r/fitness40plus

(M/46) I won't go too in depth with my training history I'll just say it's very long and inconsistent due to various health reasons, and as such I'm still very weak (one rep max on bench is around 150lbs, OHP around 100lbs).

Due to my limitations, most varieties of squats and deadlifts are off the table (I've tried them all). I am able to do things like BSS, lunges, leg presses, single leg RDLs, leg extensions, leg curls, etc. I know that these still give me plenty of options, but I am having trouble coming up with a way to program lower body work.

Specifically, what should I be using as my "main" lifts since most squats and deadlifts are out, and what set and rep ranges should I be working with? Or should I even worrying about main lower body lifts and just do something like leg day a couple times a week, doing the lifts I'm able to? I've spent hours researching this and all I can seem to find is people saying, "Do leg presses, RDLs, etc" but no actual recommendations for sets and reps.

My main goals are general fitness but won't complain about added size. I know that I'm probably over thinking this way too much, but could use a little guidance.

Does anyone have tips on how they've dealt with being sidelined by an injury? I mean how to stay positive and not get down or sagotage yourself with negative thoughts.

I have been dealing with a tendon problem for months now. I have faith in my recovery plan but sometimes the days that slide back are really hard.

Hi, I just started my journey last month, and I am having a problem with recovery. I still get muscle soreness every time I go to gym. Do I need to see a doctor or it is normal? I am 42 years old.

My mom (43years), 5'1 and around 175lbs (for reference) had a ligament tear in her knee 18 years back. She was given bed rest for a month. She had to wear a knee brace for around 8 years. She had a medical certificate to allow her access through a special gate so she didn't have to use the stairs and she could only use the stairs one leg at a time. Her knee is healed now, but she says it might not be fully restored yet, so she doesn't strain them.

I'm trying to get my mom to start going to the gym so she can be a little stronger and healthier. She can only do around 10 squats given she has good form. I'm trying to make her a leg routine, but I'm not sure which ones will be too hard on her. Since she gained weight she hasnt been able to do much and is a bit insecure. Do any of you have any recommendations or advice on any exercises she can do? I want to add weight training to her routine, but I don't know if she can manage it.

Just to clarify, her knee is now HEALED, but she hasn't used her legs properly and can't do much.

I'm wondering if anyone has found success following a similar eating pattern/strategy. I'm 47M, and I've determined that my maintenance calories are approximately 2,100/day. I'd like to lose approximately ~0.7 lbs per week, but I know that I will always indulge a bit more on weekends. So, 2,100/day maintenance is 14,700/week, and if I want to have a mild to moderate deficit, this would be 13,000/week.

If I target 1,700 calories Monday through Friday, and 2,200 on weekends, is this workable?

Also for reference, I workout 30 minutes 5x per week M-F. Three of those days are strength training, one day of cardio, and one day of stretching/yoga. My goals are to get more lean, lose fat, and gain some muscle.

Hey everyone,

I’m almost 40 and recently got back into training after a few years off + some burnout and sleep issues.

What surprised me — even a 30–40 min strength + boxing session leaves me drained for days (low mood, irritability, feels like my nervous system can’t recover).

Now I’m trying to take it slower and rebuild step by step.

Anyone else experienced this? What was hardest when getting back into shape, and what helped?

Hello. I am a 48M. Last few years I can’t seem to do any dumbbell presses wide grip only whether it’s bench or shoulder press but for the last year I was able to do them without any pain. Pain is gone when I don’t use dumbbell for incline press and shoulder press.

3 weeks ago when doing incline dumbbell press I felt pain on my upper back section of left arm. Shoulder upper arm area it seems. Not exactly shoulder.

I also don’t warm up before my lifts but I walk on treadmill 5 minutes before my workouts. I am able to move my left arm freely with very minimal discomfort.

I did Overhead Reach Test, Behind-the-Back Reach with minimal discomfort.

Ice pack helped initially and after that heat pack helped.

How long before I feel normal enough? I had trouble sleeping couple as well so had to take Tylenol 650mg which makes the pain disappear.

2 days ago I saw my Sports Medicine doctor. She did all the tests including the empty can. No pain. She does recommend to get x rays multiple views left shoulder. Not sure why arm x ray was not recommended?

So doc said use the form where my elbow don’t go behind my back. Not even 90 degree angle. All these years I was doing the press incorrectly. She recommends 15 degree angle so I keep my elbows in front.

Doc recommends PT for 4-6 weeks. 1-2x session a week.

I simmered down on push weights a lot. Corrected my form 2 days ago. Fixed my desk job posture too. I was slouching and leaning left a lot to view my smartphone. Could that be causing the pain too? Also, I don’t sleep on my left shoulder side anymore because that causes pain.

What advice can you all give me?

helllp

Over the past weeks and months, I have been feeling very fatigued. I am currently 50 years old, and I have actually been experiencing this since around the age of 45. Around that time, I was also dealing with obesity: I weighed 122 kg at a height of 1.85 m.

In June of last year, I started taking Mounjaro, and since then I have lost a significant amount of weight. I also felt much fitter: I went walking regularly and did strength training. Nothing felt too demanding.

Unfortunately, since December of last year, I have been feeling very fatigued again. I now weigh 96 kg, but due to the fatigue, my level of physical activity has dropped significantly. The fatigue is present daily and has a clear impact on my motivation, energy, and physical performance.

My sleep is good, and according to my doctor, my blood tests are normal. My testosterone level is 17.10 nmol/L.

I take vitamin D and consume an average of 2000 to 2300 kcal per day.

What can I do to increase my energy levels? I find this very difficult both mentally and physically.

This is getting ridiculous I've downloaded probably ten workout apps in the last few months and every single one hits you with a subscription screen before you can even start your first workout. "Start your 7 day free trial" is not the same as free. That's freemium as the professionals call it and its fine if it's usable in the free tier but everyone is restricting even the basic features I hate it so much.

I can rarely get 7 hours of sleep minimum, and anything less than that I will feel absolutely miserable. My exercise routine currently consists of Upper/Lower A/B split with active recovery. Routine lasts approx 45-60 minutes and a rest day on a Sunday along with 2 days of cardio.

I'm trying a deload routine this week and I've found something interesting: I had a terrible time sleeping last night, but I don't feel absolutely miserable. I wish I had more sleep, but I'm not doing what I can to survive the day. So this has me wondering: Am I at the age where I really shouldn't push myself like I'm used to? Do I now need to focus on maintaining strength and balance for overall health instead of pushing for gains?

For what it's worth, I plan to have bloodwork on my testosterone. 4 years ago it was at 308. I tried a TRT clinic to see if that would help with sleep but other than gaining muscle that got ppl's attention I had horrible side effects such as deep, painful pimples and what must be similar to others feel that they call "roid rage," when they're on gear.

So I have some thoughts, the past 5 months getting ready for my marathon I've been logging my diet with MyFitnessPal. Just to try and be a little bit calorie deficient. And I've noticed a difference in my runs and overall fitness. These past 2 weeks I've been on holidays, I've stopped logging my food and I'm sure I've been over my calories target and I felt lethargic on my run today. Now I'm not anal about getting the food exactly right. A pizza is a pizza. But seeing how many calories are in that small cheeseburger has made me realise its so easy to go over, and when you go over consistently, that's when issues happen.

I got very emotional during yoga class on Monday, and then today at the end of personal training. Some thoughts have clicked in my head about unresolved problems, and I got new insights.

How common is that?

45F. I started to lift heavier weights than before. And I got an inner elbow pain on the right hand. I can do more squats but keeping my elbows in that position of holding the weights started tiring them out and then lead to pain!

It’s tender to touch and hurts when I lift something heavy.

What could I be doing wrong? The most pain I feel is in the position my elbow is where I hold the dumbbells on my shoulders for squats and lunges. Is there a better way to position those dumbbells?

44 year old male
5' 11"
Currently weigh: 198 lbs
Daily Calorie intake: 2,100 to 2,300
Daily Protein intake: 200g

I've been working out for about 4 years total. Played sports actively until I was 40 mostly soccer and basketball. I will admit the first 3 years of working out I was just winging it. I was basically going in there doing a little bit of everything mostly weightlifting and cardio. I lost weight/fat but gained no muscle. Now into the 4th year I started implementing better eating habits about 5 months ago. Then about a month and a week ago I started tracking and measuring my food. I meal prep and eat pretty clean about 95% of the time. About 4 times a month typically on Saturdays I have my cheat meal and even then it's nothing crazy pretty reasonable like 4 asada tacos or a hamburger or a salad with dressing. I've now since seen a pretty significant increase in muscle particularly in my arms both biceps and triceps. I've always had muscular legs so that's not an issue.
My lunch & dinners consist of a combination of chicken (breast, ground), salmon, 95/5 lean ground beef, ground turkey, steak, vegetables, brown rice, sweet potatoes & avocado. My breakfasts consist of egg whites, spinach, bananas, apples, yogurt, cottage cheese, unsalted almonds & mixed fruit. My two snacks per day consist of any of these 2 boiled eggs, banana, Quest protein cookie, Chobani protein smoothie, Quest protein bar, babybel 5g protein cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese, carrots, 1 scoop of whey protein 25g & Quest protein chips. I do breakfast 6am, lunch 10am, snack 12:30, pre-workout snack 3:30, gym 4 & dinner 6:30-7pm. I don't drink soda, I don't eat candy, chocolate, drink starbucks or energy drinks mostly water, juice here and there, natural coconut water once in a while I'll have a Zero Sugar Ginger Ale.

I take the following supplements in the morning with breakfast Omega3 and Turkesterone. Pre-workout I take L-Carnitine and post-workout I take Creatine and Collagen.
I drink a gallon of water a day sometimes a little more. I sleep on average 6 to 7 hours nightly.
I also recently implemented a split that consists of Monday Upper Body Push, Tuesday Lower Body Strength, Wednesday light cardio 30 min on treadmill speed at 3 along with stretching and using a roller, Thursday Upper Body Pull, Friday Lower Body & Core, Saturday hike for 45 minutes and Sunday rest. When I started working out I could only do about 2 pullups I can now do 8. I could only curl 25s now I can curl 40s so as I mentioned the muscle growth I'm happy with. It's the damn combination of muscle gain/consistency with fat loss that I just can't seem to master. I workout good I'm focused I push myself and increase the weight or reps accordingly at least to what I see.

According to the research I've done online I'm intaking the right amount of calories daily, the right amount of protein, I'm taking the right supplements, I'm sleeping well etc. but I can't seem to lose body fat. I look in the mirror and relatively look the same in the body fat area. I guess I'm just looking for pointers to see if anyone see's anything that I might be doing wrong or maybe I'm missing something? Am I being impatient with this since it's only been a little over a moth that I started meal prepping and actually doing portion control? I appreciate any feedback in advance.

I'm 44M. Full time job, family, usual stuff. I used to work out 5 days a week in my 30s. Now I'm lucky if I get 2–3 sessions in. By the time the day is over, I just dont have much energy left. I still want to stay in decent shape, but I cant train the same way I used to.Curious what's actually working for people in a similar spot. Short workouts? Fewer days? Just being more consistent?

What’s one lesson that you’ve learned or are learning as you’ve gotten older? Let’s hear it. Just one. Let others have a chance to chime in.

My wife wants to workout with me at home, and I asked if I could pick out some fitness outfits for her ( I like checking my wife out, she’s a hottie 😂) and got the green light.

Question for the women here, what some cute brands that are comfortable and durable that I should look at? We’ll be doing yoga/pilates and dumbbell exercises.