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Other/Mixed 40+ year olds: at your age, do you find yourself stop pushing for PRs?

Other strength modalities (e.g., Clubs), mixed strength modalities (e.g., combined kettlebell and barbell), other goals (flexibility)
At 40 I barely felt any difference in my physical abilities and recovery to being 30. It then became very clear in the 12 years after that (I'm now just 52) that there was a big difference.

I dropped 1RM tests, some more dynamic/ballistic stuff that was more risky, heavy TGUs, and a few other things. I cut any runs down to shorter ones (less than 60 minutes), and had a bit more of a focus on form, ROM, etc. I also do some hypertrophy which I've never bothered with before.

I train much less with BBs and much more with KBs, and I give myself pretty good deload/recovery weeks every 4-6 weeks.

As have said elsewhere I rotate a few programs now; AXE, BB mass building, Iron cardio, BB strength building, DFW and a Q&D variation, plus some interval and LISS running every week. I also throw in some saunas and Thai massages, and walking in the country when I can.
 
Hitting single or rep PRs, not so much. Increasing the weights I work out with, yes.

What is the difference? Well say last term I could do say 180kg for a double or triple. By the end of the term 2 sets of 5, 200+ for a double or triple. There was no like I am going all in on a PR, it was just ok I've done 3x3 for a few weeks and it feels good let's do 235, then 55 a week later.
 
I'm 46, almost 47. I never worked out when I was younger and only started doing any sort of exercise about 2.5 years ago. I can honestly say, however, that it's been constant since then. As a result of my low level of experience, I'm pretty regularly hitting PRs. I don't really have to aim for them.
I do eventually want to hit a 300 lb deadlift and get 100 lbs over my head (through whatever method; I'm not picky, I just want to say I put 100 lbs over my head). I'm almost there with the 100 lb goal (last time I was in the gym, I had a 90 lb push press) and I can see myself, barring illness or injury, hitting the 300 lb deadlift in the next few months. I did hit one of my goals, a bodyweight bench press, not long ago.
 
watchnerd said:
You're 40.

I'm 54.

You're just not there yet.

Empirically, I cannot clean & jerk (explosive power) what I could 10 years ago, even though I've had 10 years more of technique practice.
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This is exactly my point. ;) I am not there yet for a good 5–8 years. I was lucky, being interested in both CrossFit-like approaches and the holistic practice of Paul Chek.

I wanted to push back a little, because I think there are too many middle-aged guys who sink into complacency too quickly. (Not you, but in general)
 
Wes Yeary said:
I do eventually want to hit a 300 lb deadlift and get 100 lbs over my head (through whatever method; I'm not picky, I just want to say I put 100 lbs over my head). I'm almost there with the 100 lb goal (last time I was in the gym, I had a 90 lb push press) and I can see myself, barring illness or injury, hitting the 300 lb deadlift in the next few months. I did hit one of my goals, a bodyweight bench press, not long ago.
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What is your personal weight
Are you talking about the barbell shoulder press?
 
Dydo said:
What is your personal weight
Are you talking about the barbell shoulder press?
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I'm 150 lbs/68 kg and 5'9"/175 cm
I'd call the barbell shoulder press a military press; the push press uses the legs to help get the weight overhead.
 
Wes Yeary said:
I'm 46, almost 47. I never worked out when I was younger and only started doing any sort of exercise about 2.5 years ago. I can honestly say, however, that it's been constant since then. As a result of my low level of experience, I'm pretty regularly hitting PRs. I don't really have to aim for them.
I do eventually want to hit a 300 lb deadlift and get 100 lbs over my head (through whatever method; I'm not picky, I just want to say I put 100 lbs over my head). I'm almost there with the 100 lb goal (last time I was in the gym, I had a 90 lb push press) and I can see myself, barring illness or injury, hitting the 300 lb deadlift in the next few months. I did hit one of my goals, a bodyweight bench press, not long ago.
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Very doable.. definitely just gotta be smart
 
I turned 40 last year and did hit some PRs during a deployment, to include hitting 235 lbs for a single on the bench, and managed to clean and military press a dvukhpudovik for five reps/arm, though the last three or four were battles.

If I gun for a PR I watch my recovery like a hawk on subsequent days after said PRs, so I don't overstrain myself. On occasion, I get things wrong though.

Like, when on AXE I shot for 40x sets of 6x H2H swings at 24KG EMOM however I only got to 36 because I hit a stop sign. I did note that swimming the next day was a bit more of a struggle than it should've been which noted possibly recovery wasn't as complete as I would've liked.
 
WxHerk said:
You will.
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TedM said:
Best of success!
Please share the results.
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I didn't do well in this one. They were generous with the medals so I did get a gold medal for C&J for my age & wt class, but I bombed out on snatches so didn't earn a total. Here's the videos. In hindsight if I'd just lowballed the snatches starting at 46 or 47 and working up I would have easily had the overall gold, PR total and a PR snatch if I had hit 52 or more on any of the attempts. But 52 was a good selection as an opener, since I had recently hit 53 for a double, and up to 57 for a single twice. I even did 52 as a last warmup and did it flawlessly and almost easily, but then missed it 3x on the platform. No particular obvious reason - I felt great, prep was perfect, warm-ups went well - just didn't move as well as I needed to. Coach suggested yips, which was a new term for me but sounds accurate. My brain body connection is ever so slightly impaired under pressure which manifests in not executing the snatch well. Doesn't seem to matter as much for C&J. Just missed that last C&J letting it drift forward on the dip which is my usual error. Anyway the overall meet experience was great as always. So many reasons to complete other than that total. It's only a bummer if you see that narrow path of ALL your efforts going to that one big moment and coming up with a big fat zero... but I only see it that way about 1% of the time. It doesn't take anything away from my actual skill, strength, resiliency, capacity, knowledge, or anything else. And there's always a next time. I had already planned to take a break and shift my focus to cycling for the next 6 months, but I do plan to get back to weightlifting after that and compete in several meets in 2025.
 
Obviously not the result any of us were hoping for, @Anna C , but you handled it like you do everything else, no matter the result: a good, honest assessment and then move forward. You’re always moving forward. Simply put, that’s why you constantly improve and why you have succeeded at so many things.
 
Looking back at some of my notes from the last 3-4 years, I might be on the verge of some PRs.

Not in an absolute sense with barbell exercise numbers from my 20s, but in a recent sense with my sandbag work. Will test in 4-5 weeks some of my numbers vs where they were at their last high water marks 2 years ago. Looking at my notes, I've a pretty good chance of besting a few...
 
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