Strength training in your 40s and beyond 👨🏻‍💻

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💡 Lift Heavy. Lift Smart.

Lifting weights in your 40s? Smart move! Building strength and muscle is like a secret weapon for staying young and vibrant. But here's a friendly heads-up: if you're still hitting the gym like you did in your 20s, it might be time for a little tune-up. Let's chat about something called axis loading—it's just a fancy way of saying how much weight you're putting on your spine during certain exercises.

Picture the go-to gym lifts: squats, deadlifts, overhead presses. These exercises are fantastic for building strength, but they also put quite a bit of pressure on your spine. Now, that's not a bad thing, but the way your body handles that load changes as we get older.

Now and Then.

When you’re younger, your spine and joints can handle heavier loads without much complaint. But in your 40s and beyond, years of wear and tear start to add up, and your ability to recovery slows down. It’s not that you can’t handle the weight anymore—you absolutely can. You just have to be smarter about it. It’s like hangovers they just hit different than they did in our 20s…

When you do exercises with heavy axial loading (like those barbell squats), your spine, joints, and connective tissues are working overtime. This means you might need a bit more recovery time. But if we rush things; progress to quickly or lift to frequently, we might end up with some unwanted aches and pains. You might feel fine in the moment, but a sore lower back the next morning can be a not-so-gentle reminder that your body needs a little more love and attention.

The Same But Different Principle.

Here’s the good news: you don’t have to ditch your favourite lifts. The secret is to mix things up a bit. Try alternating between exercises that put more stress on your spine and those that give it a break. This way, you're still building strength, but you're also not beating yourself up too much.

For example:

• Love those barbell squats? Great! Maybe do them on Monday, and then try some goblet squats or split squats on Friday. Your legs will still get a great workout, but your back will thank you.
  

• Fan of the barbell deadlift? Awesome! Why not mix it up with some split stance RDLs or kettlebell swings from time to time? You'll still feel the love, but it hits a little different.
  

• And don't forget about bodyweight exercises! Lunges, rows, push-ups, and planks are all fantastic for building strength and mix in great with your other big lifts.
  

The Bottom Line

I love a good barbell lift so I’m certainly not trying to persuade you otherwise. Getting and staying fit is about balancing intensity and longevity—lifting smart, not just heavy. We should focus on progressive overload with an emphasis on form, recovery, and variety in exercises to reduce stress on our spine whilst continuing to get stronger year after year.

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P.S. If you enjoyed this week's Thursday Three, please share it with a friend.

Thanks,

Jamie