How Past Injuries Change the Way You Should Train After 40

Why smart training focuses on mechanics, range of motion, and intent — not avoidance

If you’re over 40, there’s a good chance you carry at least one old injury around with you.

Maybe it’s a shoulder that “doesn’t love overhead.”

A knee that’s been cranky since soccer in your 20s.

A hip that feels tight no matter how much you stretch.

Sometimes people know exactly where it came from — a sport, an accident, years of overtraining.

Other times, they honestly can’t pinpoint the cause. They just know something doesn’t move or feel the way it used to.

And after 40, that uncertainty often leads people to train smaller, avoid more, and slowly lose capacity they could have kept.

Key takeaways:

Training after 40 with past injuries requires better mechanics, smarter movement choices, and preserving workout intent — not avoiding challenge. With the right approach, capacity and confidence can improve over time.

Why Old Injuries Matter More After 40

Your body doesn't suddenly “fall apart” on any milestone birthday.

However, by the time you hit your 40s, 50s, or beyond, you’ve likely accumulated:

• Years (or decades) of repetitive movement

• Old compensations that became habits

• Sports injuries that were never fully rebuilt

• Training styles that rewarded reps or weights more than mechanics

In your 20s and 30s, you can often get away with pushing through movement with poor mechanics.

But after 40, your body is much less forgiving.

This is one of the reasons training after 40 works differently than it did earlier in life — and why a one-size-fits-all approach often stops producing results.

What “Good Mechanics” Really Means After 40

At Empower, when someone tells us they have a “bad shoulder” or “touchy knees,” we don’t start by telling them what they can’t do.

We start by looking at how they move—and what they can do.

That means:

• Prioritizing good mechanics

• Using ranges of motion that challenge you without creating pain

• Building strength where you’re currently weak or unstable

• Progressing patiently instead of forcing change

Why Maintaining Range of Motion Matters (Even When It’s Limited)

One of the most common mistakes we see after 40 is avoidance of certain movements.

If something feels tight or uncomfortable, people often stop moving through that range entirely. Over time, that range shrinks even more.

What we’ve seen instead is this:

• Thoughtful exposure to movements builds tolerance

• Improved strength often supports increased mobility

• Range of motion can improve when trained intelligently

Maintaining range of motion doesn’t mean forcing yourself into painful positions.

It means earning access to those positions gradually, with good mechanics and appropriate load (and sometimes no load at all for a period of time).

Preserving the Intended Stimulus (This Is the Big One)

I've stated above that there's a lot we can do to help restore range of motion. But I fully recognized that, in some cases, that's not possible or it will take some time.

So what do we do in the meantime when an athlete can't complete a movement as prescribed?

Here’s where good coaching makes a huge difference.

Every movement in a workout exists for a reason. In brief, it's there to develop one or more of the 10 fitness domains:

• Endurance

• Stamina

• Strength

• Flexibility

• Power

• Speed

• Coordination

• Agility

• Balance

• Accuracy

When someone has a limitation, our goal is to preserve the intended stimulus of that movement and workout.

For example, if an athlete can’t press overhead without pain due to shoulder issues, performing a barbell snatch might not be appropriate right now.

Our goal, as a coach, is to scale the movement in a way that preserves the intended stimulus—in this case, an explosive movement of an object from the ground with most of the power coming from a hip hinge.

One scaling option is to have the athlete lift a medicine ball from the ground and forcefully throw it over their shoulder to a target. This movement has the explosive power and hip hinge of the snatch without requiring the athlete to press overhead.

As you can see, there are many ways to continue building strength after 40, even when injuries are present.

Why This Approach Often Reduces Pain Over Time

One of the most encouraging things we see is how often people’s pain decreases with consistent, thoughtful training.

Why does that happen?

Sometimes it’s:

• Better muscle development

• Improved coordination

• Stronger support around vulnerable joints

• Correcting poor mechanics

Sometimes, honestly, it’s hard to point to one single reason.

What we do know is this: when people move better and train with intent, their bodies often respond positively and old aches quiet down.

Not Sure How Your Injury History Should Shape Your Training?

If you’ve been modifying on your own, avoiding certain movements, or wondering whether something is safe to work on anymore, a short conversation can bring a lot of clarity.

A free No Sweat Intro gives you the chance to talk through:

• Your injury history

• Your current limitations

• What you actually can work toward

No pressure. No expectations. Just a smart starting point.

👉 Book a No Sweat Intro and see what thoughtful, coached training can look like — now and long term.