r/fitness40plus

Hi all. I’m 43M. Started working out two years ago. Recently strained my lower back dead lifting.
Monday was squat session and I did 5x5 @ 75KG which was substantially more than what I did in my previous cycle at 65KG three months ago.
After that 65KG volume phase I had gone for intensification and peaking phase.
Finished PR and decided to return to the volume phase so did 5x5 @ 75KG. I should have started at 65KG itself.
All felt fine. But Wednesday I went to do deadlift. My max is 120KG. After warmup with 70KG, 85KG, lifted 100KG for a single rep and felt some discomfort in my lower back. Next I tried to lift 110KG and there was pain in the lower back.
At this point I realised my body had not recovered well from the 75KG squats. Immediately stopped lifting. As the day progressed, the pain subsided but for the next two days I was not able to bend forward.
After 3-4 days pain disappeared. So This Monday I did light weight squats of 50KG and felt good. Then today was deadlift. I lifted 50KG for 5 reps and it was ok. Then increased to 60kg. Did one rep and the pain returned. Not as severe as the previous episode as I can bend and do regular activity.

I wasn’t ego lifting. My max deadlift is 120kg and I was lifting 100kg. The only mistake is I did not realise my body had not recovered from the 75KG squats.
Now I’m wondering if I should continue Squats and deadlifts after fully recovering

I wish I felt the same long term recovery that I had when I was lifting heavier. On the bright side I’ll probably have fresher legs for biking. I’m only lifting with my legs about once a week or every other week. Not related, but I’m doing calves every other day or so.

Wondering how long it’s taking you guys to “get going” in the mornings?
I work nights myself so my “morning” wake up is actually 2.30pm, but it takes me at least 45min to and hour from waking and slamming a can of Monster to just get going?
Are some of you animals waking up and out the door to the gym within 15-20 minutes or what? I feel like that first hour after waking is just dead time, but i just can’t seem to make myself move so soon after waking.

background - 48 m. I'd been carrying a decent amount of fitness from cycling until the pandemic when my life fell apart in several ways. (major illness, layoffs, housing insecurity) some things are worked out now and I'm trying to get back into a routine on the bike, jogging and light weights.

I'm out of shape. problem is that I'm starting to have minor injuries. insertional achilles tendonitis, TFCC issue every time I even think about yoga, etc, etc. so, I'm trying to stretch more, but at this point, I'm spending as much time stretching as I am working out, and it's already hard to carve out time for either.

So what are you all doing for stretching? specific targeted stretches? rotating routine? focusing on preventing specific injuries? I'm just trying to figure out a balance.

Well, after two years working slowly towards it, I finally nailed my sub-20 5K with a time of 19:42 at today’s (fairly hilly) Parkrun!

To be clear: I’m aware that this is far from an elite time, but I only started running a few years ago at 40, and I never run more than three days per week, as my goals are balanced between muscle and speed.

For some stats, I’m 44 in a couple of weeks, weighing 79kg (in a cut right now), and 180cm tall. I’m also a dad of two boys.

I started lifting kettlebells in 2006, but oscillated between KBs and more bodybuilding-style training over the years.

I got hideously unfit and out of shape after I became a dad in 2015 but pulled things back together after I became consistent again in 2016.

I have a 360° tear in my left shoulder labrum, so I’m no longer trying to push big weights. I lift on an upper/lower/upper schedule each week, as one leg day is enough for me while I’m cutting.

Now that I’ve hit my running goal, I’ll keep cutting for another 4-5kg I think, before running a very slow bulk and adding another lower day.

Feel free to ask any questions!

42M. This Monday i start two weeks of isolation in an apartment. I'm getting radioactive treatment for my cancer, and it's been a rough 3 months.

In april i was training six days a week: 180 mins of zone 2, weights 3-4x, golf and tennis on weekends.

Then it all went to hell: found out i have thyroid and throat cancer. After a roller coaster ride, i've had surgeries and outcome looks as good as it can look for cancer, but it's been rough on my. my body and mind. i'm on a pre-treatment diet now that strips my energy, and my engine runs at about half what it did just 3 months ago.

this problem isn't specific to cancer. plenty of people hit it for completely different reasons: surgery, injury, a bad illness, brutal work stretch. It reminded me of how my own life changed when my kids were born. capacity falls off a cliff and every session turns into a referendum on how far you've fallen.

three things that worked:

1. Cardio: i train by the talk test now, not by numbers i hit in april. same effort means much slower. i know it will take time to rebuild. i tried chasing april's paces and almost passed out (no exageration).

2. lifting went first, the aerobic work stayed. on limited energy i couldn't do both honestly. strength rebuilds fast. the aerobic base took two years and i wasn't handing it back.

3. stopped comparing weeks, started comparing months. week to week in a bad stretch is noise. but it was brutally demoralizing. the monthly view showed i was improving even while individual sessions can sometimes feel like i was going backwards

What i got wrong for the first month was treating reduced capacity as a detour to push through. training at 50% beats burnout, injuries and staying at home feeling sorry for myself.

I’ve been looking into collagen lately and realized I know way less about it than I thought lol. I keep seeing type 1, type 2, type 3 etc and I’m honestly confused about whether the type actually matters that much.

I’m mainly looking at collagen for joints, so should I be specifically looking for one type or is collagen peptides in general enough?

Anyone who’s been taking collagen for a while, do you actually check the collagen type when buying it or do you just go with a decent collagen peptide powder?

I feel like I’m overthinking this but there are so many options now 😅

My in body scan is telling me I still need to lose 17lbs of body fat. And it lists my PBF as 31%. I just don’t get it. I don’t feel like I have 17lbs to lose and am worried that is an unhealthy goal. I’m lifting twice a week. I have upped my muscle and want to keep going there. And, in the last few years, I have really tried not to focus on the scale. Strong not skinny! But this is messing with my head. Has anyone else experienced this?

I'm trying to find a decent pair of seamless athletic shorts and somehow this has turned into way more of a search than I expected lol. I'm over 50 and mostly want something comfortable for walking, gym workouts and everyday wear, ideally high waisted, not crazy short, and without seams digging in or rolling up my thighs.

I don'0t really care about the brand and I'm fine spending around $50 if they actually hold up and fit well. Bonus if they're not super compressive and don't become see through immediately

Anyone around my age found a pair they genuinely love?

Ok, just turned 40 a few days ago. I am 5 ft 6 and about 160. I do not look chubby but I do have a slight gut. I am active but not athletic any more. I have been doing non physical work for the last 6 years and been working form home the past 3. I feel like I have been weakened a lot due to not moving. Also i feel tired and sleepy. I am trying to find the perfect at home starting routine. Things I can do at home with no or minimum equipment. Thinking maybe something with kettlebell. I am just trying to get into a routine, get a little more fit and build muscle. I am not trying to lose a lot of weight and get ripped. Any routine recommendations would be awesome. Thanks

What’s an impressive bench press for a 49-year old man?

I had to stop my starting strength program and switch to treadmill cardio and serious focus on diet. Will be picking the weights back up shortly too.

edit: sorry for misunderstanding the point of this sub. I came here to state how I was happy for my progress, not to have people all telling me I’m doing it wrong. Look, I’m glad for you that you have more muscle mass than I do, or have a better workout program than I do, but I don’t really care that that you’re otherwise offended by me being happy to finally get under 200.

46M
6ft
205lbs
Lift 5 times a week

I am trying to lose the fat while building muscle. Would I be better going for calories between 1500-1750 with as much protein as I could get or exceeding 2000 calories to get all needed proteins. I would really like to hit 180-190lbs.

Hi everyone, this is my first chat on here, I am 41 year old female and trying to lose some weight. I do 3 strength training classes and 2 hybrid classes a week and am averaging about 1900 calories a day, aiming for roughly 35% protein 35% carbs and 30% fats.

I dont eat processed food and dont drink my calories, but I am just not losing any weight or cm's.

Where am I going wrong? Please help..... losing hope here and feel like I will always look like this no mater what I do 😢

I’ve always been physically fit and worked out, but I did a workout December 2025 and caused my piriformis glute muscles and potentially other glute muscles to severely pinch my sciatic nerves in both glutes. I have dealt with chronic piriformis pain for 4 years on and off, but after that workout in December, I have had constant chronic severe glute pain and sciatic nerve pain that goes down into my heels.

The nerve pain ended up going away at the end of March about four weeks after a pure performance injection, but I was left with debilitating Glute and low back pain from where they were guarding for months to protect my sciatic nerve.

I’ve tried 3 different PT’s, a neurologist, a sports medicine doctor, 2 PA’s, my family doctor, a rheumatologist, an oncologist, and a spine and nerve pain management doctor. I’ve had piriformis injections that have helped with the pain, but only when it’s numb, SI joint injections, quadratus femoris glute injections on April 9th that brought all of the nerve pain back that I had suffered through for 4 months.

It’s been another 4 months after the April 9th injection, with no end in sight. I went to a PT who did dry needling on my glutes and made the glute pain 100x worse.

I’m on 900mg of gabapentin and I can’t sit, stand, or walk without being in severe pain that makes me nauseous and dizzy. It’s been 8 months and no one can point to exactly what is causing my deep glute syndrome, because all tests are normal. MRI’s look completely normal as well.

I am desperate for a relief. People don’t understand what chronic pain is like until they actually are in it. I am in hell. I wake up depressed and anxious every morning because I know how miserable the day is going to be. I cannot live like this. I have kids to take care of. I’m a teacher, and I’m about to start back to work, and I can’t even sit or stand for more than 30 minutes without agonizing pain.

Gabapentin helps a little, I’m now on a Medrol steroid pack for the dry needling inflammation, and my pain management doc gave me another set of trigger point injections into my extremely tight muscles. I stopped all aggressive therapies, and have been keeping things calm, but it doesn’t help. The pain is relentless. Does anyone have any tips, advice, or anything that could help me?

Turning 41 this month, though I do not feel this old. I work a physically demanding job and get a lot of steps in during work. I try to keep a workout routine going but I keep pulling unrelated muscles to my workout. Today I was doing a pull-up/dip workout with lower reps and more sets and by the 4th set I pulled something in my neck/left trap. I didn’t want to waste my workout so I pushed through trying to work without flexing that particular trap. I’m done now and am just left with a small nagging pain but I’m trying to understand how I even pull a trap doing pull-ups. The other week I pulled something in my back doing standing barbell curls, which is also weird because I keep deadlifts in my routine and deadlift a lot more weight than my standing curls.. I’m not sure what is going on.

Had a chat with a guy on the Dodder Greenway this morning; he was on an expensive bike. It made it clear to me that people have very differing ideas about cycling and fitness. He is interested in fitness and speed. I am, I suppose, interested in fitness and strength, because that's pretty much what it has always been for me. He is concerned about the lightest materials, the expensive bike, all in an effort to cut bike weight for speed. All the while I am over here wondering if my panniers will hold four-inch solids, hahahaha.