High intensity exercise after 40

Thestepper

Hi everyone,

It's been a long time since I've posted on here. Long story short, I've precious lost 15lbs, but then the pandemic hit, and I gained 25lbs.

I started my fitness journey again as I want to be healthy and stop being out of breath when climbing a flight of stairs.

Anyway, I use to love doing hiit exercises like jumping jacks, running, etc. I know that I am starting out again so it's unrealistic for me to expect to do all those things; however, I feel my body no longer can do high intensity exercises.

In my 30s, I was able to do high intensity exercise although I was a newbie to exercise. Now, every joint in my body aches if I do 5 jumping jacks in a row.

Wondering if others over 40 experiences this also.

AnnPT77

Ideally, high intensity exercise is a thing to work up to gradually - at any age.

Even then, it should be more of a side dish or condiment than a main dish. Elite athletes don't do all high intensity exercise at every session (where "high intensity" is defined relative to what they're capable of, not what I'm capable of!). If they don't, why would us regular duffers want to make a steady diet of it? It's not the best route to fitness.

A thing I've found, as I age, is that - so far, at age 66 - I can do pretty much anything I want to do (that isn't prevented by an actual disability or pre-existing injury). As always, the best way to get there is with a good training plan, not just willy-nilly doing stuff.

What's different, with age, is that I'm not as resilient: I need to be more canny about fueling, nutrition, recovery, rest, etc. When I was 20-something vs. now, I could get away with B.S. approaches, get away with some pretty stupid overdoing. (I would've been better off at 20-something, would've made better progress then, too, if I'd been more sensible.)

Don't try to start back in wherever you left off, some long-ish time ago. Instead, find an approach that's just a manageable challenge to your current capabilities, but that doesn't leave you depleted, exhausted, profoundly sore, discouraged. As you get fitter, you'll become capable of more. (That's the very definition of fitness, right?)

So, as you get fitter, increase the duration, frequency, intensity or type of exercise you're doing, to keep a manageable challenge always in the picture. Eventually, somewhere along the line, you'll be able to add in a sensible amount of high-intensity work, and enjoy doing it.

At 66, I can work out sometimes with people half my age, and hold my own. It didn't happen overnight. I started in my late 40s - really hadn't been routinely active or athletic before that. Find a good plan, make gradual progress - you'll surprise yourself with what you can achieve. Make patient progress, you'll be in a very different place at this time next year, say.

sijomial

I get inspired by the octogenarians I see on long distance bike rides so maybe you might be inspired by someone 20 years older than you?
(Or at least pick up some tips from someone who has been in your shoes! )

I've just come off a big exercise month where I peaked for a big cycling event.
May's cycling stats were 800 miles, 52 hours, 2 century rides including a PB, 4 other rides over 100km.

This month though I will be recovering with much reduced volume (100 miles/week) although I did a maximal effort fitness test last week to benchmark my level and got my second highest score. I'm also picking up my strength training as it got restricted by using up my recovery capacity with all the cycling.
To me it's the recovery from training and injury that is the biggest difference as you age rather than the exercise itself.

But......
That was after building up volume and intensity steadily since January and returning to previous fitness levels. And the first part of the ramp up was very much building up useful volume with low and moderate exercise. The high intensity stuff comes after building (or rebuilding) base fitness.

Honestly for you it's not your age that's the problem, it's your current fitness level. But you can fix that.
BTW - I started out cycling in my 50's with rides of 12 miles which I found hard at the time, you have to find your level that is hard enough to cause adaptation and improvement but not so hard it hurts or impacts your next session.
If 5 jumping jacks hurts then maybe 3 is your sweet spot? Stair climbing is a great way to progressively build capacity and can be fitted into your usual daily acivity.
I would think of high intensity work as the cherry on the cake - first you need to build your cake.

There is a brilliant book by Joe Friel "Fast after 50" which explains the many benefits of incorporating some (just some!) high intensity work into your schedule and covers great principles for any age.

azuki84

You need to take it gradually, especially if it has been a while since you been on a consistent workout routine. Also, you need to think that you are carrying the extra 25lbs of tissue whenever you are doing any form of exercise at the moment. START GRADUALLY AND MONITOR PROGRESS OVER TIME.

Xellercin

My 50 year old husband and 60 year old brother in law do extreme mountain biking, lift weights, and run in -40F/C weather. My 70 year old father is a contractor.

It's not your age, it's just that your body isn't conditioned to do those things anymore.

ninerbuff

All exercises can be modified. HIT ISN'T an exercise, it's an exercise approach. You can do HIT with running, bicycling, lifting weights, plyometrics (jumping jacks, skaters, etc.) rowing and many other regimens of exercise. Key is that it has to be done gradually.
I do it on the treadmill incrementally 3 times a week. Start with 3.5 walk for 5 minutes, then run 8.0 for 30 seconds, increasing speed .5 every 2 intervals till I hit 10.0 and only do that 2 times (basically 8 intervals total). If you can't run, then walk. If that's too tough, then bike. There are so many different ways to do HIT.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

csplatt

I had to adjust my exercise approach at 39 because a degenerative spine situation (spondylolisthesis) became more and more problematic and left me with chronic hip pain. I was an OrangeTheory junkie, liked to run. I loved high impact. But I started having too much pain, which is still with me now. First, I rested. Then I just started warming up and lifting weights. Now I am lengthening my warm up and adding two minute bursts of cardio (bike, treadmill) throughout my lifting sets.

Slowly but surely I am figuring out what is doable for me.

cwolfman13

High intensity exercise should be built up to at any age...anyone doing high intensity work should have a pretty good base of fitness first. It also should be something that isn't the "main event" of your fitness regimen...it's a side gig. Depending on the rest of your workload and fitness level, high intensity work should be limited to about1-3x per week. You also need to monitor your recovery which at 47 I've found to be the biggest factor in doing certain things. It's not that I can't do them, it's that I don't recover the same way I did 10 years ago.