Physical Therapy Tips for Masters Athletes Who Want to Stay in the Game

Remember when you were in your teens or 20s? You could pull a muscle, take a couple weeks off, and be back at it like nothing happened. But now that you’re in your late 30s, 40s, or beyond, those little aches seem to hang around. You find yourself needing a longer warm-up, more recovery days, and maybe you’ve even scaled back training—or stopped completely—because life got busy with work, kids, and everything else.

The good news? Slowing down doesn’t have to be inevitable.
You just have to be more intentional about taking care of your body. Research shows that most people lose about 5–7 degrees of flexibility in key joints like the hips and shoulders every decade after midlife — roughly a 5–10% drop depending on where you start. The good news is that much of this loss is related to inactivity rather than aging itself, meaning it can often be slowed or reversed by staying active and stretching regularly (Stathokostas et al., J Aging Res, 2013).

If you want to keep competing, lifting, or simply training hard into your 40s and beyond, you need to address the weak spots before they turn into setbacks. That means:

• Identifying where you’re tight, weak, or moving inefficiently

• Adjusting training loads to match what your body can handle

• Building a plan that supports your goals and your recovery

This is where physical therapy comes in. A good PT can pinpoint the exact areas holding you back—whether it’s mobility, strength, or programming—and give you a plan you can actually integrate into your training. No more guessing or wasting time on random Instagram drills.

Bottom line: If staying healthy and consistent matters to you, stop guessing. Get a targeted plan and keep doing what you love for decades to come.