Once you hit 40, the rules change.
What you could get away with in your 20s and 30s — the late nights, skipping warm‑ups, random workouts, and a few too many drinks on the weekend — and somehow still bouncing back? That stops working.
I had to learn this the hard way.
At 46, I’m in the best health, shape and fitness of my life. But, four years ago, I was nowhere near that. And it feels incredible to be able to actually say that.
I’m going to break down the five big changes that made that transformation possible for me — and can do the same for you.
Because after 40, these five things will make or break your health and fitness. Ignore them and you’ll always feel like you’re pushing uphill. Dial them in and you can be in better shape than you were in your 20s.
This isn’t hype. I’ve done it — and you can too.
- Alcohol
If you want to be in the best shape of your life after 40, this one matters.
Unfortunately, I learned it the slow, hard way. It started with big drinking sessions — stag dos and weekends away. I’d drink for a couple of days and feel wrecked for weeks. I had to cut those out. But then even a single late night with a lot of drinks left me feeling awful for an entire week. So, these had to go as well.
Next went the mid‑week drinks. And finally, even a handful of ‘sensible’ weekend drinks left me tired, anxious and flat — sometimes right through to Wednesday.
That made it impossible to stay consistent with training or eating. Workouts got skipped. Whole‑food eating went out the window. It became this creeping effect: the less I drank, the more obvious it became how much even a little alcohol was setting me back.
At some point I realised that most of my week was a write‑off because of a few drinks. That was the turning point. Alcohol had to go.
Once I cut it out completely, everything changed. My energy went up. I became less anxious. And for the first time I could train six days a week and stick to my habits. The results I’ve had since have been beyond anything I saw in my 20s or 30s.
The science backs this up too:
- Your body metabolises alcohol more slowly as you age, so it lingers longer.
- It wrecks deep sleep — which is already harder to get as you age, so you notice it even more.
- It interferes with hormones and recovery, making it harder to build or maintain muscle.
- It’s just empty calories — which are harder to burn as you age and your metabolism slows.
The bottom line? Every drink has a bigger cost after 40. For me, the answer was to cut it out completely. I’m now four years sober, and it’s the best thing I’ve ever done for my physical and mental health.
That doesn’t mean total abstinence is the only way — but your relationship with alcohol has to be in a place where it’s not holding you back.
- Sleep
It was only after I removed alcohol that I really understood just how important sleep is.
Without alcohol, it became obvious: a bad night’s sleep makes me feel exactly how I used to after drinking — anxious, tired, foggy, and low on willpower.
It’s like being hungover, but without the fun that comes from a few drinks!
That was a wake‑up call for me. So, I made a commitment to improve my sleep, and now average over 7 hours of good‑quality sleep every night.
That single change underpins everything else. It’s the reason I can train consistently, stick to good nutrition, and stay on top of my habits.
Nowadays, I notice it immediately when I slip. Just a couple of nights around six hours and those old feelings creep back in — tiredness, irritability, and lack of discipline. When that happens, I fix it fast before things spiral.
And, like alcohol, science backs all of this up too.
- Sleep quality naturally declines as you age, so you need to be more deliberate about protecting it.
- Just one bad night drops testosterone, growth hormone and recovery, making it harder to build muscle and lose fat (which of course is harder to do as you get older).
- Poor sleep wrecks insulin sensitivity, leading to more fat storage – particularly around the abdomen.
- And even mild sleep deprivation has a big impact on mood and willpower, with studies showing it also increases anxiety by over 30%.
If you don’t get sleep right, everything else becomes ten times harder.
I’ll leave you with one more real life data point on sleep.
A friend of mine who is super disciplined, recently got a puppy. He’s gone from over seven hours of good‑quality sleep a night to around five hours of broken sleep. And I’ve watched his consistency collapse. Training, eating well, keeping good habits — all of it has become a struggle.
I know he’ll get back to where he was, but this really hammers home the power of sleep. When sleep goes, everything else crumbles.
- Warm‑ups
In your 20s and 30s, you can get away with skipping them. Your body is more mobile and resilient.
But as you get older? Things change. You lose mobility and you start collecting little niggles, some of which never quite go away.
There’s no bigger threat to consistency than injury. An injury can take you completely out of the game for weeks, sometimes months.
A proper warm‑up reduces that risk by:
- Raising your heart rate and blood flow to muscles.
- Increasing muscle temperature, making you more flexible.
- Lubricating your joints for better, safer movement.
- Mentally preparing you to focus, meaning you’re less likely to make a mistake
Since making warm‑ups non‑negotiable, I’ve gone from being injured at least a third of the time, to rarely picking up injuries.
That’s why warm-ups are absolutely non‑negotiable for me, And, if you’re over 40, they should be for you too.
- How You Approach Training
Once you’re over 40, you have to train more thoughtfully. You can’t do it the way you did in your 20s.
Here’s why. First, the injury risk. As we’ve already talked about, that risk goes up as you age, so your training has to be smarter. You need to program in a way that reduces the chances of these setbacks.
Second, life changes. At 40, most of us have a lot more on our plate — demanding jobs, kids, partners, family responsibilities, dogs, mother in laws — you name it.
Where it used to be easy to just go to the gym whenever you felt like it, now fitting training in can feel like trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube. Life at this stage is also more fluid. Kids get sick. Work trips come up. So your training not only has to fit around these responsibilities, it also has to adapt fast when things change.
And lastly, your goals evolve as you age. Back in the day, you might have cared about chasing numbers — how much you could bench, squat, or deadlift. Now, most of us start to care more about looking good, feeling good, staying strong, and setting ourselves up to be healthy in the last decades of our life. Longevity starts to matter more than maxing out.
So your training has to adapt. For me, that’s meant rethinking everything — how often I train, the volume and intensity, recovery, and the exercises I choose.
I train completely differently today than I did even a few years ago. It’s night and day compared to my 20s and 30s. There’s one thing I can guarantee. If you try to train like you’re 25, it’s not if you’ll get injured — it’s when.
Now, I always like to give a practical call to action, but this one is hard to give a single prescription for, because the details will depend on your life, your body, and your goals. But the big takeaway is that your approach has to become intentional and adaptive.
And that leads perfectly into the last point.
- Hire a Coach
This has been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
I now have Jamie in my corner. He programs all my training and helps me with nutrition and lifestyle decisions. And it’s made all the difference.
Programming your own training is hard — and it only gets harder in your 40s. Your training needs to be specific to your goals, your body, and your life.
Remember everything we just talked about when it comes to being more intentional and thoughtful with training after 40? Well, Jamie and I have spent the last few years putting all of that into practice – tailoring my training to my goals, reducing my risk of injury, and making sure it all fits around my life.
In your 20s and 30s, sure, you can wing it. You can follow generic programs online and still make progress.
But in your 40s, that stops working. If you keep doing that, your results will plateau — and you’ll get injured a lot more.
You have to be smarter than that. Your training needs to be individualised: specific to your goals, your body, and your life.
Now, most people just plow ahead and try to figure out all of this on their own. I think that’s one of the worst things you can do — because programming your training is actually really hard. And it becomes much, much harder to get right as you get into your 40’s.
I like to think I know a lot about training. And yet, I still wouldn’t come close to how smart and well thought-out Jamie’s programming is for me. I’m constantly impressed by how he sets me up for success and helps me avoid mistakes and injuries. A huge amount of my progress over the last few years comes down to his programming and guidance.
And whenever I do slip backwards or pick up a niggle? Nine times out of ten, it’s because I went off script. That’s always a lesson for me.
So if you’re over 40 and you’re serious about taking your health and fitness to the next level — don’t think twice about investing in a good coach or personal trainer. It’s one of the best decisions you can make.
Final Thoughts
These five things — cutting out alcohol, prioritising sleep, making warm‑ups non‑negotiable, approaching training with intention, and working with a coach — have completely transformed my life.
At 46, I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in. If you’re in your 40s or heading there, I promise the same is possible for you.
And by the way, you don’t have to do all five perfectly from day one. Start with one. Pick the one that’s holding you back most and work on it. Over time, these changes compound.
If you take them seriously, there’s no reason you can’t be fitter, healthier, and stronger in your 40s than you were in your 20s.
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