Field notes · Strength after 40
Why your joints ache after training (and what to change)
Muscle soreness is normal. Joints that ache for days after every session are telling you something about how you are training, not that you are too old to train.
Dai Manuel · Coach Moose · Vancouver
The usual causes
Muscles adapt to training in weeks. Tendons and connective tissue take months. When men come back to lifting after years off, the muscles are ready for more before the joints are, and they load up too fast. That is the most common reason I see.
The others: no warm-up, rushing reps so the joint takes the load instead of the muscle, and doing the same movement every session with no variation.
What to change
Warm up for ten minutes: easy movement, then two light sets of your first exercise. Slow your reps down, especially on the way down. Keep weights moderate for the first month. Swap exercises that hurt for a variation that does not, a goblet squat instead of a barbell squat, a neutral-grip press instead of a straight bar.
Pain that is sharp, swelling, or anything that gets worse week on week is not a training problem. See a physiotherapist or your doctor.
Common questions
- Is it normal for joints to hurt after working out over 40?
- Mild stiffness can be normal when you start. Aching that lasts days, sharp pain or swelling is not, and usually means the load went up too fast or needs professional assessment.
Sources
- Tendon adaptation to loading is slower than muscle adaptation. Magnusson, Narici and colleagues, Nature Reviews Rheumatology, 2010.