The only people who say, "It's all downhill after X" are those who were already going downhill the decade before

[lovek323]

@kasia7777 I'm 42 as well and have been consistently working out since I was around 28 or so. I have a 15 year old in high school and he saw his friends dad that is the same age as I am. He said that he thought that dude was in his 60s. Smoking cigarettes and never lifting weights will do that though. My sister in law smokes and looks way older than my wife, and my wife is the older one, but she takes care of herself and doesn't smoke cigs.

 

[kasia7777]

@lovek323 It's amazing how good life is when you are fit in healthy hey....

 

[josipa]

@prestonmcghee I heavily agree with your overall sentiment but I will say there's at least a kernel of truth to what they are saying. I'm 40 and have been consistently working out the past 12 years. There's definitely been a bit of a decline in certain areas, mostly staying up late and drinking too much hits me a lot harder now, in my 20's I'd shake off a 3 AM night of drinking heavy by breakfast, now the next 2 days are shot. Keeping weight off is a bit harder and I'm sore a bit longer when I push myself. Also sitting still for long car/plane rides leaves my legs stiffer now.

That said compared to my peers (mostly 35-40 year old dads) it's night and day in what I can do vs. what they can do, I don't gas out playing with the kids, I can still do handstands and cartwheels with them etc... while they stay on the sidelines.

Basically the decline is coming, it might seem like it's not especially if you are new to consistently working out but you will start seeing cracks in the damn eventually. WAY slower than our inactive counterparts mind you, I'm definitely not falling apart at 40 like my mom made it sound like I would, still can probably run circles around my 30 year old self but I'd be more sore the next day, especially if I partied with him.

 

[passiflora]

@josipa I ran cross country and track in high school and college. It’s not pessimism, just realism, to acknowledge that my fastest days are behind me. And I’m only 36.

But I didn’t lift weights then, while I have for the past 5 years. I’m getting stronger every month. As fast as I would if I’d started at 18? Probably not. But a gradual uphill is still an uphill.

We can improve in some areas for a long time, and stave off decline for a longer time. Eventually things will start going downhill (unless you die young, and even then, that’s just a really steep downhill). I think it’s good to be realistic about that. But it’s also good to celebrate the fact that we have decades of good times ahead of us, and there’s something glorious in the fact that every workout is adding healthy time to the (hopefully far-off) end of our lives in addition to making us look and feel better right now.

 

[josipa]

@passiflora Yes the decline for me has been MUCH slower than family and friends. And I definitely think it's great to pursue new things to improve upon, like you mentioned. I've been doing the big lifts (deads, squats, bench and OHP) for 12 years and haven't really hit any 1 rep max PRs in them since probably 2019. Part of that is because I don't go for them often anymore since it wrecks me for a while now but part of that is also I've run out of room to improve (could also be fear/laziness).

However in 2020 I got really into kettlebells and that opened up a huge runway for me to see consistent progress over time which has been reinvigorating and super fun. Also seeing a lot of real world transfer from that. Novelty stimulus is great, I think the next thing I'll pursue is odd lifts (zerchers, shovel deadlifts etc...).

Also I think it's important to note that as we age flexibility becomes significantly more important. Long hold stretching and/or yoga is a great way to stave off the aging process, not just for the increase in ROM but to keep tightness at bay. You'll see a lot of active guys 50+ that need to wear knee/elbow sleeves to reduce pain. It's not just because they're old, a lot of them just don't work on flexibility and have super tight muscles that cause their joints to hurt when they lift.

 

[mybridges]

@josipa The biggest change I’ve noticed is I randomly get joint issues in my 30s that I never had to worry about in my 20s. Even taking my workouts easy didn’t guarantee that I’d be free of random rotator cuff issues. Then again I have a family history of early onset arthritis so YMMV