Why You’re Not Building Muscle After 40

I have many clients who are over the age of forty and damn near every one of them, in one way or another, asks me, “can you build muscle after 40.”

YES, WHY THE HELL NOT

Since when did 40 become the new 90? Why do we have this stigma that when we hit 40, our testosterone, bones, muscles, and metabolism all take a shit, and we can no longer get in shape or do what we want?

I just turned 40 (and no, this isn’t why I’m writing this post), and I will be the first to tell you that my body doesn’t feel or perform like it did when I was in my twenties, but with the right training, diet, and habits you can reach whatever goal you desire.

I’m 40, Is It Too Late To Build Muscle (that’s funny)

Unless you’re using it as an excuse, a number can not prevent you from doing something you want to do.

Unless you’re not tall enough to ride a roller coaster, in that case, a number can prevent you from doing something.

The guidelines and science behind building muscle stay the same whether you’re 55 or 25, but there are some things you need to know about your body after the age of 40.

How Does Your Bones, Muscles, Joints, Testosterone And Metabolism Change Once You’re 40 Years Old.

Your Bones After 40

By the age of thirty, you have achieved peak bone density; when you’re young, your body replaces damaged bone with newer, healthier bone, but as you get older, your body doesn’t replace it as quickly.

Between 30 and 40 years old your body replaces as much bone as it loses, but once you hit 40, a smaller amount of bone is replaced, leading to them becoming thinner and brittle.

There are many physical and nutritional habits you can practice to keep your bones healthy.

How To Keep Your Bones Healthy After 40

• Eat Your Vegetables – Remember when your parents would tell you to eat your vegetables, there was a good reason for it. Vegetables are a great source of vitamin C, which helps increase cells that help rebuild bone in older individuals, and when you’re young, it helps you reach peak bone density by the time you’re 30.
• Lift weights – Studies have been done that show when older men and women partake in strength training and high-impact exercises, their bone density, strength, size increased, and most importantly, the reduction of bone loss. This is just another reason on an already long list of reasons to start or continue to weight train.
• Protein consumption – Bones are made up of 50% protein, so common sense will tell you that a low protein diet will hurt your bone health, while a high protein diet will help your body build and maintain your bone. If you’re having trouble getting enough protein in your diet, try a whey protein powder.
• Don’t go crazy with calorie deficits – This is for those of you that are cutting or trying to lose weight, very-low-calorie diets (under 1000 calories per day) will start to reduce your muscle mass along with your bone density, you want to be at the very least 1200 calories a day. Changing your body takes time, and if you’re on the extreme side of things, you’ll only cause more problems later on down the road.
• Calcium, Calcium, Calcium – Bone is made of primary calcium; we’ve all heard drink enough milk to keep your bones strong. This is because dairy products are high in calcium. The recommended amount per day is 1000 mg, but you need to spread it throughout the day for maximum absorption.

Your Joints After 40

Your joints are made up of living active tissues susceptible to damage from lack of water and normal wear and tear. The first sign of aging comes from the cartilage and synovium wearing away, and there is also a lubricant called synovial fluid that cushions the joints.

These 3 materials act as a shock absorber and allow the bone to slide smoothly; when they start to deteriorate, your bones will start to touch and grind together, causing pain and arthritis.

How To keep Your Joints Healthy After 40

• Stay Hydrated – Your joints are living tissue and need water to stay flexible; when your body doesn’t have an efficient amount of water, it starts to pull water from your skin, muscles, and joints. This allows toxins to seep into your joints and cause inflammation, swelling, and over time can lead to tearing.
• Pay Attention To Your Weight – Common sense will tell you that the more weight you’re carrying around will increase the load and stress on your joints; besides the dozens of other health problems being overweight causes, joint health is definitely linked to it as well. That’s why so many overweight people have bad backs, knees, and hips due to how these parts of your body have to hold up almost all of your body weight.
• Muscles Are Joints Best Friends – Well-defined muscles will help support your joints and strengthen your ligaments. This is especially true for your spine, knees, hips, and ankles. Instead of your joints solely responsible for holding you up, it now becomes a team effort lessening the wear and tear on your joints and keeping them healthier longer.
• Stay Active – Being inactive is horrible for your joints; it causes stiffness and inflammation. At the very least, you should take a walk or stretch, but the best way to keep your joints flexible is to do cardio training a few times a week.
• Undergo Physical Therapy – It’s a good idea to work with a physiotherapist expert to help manage your joints, muscles, and other musculoskeletal issue. Undergo massage therapy, range-of-motion (ROM) exercises, and chiropractic treatment as needed. Free your tight and tensed muscles, joints, ligaments, and bones to keep them in good condition.

Your Muscles After 40

Sometime in your thirties (it’s different for everyone), your body actually stops maintaining your muscle mass on a full-time basis, this means for someone who doesn’t lead an active lifestyle or doesn’t work out, you can start to lose 3% to 5% of your muscle mass per decade.

If you have been sitting for many hours at work, in front of your computer, or doing paperwork all day, then you’re not getting enough physical activity.

This sedentary lifestyle could lead to chronic diseases due to imbalanced hormones, chemicals, and blood glucose and cholesterol levels. With chronic diseases, your body also loses muscle mass and gain more fats.

You’re at a higher risk of developing diabetes and atherosclerosis or fat buildup in the arteries.

The good news is you can completely reverse this by strength training. No matter what age you are, if your body is put under stress, it will find a way to alleviate it.

If you’re lifting weights, your body wants to adapt to this problem; it does this by adding muscle mass to your frame to make you cope with this newly founded stress.

How To Keep Your Muscles Healthy After 40

• Provide the correct nutrients in your diet – If you don’t give your body the right type of nutrients that support muscle maintenance and growth, your results will suffer. Ensure you include the 3 major macronutrients of protein, healthy fats, and carbohydrates into your nutrition plan.
• Strength training – Have you heard the old saying, “if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it” It may sound like a cliche, but it is absolutely true, you will not maintain your lean muscle mass if you sit around all day being lazy, and this is especially true once you start to get older.
• Aerobics – Brisk walking, running, biking, and swimming can help your lungs and heart function well. Schedule a daily aerobic exercise without using special home gym equipment to exercise your heart and avoid developing heart disease and stroke. A 15- to 30-minute exercise a day makes a big difference in your health.
• Drink Enough Water – Your body is made up of 70% water, so imagine what your cells feel like when you’re dehydrated. Every function your body does daily requires water, which includes building and maintaining lean muscle mass.

Your Metabolism After 40

Unfortunately, as we get older, it becomes much harder to lose weight and a hell of a lot easier to gain weight.

It will actually slow down by about 5% every decade after 40, and this means you have to be more disciplined with what you eat and drink and to make sure you’re more active than ever.

How to elevate your metabolism after 40

• Drink and eat foods high in antioxidants – Antioxidants help kill off free radicals in your body, helping promote healthy skin, metabolism, and digestive issues. Foods high in antioxidants are blueberries, dark chocolate, strawberries, pecans, artichokes, and goji berries. Drinks high in antioxidants are pomegranate juice, concord grape juice, blueberry juice, blackberry juice, green tea, and rooibos tea.
• Water, water, and more water – I’m hoping you’re starting to see the trend here of drinking enough water; I really can’t stress its importance when it comes to keeping all aspects of your life healthy and fit. Plus, if you’re trying to lose weight, drinking water can help you feel full when you have a craving.
• Make a super smoothie – Start your day off by taking a mixture of the ingredients I listed above that are high in antioxidants and make a healthy smoothie that will kickstart your metabolism while also fueling your body with an extremely healthy breakfast. Use a juicer or blender to create homemade smoothies with fresh fruits and vegetables. Add some nuts and other ingredients you love in smoothies to make drinking more fun and colorful!

Your Testosterone Levels After 40

The average male has 679 ng/dl of testosterone, peaking at age 20 and diminishing by 1% every year from age 30 to 50. Testosterone plays an important role in the health of men and women; it is the main sexual hormone in males and is also found in small amounts in women.

Adequate testosterone levels are important for disease resistance, body composition, libido, energy levels, and general health. It also plays a major role in muscle development and mood.

How to boost your testosterone naturally

• Lift weights – Cardio and strength training exercises boost your testosterone; lifting weights helps your testosterone more than cardio, especially if you’re lifting heavy weights.
• Get your beauty sleep – Not getting enough sleep can change how your body produces hormones and chemicals, including testosterone, aim for 7 to 8 hours per night. If you have difficulty falling or staying asleep, you may want to see your DR.
• Don’t eat like crap – Eat a proper diet that includes whole foods and a healthy ratio of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats; this will ensure that your body keeps all of your chemicals and hormones at satisfactory levels for optimal health and performance.
• Get rid of extra fat – Studies have found that overweight males between 15 and 20 had 50% less testosterone when compared to males in the same age group that wasn’t overweight.
• Get your vitamin D – Taking Vitamin D supplements or getting at least 30 minutes of sunlight per day has been shown to regulate testosterone levels.
• Find your happy place – Long-term stress increases a chemical called cortisol in your body, which can lead to excess fat storage, mood swings, and low testosterone.

It’s clear that your body changes once you start to get older but there are plenty of ways to counteract or slow these changes down, you only have to make some adjustments to your diet and activity levels.

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The Best Nutrition Plan To Build Muscle When You’re Over 40

If you want to make the most of your life at 40, create a good nutrition plan. Eat a wide variety of foods and avoid preserved, high-calorie, and processed foods. Make your meals colorful with fruits and vegetables for a healthier body at 40.

To figure out your nutrition plan, you first need to know your goal; you’re either going to start on a cutting phase or a bulking cycle.

• Bulking – This is when you want to start building muscle mass; to do this, you need to be on a calorie surplus.
• Cutting – This is when you feel like you have too much excess body fat, and you want to slim down before building muscle.

To find out how many calories you need to eat per day go to my calorie calculator and follow the instructions.

This nutrition plan is formed around a diet of 2000 calories a day; most bulking people are going to be on a higher daily calorie diet. I wanted to base it on a nice round number to change it to your calorie needs easily. If you have trouble modifying the diet to fit your calorie needs, email me or leave a comment and I’ll be happy to help you.

Meal 1 (Breakfast)

Food	Calories	Protein	Carbs	Fat
1 Whole Egg	69	8	0	5
1 Egg White	16	5	0	0
2 slices of ezekiel toast	170	8	30	2
2 teaspoons strawberry jam	36	0	9	0
135 grams blueberries	80	1	19	0
TOTAL	371	22	58	7

Meal 2 (Shake)

Food	Calories	Protein	Carbs	Fat
1/2 scoop of whey protein powder	65	12	2	1
250 ml of unsweetened almond milk	31	1	0	3
1 Banana	104	1	25	0
20g of natural peanut butter	130	6	4	10
2 ice cubes	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	330	20	31	14

Meal 3 (Lunch)

Food	Calories	Protein	Carbs	Fat
75g cooked chicken breast or 75g of turkey breast or 75g of shrimp or 95g of tilapia	90	18	0	2
250g of cooked white or brown rice	287	7	58	3
125g of cooked broccoli	48	3	9	0
TOTAL	425	28	67	5

Meal 4 (Snack)

Food	Calories	Protein	Carbs	Fat
50g oatmeal dry measurement	191	7	34	3
2 teaspoons honey	48	0	12	0
30g mixed nuts	195	6	9	15
TOTAL	434	13	55	18

Meal 5 (Dinner)

Food	Calories	Protein	Carbs	Fat
85g cooked lean beef	149	26	0	5
255g sweet potato	204	5	46	0
125g cooked carrots	44	1	10	0
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil	45	0	0	5
TOTAL	442	32	56	10
DAILY TOTALS	2002	112	267	54

This is only an example and is not meant to be taken as your only choice; you can easily modify this to your liking or use it as a guideline. Just remember to include all 3 major macronutrients into your diet plan.

Best Workouts For Someone Over 40

There are 3 different types of thinking out there when it comes to fitness routines when you’re older, these are.

• Isolation moves – This is when you will work out 4 to 5 days a week, with each activity commonly targeting two muscle groups. Many people prefer this method because it is less stressful due to the lighter weight you’ll be using. One negative is that you need to find time to work out 4 to 5 times a week.
• Multi-joint exercises – These workouts are based around moves like squats, deadlifts, and overhead presses where you’re using heavier weights and working for multiple muscle groups in one action. The benefit of these exercises is that while the workout may take longer, you only have to do them 2 or 3 times a week since you’re working out your entire body. I prefer these types of moves only because I enjoy lifting heavy, and they burn the most calories making them a great way to keep excess fat from accumulating.
• Entire body split routine – This is where you would do your upper body one day, then your lower body another day, and keep alternating; some people feel like they can give a more intense workout when they split their full-body activities into two different days.

I’m going to mix moves up between free weights and machines because I feel this is the best way to hit all muscle groups. If you only have access to free weights, email me or leave a comment below telling me which exercise you need a substitute for, and I’ll tell you the best free weight option for that exercise.

I will give examples of both types of fitness routines that way, you can experiment on your own and decide which method works best for you.

Isolation routine

Monday- Back – Shoulders – Biceps

EXERCISE	SETS	REPS
Overhand pull up	3	5-7
Chest supported T-bar row	3	8-10
Lat pull in	2	8-10
Face pull	2	8-10
Standing one arm cable curl	3 per arm	8-10
Supinating dumbbell curl	2	5-7 per arm
Dumbbell shrug	3	8-10

Wednesday – Legs

EXERCISE	SETS	REPS
Barbell squat	3	5-7
Barbell hip thrust	2	8-10
45 Degree leg press	3	8-10
Lying leg curl	3	8-10
Leg extension	2	10-12
Hyperextension	3	10-12
Standing machine calf raise	3	8-10

Thursday – Chest – Shoulders – Triceps – Abs

EXERCISE	SETS	REPS
Flat barbell press	3	5-7
Incline dumbbell press	2	5-7
Pec Deck	2	8-10
Military press	2	8-10
Incline bench dumbbell lateral raise	3	10-12
One arm overhead cable extension	3 per arm	8-10
Narrow grip dip	2	8-10
Hanging leg raise	2	10-12
Side plank	2 per side	30 to 60 seconds

Remember this is just an example and you can modify it a thousand different ways to create a plan that works best for you.

Full Body Workout Routine

EXERCISE	SETS	REPS
Barbell squat	3	5-7
Flat Dumbbell Press	3	5-7
Lying leg curl	3	8-10
Standing cable lateral raise	2 per arm	10-12
Incline dumbbell curl	2	8-10
standing machine calf raise	3	8-10
Dumbbell shrug	2	8-10

There is a healthy debate evolving around how many times per week you should do a full-body workout. My personal preference is twice a week, here’s why.

Full-body workouts are very demanding and labor-intensive, if you’re not in peak physical shape, it will take a couple of days for your body to recover, and if you’re back in the gym lifting weights before your body has ample time to recover, you’re going to hurt yourself rather than adding muscle mass.

When you lift weights, you’re only sparking the steps needed for your body to build muscle, but your body doesn’t actually repair your muscle until your at rest.

This is why training your entire body more than 2 times a week is actually detrimental and will cause adverse results rather than positive ones.

Full Body Split Routine

Split routines are the best of both worlds, you get to lift heavy weights perform high intensity moves while still being able to workout every other day without worrying about over training any one body part.

Upper Body

EXERCISE	SETS	REPS
Overhand pull up	3	5-7
Flat dumbbel press	3	5-7
Chest supported T bar row	3	8-10
Seated overhead dumbbell press	3	5-7
Incline cable fly	2	8-10
Standing one arm cable curl	3 per arm	8-10
One arm overhead cable extension	3 per arm	8-10
Face pull	2	10-12

Lower Body

Exercise	SETS	REPS
Barbell squats	3	5-7
Romanian dumbbell deadlift	3	8-10
Walking dumbbell lunge	2	5-7 per leg
Lying leg curl	3	8-10
Seated machine hip abduction	2	10-12
Leg press calf raise	3	8-10
Kneeling rope crunch	2	10-12
Hanging leg raise	1	10-12

How Often Should You Do Cardio

Which workout routine you pick is going to determine how often you do cardio workouts.

A couple of things you need to take into consideration when deciding how much cardio to do per week are, don’t do so much cardio that you put yourself into a calorie deficit instead of a calorie surplus.

You also want to watch too much cardio and not give your muscles time to repair themselves; this is especially true after leg day.

• Full-body workouts – The day after you do a full-body workout, you’ll either want to take a day off or do a very light cardio day to loosen and stretch your muscles.
• Isolated exercises – If you’re motivated enough, you can do cardio training the day after your strength training workouts, this way; you can work out 5 or 6 times a week if you want; just make sure not to overdo it because this can lead to your body not getting enough rest.
• Split workouts – This is basically the same premise as full-body workouts. Still, since they’re not as strenuous, you might be able to get away with a higher intensity cardio than if you were doing full-body workouts.

Cardio Workouts For When You’re Over 40

Cardiovascular exercises are any aerobic exercise that makes your heart beat faster, gets your blood flowing quicker, and forces your body to bring oxygen to your organs and muscles, which will create a fat-burning effect.

The graph below is just a sample to show you how you could incorporate different types of cardio any day of the week; this will obviously change depending on what days you’re weight training.

Day	Intensity	Length	Exercise
Mon	HIIT training	15-25 minutes	Sprint interval workouts
Tues	Moderate intensity	40-60 minutes	Jogging
Wed	Low intensity	All day	Try to walk 8000 12000 steps
Thurs	High intensity	35-60 minutes	Treadmill, elliptical, rowing
Fri	Moderate intensity	30-40 minutes	Circuit training
Sat	Low intensity	45-60 minutes	yoga, bike ride, swimming
Sun	Static stretching	30 minutes	Stretch each body part, yoga

Tips To Help You Prevent Injury When Working Out

1. Listen to your body – No one knows your body as you do; if you wake up and you’re hurting worse than normal, try warming up to loosen your muscles, but in the end, if you don’t feel comfortable working out, then wait one more day. It’s better than injuring yourself and not being able to work out for days, weeks, or months.
2. Learn to use compression sleeves – Many people, including myself, notice less fatigue, swelling, and soreness throughout the muscles while wearing a compression sleeve. This leads to longer, more productive workouts because of better circulation.
3. Don’t push yourself – I have seen many older men come into the gym and try to lift like they were 20 years old again; the weights will make you remember your age faster than any person can. Drop your ego at the door and be smart about how you approach your fitness routine.
4. Stretch and warm up properly – I can’t emphasize how important it is to spend enough time warming up, especially as you get older. Warming up increases your heart rate; circulation loosens the joints and increases blood flow to the muscles. It also prepares the central nervous system to lift heavy and hard.
5. Try different techniques to see what fits you best – One way to workout doesn’t fit all, try supersets, drop sets, tri-sets, and circuit sets. These are great ways to bring versatility to your routine and, when incorporated correctly, will give you great results.
6. Don’t ignore rest days – There is such a thing as overtraining, no matter what the dumbass 20-year-old at your gym says. If you don’t rest enough

In Conclusion

At no point does turning 40 or even 50 keep you from building muscle and becoming healthier; you have to be smart and know how to develop a fitness and nutrition plan that works to your strengths, and in no time, you’ll be putting your kids to shame.