Stress, the Nervous System, and Why Your Back Pain Isn’t Just a Training Problem
If you’re a man in midlife dealing with persistent back pain, chances are you’ve asked some version of this question:
“What should I be doing in the gym to fix my back?”
It’s a fair question. You train. You care about your health. You want to solve the problem.
But after years of working with men in their 40s and 50s, I’ve noticed a consistent pattern:
Many of the men with ongoing back pain are wired.
They’re switched on from the moment they wake up. Anxious. Busy. Driven. Always thinking ahead. Always in "go mode."
And their nervous system never really gets a chance to stand down.
How Men in Midlife Need to Train Differently in 2026
For most men, the problem isn’t that they’ve stopped caring about their health. It’s that the way they were taught to train no longer works. In your 20s and 30s, you could get away with a lot. Miss sleep. Train hard on stress. Push through pain. Chase numbers. Ignore recovery. Your body was forgiving. But midlife is different, and if you’re honest, you already know it.
Stronger for Life: Why Strength in Midlife Builds Freedom for the Future
What you do in your 40s and 50s doesn’t just shape your body today, it shapes your independence, energy, and confidence for decades to come.
The science is crystal clear: muscle and strength built in midlife are some of the strongest predictors of health, freedom, and longevity later in life.
Let’s break down what that really means (and how to make it happen without training like a 20-year-old).
Stronger at 40+. How to Take Back Control of Your Hormones
I used to think feeling tired, losing muscle, or carrying extra belly fat in my 40s and 50s was just “aging.” That it was out of my control. But the more I dug into the science, the more I realised that hormones aren’t fixed by age. They respond to how you train, eat, sleep, and recover. That was a game-changer. It meant decline wasn’t inevitable. It meant I had tools to reset my body and feel strong again.
Here’s how strength training + recovery can reboot your hormonal engine.
Why Doing Less Helped Me Build More Muscle After 40
There was a time in my life when I thought training harder was always the answer.
I’d hit the gym 5,6 even 7 days a week. Some sessions lasted over two hours. I figured if I just did more, I’d build more muscle. But here’s what really happened:
Why Strength Is the Foundation of Health in Midlife (And the Research That Proves It)
Many men in their 40s and 50s rely on cardio workouts, circuit training or HITT classes to stay “fit enough.” Take Mark, a 50-year-old who jogs a few times a week and does body-weight circuits occasionally. He figures that as long as he keeps his weight in check and his heart pumping, he's healthy.
But recent science suggests a missing piece: building and maintaining muscle strength.
5 Reasons Men Over 40 Need to Train Differently
If you’re a man in your 40s or 50s, chances are you’ve noticed training doesn’t feel the same as it did at 25. Workouts that used to leave you feeling energised now leave you sore for days. The weights don’t move as easily. Injuries crop up more often. And somehow, the belly fat seems harder to shift, even if you’re “working just as hard.”
Once you hit 40, your body changes and your training needs to change with it.
That doesn’t mean giving up on strength, muscle, or performance. In fact, it’s the opposite. With the right approach, men in midlife can build strength, maintain a lean physique, and perform at a high level for decades. But the key is training smarter, not harder.
The Best Strength Training Structure for Men Over 40
If you’re a man over 40, you don’t need to spend 6 days a week in the gym to see results. In fact, the best approach is smarter, not harder. When it comes to building strength, muscle, and long-term health, 2–4 well-structured strength training sessions a week is all you need. The key is having the right structure.
Strong After 40: Why 2–4 Lifting Sessions a Week Is All You Need
Most men over 40 think they need to do more to get results in the gym. More cardio. More classes. More sweat.
The truth? You don’t need more. You need better. If you want the biggest return on the little time you have, the smartest investment you can make is in strength training.
3 Mistakes Men Over 40 Make in the Gym (and How to Fix Them)
Walk into any gym and you’ll see it: midlife men wandering from one machine to the next like they’re on a guided tour of Planet Fitness. A few biceps curls here, a random chest press there, and then maybe a bit of cardio if they’re feeling guilty about the weekend’s beers and pizza.
Sound familiar?
The truth is, most men in midlife want results; more strength, more energy, more muscle, and a body they actually feel good about.
But the way they train often works against them. They’re putting in the effort, but not getting the payoff.
That’s because they’re making the same three mistakes I see over and over again.
Let’s break them down.