Any 50 plus year old weight lifters/ strength trainers here? How are your joints holding out? I started strength training after 30 years instead of weight lifting. With the idea heavier weight less reps is easier on joints than lighter weights higher reps.

Sour/tart cherry juice helps sooth achy joints.

It does not cure arthritis, but it helps the soreness.

Try a quarter cup a couple of nights, then just 3 good swigs a day.

Addendum: I don't lift weights anymore, but I do lots of floor exercises, and it does get to the joints. Once you hit 40, you feel it, and every decade after, it screams at you, but we do the best we can. IN65

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franchi - sent you a PM.



Post training of any kind the body has a 'window' of about 45-75 minutes where it responds well to a 3:1 ratio of protein:carb for purposes of recovery. Tart cherry juice is another 'add-in' that the research is shoeing to provide beneift to overall recovery.

I do strength exercises and target weight that I can do 10-12 reps and not get in trouble. I mainly want to keep my muscle mass as I have witnessed older gentlemen get sick and didn't have good muscle mass to start with. They struggled to sit up, lay down and even push out of a chair. I don't want this to be any more than it has to be.

My problem is, I don't eat bad, but I have a gut and can't seem to get it off. I walk about 5 miles a day throughout the day. I don't do treadmill, but I do have a row machine that I need to put the time in on.

Anyway, I could use any encouragement you guys have. I'll check back here. I'm only 55, but it sure doesn't get any easier.

I've got about 20+ years of heavy lifting under my belt. I'm on a 3 day rotation for working out. Day one squat/legs work up to 385 for 1-5 reps, day two deadlifts/back work up to 435lb for 1-5 reps, day 3 chest work up to 305 1-5 reps. My height is 5'7" weight is 170lbs. Turn 40 next year so with that said I've only noticed that my shoulders are in a slight pain and lower back. Both of those pains I'm sure are from going to heavy on deadlift one time and trying to do a lot of reps on flys/shoulder press behind the head. My knees are great and never had any issues with them.

I’m 53 and trying to build a decent level of muscle. I drink a protein drink after each workout. Take vitamins. The joints hurt from time to time. But I have polymyalgia rhuematica- an auto immune disease that causes inflammation of the major joints. I push through it and do the best I can. But it can hurt. I normally do 4 sets of 8 reps of everything. By set 4, I’m getting a good burn. Increasing weight on sets 2 and 4.

Yea, check with RedRanger. His guns look like they're about to go off at any time. He eats bacon-wrapped poppers to keep his energy level up. That, and a lot of Tanqueray.

40 is still pretty young
i climbed towers until 41

Im 49. Spent many yrs powerlifting. I was benching 400 up until about 40 yrs old. My joints are hurting. Mostly shoulders, wrists and fingers. My knees are ok, sometimes some hip pain. I gave up the heavy stuff few yrs ago dropped 50lbs and picked up running, high intensity training. My joints still hurt but Im in much better shape. Few yrs ago my shoulder got so bad, I saw a ortho surgeon. Said I need full replacement but because of age didn’t recommend as they dont last long. So I changed my workouts and diet. Shoulder is actually tolerable now. Its severely arthritic but hasn’t got worse. Only my strenghth has gone down. Do what feels good only you know your body.

Heck, I’m 73. Been weight lifting since I was in my 30’s. I was a somewhat serious tennis player and was always hurt. A sports medicine doctor told me to lift weights and gave me a list of exercises/lifts to strengthen the parts of me that were getting constantly hurt. It really helped a lot. The weights were not that heavy, compared to what real weight lifters work with, but I did high reps. That and running kept me in pretty good shape for a long time. In my 50’s I was still a good player, but then started having more injury, and long term damage (rotator cuff and such as that). I recently got back on the weights due to having lost so much muscle mass. Still doing the same old workout, but the weights are not impressive, so I won’t go into that. Trying to get back to a level of weights that I feel would be about right, but I wonder if that’s possible anymore. We’ll see.

My youngest brother is 63 and still lifting some big weights. Had to cut back from his bench press high of 400#, but he won’t tell me what he’s lifting now. That makes me smile, cause I understand.

About a year ago, while hitting the tennis ball pretty hard, I tore in half the main bicep tendon in my right arm. It’s called the Popeye Deformity. Google it up. The doctor told me that I had “worn it out”. I wore out a body part. Think about that for a second, and maybe incorporate that into your thinking about lifting heavy weights. Be careful. Which is why I’m doing relatively light weights and high reps. Don’t want to snap anything else.

I'm 58. Powerlifted for close to half my life. I'm so sore/creaky I can't sneak up on anyone. Hips and back are the worst.