When you’re young, you have everything. You’ve got your whole future ahead of you, few commitments, a boatload of free time, and all the energy in the world.
But then you start getting older. You find your body doesn’t move as fast or as smoothly as it once did. Everything responds a little slower, it takes longer to recover. And on top of it all, you have more real life commitments that take up your time.
Building muscle over 40 can feel like an uphill battle. You might feel like it’s not worth the effort, and that you’ll have to give up any dreams of maintaining a fit body now that your youth has passed.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. Keep reading and we’ll explain how you can maintain (and even build) strength and muscle mass as you get older, plus why physical training becomes more important than ever when you hit the big 4-0.
Is It Harder to Build Muscle When You’re Older?
It would be nice to say that it’s a myth that muscle growth gets harder as you get older. But unfortunately, it’s true.
It’s been clearly shown that muscle mass decreases as we get older. Each decade after you turn 30, muscle mass declines by 3-8% (and declines even faster after 60).
A lot of this is due to hormonal changes. For men, testosterone declines from around age 35 onwards. Women start to produce less estrogen and progesterone around the same time, and begin going through menopause a little later.
These hormonal changes result in less energy, lower strength, sleep changes, longer recovery times, and ultimately make it harder to train as you did when you were younger.
Why Strength Training Becomes More Important As You Get Older
The irony is that, as training gets more difficult, it also becomes more important.
Sarcopenia (the term used for the condition where muscle mass, strength, and performance decline significantly at a later age) puts you at risk of falls, physical injuries, comorbidities, and general lesser quality of life.
In addition, aging leads to increased fat mass and lower bone density, which strength training helps to offset.
7 Tips for Building Muscle In Your 40s
Though you can still remain active and physically fit as you get older, you will need to recognize that your body is changing, and you may need to train differently as a result.
Here are some tips to do so, and help you build muscle, stay fit and maintain strength, power and aesthetics in your 40s and beyond.
Train Smarter, Not Harder
As you get older, pushing yourself to the limit may not be the best idea.
This means you don’t need to work out to failure each set, or work out for two hours every day. Doing so may lead to injuries, and diminishing returns due to the time it takes to recover.
One study, looking at adults with a mean age of 65, found that the following markers worked out to be most effective:
- 3 sessions per week
- 2-3 sets per exercise
- 7-9 reps per set
- 51-69% intensity (i.e. the percentage of your one rep max) for each rep
You’ll also want to focus more on compound exercises and functional movements, which provide more benefits in less time than small isolation exercises.
Warm Up Properly
Our muscles and joints get stiffer as we get older. If you try to jump right into your workout at a high intensity, you risk injuring yourself, and long-term injuries are the best way to derail all the progress and consistency you’ve built up.
It pays to do at least a small warmup before you get into the main part of your workout. This could be a stretching routine, lifting light weights, doing bodyweight movements, or some kind of cardio (such as the stationary bike, elliptical or rowing machine) to get the body warmed up and the blood pumping.
Get Enough Protein
Nutrition is always important, but becomes even more so as you get older, particularly your protein intake.
Protein is essential for muscle growth and recovery, and the body requires more protein as we age.
Increased protein intake is actually one of the specific things mentioned by healthcare professionals that can help prevent sarcopenia in older adults.
Look to get at least 1g of protein per kg of body weight per day (daily protein shakes, plus protein supplementation before/after working out is a great way to hit your protein targets).
Take Creatine
If you’re not already supplementing with creatine, you may want to start.
Creatine is a naturally occurring substance, produced in our body and found in food sources too. It has many well-studied benefits for health and performance, and is also extremely safe, with little to no major side-effects.
Our muscle creatine levels decrease as we get older. Thus many experts recommend creatine specifically for older adults, not just for those who do strength training (where creatine helps boost energy production, muscle strength and recovery), but also for everyday quality of life.
Check out our lemon lime creatine flavored with only real fruit juice powder and fermented cane sugar.
Focus on Recovery
As you get older, you need to be a lot more conscious about recovery. It takes longer for your body to repair itself, and it takes longer for your energy stores to recover.
Proper nutrition helps, as do active recovery methods like sauna, cold exposure, contrast therapy and massage.
Maintain Good Sleep Habits
Another key element in recovery, energy production, muscle growth and performance is the quality and consistency of your sleep.
This, too, is important for everyone, but it becomes more important to be mindful of how you’re sleeping as you get older.
Not only is good quality sleep more vital, but it can be harder to get, with noisy kids running around, hormonal changes, and other things in your life getting in the way.
That’s why you need to focus on good sleep habits. Keep a consistent schedule of when you go to sleep and wake up, avoid caffeine within 10-12 hours of going to sleep, and limit artificial light exposure (i.e. phones) late at night.
A Short Workout is Better Than No Workout
When you’re juggling full-on work and family lives, it might seem like there’s hardly any time to get a good workout in.
But remember that your workouts don’t need to be all or nothing. You don’t have to give up the idea of working out altogether just because you don’t have time for the full 1.5 hour full-body routine you used to do.
It’s better to work with the time you have, and just focus on getting in the gym when you can. You might want to go with shorter workouts, like quick HIIT routines, or strength training workouts with just 2-3 compound exercises that you can do in less than half an hour.
Final Thoughts
Staying fit, healthy and building muscle is harder after 40, but far from impossible.
Aim for consistency, good sleep and nutrition, and a deliberate focus on recovery, and think about ditching the idea that you need to go all-out and train until failure every time.
You don’t necessarily need a bunch of supplements to build muscle after 40, however protein and creatine supplements can bolster your body’s muscle-building resources and help you stay in your best shape as you get older.
