Been VERY active my whole life, physically demanding job, hobbies, lifestyle.

Lifted until early 20s, then got busy.
Started again late 30s, + running, quit a few years later.

Started again,  lightly, at 50 or so, but pain if I pushed it, mostly in shoulders.

One of my sons is a competitive powerlifter/ strong man and used to always tell me he was amazed how well I was holding up/ getting things done.

Then:

18 months ago, tore my right meniscus.
Cortisone shots and time mostly healed it.
Still get occasional pain in knees, and twitches, so back off.

Last March, slogged 5/8 of a mile out  of a marsh with 139# of beavers ony back.
LOL, thought I powered through it and was GTG.
Mostly bulletproof!

FFwd to June.
Ruptured and buldged 2 discs in lower back, instantly dropped me. Luckily, youngest son was home and  pulled me to house in a deer sled, 2X10 ramp to get me inside.

Layed on floor 42 hours, surtounded by piss bottles before I caved and dialed 911.

Morphine finally got me up on walker.
The two discs + arthritis.

8 weeks of PT.
Continued exercises on my own afterwards.

Started EASING into light weights in December, but squats/ DL cause pain, even when stupid light.
So mostly upper body,+ a little stationary bike.

May try elliptical.

Going to keep pushing, still have a lot I want to do,  but I know another injury is inevitable, and THAT is what eats at me.

Trying to strengthen my core to take load off spine.
I can deal with a knee going out, but if back fails...

It's ALWAYS on my mind, esp when a mile back in a swamp, or out of contact, or hundreds of miles from home and alone, deep in the woods.

Guess I'm saying the mental part is the worst part, just not trusting my body anymore, when I NEVER doubted that I could push thru ANYTHING.

I think of it literally EVERY TIME, I have to push, pull, lift move, drag anything, contort myself, etc

Always felt almost invincible and now I don't.
And I don't much care for it.

Sorry for the vent,
Dave

You might want to look into the ATG program by kneesovertoes. It's a physical therapy based strength training program, that targets weaknesses that lead to injury. My sister still had poor kness after surgery. But the ATG program got her back to near pre injury condition.

I'm 44 years old.

I have learned that 90% of fitness now is my stretching before exercise, rehab after exercises (rest, stretching, applying heat, good sleep, etc.), micro-nutrients play a very important role (used to discount them and just focus on macro-nutrients like protein, carbs, and fat), proper form with weight lifting is everything now, and diet is KING of all things.  

The amateurs focus just on the workout, the pros focus heavily on the periods between workouts.  

You'll constantly be working around injuries and old issues.  You have to learn how to do so.  It might mean taking some loses in terms of muscle mass and strength to maintain good overall fitness.  When you get over 40 years of age your focus should be more on staying lean and mean and less on trying to have that body builder physique.  I mean there are guys over 40 who have that body builder physique, but even those bros are ice skating uphill because every year that's going to get harder and harder for them to do.  That said, you can still be really jacked.

Become an expert at stretching. Yoga is not just for soy boys and house wives.  It's weird and hippy feeling while you do it to the special music and shit, but that stretching will change your life so buck up and do it.  Mix-up your workouts.  You shouldn't be lifting every single day the same muscles groups, give them time to rest and recover.  Try something like swimming laps for good cardio, but low impact to the muscles.  Run on a treadmill more than you do on roads, less impact to the joints.  Get an Assault Bike (i.e. air bike).  Get a rower.  Cardio and heart health is important now.  

Micro-nutrients are key for me and have been a game changer, but keep in mind they don't help overnight.  You can get your blood tested to see what your body is deficient in and if you're like most Americans you're absolutely not getting enough of some vitamins and minerals in your diet. That's a big deal when it comes to repair and preventing injury.   Get dialed in using the MyFitnessPro App and track everything you eat, everything. It will take about a month or so to start feeling the difference, but trust me it will improve your life once you are dialed in.  Now, MyFitnessPal doesn't track every micro-nutrient, because not all the nutrition information is available for that stuff, so get your blood tested regularly and adjust as necessary.  

Diet is King.  Diet in King once you're over 30 honestly.  I highly recommend a Macro-Nutrient tracking diet where you set your calories intake to meet your goal.  When you just forego carbs all you're really doing is saving yourself some water weight and taking away your energy that you need for good workout sessions.   The body needs some fat, the brain depends on it, and I personally feel like it helps with things like skin repair (as you get older your skin literally get thinner and you will slice yourself up more and more), but keep in mind one gram of fat is 9 calories whereas one gram of carbs or protein are only 4 calories.  So, balance your meal to make sure that you're not get more than 1/3rd of your calories from fat.  Protein is obvious, everyone knows you need protein, but set your protein grams at the same level as your ideal weight (if you want to be 180 lbs than take in about 180 grams of protein) and never eat more grams of Carbs than you do protein unless you're having some major endurance cardio day or doing some serious cardio in cold weather.

Good form is everything now when lifting. Forget overall weight. Form now trumps weight.  Also, check your ego at the door.  If you're like me and most other red blooded American males you learned how to lift weights through friends, maybe some old coaches some decades ago or magazines, but trust me you've probably learned some bad form along the way (not your fault everyone does) and so it would be in your interest to find a well qualified trainer and get at least a couple of days of instruction going through the basic lifts and perfecting them with another set of eyes on you.   I did that a few years back and it has been a serious help in preventing injuries.  

Some rehab things are now key too. Learn how to use a foam roller, heat is your friend, if you can get into an Sauna do it, and if you can even go that extra mile and start getting weekly massages go for it.  Get a hot tub and dip into it nightly.  I even find things like daily meditation can be helpful, because a lot of us Americans are working so hard we're walking around under stress and tense all damn day.   People underestimate the impact of mental stress on the body especially men, but we really shouldn't.  

That's just my random thoughts on the subject, I'm learning constantly, but if this post can help the OP or anyone else get to thinking about a few additional things it will be worth it.  Pass on what you learn and try to get every bro you can in shape. I have a feeling some tough times are ahead for our Republic, we need the good guys to be fit guys.

Not looking forward to those days OP but they come for us all.

You could potentially benefit from something like Mk-677.

It’s supposed to increase growth hormone.

I had a coworker who was lifting in his mid 50's. he also hurt himself. not worth it IMO. be healthy and active, weights are just asking to break things.

Stop it.

I feel your pain, OP, but my injuries aren't as severe.  I turned 54 yesterday.  I injure something, take time off, feel better, start exercising again and hurt something else.

The guy that has coached my older son in powerlifting is 63 and still benching over 300.
Bench is about all he can do these days though.
He has been competing since his 20s.

Same son competed at 100% RAW World's some years back and there was an Israeli man still competing at 83 YO! Lots of strong folks in Senior divisions.

I'm not trying to get big or lift heavy at my age, those days are gone. I'm just trying to keep what I have or at least slow my decline.

I can live with a little shoulder or knee pain, it's my back that worries me.

Appreciate all the responses, gives me some more avenues to explore.

LOL, I always figured that by the time I got to my current age or condition, they'd have a shot or pill to fix whatever ails me!

Sucks.

But it beats the alternative.

I remember when I felt 30's was getting old.  Recovery took longer, easier to get hurt.  I remember when I tweaked my shoulder.  Had to roll and fall out of bed for 2 months - missionary sex, how long can you do a one armed pushup...  Motivation is there, but the body just aint willing.

Worked out (if you can even call it that) for a few minutes today to get a baseline.  Well am not dead yet, but definitely not where I need to be.  Resting heart rate sucks, hit max heart rate way to quickly and easily.  Will see how many days I can do these warm ups - see if I can turn them into workouts, or if I loose motivation.  At least now I am fully wired in and can see improvement if there is any and turn this into a game.

If OP had been lifting I bet his injuries wouldn't have been as bad.

Keep trying op. Take your time and try to build some muscle back. Don't try to keep up with your boys.

Not sure.
One of my brothers had a similar back injury.
Ortho told him his heavy core muscles was all that kept him going as long as he did.
Still blew out, and he has always worked out.
Weights, kickboxing, wrestling.
Years of bouncing broke him up pretty good though.
He REALLY liked to fight.


LOL, no chance of keeping up with sons.
One was knocking on 1700# totals.
Tested.
In high school.

Couple surgeries later and he's back in that range, but doing Strongman now.

LOL, I just want to live my life doing what I love, without pain! Or unable to.get off floor!

Thanks to all

Yeah, at 50 and above, you definitely have to start thinking in terms of how much an exercise COULD injure you.   You just don't have that connective tissue strength, healing speed, healing capacity, etc. that you once did.  Things that would have been a few weeks or months recovery when you were young can now be permanent, you'll never fully recover.

Don't get me wrong, you can still do 80-90% of what you once did... but trying to push that last 10% can make the rest of your old age suck a whole lot worse.



Hah... past a certain age, living without pain just doesn't happen for anybody.  Getting old ain't for wimps.

I just turned 45, and everything in the quoted post above is what you need to know.

I barbell lift five days a week; medium-weight, medium-distance rucks on Saturdays followed by an extremely hot bath (while I save for a sauna); rest on Sundays.  Will be adding kayaking at some point.  Yoga when i have time, although I really should MAKE time for it.  My job involved walking almost all day, so I am very active in a super low-impact way for most of the working day.

Diet above all else.  I fast a lot and am currently transitioning to carnivore, just to try it out, as I've been curious about it for many years.  Otherwise I'm a meat, eggs, fruit, nuts, and seeds guy.  

You must learn how to listen to your body and what its trying to tell you.  Your brain knows more than your mind does, if that makes sense.

Do everything humanly possible that does not involve drugs or medication to keep your overall inflammation as low as possible.

Be healthy and active!  Be macho !

Once you get north of 50, thorough warm ups are critical.

As the years progress, I decrease my max lift weight but increase the reps.  Setting strength vanity aside was tough, but it helps keep the pains and injury potential down.

I'm 59.  Been lifting seriously since I quit smoking on my 30th birthday.  I have two surgically repaired knees and one surgically repaired shoulder.  None of my injuries were due to weight lifting.  But they did teach me the importance of working your muscles instead of simply lifting weights.  Because of this new found focus I'm stronger now than I ever was in some ways.  As has already been said, don't neglect warm ups and concentrate on feeling your target muscle(s) working.

FWIW, after destroying my shoulder in an accident and having surgery, I was in PT for over a year.  During that time, I got to talk to a LOT of other people in the PT office.  Essentially, 80% of the women there were in for knee or hip replacements, the other 20% for shoulders because they fell.   80% of men were in for shoulders because either they fell, or they did NOT exercise, and when they did something strenuous, the shoulder gave out.  The other 20% of dudes were in there for knees.

But you know what I did NOT see in there the entire time?  Not a single person that was in there from lifting weights.

In fact... other than me, there wasn't a person in there that lifted weights AT ALL.   Even though I wrecked my shoulder in a crash, for average, run of the mill sorts of things like a slip and fall, having lifted weights and kept your muscles, connective tissue, and bones stronger and more dense actually gives you protection, and decreases the risk of an injury.

Oh, and the all-time winner that I know for shoulder surgery... I know a dude that's had it four times... all from slip-and-falls.   Because even though he walks a lot, he's obese, and I don't think he's ever lifted a weight over a few pounds in his entire life.

Exercise in the APPROPRIATE amount and intensity for your age and condition is virtually always the best way to avoid injuries.

In your last paragraph, the word in all caps is the gospel.

My FIL is 71, lifted weights his entire life and is amazing shape. He also follows all the important rules for lifting as you age.

Incorrect.  On every possible level of the issue.  Patently false.

You've got that exactly backwards.  Weights prevent you from breaking things.  Weight bearing exercises promote bone density.  More dense bones don't break as easily.

This is the way.

"Only strong people are useful." -- M. Rippetoe

I feel and look better at 47 than I did in my late 30’s.  It’s more about not ever stopping.  Working around injury if you have to but never stopping.  In my late 30’s I took a few years off and I felt the worst I’ve ever felt in my life.  Restarting was very difficult.  Once you get rolling it gets easier so don’t ever stop.

Don’t worry it gets worse.
Attached File

This might sound douchey, but I'd be incredibly curious to know more about your health and functional fitness with that view.

At a wedding right before Covid I met a holocaust survivor in her 90s who was sharp as a tack, mobile, and had a very rare "I've seen some shit" look in her eyes. I asked about her keys to longevity and mobility, and said she still did weightlifting and yoga. Now granted I'm sure she's not throwing heavy weights around, but why do you think she and the scientists who credit weight lifting with stronger bone density are wrong?

I was a desk jockey all my life. I was strong but 50 lbs overweight. Three years ago at 75 I started going to the gym and lifting with machines just to do general exercises. My goal was simply to use muscles and not hurt myself. Changed my diet and lost the fat and worked out almost everyday. That was the best decision I ever made. My life has improved tremendously and have actually gained 15 lbs of muscle and have yet to injure myself.

I spent 35 years as a competitive cyclist.  The kind GD likes to hate and run over.

I have neck pain from hours in a racing tuck but other than that I am okay.

I am 56, gym 5 days a week, run 3 days and I stay pretty fit.  

I don't lift heavy!  Old connective tissue and joints don't fair well if you lift heavy as you age.  You won't get big but you will stay fit.  

Keep your core strong!  It will help save your back.

DON'T GET FAT!!!

Update;

I'm still chugging along!

Lifting light 2 days a week, then a little heavier on Fridays. Almost all upper body stuff. Lower body gets me some back/ Kenn pain.

Have to back off a bit every 3-4 weeks, as I get some shoulder pain. Only gains have been BP, but again, just trying to.keep what I got at this point, lol.

Riding stationary bike 2X a week, plus a couple good hikes a week.

Plus, still doing exercises from  PT 1-2X per week.

Hoping to figure out some more core stuff.
That doesn't cripple me up.

Thanks to all.

OP, if you’re looking for “core” stuff, check out Stuart McGill and the Big Three. A deep dive into his work may pay dividends later.

Also if you’re interested in the warm up aspect of exercise (which as I age I think is the most important part of the workout) then check out Matt Wenning and the “Wenning Warmup”.

I blew out my back around one year ago.

There’s a great podcast from “barbell medicine” about re-entry to weights following injury.

Basically- adjust your load and your range of movement until you find what you CAN do, then do that. As long as it’s pain free.

My “re-entry” was box airsquats to box goblet squatting a 30 lb kettlebell, to front squats with a barbell, and now I’m doing regular squats again pain free.

I still don’t have confidence with high weight, so I have a self imposed weight cap for squats and deadlifts and will just work on volume for now.

The weight will come back.

Feel free to PM me if you want more info or just want to vent about back injuries.

Been forcing myself to the warm up and stop if things hurt.
I have no expectations of getting strong again, jiust trying to stay active and mobile and not lose any more ground.

Bench is slowly improving, SQ and DL still scare me, feel occasional warnings even with light weight.

Older son mentioned kettlebell work, said he saw " some other geezers doing it at the gym", LOL.


Again, thanks to all, for both the advice and inspiration.