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Posted: 2/12/2023 12:11:37 PM EDT
I only started exercising and working out at the gym in my 30s and am wondering if I'm already too late at this point, should've started when I was younger in my 20s instead. Is the 20s the peak of physical strength and stamina for most people?
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The strongest I've ever been was 36-39. I think they start to diminish mid to late 40's.
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A late start is better than never.
Yes you missed your peak potential but you can be strong as hell in your late thirties. |
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Just starting to feel it in my late 50’s. Still have more strength and stamina that plenty of dudes half my age though.
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just stay active and eat right
wifey and I dined and danced last night from 8 to 12 when the joint closed our combined age is 133 |
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If you eat relatively well and have a good workout regimen, you’ll maintain well into your 40s.
My peak strength was probably late 30s, but I also started late (at age 28). I’ll be 50 in June, but I’m still in overall better, strong shape than I was at 21-25. I was a lazy ass age 18-27. You will find yourself needing to do more maintenance things like stretching. At least, I do. My strength is off maybe 10-15% from peak, but I attribute that more to working out less than I did in my 30s. My son was born when I was 42, so that changed how I am able to use my free time. |
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After age 30 if you are not actively gaining muscle you are losing muscle.
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Quoted: A late start is better than never. Yes you missed your peak potential but you can be strong as hell in your late thirties. View Quote definitely this. OP -- this is a heck of a rabbit hole you can go down -- youtube videos, scientific articles, etc. LOTS of effort has been devoted to the science of physical performance management. i can tell you in my 50s its bittersweet. sad to not be able to do what i could in my 20s -30s. not even close. but 'happy' to be able to 'maintain' and do what a lot of 50 year olds can NOT do.... bottom line at your age you can still improve your physical condition a LOT. will it be the genetic peak of what it COULD have been?? maybe not. but still -- you can make significant improvements with the right effort, a well designed program, dedication and focus on injury prevention. just be realistic. good luck |
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Quoted: Just starting to feel it in my late 50’s. Still have more strength and stamina that plenty of dudes half my age though. View Quote I’ve been in the gym since my late teens. At 51, I’m feeling it. Big time. But I can still not only keep up with but outlift most of the young guys. I should lighten it up, increase reps, change my routine. But I only know the one way. |
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I’m 56 and work wears my ass out now .
Land Surveyor , miles and miles of walking , bulling your way thru brush, lifting manhole lids . Pounding stakes in the ground . I’m 5-11 170 lbs , and the last few years I’ve noticed it at the end of the day more and more . I still get the same amount of work done , but the tiredness at the end of the day gets more and more as time goes by . I figure I’m in way better shape than I would be having a desk job . |
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I’m in my late 50’s and have a half Ironman in seven weeks. I’m not as fast as I used to be, but stamina is still pretty good.
I wish I understood my body in my 20’s like I do now. |
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I was in the best shape of my life in my early 40, so you're very far from too late.
Right around 50 is when I started seeing a noticeable decline, recovery gets harder, shit gets tweaked easier, and "pushing through" pain when training becomes a bad idea that leads to bad things. |
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Not too late OP. Studies show that adults in their 70s who supplement with Creatine maintain what they have as long as they continue to exercise.
Attached File |
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Most people are performing so far below their potential that almost anyone can get in dramatically better shape.
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I felt my absolute best, top physical performance from 35-42. Best 10k and 5k times, etc.
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My shoulder pains keep me from benching like I used to
My biceps/triceps/back and pecs are still solid at 58 YO I still do ab workouts that guys half my age find daunting. I still enjoy cycling, but I am slower than I used to be. Part of that is boredom; I don’t get into it like I used to and I don’t have the free time to have a legit weekly training program. |
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In my 40s, I started noticing that it was harder to recover (after injuries, etc.) and it was getting harder to maintain strength and endurance.
In my 50s, it has DEFINITELY become much harder. I am still fit and work out 5-6 times a week (weights, running, etc) - but it takes a lot more work, and the result are not as good. ... of course, an additional complicating factor for me is that the heart medications I am on also make it harder to work out (like beta blockers) |
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40s. You can still become very strong starting in your 30s. Not as strong as if you had 15 years of build up, but still strong.
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I think I was in my best shape at 40-46.
My wife's circle envied her. And some still do. They would like a man who takes care of himself and not just let himself go, because "It's just the way it is....so get me another beer." At 57, And diagnosed with Follicular Lymphoma, where tiredness is a symptom, I still hit the gym 5-6 days a week and can hold my own out doing anything from backpacking to paddling for hours. My doctor say due to my physical shape, it's helping holding off on the treatments under what they call "watch and wait". The longer you hold off, the better. It's also why I'm not having any symptoms of this incurable, but treatable cancer. The longer you can hold off before chemo, the better for many reasons. This has become my new goal and I just got some great news on Friday concerning this. We will monitor for the next 4 years! My blood panels show my blood to be perfectly normal. Just had it done a few days ago. If I hadn't have found an odd lump, which I thought was a hernia....I would have never known. So now....not only do I like to stay in shape....but I pretty much have to. My stamina is really good, but not as good as 10 years ago. But I can outwork all of my guys and they know it. |
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I'm 72 and I do my own yard work (1/3 acre push mower), clean gutters, till and tend my garden and a lot more
I began to notice loss of stamina around 60, but I ain't bedridden yet |
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Quoted: I was in the best shape of my life in my early 40, so you're very far from too late. Right around 50 is when I started seeing a noticeable decline, recovery gets harder, shit gets tweaked easier, and "pushing through" pain when training becomes a bad idea that leads to bad things. View Quote Pretty much my case as well. My mid-40s I was in fantastic shape and it got noticed. By my early 50s I couldn't push as hard and injuries started to pile up. Had to have my rotator cuff repaired at 56. It may not be that you're that much prone to injury as all the damage accumulated over the years starts to show itself, but whatever it is, I think long and hard about doing certain heavy physical activities, and if I feel a pain tweak I don't like during a workout, I stop and wait a couple days now. Started TRT helped but didn't turn the clock back, just made it tick slower. |
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Quoted: Is the 20s the peak of physical strength and stamina for most people? View Quote I wouldn't suggest trying to break into MMA fighting or something at this point, but you can get into great shape after your 20s. You're just old by sports standards. I wish I had taken it more seriously in my 20s to have a better foundation now, but I still feel better than I ever did in my 20s, now that I am taking it seriously. |
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I'm 61. My strength and to a lesser degree, my stamina started to decline some when I hit my early/mid 50's. I work out as much as I can considering I work 3rd shift. And that isn't helping me none either.
Me and the wife go hiking a lot. That has kept my stamina up somewhat. Having a knee replacement done back in Nov really put me behind the curve a bit. |
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There are some retired firefighters that lift at my gymn that are in their 60s that are amazingly strong as fuck, but I wouldn’t advise betting on them in a 50-yard dash.
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Quoted: I'm 72 and I do my own yard work (1/3 acre push mower), clean gutters, till and tend my garden and a lot more I began to notice loss of stamina around 60, but I ain't bedridden yet View Quote My grandparents lived into their 90s, and grandma cooked with lard her whole life They maintained a huge garden, which I credit along with a general satisfaction with life for their longevity. |
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Your physical prime ends in your early to mid 30s. Its all down hill from there but you still have the ability to build muscle and be strong. Itll take more effort and requires far better nutrition but its not too late.
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Joined Army at 20, lots of cardio and push ups, skinny as a rail.
Started lifting at 25, best shape of my life at 26, still skinny but had more muscle. Had kids, laid off the gym for 7 years, got back into it at 35. Divorce hit at 45...stress related weight loss, gym therapy and running 5ks had me feeling 20 years younger. Now 53. Not as lean as I used to be but gym maintains health and keeps me limber. More tired at the end of the day than my younger years. 8 years until retirement! |
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Quoted: > The average GD boomer https://static.wixstatic.com/media/c9bf38_0bd707c547e74b549b0ea0b1f58ed300~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_600,h_600,al_c,lg_1,q_85,enc_auto/c9bf38_0bd707c547e74b549b0ea0b1f58ed300~mv2.png >Unironically looks like Zeus View Quote |
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Depends on what you did in some cases before the decline.
For me, the noticable decline started at about age 43 is when I noticed it for sure. Some people will be different. Some people can start relatively young. |
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Quoted: The strongest I've ever been was 36-39. I think they start to diminish mid to late 40's. View Quote Agreed, though i was still fairly strong during my mid 50s. Stamina goes first. Noted that on hikes. Looking at the life cycle through an evolutionary lens, this makes sense. Historically in our species, most males were unusually fortunate to survive past age 50. By that age, a man was already an elder, with adult offspring with their own viable offspring. He'd "won" in the genetic conveyor belt of or kind. No real purpose after that, save for reinforcing survival of his descendants. An old cartoon panel i saw applies. Two younger Indian warriors were watching an elder with a group of children. The caption: "Yeah, when you get to old to hunt and fight, you teach the kids how to read buffalo shit." |
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Quoted: The strongest I've ever been was 36-39. I think they start to diminish mid to late 40's. View Quote I'd agree with this. Early 40's was peak, hate working out formally but have a pretty physical job (walking, lifting, climbing ladders w tools, etc) so it keeps me moving. Warranty expired around 48 I guess because that's when the surgeries started. Early 50's now and I get tired just thinking about some activities, and recovery from anything takes longer. |
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Quoted: My experience. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/132244/275F3345-B549-4830-BDDC-CFBF6533A96D_jpe-2708264.JPG View Quote It Ain't The Years, It's The Miles (24-Bit Digitally Remastered 04) |
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Just turned 54, I’ve been lifting sine I was 13. I have lost some peak strength but I am still pretty strong. I think strength stays longer than the body structure can handle. I needed to start using lower weights because of joint issues and when I started getting more injuries. I need to make sure I warm up really well and do mobility/yoga type workouts daily.
My stamina has gotten worse but that was more on me and I am working to fix that . Overall, I didn’t notice much loss until I hit about 52. Now I need to train smarter and avoid injuries that take much longer to recover from. |
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Quoted: I only started exercising and working out at the gym in my 30s and am wondering if I'm already too late at this point, should've started when I was younger in my 20s instead. Is the 20s the peak of physical strength and stamina for most people? View Quote Comparing you at 20 to you at 30something, maybe - but in an ABSOLUTE sense, there's health benefits to being active and working out. Find something you can stick with life long, and then stick with it. Srs. If you start compromising your health for a look, and you aren't competing or deriving an income from it, I'd re-think it to be 100% sure it's making you THAT happy The reality is that you're 30-something year old you, who is racing 30-something year old you. There's no time machine, you can't go back. Aging is a constant, it's unavoidable. Think about it this way, even if you do go on the gas, the PR days are going to end at some point. They are. 70 year old TRT Ahnold isn't what 25 year old "only a little bit of roids" Ahnold was. It is a constant, you WILL have to cope with losing some muscle and being "weaker" (comparatively) over time. BUT, you can age gracefully. |
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IIRC, the US Army in WWII decided that at age 44, you were no longer combat ready and would pull you off the line and put you in the rear due to age no matter how fit you were.
Interesting age cutoff, but based on some sort of study of experience (or both) no doubt. |
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25
Independant of exercise, diet, suppliments or any other variable, at that age the aging process begins to overtake the vitality of your body. It may be 10 years or more before you can identify any evidence of this but the inevitable has begun. |
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Quoted: Quoted: > The average GD boomer https://static.wixstatic.com/media/c9bf38_0bd707c547e74b549b0ea0b1f58ed300~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_600,h_600,al_c,lg_1,q_85,enc_auto/c9bf38_0bd707c547e74b549b0ea0b1f58ed300~mv2.png >Unironically looks like Zeus What's funny is - I'm realizing, let's say everything goes right in my life I meet a hot latina lady, we date for a few years, we have children. I'm going to be TOTALLY grey by the time those girls are young adults and dating. I'm going to have to get on TRT and look like Zeus to make sure they're treated right |
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Quoted: What's funny is - I'm realizing, let's say everything goes right in my life I meet a hot latina lady, we date for a few years, we have children. I'm going to be TOTALLY grey by the time those girls are young adults and dating. I'm going to have to get on TRT and look like Zeus to make sure they're treated right View Quote |
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Kept up an active lifestyle most of my life but when I hit the mid fifty’s, parts started wearing out and have had to go to the body and fender shop more often.
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Quoted: Just turned 54, I’ve been lifting sine I was 13. I have lost some peak strength but I am still pretty strong. I think strength stays longer than the body structure can handle. I needed to start using lower weights because of joint issues and when I started getting more injuries. I need to make sure I warm up really well and do mobility/yoga type workouts daily. View Quote Nailed it. I'm not that strong these days but I can curl more than my elbows will tolerate. Body weight pull-ups also trash my elbows. My knees are also garbage at this point. So the weight comes down and you try to make it up on volume. Bottom line is regardless of age, doing something is always going to be better than doing nothing. |
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Quoted: I only started exercising and working out at the gym in my 30s and am wondering if I'm already too late at this point, should've started when I was younger in my 20s instead. Is the 20s the peak of physical strength and stamina for most people? View Quote In my opinion, if you're healthy then I wouldn't concern myself with what I did or didn't do in the past. Stay in it! You should know right now how much the mental process plays out when working out or doing anything that is healthy for your body. Don't cap yourself and stay as mentally positive about your situation as possible. Bonus points for the win. It's all in there for you. |
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