[dawn16]

@klonopin48 That's unfortunate.. weights are the key not cardio

 

[klonopin48]

@dawn16 Thanks for your feedback. I am looking to tweak my body composition in 2024 and will probably add some weights into the mix at some point. I am a wee (but powerful) woman so I am not really looking to get ripped. I'd rather get toned and defined.

 

[caelesto]

@mz_jess I lift weights x4 per week, but I have adapted a few exercises as they’d started to make my body ‘angry’ afterwards and it just wasn’t worth it.

So I squat onto a box 2” below parallel to save my lower back and sciatica, I avoid upright rows and going too high on lateral flyes to avoid shoulder impingements, and I do 5 mins mobility work before each workout so I don’t feel like the Tin Man from Wizard of Oz!

 

[mz_jess]

@caelesto I hear you, and the mobility work becomes more and more important as we age.

I will incorporate this back into my routine as I have been neglecting this a bit over the last month or so.

Thanks for reminding me.

 

[anthony1013]

@mz_jess I am 54m/65kg/176cm and have been very active all my life. It is all a matter of fighting the decline as we enevitably get weaker as we age. We also get more prone to injuries.

Therefore you need an array of exercices to chose from whenever you hit the gym. I always have some kind of joint of muscle that hurts that I need to avoid to stress during my workouts.

However, I have noticed that totally removing a muscle group out of the equation is not productive for me. In order for my joints/tendons to heal I need to put some stress on them in order to signal my body to irrigate with blood in repair.

 

[mz_jess]

@anthony1013 At 56 I agree and do the same. I feel it works for me. I had severe shoulder pain from mid July 2022. It came out of nowhere. Looking back it was probably overuse from doing around 100 pushups daily.

I stopped the pushups, but continued shoulder presses in the gym, with very light weights. Things did not really improve over the first 6 months. (I continued my normal routine on the rest of the muscle groups)

I then started adding some weight after 6 months, still not where i was before, around 3/4 of the weight, but i could work through the pain in a controlled manner.

This really helped andci could feel myself getting stronger with less pain in the gym and after. So do i do feel that the extra stress on this muscle, aided in recovery.

Naturally time, stretching and warmups also contributed in a big way.