News alert…if you have PAIN, stop.

You need to do cardio with NO weights for at least two weeks. I'm 48 and it takes me two weeks to hit my peak, but it may take you up to eight weeks (I'm a freak of nature). THEN once you can do that, THEN you can add weights.

I used to work out really hard and thought that was the secret to being healthy. Around 40 is when I realized there were times where lower intensity exercise was better. It is like my body cannot take as much. If I try to push through, I get injured. So for awhile I cut back. Focus on doing something rather than nothing. And add lots of stretching. Then I start gradually ramping up.

I am 50F and feel the same as op. Working out used to be fun. For years. I was always in shape. Then covid hit and I stopped exercising and gained weight. Getting back in shape is awful. It hurts. Progress is incredibly slow. And if I miss a workout it feels like I lose progress right away. I have been consistently working out for 8 months and it still feels like an up hill battle.

Anonymous wrote:Pleasantly “I did hard work” sore is fine. Real pain is not.

This is good advice. If your hips or knees are hurting, you need to find a new exercise. If it's just muscle soreness, that's ok to push a little.

Try mixing in some lower impact activities- lap swimming is awesome if you’re strong enough in the water to keep up a moderate pace.

You sound like you're doing too much, OP. Dial it WAY down.

Titrate down the intensity and volume, build slower, hydrate, sleep better, don’t eat junk, and cut out the hooch. This has nothing to do with being in your 40s. Female athletes in their 40s show up on overall age group Ironman podiums all the time.

It’s just going to take some time. Sometimes years. But you certainly should not be in pain if you do the first sentence above correctly.

Anonymous wrote:Stop what you are doing.
Do less of everything until you find a level that does not hurt. Do that for a week. Then increase a little. REPEAT.
NO PAIN NO GAIN IS BULL$#@%

This. When I have to restart my routine, I often try to jump in where I left off, and don't give myself enough rest. You're overdoing it and that's why it's causing tiredness and pain. Slow it way down, drop the weights and reps down, and build yourself back up over a period of weeks to months. If you get strong tiredness or pain, take an extra rest day or two. Give your body time to adjust and recover.

I am not an expert but went through the same thing in my 40s and found that doing short workouts with heavier weights (as heavy as I could manage for the given exercise) and really working to exhaustion (like I cannot physically do another) helped me get through that "I'm tired all the time and wake up sore and just generally feel like crap even though I think I'm taking pretty good care of myself."

I don't know exactly what it is about the heavy weights but it was only once I started doing that 4-5 days a week that I started seeing more endurance and I was waking up feeling good stayed in the realm of "good sore" (whatever muscle groups I'd worked out would be sore for 1-2 days after my workout but then I'd feel stronger and better).

Pleasantly “I did hard work” sore is fine. Real pain is not.

I would cut out alcohol entirely for a few months.
It hampers all aspects of your body processes- including recovery as well as burning fat.

You probably are not drinking enough water as well - I am older than you and probably drink 20oz an hour of water.

Also, for me (I do HIIT) I need 2 days rest between sessions or else my shoulders are useless for a week.

It's going to be a couple of weeks. Tylenol/Advil is your friend. Stay hydrated!

Stop what you are doing.
Do less of everything until you find a level that does not hurt. Do that for a week. Then increase a little. REPEAT.
NO PAIN NO GAIN IS BULL$#@%

Maybe the title is a bit dramatic but due to many poor excuses I have fallen out of my regular exercise routine. It's been ~2+ years with several false starts in between. The problem is that I'm now in my 40's and finding it much harder to get into a routine. My body hurts, it is tired. I keep trying to push through but maybe I'm taking the wrong approach? Right now I'm doing light cardio 4-5 days per week. Increasing time and intensity and adding light weights/body weight exercises several times a week. I just feel terrible afterwards. I used to run marathons/triathlons! I can go to a class without feeling it for days afterwards. I'm increasing protein with each meal (just started this a few days ago) and generally try to follow 80/20 rule for healthy eating (some days are better than others) but cook at home/bring my lunch/limit alcohol. I didn't realize it would be this difficult. Someone give me a pep talk so I can keep going or recommend a better routine so I'm not in constant pain.