[The 40s Movement, Part 2]: The 40s Plateau: Why Your Workout Isn’t Working Anymore

Welcome back to “The 40s Movement.”

In Part 1, we did the essential “pre-flight check.” We “unlocked” our “Desk Body,” ensuring our hips, back, and shoulders are moving safely before we add any real stress.

Now, you’re doing the work. You’re showing up. You’re lifting (Part 5), you’re doing HIIT (Part 6), you’re eating your protein (Part 11). And for a while, it worked. You felt stronger, your clothes fit better.

And then… nothing.

The scale stops moving. The weights stop increasing. The mirror looks the same. Welcome to the 40s Plateau. It’s the single most frustrating moment in this redesign, and it’s the #1 reason people give up.

Here’s what your 20-year-old self would do: “Just do more.” More cardio. More days. Less food. In your 40s, this is a guaranteed recipe for burnout, injury, and failure.

The rules have changed. Your body is not “broken”; it has simply adapted to your routine. To see change, you must change. But you must change smart.

Here are the 3 real reasons your progress has stalled, and how to fix them.

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1. The Enemy: Metabolic Adaptation

Your body is a brilliant survival machine. It is designed to adapt and become ruthlessly efficient.

That 3-mile run that felt “hard” six weeks ago? Your body has now mastered it. It now burns fewer calories to do the same amount of work. That 3×10 set of squats with 50lbs? Your body now sees it as “normal” and has no reason to change.

Your routine has become “maintenance.” You are no longer providing a stimulus for change; you are just “going through the motions.”

The 40s Fix: Progressive Overload (The “Smarter” Way) You must give your body a new reason to adapt. This is called Progressive Overload. It doesn’t mean “killing yourself.” It means making one small, trackable thing harder.

• Add Weight: Instead of 10 reps at 50lbs, do 8 reps at 55lbs.
• Add Reps: Instead of 10 reps at 50lbs, do 11 reps at 50lbs.
• Add Sets: Instead of 3 sets, do 4 sets.
• Decrease Rest: Instead of 90 seconds rest, take 75 seconds.
• Improve Form: Slow down the “negative” (e.g., lower into the squat for 3 seconds). This creates more muscle damage.

Action: Pick one method. You cannot “just work out.” You must train with a plan to do slightly more than last time.

2. The Foe: Anabolic Resistance (Again)

We talked about this with protein (Part 11), but it applies to your workouts, too. In your 40s, your muscles are “hard of hearing” (Anabolic Resistance). The “whisper” of your old workout is no longer enough to signal “GROW!”

You need to “shout.”

For many 40-somethings, this means you are living in a “Junk Volume” wasteland. You’re doing 15 different exercises, 3 sets of 15-20 reps, getting a “burn” but never truly challenging the muscle.

The 40s Fix: Go Heavier (and Stop Fearing It) The “shout” your 40s muscles need is mechanical tension. This means lifting heavier weights for fewer reps.

• The “6-12 rep range” is your new best friend for your main lifts (squats, presses, rows).
• If you can easily do 12 reps of something, it is too light.
• The last 2 reps of your set should be a struggle (while maintaining perfect form, of course).
• This is especially true for women (Part 18)! Lifting heavy is what builds bone density and creates a “dense,” “toned” look, not “bulk.”

3. The Saboteur: You’re Not Recovering (You’re Just Accumulating Stress)

This is the one your 20-year-old self never understood. You think you’re hitting a “fitness” plateau. I’m telling you you’ve hit a “recovery” plateau.

• Your “on” days (workouts) are writing checks.
• Your “off” days (sleep, nutrition, stress) are the “money in the bank” to cash those checks.

In your 40s, your recovery “bank account” is smaller.

• You’re sleeping 6 hours (not 8) (Part 20).
• You’re stressed about work/kids (Cortisol, Part 4).
• You’re not eating enough protein to repair the muscle (Part 11).

The 40s Fix: Prioritize Your “Off” Days as Hard as Your “On” Days You are not adapting because you are too tired to adapt.

• Deload Week: If you’ve been “grinding” for 6-8 weeks straight, your progress will stop. Your nervous system is fried. Take one week and cut your volume and/or weight by 50%. You will come back dramatically stronger.
• Sleep: Get your 7-9 hours. It’s not optional. It’s when you actually build the muscle.
• Eat: You cannot build muscle in a massive calorie deficit. You are re-composing your body. Fuel the machine (Protein, Part 11).

Conclusion: Stop “Exercising.” Start “Training.”

“Exercising” is just moving to burn calories. “Training” is a strategic plan for adaptation.

Your 40s plateau is not a wall; it’s a signal. It’s your body telling you, “I’m ready for the next challenge. What you’re doing is ‘easy’ now. Give me something new.”

Change your reps. Increase the weight. Prioritize your sleep. That’s how you break the plateau and prove that your 40s are just the beginning.

Next Up in The 40s Movement: “[For Women] The 3 Rules of Strength Training for Perimenopause.”

Over to you: What’s the one part of your workout that has felt “stale” or “easy” lately? Are you stuck on the same weight, same reps, or same cardio routine?

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(Blog Post Ends)