Former athletes are some of my favorite people to work with. They work hard and already have a solid foundation for exercise which makes progressing much easier, especially in the beginning.
They also have great body awareness which makes learning the technique of lifting much easier as well, this allows them to progress at a much faster rate.
One common theme I have noticed over my years of coaching is the number of former athletes that either decide to work with me or reach out wanting to improve their fitness.
Im not talking just college athletes, but also people who just played in high school as well.
The convos usually go something like this:
“I used to be so active but now I feel and look terrible”
“I used to be in great shape but since I started working I am noticing the pounds coming on, I used to be defined but now it seems all my weight just goes to my stomach”
“I dont move like I used to”
“I feel weak and have no energy, I used to be able to practice and lift for hours”
“I get into a good routine with my workouts, but I dont stick to it for long without injuries popping up or getting burnt out”
I have also seen this personally, there are many guys and gals who used to play sports and now every time I see them they get a little more out of shape each time.
In this article, I want to go over 5 theories of mine as to why former athletes are at high risk of gaining weight and getting out of shape as they age so you can avoid this.
1) Your Daily Movement Drops Way More Than You Think
If you used to play sports, you were probably used to multiple workouts per day, multiple games per week, and just a lot of movement overall.
Then you hit your 30s.
Full-time job.
Family.
Commute.
More sitting.
Your training might still be decent, but your total movement outside the gym tanks.
That lowers total daily energy expenditure, which makes staying lean harder, even if you “eat the same.”
With clients, I like to have them track their overall movement through steps.
I like clients to get around 8–10k per day, and in some cases more. Adopting a high energy flux lifestyle can resemble what you did when you played sports.
If you can still play a sport once or twice a week, even better. I still like to play hockey once a week. This helps keep you feeling athletic.
However, sports do come with a higher risk of injury, so you likely need to dial back your intensity or wait to play until you’re in better shape.
2) Nutrition is poor
Most athletes aren’t taught good nutrition habits while playing sports.
When you’re moving and training a ton, and you’re younger, you can eat almost whatever you want and it doesn’t seem to matter.
If anything, you might have needed to eat more than you were comfortable with just to maintain or gain weight.
Unfortunately, those eating habits usually stick around after sports, but your movement goes down.
Now the types of food you eat matter a lot more , especially into your 30s and beyond.
Two big ones:
- Too many ultra-processed foods (easy to overeat)
- Alcohol
As you get into your 30s and beyond, you also don’t want to be lacking micronutrients, especially if you’re starting to train again. Increased training increases overall energy needs, but it can also increase micronutrient demands. So not only do you need to focus on eating the right amount of calories but making sure youre diet is well balanced in both micros and macros is key. Strategtic supplementation may also be needed here.
(For more on foundational eating habits, listen to the podcast linked here.)
3) More Life Stress Now
When you were younger, recovery mattered. But you had fewer responsibilities and could bounce back easier.
Now you’re older.
You’ve got more life stress.
More wear and tear.
The body doesn’t differentiate stress. It all goes in the same bucket.
When total stress load is high, you’re more likely to see:
- Higher injury risk
- Lower motivation
- More short-term decisions to “feel better now”
- A harder time changing body composition
Most former athletes are type A and go-go-go. Shutting off and dialing back isn’t natural.
Circadian rhythm misalignment is another big one. It impacts sleep, energy, and even body composition over time.
You need to emphasize recovery.
Some ways to monitor stress:
- Lower HRV than normal
- Higher resting heart rate than normal
- Subjective biofeedback (energy levels, libido, menstrual cycle, mood, aches and pains, etc.)
Pushing through worked when you were 20.
In your 30s, it’s often a fast track to burnout.
4) Thinking More Training and Harder Training = Better
As a former athlete, training hard is second nature.
The problem is that once you’re in your 30s with responsibilities outside the gym, just pushing harder isn’t the answer.
I see this show up in three main ways:
1. Too Much Training
You think you need to train a ton to see results. Sometimes it’s an ego thing.
There’s nothing wrong with training a lot. The issue is that with more life stress, you need recovery and nutrition dialed in too.
Time and recovery ultimately become the biggest bottlenecks in your 30s.
We want smart, quality training, not just more for the sake of more.
2. Too Much Intensity
You think every session needs to leave you beat up, exhausted, and barely able to walk.
If you don’t feel wrecked, you think the workout was a waste.
The problem is that feeling destroyed isn’t the same thing as sending the right signal.
Did you train in a way that matches the goal of the session?
Training this way consistently is a fast track to injury, burnout, and stalled progress.
It doesn’t mean you never train hard. It means intensity needs to match the goal, your total volume, and your recovery outside the gym.
3. Trying to Do Exactly What You Used to Do
What you did 10+ years ago is irrelevant.
You can’t just jump back into that.
You need to ease back in and build momentum.
Bonus: Poor Conditioning Base
A weak conditioning base makes everything harder. Your stress bucket is smaller, and everything you do creates a larger stress response.
You recover slower between sets.
You feel gassed sooner.
You can’t tolerate much training volume.
Your body feels beat up.
A lot of former athletes try to “condition” themselves by redlining every session.
That is not building a base.
Youre just digging a recovery hole with suboptimal adaptations.
Do some sessions per week that keep your heart rate around 120–150 bpm.
And one interval day where you focus on output(i.e maintaining speed or watts) , not just trying to feel wrecked.
5) Perfection Mindset
Most former athletes have a perfection mindset.
They feel like they need to eat perfectly or train 7 days a week — sometimes twice a day.
This can lead to neurotic behavior around fitness or all-or-nothing thinking where you’re either 100% all in or not doing anything at all.
Your life looks different now.
Training probably isn’t your top priority anymore, even if it’s still important.
Your approach has to reflect that.
Bonus: Gradual Muscle Loss + Higher Body Fat Over Time
If you haven’t been working out consistently over the last few years — or if you’ve just been pushing intensity without structure — you likely lost some muscle in that process.
This is the silent driver most people miss.
- Less muscle = lower daily energy output
- Lower insulin sensitivity
- Harder time handling carbohydrates
- Lower training tolerance and recovery capacity
This often happens without people realizing it, because scale weight may not change much at first.
If you’re a former athlete in your 30s or beyond and this sounds familiar, the answer isn’t to work harder.
It’s to adjust the strategy.
Inside my coaching, we focus on rebuilding your base the right way.
That means:
- Bringing daily movement back up
- Rebuilding muscle strategically
- Structuring training with the right volume and intensity
- Managing stress load instead of just pushing through it
- Dialing in nutrition to match your training and lifestyle
The goal isn’t to train like you’re 20 again.
It’s to feel strong, athletic, and capable in your 30s, 40s, and beyond, while balancing real life.
If you want to learn more about my coaching, click HERE.
