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The High Performance Journal - August 19th, 2025

Before working with me, a 42-year-old client wanted to get himself in shape and was determined to train like he was 25 again.

We're talking heavy squats, max deadlifts, daily 10Ks, and burpees on the weekends.

6 weeks later, he limped into my Zoom room.

Herniated disc and a sharp pain in his knee. Cortisol through the roof.

"But I used to do all this in college," he said.

And that's the problem. Your ego remembers what you could do. Your joints remember what you did.

After 40, the game changes. Recovery slows down, and risk increases. You still want to make gains but avoid injury while doing so.

Here are the 5 exercises destroying people over 40:

You ready? Let's go 🔥

The 5 Worst Exercises For People Over 40 (AVOID)

There are 3 things to consider on whether or not an exercise is ideal for you:

1. Risk vs. Reward: An exercise is only as good if the benefits outweigh the potential for harm.
2. Individual Biomechanics: Movement patterns, bone length, and joint stress differ by body structure. What's safe for one person can hurt another if their mechanics aren't suited for the exercise.
3. Previous injury history: Past injuries or current aches and pains can make certain movements riskier, so avoiding or modifying exercises that stress these vulnerable areas can lower your chance of re-injury.

That said, there are some people who do well with these exercises over the age of 40, so if you love doing them and their keeping you out of harm, then keep at it.

But after working with thousands of entrepreneurs, most of whom work desk jobs, I found 5 exercises that the majority of people should avoid because there are safer options available.

Starting with....

Exercise #1 - Heavy Back Squats

You've seen them at every gym: barbells stacked with plates and some guy wedged under it like he's carrying the world on his shoulders.

The problem? Once you hit your 40s, heavy axial loading puts massive compression on your spine and knees. If you're lacking mobility, and most people are, you end up leaning forward or compensating by shifting stress to your knees and lower back.

Heavy back squats are an advanced exercise disguised as a simple one: You have to breathe and embrace, maintain a straight bar path, position the bar correctly on your back, and much more.

When you add heavy weight to the equation, the form you need is more technical than you think.

Recommendation: Bulgarian Split Squats

Bulgarian split squats are brutal, but they also help you balance strength in each leg while challenging the core.

They're also much kinder to your back because the dumbbells are held at your side as opposed to your upper back.

Also, you can modify this exercise based on which muscles you want to hit. If you are leaning more forward, you are hitting the glutes and the posterior chain. If you're leaning a little bit more straight, then you are hitting the quads.

#2 - Heavy Conventional Deadlifts

I hate posting this one because I love the feeling of ripping double bodyweight deadlift off the ground.

But the older you get, the harder it is to recover from heavy conventional pulls. The deep hinge position puts your lumbar disc under increased shear force.

If your hamstrings or hips are tight, you end up rounding your lower back and end up getting that infamous "I tweaked my back" story.

Recommendation: Trap Bar Deadlifts or Hip Thrusts

Trap bar deadlifts put the weight in line with your body instead of in front of your legs, which reduces spinal stress.

Hip thrusts isolate the glutes and hamstrings without putting strain on your lower back.

These exercises allow you to get the same posterior chain gains while having a lower risk profile.

#3 - Long Distance Running

This is not going to be a popular take, but it needs to be said.

Pounding pavement for hours weekly can lead to overuse injuries in your knees, hips, and ankles. Also, excessive long-distance running jacks up cortisol and can eat into your muscle mass.

I had a 53-year-old friend who wanted to train for a marathon to get in shape. Five days a week, ten miles each run.

He was lean, but something was wrong. Constant knee aches. Tank testosterone, and he looked more gaunt than fit. It all came to a head when his 3-year-old grandson wanted to be picked up in his back.

A DEXA scan and bloodwork revealed the wake-up call: He had lost significant muscle mass and saw a reduction in bone density. He was running himself old.

We dropped the miles, switched to zone 1 training with weights three times weekly, and occasionally did sprints. Six months later: gained 7 pounds of lean mass back, testosterone up 25%, no knee or hip pain, and he could pick up his grandson without worry.

Recommendation: Walking

You can choose any type of walking. It could be Japanese IWT, inclined walking, hiking, etc.

Walking builds aerobic capacity, strengthens your heart, improves brain function, improves recovery, and you can do it daily without hobbling down the stairs the next day.

It's low-cost cardio with all the benefits and no risk.

#4 - Heavy Barbell Bench Presses

With heavy barbell bench presses, they lock your hands and shoulders into one fixed position, which can pinch your rotator cuff and irritate your AC joint, especially with decades of bad posture from sitting.

It's another advanced exercise that's disguised as simple.

Just the other day, I was at my gym having a conversation with the owner, and he had just won a master's division in the bodybuilding competition.

During prep, he thought bench pressing would be fun. In his first session, it felt great. Second was fine. In his third session, he felt a tweak in his shoulders.

Mind you, this was a guy who had great form, but due to the high-risk vs. reward nature of the exercise, he had to drop it from his prep.

Recommendation: Dumbbell or Machine Presses

Machines give you stability so you can focus on pushing with power.

Dumbbells let you adjust the grip so your shoulders can move more naturally, which can increase both your strength and safety.

These two help you get those chest gains with less risk to the shoulders.

#5 - Burpees

This is the ultimate "look at me suffer" type of exercise that adds money to physiotherapists' bank accounts.

The unfortunate fact is that most people turn burpees into half push-ups, sloppy jumps, and spinal stress. If you have wrist, shoulder, or back issues, burpees magnify them because every drop down rounds your back.

Like many of the exercises listed in this article, it's an advanced exercise disguised as being simple.

When you combine high reps with poor form and exhaustion, it equals disaster.

Recommendation: Sled pushes or a circuit using that combination of exercises

Sled pushes light up your whole body safely, and are hard to do with the wrong form. Without a sled, break up the burpee components: do a set of squats, push-ups, then jump squats.

Both will leave you gassed without any trips to the chiropractor.

Important Note

There is no such thing as a "bad" exercise. An exercise becomes bad with poor form, too much weight, injury concerns, and/or a deconditioned body.

Also, there is no such thing as a mandatory exercise, but there are mandatory movements. The beauty of the gym is that you can choose the plethora of exercises that correlate best with your body.

The smart ones pick exercises they can do for their life, which deliver the best returns without beating up the body.

The Final Word

After you turn 40, your priorities shift when it comes to the weight room:

Injury prevention comes before chasing numbers because recovery does take longer from both workouts and injuries.

The worst thing is missing gym time due to getting injured doing an exercise you thought you "needed to do" when there are plenty of safer options out there.

Your job is to pick the exercises you can do for life that deliver the best return without beating you up.

Onward and upward. 🚀

- Dan

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References

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2. Tung MJ, Lantz GA, Lopes AD, Berglund L. Injuries in weightlifting and powerlifting: an updated systematic review. BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med. 2024 Dec 4;10(4):e001884. doi: 10.1136/bmjsem-2023-001884. PMID: 39650568; PMCID: PMC11624822. 
3. Ramirez VJ, Bazrgari B, Gao F, Samaan M. Low Back Biomechanics during Repetitive Deadlifts: A Narrative Review. IISE Trans Occup Ergon Hum Factors. 2022 Jan-Mar;10(1):34-46. Epub 2022 Jan 7. PMID: 34875981; PMCID: PMC9837526. 
4. Abrahamson J, Lindman I, Eriksen MB, Kibsgaard A, Nielsen RO. Using Self-Reported Training Characteristics to Better Understand Who Is More Likely to Sustain Running-Related Injuries Than Others: The Garmin-RUNSAFE Running Health Study. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2025 Jan;35(1):e70004. doi: 10.1111/sms.70004. PMID: 39713859; PMCID: PMC11664494. 
5. Schuster Brandt Frandsen J, Hulme A, Parner ET, et alHow much running is too much? Identifying high-risk running sessions in a 5200-person cohort studyBritish Journal of Sports Medicine Published Online First: 07 July 2025. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2024-109380 
6. Tung MJ, Lantz GA, Lopes AD, Berglund L. Injuries in weightlifting and powerlifting: an updated systematic review. BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med. 2024 Dec 4;10(4):e001884. doi: 10.1136/bmjsem-2023-001884. PMID: 39650568; PMCID: PMC11624822. 
   
   

Disclaimer: This email is provided for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute providing medical advice or professional services. The information provided should not be used for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, and those seeking personal medical advice should consult with a licensed physician.