@catd I'm 32, heavy powerlifting since I was 24, no kids. Putting on muscle has become much easier as I've gotten older but I'm kind of attributing that to being able to understand and prioritize food and exercise better than I did in my 20's. I'm the strongest I've been! However - after turning 30 I've noticed recovery is getting MUCH more difficult - to the point where I'm thinking of switching to something more lightweight/ high rep. How has your recovery changed after 30?
Transformation after 30
- Thread starter catd
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@aurora Yay good for you!
Great question and I love that you’re noticing these gradual changes as you age. Recovery didn’t seem to change until this year, I’m 41. I feel like it takes me more intention and time for a warmup and more intention and time for recovery too. I lift low reps, heavy weight and put a full day between lifting days. Every 6 months or so I swap so I’ll lift lower weights after this summer, but I still won’t hit the same body part without 24+ hours between.
I’d love to hear others’ thinking around the topic of recovery post-30 or older
Great question and I love that you’re noticing these gradual changes as you age. Recovery didn’t seem to change until this year, I’m 41. I feel like it takes me more intention and time for a warmup and more intention and time for recovery too. I lift low reps, heavy weight and put a full day between lifting days. Every 6 months or so I swap so I’ll lift lower weights after this summer, but I still won’t hit the same body part without 24+ hours between.
I’d love to hear others’ thinking around the topic of recovery post-30 or older
@catd I'm 57 and the recovery is no joke. In my 30s I could lift weights 5X a week while marathon training, with just one day off. Now? I am finding that I can still build muscle going just 3x's every two weeks (so one week I go 2x and the next I go just once). Took me awhile experimenting with this to find the right cadence. (Oh and I don't run anymore-- but do walk/hike-- but those efforts don't require any recovery time).
I'll add that I'm retired so I can sleep as long as I want. Been post-menopausal for 7 years, do not do HRT. Building muscle is slow, but I'm still building, not just maintaining.
I'll add that I'm retired so I can sleep as long as I want. Been post-menopausal for 7 years, do not do HRT. Building muscle is slow, but I'm still building, not just maintaining.
kenjisan70
New member
@pandafan Also 57 and I've never been a super athlete like @pandafan but I was ALWAYS hurting myself in the gym when I was younger. Only recently have I found that splitting my 3-day program into 4+ days means less injury for me. Fewer exercises per session means I'm able to focus better. I'm progressing very slowly, so not apt to tweak, pull, strain etc. from trying to heave a much bigger weight every week. And taking a regular deload week! It feels so much better.
Also I sleep better now that I'm older and I live by myself. I think good, restorative sleep was missing from my life from puberty through menopause, and I wish I had sought out a sleep therapist earlier.
Also I sleep better now that I'm older and I live by myself. I think good, restorative sleep was missing from my life from puberty through menopause, and I wish I had sought out a sleep therapist earlier.
@catd Sooo awesome. I’ve always been skinny and had the appetite of a canary but now that I’ve started working out I have seen some pretty decent changes just going 2 or 3 times a week. Granted I walk minimum 2 miles a day from living in a city. I’m about to turn 30 and yet I still haven’t hit that wall that a lot of people talk about. So long as I’m careful and keep up the physical activity my 30s will probably be greater than my 20s.
debyfabienne
New member
@tommy160 It’s anecdotal, but everyone I know who talks about hitting a wall at 30 also transitioned to a sedentary lifestyle around the time the Change occurred. Not to say hormones don’t have an effect. Spend any appreciable amount of time on r/Menopause and it’ll be clear that’s a whole other beast.
@debyfabienne I definitely think lifestyle is a big part of why bodies change. As we get busier and often have kids we have less time to exercise and are less likely to spend our time doing active hobbies, maybe drive more places. Obviously not the case for everyone but at least sometimes.
@debyfabienne Yeah it certainly helps that I don’t have kids and have time to go to the gym. Still when I was a child I thought that getting fat was a normal part of aging but I’m glad I’m taking some agency. I’m 29 and I look way better than I ever did as a 20 year old. Still not back to my pre grad school bod though I used to be able to do a pull up.
cant_think_of_a_name
New member
@catd You look amazing! All your hard work has certainly paid off.
In my 20s I flirted with lifting but my real love was running. I didn't think I really could ever have any decent strength and even when I the military my pushups and situps were of the"just do what you need to pass" variety. My 30s were sort of devoted to just staying alive. But in my 40s I've discovered a passion for celebrating what my body can do. I won't go winning any awards but I can do some pullups unassisted now (5 as of today
), can bench press more than my body weight and squad/deadlift more than 2.5x my body weight (I need more equipment to go heavier).
In my 20s I flirted with lifting but my real love was running. I didn't think I really could ever have any decent strength and even when I the military my pushups and situps were of the"just do what you need to pass" variety. My 30s were sort of devoted to just staying alive. But in my 40s I've discovered a passion for celebrating what my body can do. I won't go winning any awards but I can do some pullups unassisted now (5 as of today
), can bench press more than my body weight and squad/deadlift more than 2.5x my body weight (I need more equipment to go heavier).debyfabienne
New member
@cant_think_of_a_name Is it weird I want to see your quads? 
I’m only half kidding. That’s awesome though! I love reading about the power of women thriving.
I’m only half kidding. That’s awesome though! I love reading about the power of women thriving.cant_think_of_a_name
New member
@debyfabienne Omg, you just made probably my entire week!
tezboski99
New member
@catd I’ve been working out since I was in my teens, always did a lot of skating as well growing up. My legs always looked like string beans and my arms always looked like noodles, but my friends always looked toned. You would think that after using my legs so much I would have some muscle to show for it, but nope.
I got seriously into weight lifting in my early 20s and had my macros really dialed in. I worked out consistently and you could tell I had more muscle, but no matter what I did, I still had a general “noodle” body. Fat clung to me for dear life.
Now I had fallen off the wagon since then, especially after recovering from an ankle break. But now in my early 30s my body is suddenly like “oh yeah you want muscle? You can have it”. I feel like I am doing fewer workouts than before but my body actually wants to build muscle this time, and I haven’t even bothered focusing on my diet that much. I very well could be looking at myself with kinder eyes, but I can personally tell that my results are coming a lot more quickly than before.
I got seriously into weight lifting in my early 20s and had my macros really dialed in. I worked out consistently and you could tell I had more muscle, but no matter what I did, I still had a general “noodle” body. Fat clung to me for dear life.
Now I had fallen off the wagon since then, especially after recovering from an ankle break. But now in my early 30s my body is suddenly like “oh yeah you want muscle? You can have it”. I feel like I am doing fewer workouts than before but my body actually wants to build muscle this time, and I haven’t even bothered focusing on my diet that much. I very well could be looking at myself with kinder eyes, but I can personally tell that my results are coming a lot more quickly than before.
debyfabienne
New member
@catd Looks like you made some awesome progress! I never did any weight training in my 20s so I don’t have a good bench mark for comparison, though I’ve always been active with cycling, power yoga, and body weight training. In any case, I don’t doubt for a minute that hormones could play a role. Their effects are so pervasive in every aspect of my being. I’m technically too young for peri, but in the past years I already see changes in my cycle that could be linked to the very beginning of a hormonal shift.
That being said, I went through significant life style changes between my 20s and 30s. I started sleeping properly (not going out until 8am on the weekends does wonders for your sleep hygiene), stopped drinking and hard drugs, started paying attention to my nutrition and can now afford to eat the amount I need to eat to continue seeing muscle gains. Add on a predicable work schedule which makes it possible to go to the gym at regular times, compared to my 10 years studying which saw me studying, in class, at internships, and working all at the same time. Lastly, there’s a type of clarity I gained as my 20s ended where I could visualize how I wanted my life to look and finally had the courage and confidence to make it happen.
In my case, all these things came together to optimize my gaining potential. I would love to know though, if I had applied these life style changes when i was younger, would I have seen these types of gains? I’ll never know.
That being said, I went through significant life style changes between my 20s and 30s. I started sleeping properly (not going out until 8am on the weekends does wonders for your sleep hygiene), stopped drinking and hard drugs, started paying attention to my nutrition and can now afford to eat the amount I need to eat to continue seeing muscle gains. Add on a predicable work schedule which makes it possible to go to the gym at regular times, compared to my 10 years studying which saw me studying, in class, at internships, and working all at the same time. Lastly, there’s a type of clarity I gained as my 20s ended where I could visualize how I wanted my life to look and finally had the courage and confidence to make it happen.
In my case, all these things came together to optimize my gaining potential. I would love to know though, if I had applied these life style changes when i was younger, would I have seen these types of gains? I’ll never know.
cant_think_of_a_name
New member
@debyfabienne Sleeping, I always forget what a tremendous benefit actually being able to sleep and not be plagued by the incessant insomnia has been.
debyfabienne
New member
@cant_think_of_a_name That’s a tough hand. If I have one night where I sleep 6 hours instead of 8, the next day I’m useless, emotional, and without resiliency to the challenges of the world.
@debyfabienne Good for you for paying attention to the subtle hormone changes. You sound very in tune with your body! It’s hard to say what your experience might’ve been with different lifestyle in your 20s.
I became a mom at 21 so was working and sleeping regular hours, no going out or drugs but was still socially drinking back then. I do wonder if being a young (poor) mom prevented me from eating enough calories to support muscle growth. My last pregnancy was at 28.
My strength training changed too; lots of high rep hand weights, running and dancing most of my young adult life and then did the new rules of lifting for women at 30 which focused a lot more on heavier lifting, less cardio. I still run but I was dancing 20+ hours a week, in addition to strength training, as a teen/early twenties
I’m a non drinker now - another incredible burst in fitness, highly recommend but that’s a topic for another day haha
I became a mom at 21 so was working and sleeping regular hours, no going out or drugs but was still socially drinking back then. I do wonder if being a young (poor) mom prevented me from eating enough calories to support muscle growth. My last pregnancy was at 28.
My strength training changed too; lots of high rep hand weights, running and dancing most of my young adult life and then did the new rules of lifting for women at 30 which focused a lot more on heavier lifting, less cardio. I still run but I was dancing 20+ hours a week, in addition to strength training, as a teen/early twenties
I’m a non drinker now - another incredible burst in fitness, highly recommend but that’s a topic for another day haha