How many close or over 40 had to....

41 here ..

I have exercised all my life .. used to do more cardio and light weights .. but found at age 35 I had to do more cardio to loose weight ... more and more and more to make a difference and I still was not satisfied w/my body .. and it was frustrating ..

since then I have decreased my cardio and UPPED my weight work and I am loving the results .. plus I feel better .. look better .. healthier!!

I do eat pretty good .. healthy fruits, veggies and meats .. but no where near what all of you here call "clean" .. LOL .. Lord knows I love my pizza, cheese, and every now and then fried foods .. I eat small amounts all day .. don't count calories or fat although I know when it goes into my mouth what it contains .. so subconciously I do keep up with it!

I think as we age it is very important to concentrate on bone health and weight work but in combination w/cardio and yoga .. mix it all up is my motto!!:7
 
Great question. I will be 42 this year and am trying to figure out what is going to work for me now. I love cardio but science has shown that we start losing muscle mass in our 40's (for the average person) so I am going to try and step up the weight sessions (STS where are you?). We shall see... I may have to add a morning cardio session and then weights at night. I haven't really attacked my eating habits yet but I have always been a grazer...get crabby if I don't eat every two hours or so. Right now I am focusing on my wine intake... I have posted a spread sheet on the fridge so every glass of wine must be written down...very depressing, but motivating!
Oh, for those thinking about running...go for it. I started when I was 35 and ran a half and full marathon with in 6 months....helping a friend get fit after a baby (and she was 40!!!). We had a blast! We have both moved on to different cities but when we get together we still run (or do our "Grandma Shuffle"... some days ones legs are like cement blocks). I still run 5 miles once a week...but beware it can be a lot of pounding on the body...good shoes are a must!
 
I am 43 in March. Started working at at home August last year and have not really lost any weight and theres been no real great changes in body -yet. I have not changed my diet to clean eating. BUT I have recently, very recently, started to follow the opinions of many on these forums that less cardio and more weights is the go. For me the cardio must be hard - 20 - 30 mins full on. Eg Kick Max Blast followed by the leg drills, or Blasts only from the Imax's. Do leg toning after that. No weights. And now I will be trying to add in the weight workout twice a week, lower body and upper body once as well. Since starting this type of work, my body is firming up and I was down a kilo. So, maybe this is what is going to work for me. When I was younger, any type of exercise would shake it off.

Andrea.
 
Another "cougar" here... :)

Diet, diet, diet for me anyways and the hardest part. If I am eating clean than I see major results. I also feel better too.

I also agree with the posters who say they see improvements when they are weight training. I like what I see when I am lifting heavy. However I do cardio too.. 30-40 minutes a day, some days intense, some days moderate.

What I've noticed as I've gotten older is that the hips are getting smaller and my tummy is getting bigger. Its not too bad for now bec. I'm built like a pear, but this might be bad in a few more years! :)

Lynn M.
 
If you have found that more weight work has helped keep the inches off, how much weight work do you do? Is three total-body workouts per week too much?

I'm at a loose end. My diet has not been super great the past few weeks - not awful, but I certainly can do better. My motivation is right in the trash - again. I can't seem to get excited about any exercise since the payoff is so minimal.

I'm thinking I should try more lifting than cardio. But where to start?

Thanks for reading!

Susan L.G.

P.S. I'm "new-ly" 40 - heehee.
 
Hi Susan-

What works for me is to do about 30-40 minutes/day of weight training.. going hard and going heavy. Typically I'll do one bodypart/day, so I'm actually doing 6 days/week of lifting. Then, I'll tack on some cardio after that too.

If you wanted to use Cathe workouts, I would suggest either doing one portion/day of the S & H series or GS. I would probably add on a few more exercises to the back and the shoulder workouts though of the GS series since they are a bit shorter if you wanted.

I have the 4DS, but I haven't delved too much into that series yet for the weight training as that I primarily have been going to a gym to lift these days. I do use the cardio from this series occasionally.

I hate to say it though, diet is really the key and the absolute hardest part of the equation. If I'm getting plenty of lean protein, veggies and fruit, and "good carbs" that is where I see the results.. I can even tell after about a week of eating clean in being able to see more definition and cuts.

Take care, Lynn M.
 
Thanks Lynn! I'm printing out your reply and going to use it to arrange my DVDs and try a rotation.

I have to say, when I first got the 4DS I was using it pretty regularly. I went to my doctor for a check-up and the nurse asked me if I had lot weight! Haha! I hadn't lost weight at all, but apparently the weight training must have made me look like I had!

Susan L.G.
 
Hi Susan-

here's how I like to break it down...

Mon: Chest
Tues: Legs
Wed: Back
Thurs: Tris
Friday Bis or Shoulders
Sat: Shoulders or Bis
Sun: Rest

The order I've got the exercises down seem to work best for me as far as giving each bodypart some time to rest. Plus, as you near the end of the week, you'll probably get a little fatigued, so its good to save the littler muscles for last IMHO.

PS.. Glad to hear your Dr. thought you looked leaner.. ALWAYS a good thing! :)

Have fun!! Lynn M.
 
I'm 44 and have always been in pretty good shape, since I've been an active exerciser since my twenties. I have more muscle definition in my arms now and I got it from doing a P90X rotation a year ago. I've been able to maintain it by continuing to lift heavy, and doing lots of pushups and assisted pullups. Before then I never tried such intense weight lifting so I don't know what my results would have been if I did it at a younger age.

As far as weight, my diet could be better, but since I've been able to maintain myself at the same weight all these years I'm not about to change it. I do think all this exercise has paid off though, because I'm not griping about the middle-aged spread like a lot of my friends are!
 
Susan:

what I am currently doing is the following:

day 1: GS legs standing work only, as heavy as possible, plus S&H chest, a mix of GS and S&H back and S&H biceps

day 3: PLB standing legs, as heavy as possible, plus GS shoulders, plus S&H triceps

day 5: S&H legs, as heavy as possible with add-ons: extra front and back lunges from GS legs and also sit n'stands, 3 sets of, plus step ups, plus either PUB or start upper body work again as per day 1.

Into this, insert also 3 runs per week which are walk/run combos since I am a beginner.

This is helping me feel great, build up the upper body and get the lower body much tighter. I feel good and I am getting much stronger. I have been doing this program with subtle variations (of exercise, of rep speeds, increasing weights) since September and I continue to make progress.

Clare
 
Wow an interesting and encouraging thread.

I will be 40 in June and can no longer rely on exercise alone to keep me in shape. Clean eating is a must now, if I want to stay fit and healthy and it's kind of a bummer because my main creative outlet is cooking/baking. I'm going to search for a creative outlet that doesn't involve calories this year. I simply lack the self-control.

Also, my body is more injury prone than in the past, so I really have to limit the high impact cardio that I do so love. We did buy a treadmill last year and I have been using it more and more for brisk walking uphill. I just don't seem to burn as many calories as I would like, but I really have no choice if I'm going to save my joints.

My body has always responded well to heavy lifting as opposed to endurance type training.

Maggie:)
 
I just turned 40 and the biggest change I've noticed is my increase in over-use injuries. I've been fairly active all my life, but in the past two years it's been foot tendonitis, IT band issues, bursitis, tennis elbow.... the list goes on! I know I need to tone down the high-impact step, limit running to no more than 3/week and not lift too heavy too quickly, or my body reminds me that I'm not 20 anymore, LOL.

As far as diet, I am starting to focus more on cleaner eating. It's not really to lose weight, as I've always been happy where I'm at thanks to a fast metabolism, but now I'm looking more at just the overall health benefits of eating well.
 
WOW - what an awesome thread! Thanks for starting this one.....

What a wealth of information here (as usual).;-)

I will turn 38 next week and can see I might need to re-evaluate what I'm doing for exercise. I'm working on my clean eating and doing 'fairly' good, but LOVE cardio so stayed away from weights for quite a while. I see now, that I better dust those DVD's off and get a rotation figured out to work those muscles.

Thank you so much for posting what works for YOU, even though everyone is different it sure helps to see some examples to go by.

Thanks a bunch!
Marcia.
 
I'm 39 and will be 40 this summer. So far I haven't had to make changes in order to maintain weight or muscle mass, but I'm trying to clean up my diet in advance, so I won't have to worry about it! I've had a few little warning signs, so I know the time is coming. :p

Like some of you others, the reason I've had to make changes is because I've become much more injury-prone. It's been a rather challenging fall and winter, to say the least. I pay special attention to warmups and stretching. I also have to be careful with high-speed, high-rep weight lifting. Most of the time I eliminate it now and stay with a slower count to spare my tendons. And if my body says REST, then I don't mess around. I take a day off.
 
It's completely the diet for me. I am very happy with my Cathe-shaped muscles after 8 solid years of working out with her (can't believe it's been that long, but I'm been a devotee since CTX!). But it's the fat layer over them that I have to work on. I know it's completely from the food I put in my mouth! I seem to have 10 lbs that I yo-yo with.
 
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