What Should Workout Programs For Men Over 40 Look Like?

Take a look and see what fits.
https://chasingstrength.com/which-kettlebell-workout-program-is-right-for-me/
One question guys want to know is how my workout programs are different from most of the other programs that men our age – the over 40 crowd – try – and fail using.
And the short answer is because most programming models fail to account for real life, especially for men over 40.
See, I know from first-hand experience —
I had to learn the hard way myself, even though I didn’t have to.
I was warned in advance that programming must change by my Soviet trained Olympic lifting coach — but I didn’t believe him. I thought I would remain “Superman” forever.
That is until a laundry list of injuries sidelined me in my early 30s.
Hey — it’s Geoff Neupert, from ChasingStrength.com.
In this video, I want to explain how I think about programming, why it looks different from what you usually see, and why that difference matters if your goal is to keep training long-term.
Most workout programs start with exercises.
They ask questions like:
➡️ What movements should we include?
➡️ How many sets and reps?
➡️ How hard should this feel?
Those are reasonable questions.
But they’re not where I start.
Because if you start with exercises, you often miss the bigger picture.
I start with the person — and his needs.
Specifically:
➡️ How much time does he realistically have? Not the best case scenario or what he thinks he “should” have.
➡️ How well does he recover? Is he getting less than 7 hours of sleep a night? Getting enough fuel and the right fuel? Things like that…
➡️ How much stress is he under outside the gym? Most guys get paid for 40 hours a week and benefits but they work 50 to 80 hours a week… He has a spouse or partner who probably works full time… and kids that have after-school activities… 2 mortgages… 2 car payments… and more. In other words, most guys have A LOT on their minds.
➡️ What has he already tried? Crossfit? P90X? Bootcamp workouts? Bodybuilding? Workout apps? Other forms of weight training or cardio?
➡️ What consistently breaks down for him? Things like his schedule, his sleep, and his body…
Those answers matter more than exercise selection.
Because the best program on paper doesn’t work if it doesn’t fit into someone’s actual life.
A common assumption in fitness is that more work produces better results.
➡️ More volume.
➡️ More frequency.
➡️ More intensity.
Sometimes that works, for a while.
But for many men over 40, “more” often leads to:
➡️ Inconsistent training — starting… stuttering… stopping… resulting in frustration, guilt, and shame
➡️ Extended soreness — where “leg day” becomes “can’t sit down without wincing” week
➡️ Small issues that never fully resolve — the ache-y lower back when you bend over… the pich-y shoulder when you lift your arm over your head… the “velcro ripping” sound when you climb up and down stairs…
➡️ Or long gaps where training stops entirely — because sometimes it’s easier to restart on Monday… but the right Monday never seems to come
That’s not a motivation problem.
It’s a programming problem.
When I design a program, I’m not trying to see how much someone can tolerate.
I’m trying to answer a different question:
What can this person repeat week after week after week, without having to psych himself up and overcoming the dread of working out again?
That means optimizing for:
➡️ Consistency
➡️ Quality of movement
➡️ Appropriate loading
➡️ Recovery that actually keeps pace with training
Progress doesn’t come from occasional heroic efforts or crushing yourself in the gym.
It comes from steady, repeatable work.
Over time, I’ve found that simpler programs tend to work better for more people.
Not because they’re easy, but because they’re clear.
Clear expectations.
Clear structure.
Clear progression.
When people know what they’re doing and why they’re doing it, they tend to stick with it longer.
And sticking with training is usually more important than finding the perfect program.
Furthermore, more complicated programs have more variables that can break. And that makes it harder to know which variable to fix to get yourself back on track.
After 40, the margin for error gets smaller.
Recovery usually takes longer.
Stress is already high, which means it compounds and adds up faster.
Inconsistency costs more — both physically AND psychologically.
That doesn’t mean training should stop.
It means programming should be more thoughtful.
When training fits your physiology and your schedule, it stops feeling like something you have to force.
And it becomes something you can maintain.
I don’t program workouts to look impressive on paper.
I program them to work in the real world.
If a program helps someone train consistently, feel better, and stay active over time, it’s doing its job.