How to slow down?

[dreamingbig]

For all the "mature" gent's out there. How do you physically slow down when your brain isn't letting you?

I recently hit 40, trained since high school, football, basketball and motocross. A few broken bones over the years. My job isn't particularly physical but can go from 0-100 on occasion. With the exception of stressful situations I don't allow it or drama into my life.

I train 6 days a week with one of them being an active recovery day. Still squat over #350, deadlift #450 and bench #350.
I'm 6"4' about #250 and in fairly good shape.

As of late I've had some chronic fatigue, tendonitis in my joints and just feeling like I'm in a fog. My diet is lower carbs/higher fat and usually do a refeed on my days off. Blood work shows all my number are good with T levels about where they should be for my age. My brain is still telling me I'm 18 and won't let me slow down.

Anybody with some experience/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Don’t slow down too much! Add a low impact day or two. I like walking hills with a 30lb weight vest 2 days a week. I lift 2 days and run 2 days. 1 day of bike riding with the kids. Coach soccer, basketball and baseball which adds additional movement.


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[Mojave]

I will note that I still eat what I call flavorings.

Cheese, peppers, tomato, onions, that type of thing. Mostly with eggs.

 

[Mturney]

I have gone no/low carb to lose weight the last couple years in the spring and then would drift back into the normal family diet after I met my goal with no issues. This year I started 3/15/22 and lost 10 lbs. over 30 days. I have drifted away from the strict diet twice now and been wrecked both times instantly. I am a believer that my diet now controls my sleep patterns and brain function throughout the day and that a strict diet improves my quality of life in so many more aspects than I ever imagined. I feel like Im about to go down a rabbit hole to see how good I can feel and perform.

 

[LaHunter]

For all the "mature" gent's out there. How do you physically slow down when your brain isn't letting you?

I recently hit 40, trained since high school, football, basketball and motocross. A few broken bones over the years. My job isn't particularly physical but can go from 0-100 on occasion. With the exception of stressful situations I don't allow it or drama into my life.

I train 6 days a week with one of them being an active recovery day. Still squat over #350, deadlift #450 and bench #350.
I'm 6"4' about #250 and in fairly good shape.

As of late I've had some chronic fatigue, tendonitis in my joints and just feeling like I'm in a fog. My diet is lower carbs/higher fat and usually do a refeed on my days off. Blood work shows all my number are good with T levels about where they should be for my age. My brain is still telling me I'm 18 and won't let me slow down.

Anybody with some experience/advice would be greatly appreciated.

40 is still young. In my experience, sleep & recovery become more important as we get older. Make sure you are getting plenty of both

 

[Mojave]

Don’t slow down too much! Add a low impact day or two. I like walking hills with a 30lb weight vest 2 days a week. I lift 2 days and run 2 days. 1 day of bike riding with the kids. Coach soccer, basketball and baseball which adds additional movement.


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I work the occupational health and safety piece professionally for defense.

Do not "add a 30 pound weight vest".

You can put it in a pack, as this keeps it off your spine. Adding 30 pounds to your spine is not good for you.

A properly fitting pack puts it on your hips.

I can not tell you how many injured soldiers I see for work place mishaps based on weight vest.

 

[Mojave]

I have gone no/low carb to lose weight the last couple years in the spring and then would drift back into the normal family diet after I met my goal with no issues. This year I started 3/15/22 and lost 10 lbs. over 30 days. I have drifted away from the strict diet twice now and been wrecked both times instantly. I am a believer that my diet now controls my sleep patterns and brain function throughout the day and that a strict diet improves my quality of life in so many more aspects than I ever imagined. I feel like Im about to go down a rabbit hole to see how good I can feel and perform.

The struggle to avoid carbs is real. I relapse every couple of weeks until I get about 80-90 days in and then I am good. Key is to avoid situations where you don't have a choice.

I hunted barbary sheep in West Texas in 2020, and should have brought a couple of cases of water with me. The outfitter supplied cokes and gatoraide.

Hard relapse, and it took a long time to get past it.

 

[blacktail sniper]

For all the "mature" gent's out there. How do you physically slow down when your brain isn't letting you?

I recently hit 40, trained since high school, football, basketball and motocross. A few broken bones over the years. My job isn't particularly physical but can go from 0-100 on occasion. With the exception of stressful situations I don't allow it or drama into my life.

I train 6 days a week with one of them being an active recovery day. Still squat over #350, deadlift #450 and bench #350.
I'm 6"4' about #250 and in fairly good shape.

As of late I've had some chronic fatigue, tendonitis in my joints and just feeling like I'm in a fog. My diet is lower carbs/higher fat and usually do a refeed on my days off. Blood work shows all my number are good with T levels about where they should be for my age. My brain is still telling me I'm 18 and won't let me slow down.

Anybody with some experience/advice would be greatly appreciated.

I am def there at 50 your numbers are impressive and i now have tendonitis so bad in my right elbow and where my triceps inserts its dang near debilitating. Smashing it stretching trying to lay off but when you have a deer tag been waiting 12 years to draw hard to not rest especially shooting a bow.

 

[InkedElkSlayer]

Bigwilly- Maintaining a 6/week schedule is perfect. I think you have to adjust as you age though. In my 20s I’d read articles about “Training over 40” and wonder. Now I know it’s real. And your comment on stress is VERY fu$king real, it’s debilitating if unchecked. I’ve trained seriously since 17yrs old and have been “lucky” enough to be paid to PT for literally 1000s and 1000s of hours since the mid-90s. My schedule is such, that I train very religiously, have a very set schedule, then things go to absolute shit and I essentially don’t “train” at all. I live, work and operate in extreme heat, sea level, high elevation, steep knarly country, cold, etc. and I’m lucky to get 5.5hrs of shitty sleep a night. Then, I go back to a very set training regime. Very cyclical.
Point is… it’s diversity and mixing things up throughout the year. I used to hate it, now I embrace it. I think grinding out essentially the same program for long periods of time will physically and mentally wear you down.
Specific training advice for you would be to keep lifting the big compound movements, but make sure you’re doing circuits after that are pushing the pace. Then throw in a few days/week that are cardio only.
For a few months earlier this year I cut back to only 3-4 days of weights with 2-4 days of hiking. I felt great. Strong as shit 1 day, hike all day long the next day. I’d make sure I was doing big, traditional, compound movements the days I was lifting, then hike the other days. Mentally it was a nice break to hit spots I’d had on my list and look for horns. Then lift real hard when it was lift day.
Some of the other guys commented on writing out your training plan. I like this and I meticulously did it for years. Now, I have taken the approach that I train based on how I feel. I don’t mean I say screw it and sleep in, I mean I listen to my body. I may have a big day planned and just feel like shit, if so, I don’t push it and tweak something. I back off. Other days, I may feel great and I go for it. No right/wrong answer there. But I think the sooner in a guy’s career where he can know his body, listen to it, and know when to push it vs back off a little is good. I believe if you do that during training, it directly correlates to situations when you are working for extreme extended timeframes, dehydrated, calorie deficit, stressed, sleep deprived, etc. Kinda sounds like a week of elk hunting huh?
I got long winded, you are damn strong, good luck adjusting a little and powering on.

 

[Matt G.]

I am 42 and I had to check the ego at the door. I am currently trying to drop some weight but working on full body functional fitness vs lifting heavy. So far I feel better and no injury. I was getting tendinitis in places. Trying to reduce overall carbs. That is my struggle.

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