I am going to mention Sex

47 F here. I strained an upper leg muscle back in the summer (after a 45 min run when my body was only used to 25 min runs) and tried to just carry on as usual. That didn't work out very well, and I haven't been able to run in months. Today, I sucked it up and visited a physical therapist. The hour and a half with him didn't hurt as much as I had expected, and I even experienced dry needling! With electrodes!

Oh, and I had surgery for a cancerous tumor (stage 2) last month. It was found during a routine colonoscopy. I highly recommend getting one; it didn't hurt at all, but the "cleanse" the day before wasn't fun, TBH.

A freckle above my eyebrow suddenly looks bubbly, so I've made an appointment with my dermatologist to get it checked out.

This is life after 40: lots of health check-ups and paying more attention to my body than I ever have before. Neglecting an issue means more work, more treatment down the road.

Good luck to you!

Also want to add, upon proofreading the above, the mindset has totally changed from whinging, bellyaching complainer to….. surprisingly positive.

I think that’s the best change of all.

I read this and think who TF is this person?

I'm female. There, I mentioned sex. Also, I'm 68. I've been active for around 22-23 years, during most of which I was obese. Before being active, I was very sedentary, very out of shape, and at the time I started being active, I was very physically depleted from full-bore cancer treatment (surgery, chemo, radiation, other drugs).

I don't understand the question: "How do I not let these issues harm my motivation?" They have little or nothing to do with my motivation.

They do affect how I structure my activity/training, sure . . . but that's technical, not psychological. There are things I can't do (hard limits), and things I have to do carefully, but overall I can do the things I most want to do.

Since you ask, my aches and pains and such include: At least one torn knee meniscus, probably both. Osteoarthritis in hips, knees, probably other areas. Osteoporosis. Fairly extensive upper left chest/neck scar tissue and necrotic tissue from modified radical mastectomy surgery followed by radiation. (Simple mastectomy surgery on the other side, but that's non-problematic athletically.) Vision deficits from retinal tears in both eyes, among other things (not legally blind, able to drive). Tendency to shoulder nerve impingement. Possible/probable early stage COPD, mostly asymptomatic. Sleep apnea. Sleep interruption insomnia. Currently odd ribcage pain that may be dire or trivial, still being diagnosed via lots of scans & tests. Probably some stuff I'm forgetting, besides. If it matters, I'm also severely hypothyroid and of course menopausal.

I used to have high blood pressure, high triglycerides, and high cholesterol, but all of that resolved nicely part way through weight loss, and has stayed solidly in a normal range for 8 years since.

I do find that in general, the stronger/fitter I get, the less pain I experience, if I'm smart about the training.

I'm lucky: I can do the things that matter most to me. Sometimes they hurt. Mostly they don't hurt lots. (If they did, I'd probably drop them, seek something else . . . or have the <bleep> surgery.) I guess in that sense, it affects my motivation: I'm not "motivated" to do exercise that hurts really a lot. But so far I don't need to.

I don't mostly do things because I think they're good for me, so I'm not powering through discomfort and needing motivation to do it. I do things that I think are fun, some of which are physically demanding. I'd do them even if they weren't good for me, but they are. I do other things to improve at the fun things.

How it affects my training regimen? I do better if I don't do the same activity every day. My main fun things are on-water rowing and cycling on paved trails. In season, I row 4 days and usually cycle 2 other days, take one rest day a week. I do much better with one full rest day weekly. (I may walk or do some yoga/stretching, but nothing intense.) In off season, I usually alternate machine row and stationary bike 6 days, and add some lifting.

Each season, I start lifting slowly (light weight, fewer sets), and increase gradually. I do an idiosyncratic set of exercises, looking primarily to remediate the imbalances from rowing, so there's a lot of upper body push. (Rowing is all lower push, upper pull - full body, but very unbalanced.) I do better if I increase reps/sets before I increase weight, usually. There's also that nice thread about ways to increase useful stress other than by increasing weight:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10877279/30-tips-to-increase-strength-training-intensity

But I don't have any ideas about motivation, other than "find something fun enough that you don't need any". That works well for a natural hedonist like me.