Building a Body in Your 30s: Organizing How Muscle Is Gained, Lost, and Maintained Through Data and Personal Experience
“I feel like the way I gain muscle has changed since I hit my 30s.”
Now that I am 33 and have been training for six years, there are a few things I have noticed.
I feel like it takes longer to recover compared to when I was in my 20s, and conversely, what I thought was 'delayed muscle soreness due to aging' actually had a different cause.
In this article, I will organize what I have researched and my own personal experience regarding “ease of gaining muscle,” “ease of losing muscle,” and “ease of maintaining muscle,” which are common concerns when building a body in your 30s.
■ “Delayed muscle soreness” was not due to age
“As you get older, muscle soreness comes later” is a common saying. I thought so for many years, too.
However, when I looked into it, it seems that age itself is not the direct cause.
Whether muscle soreness (delayed onset muscle soreness) appears late is generally considered to be influenced more by “exercise intensity” and “how much you normally use those muscles” than by age.
If the load is high, it comes quickly; if it is low, it comes later.
The less you use a muscle or the more you perform movements you are not used to, the more likely it is that muscle soreness will appear late and be more intense.
【Reasons for delayed muscle soreness (factors other than age)】
・If exercise intensity is low, muscle soreness tends to appear slowly
・The less you use a muscle or the more unusual the movement, the more intense and delayed the pain tends to be
・People with regular exercise habits tend to recover faster regardless of age
This matches my own experience. The day after I ran a downhill-oriented course for the first time in a while during a trail run, I had severe muscle soreness in my calves and glutes.
Even though I use those parts in my regular strength training, I think I experienced a different kind of muscle soreness because I used a movement I am not used to—the “downhill” motion.
In other words, much of what I felt was “delayed muscle soreness due to age” might just have been “I recently used different muscles or used them in a different way than usual.”
There is no need to think “I guess I’m getting old” just because muscle soreness comes later than it used to.
You can still build your body without any problems starting now.
■ I do feel the longer recovery time. But it can be managed with some ingenuity.
That said, honestly, I do feel that recovery after strength training is taking longer compared to when I was in my 20s.
This is not something I can completely deny, and it is generally said that as you age, the time it takes for muscle synthesis increases and recovery takes longer.
However, rather than “cutting back on strength training” because recovery takes longer, I have realized that I can handle it by “changing how I structure my workouts.” Here are the two things I actually do.
【Ingenuity in structuring workouts with recovery in mind】
・Split the parts to be trained by day (do not push the same part consecutively)
・Alternate between strength training and running so that strength training sessions do not occur on consecutive days.
Since adopting this routine, I have felt less of that sensation of "starting the next training session without having fully recovered from fatigue."
If recovery takes time, you just need to make that time. It is simple, but this alone makes a significant difference in the burden on your body.
■ Does it become harder to build muscle in your 30s?
When researching age and muscle growth, it is generally stated that in your 20s, hormone secretion is active, making it easier to build muscle and easier to see changes in a relatively short period.
On the other hand, it is a common view that from your 30s onwards, the body's ability to build muscle gradually slows down and recovery takes longer.
However, this does not mean that "you stop building muscle once you hit your 30s." It is said that if you are mindful of appropriate load and volume, muscle hypertrophy is fully possible even in your 30s.
In fact, continuous training is also considered to have the effect of preventing age-related muscle loss.
It might "take longer than in your 20s," but it is not "impossible because you are in your 30s."As someone who has been doing this for six years, I find this to be a convincing realization.
■ Changing volume between periods of wanting to build size and periods of wanting to maintain
From here on, I will talk about the volume during the periods when I actually felt changes in my physique.
The period when I felt my physique had "grown larger" was when I was consistently doing about 12 to 15 effective sets per week for 3 to 4 months.
After this period, colleagues at work started asking me, "Have you gotten bigger again lately?"
Since I see myself every day, it is hard to notice changes, but when others point it out, I can truly feel that the results of my efforts are showing.
On the other hand, if the goal is just to "maintain" that state, I feel that even a lower volume is fine. Looking into it, while 10 or more sets per week is considered a guideline for aiming for muscle hypertrophy, it is generally believed that muscle mass can be largely maintained with about 5 to 6 sets per week.
In other words, about half the volume of a hypertrophy phase is sufficient for maintenance.
【Volume Guidelines by Goal】
・Periods when you want to build size → Around 12–15 sets per body part per week (continued for 3–4 months)
・Periods when you want to maintain → Around 5–8 sets per body part per week (about half of the hypertrophy phase)
This is welcome news for busy times. When you have periods where "my child is small and I can't find the time" or "work is busy and I can't secure the volume," thinking of it as switching to a "maintenance mode" by dropping the volume to about half, rather than stopping altogether, makes it easier to continue without strain.
■ Things I am conscious of in body building from my 30s
Based on what I have covered so far, I will summarize what I am conscious of now that I am in my 30s.
【① Focus on understanding movements you don't usually use, rather than how muscle soreness appears】
When incorporating trail running or new exercises, just knowing that "I might get muscle soreness in different places than usual" helps me avoid feeling unnecessarily down about "getting old."
【② Consider recovery and diversify body parts and exercise types】
Do not push the same body part on consecutive days. Alternate between strength training and running. By doing just this, you can effectively secure the time needed for recovery.
【③ Consciously separate 'growth phases' and 'maintenance phases'】
Do not force yourself to maintain high volume during busy periods; instead, switch to "maintenance mode" at about half the volume. If you can do this, you can get through busy times without feeling guilty.
■ Summary
・Delayed muscle soreness is not due to age, but largely due to differences in exercise intensity and the muscles used
・You may feel that recovery takes longer, but this can be managed by how you structure your training
・Muscle hypertrophy is fully possible in your 30s with appropriate load and volume
・For a "growth phase," the guideline is to continue around 12-15 sets per week for 3-4 months
・For a "maintenance phase," half that volume is sufficient
・It is important to have the mindset of switching to "maintenance mode" during busy periods to get through them
Just because you have reached your 30s is no reason to give up on body building. Rather, I feel that whether or not you can continue depends on whether you know how to structure your training according to your age.
Let's keep at it for the long term by effectively using both "growth phases" and "maintenance phases."
I am sharing my daily training and mountain records on Instagram (@zuru_papa_fit). Please take a look as a record of "what you can achieve even in your 30s."
※ This article was written using AI. The content is based on my own personal experience and research into related information.