If regular exercise hasn't been a priority up until now, or if you've fallen out of the habit, your thirties are a great time to get into fitness. Paying attention to your fitness in your thirties can improve both your physical and mental health.
Since the metabolism starts to slow down, it is easy to feel more tired and less excited to work out. But adding physical activity to your routine at this age will have immediate benefits, such as boosting heart health, strengthening bones and improving sleep patterns.
Age doesn't matter as much as your particular stage of fitness and health. That being said, there are some changes that your body goes through as you get older that can affect the workout that is best for you, but also makes exercise even more important than when you were in your 20s and 30s.
It's never too late to start working out and get in shape. Starting a fitness regimen at 29 offers advantages such as improved health, increased energy levels, and improved mental health. Before starting any kind of exercise program, make sure you're in good health.
The good news is, there are plenty of healthy habits you can develop and resistance training exercises to transform your body after 30, so chin up. (By some accounts, you haven't even reached your physical prime until you hit 30 to 35 years old!) A total-body transformation is entirely possible after you turn 30.
No matter what your age, you can improve your fitness.
If it's been a long time since you've exercised and you're feeling less than fit, you might think that it's too late to make a change. But you're wrong.
You can build muscle at any age. It just gets a little more challenging later in life. “Old and young people build muscle in the same way,” explains Roger Fielding, PhD, a professor of medicine at Tufts University. “But as you age, many of the biological processes that turn exercise into muscle become less effective.
Your muscles are their strongest at age 25. At 25, your physical strength is at its peak, and stays this way for the following 10 to 15 years.
For most healthy adults, the Department of Health and Human Services recommends these exercise guidelines: Aerobic activity. Get at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity a week. Or get at least 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity a week.
At the age of 17-18, your body becomes mature enough to bear vigorous exercises at a gym. Although this single factor is not responsible to determine the appropriate age for joining the gym, 18 plus can be considered the right age to start building up muscles and working out at the gym.
Men should have 15% body fat or less to be fit, and women (ages 30 to 39) should fall in the healthy range of 20% to 24%.
Older Guys Can Still Make Gains
They found that guys between 35 and 50 years old built just as much muscle as those between 18 and 22 years old. DEXA (duel-energy x-ray absorptiometry) scans showed that the college-aged men gained around two pounds of muscle, while the middle-aged men put on 2.5 pounds of muscle.
Age is just a number, and it's never too late to start working towards your fitness goals. Whether you're 30 or 50, you can achieve six-pack abs if you put in the work and stay committed. Now, I know some people may think that once you hit a certain age, it's too late to get those rock-solid abs.
In our 30s and beyond, it's harder for our bodies to maintain muscle. This is why people become less active with age. Since strength training helps our bodies hold on to muscle mass, it's essential as we get older. It also helps prevent injury.
Keep Up the Cardio
Pelz says cardio workouts should be incorporated four to five times per week for 30 to 60 minutes per session.
If left unchecked, at some point in your 30s, your body will start to progressively lose muscle year after year, and by the time you're 50, you could have lost around 10% of your muscle area. Thereafter, you can lose an additional 15% of the remainder by the time you're 60 and another 15% of that by 70.
The physical peak age is the point in your life when your reproductive system, motor abilities, strength, and lung capacity are in optimal condition – this generally occurs between 30 and 40 years of age.
In summary, Women are the strongest between 26 and 37 years of age. Men are the strongest between 26 and 35 years of age. But of course there are individual differences between athletes and some people peak before or after that age window.
On average, you will reach your sexual peak in your 20s, your physical peak in your 30s, your mental peak in your 40s and 50s and at will be at your happiest and relaxed in your 60s. Really though, the most important message is life is a series of ups and downs, peaks and troughs.
But at some point in your 30s, you start to lose muscle mass and function. The cause is age-related sarcopenia or sarcopenia with aging. Physically inactive people can lose as much as 3% to 5% of their muscle mass each decade after age 30. Even if you are active, you'll still have some muscle loss.
According to Withings, normal ranges for muscle mass are: Ages 20-39: 75-89 percent for men, 63-75.5 percent for women. Ages 40-59: 73-86 percent for men, 62-73.5 percent for women.
As we reach our 30's, our bodies usually need less energy, meaning we may not be able to eat the way we did in our 20's. Then, as you move past 40 and head to middle age, changes in muscle, hormones and metabolism all make it harder to stay trim. But it's not a lost cause.