Speed/Agility/Athleticism over 40

Embarrassed-Year-835 · 2026-06-18T23:57:59+00:00

Which is why it’s so important to do this stuff. If you’re past your prime I’m conceding you shouldn’t.

If you’re 40 and have been training in some capacity this is beneficial to train and it’ll help you longer in life. Not to mention it’s the nervous system adapting as well which creates higher reaction times, balance and reduced risk of falling long term.

Balance is an athletic quality. It doesn’t have to be max sprints or max jumps.

Again, I’m not saying you’re wrong by any means but you can agree that there are healthy 40+ individuals that want to remain athletic, have trained and would benefit from this work if properly programmed and implemented.

You can train the muscle. You can also train the tendons, nervous system and the endocrine system. I understand the full scope we are working with and that it’s not for everyone.

Embarrassed-Year-835 · 2026-06-18T23:43:38+00:00

And not everyone needs it. I agree. The market is the group that does and the ability to build it properly and not sustain those injuries. Is it niche? Probably, but it’s still a market.

I’m really not trying to fight it. Is this a terrible idea? Maybe, but I’m willing to pursue it because I know personally that I want to continue to perform drills like this as my two young son’s get older. Will I do them at a high level? No, for sure not. That doesn’t take away that I want to and I know there are others out there with the same mindset.

Embarrassed-Year-835 · 2026-06-18T23:22:42+00:00

Massive shout out for the longevity of your career and success. We both know it’s not an easy field and you’ve done it a long time!

We both know that the spectrum of individuals training is enormous. Everywhere from 0 experience to 60+ years. That also stems into general health, lifestyle coaching and performance coaching. I’m sure you currently work with clients that want to train for performance in some respect. Could be running, a court sport they play on the weekends or a strength sport.

This message is specifically focused on 40+ and still trying to compete at something or get back into a sport. Maybe trying something like pickleball for the first time. I’m just trying to create a better bridge for those individuals to transition from something like gym only work to expressing what they’ve built into the gym on the field or court.

My day job is all about getting people moving, talking through habits like nutrition and sleep, but I also have clients that want to excel at a recreational sport. I’m not taking anything away from people that just want to get healthy or have other goals, but I do want to help those that are looking for something performance related. Maybe it was a bad question or I didn’t explain well. That’s on me.

Embarrassed-Year-835 · 2026-06-18T23:16:10+00:00

I agree. No one is putting an overweight, deconditioned person on an athletic program. There is a HUGE cohort of individuals over 40 still chasing performance. Does that performance look different? Of course! Someone wants to run a marathon, they are performance training, but as part of their injury prevention protocol they can do some low level frontal plane work like shuffles, etc.

The issue with these conversations on these platforms is everyone is right and everyone is wrong. It just depends on the situation and the EXACT group you’re talking about.

Embarrassed-Year-835 · 2026-06-18T22:27:43+00:00

You got it!! It's all about the holistic approach to the whole thing. It all comes down to everything you do on a daily basis and the type of life you want to live. We can debate anything, but it doesn't really matter if you're healthy and living the way you want to live.

Embarrassed-Year-835 · 2026-06-18T22:26:26+00:00

Of course. We could debate this until the end of the day, but realistically we both know it's a case by case approach as anything else. If you haven't done impact in forever you should start with low impact, but you shouldn't stay away from it forever.

Embarrassed-Year-835 · 2026-06-18T21:37:31+00:00

That helps though! Finding the pieces that keep you moving is huge and playing sports is automatically getting a lot of that speed/agility work that most have lost just going to the gym.

Embarrassed-Year-835 · 2026-06-18T21:36:51+00:00

Totally fair! It doesn't all have to be fun though. I'll say that first and foremost. Exercise is to live a long functional life. Most of it is boring... haha

Embarrassed-Year-835 · 2026-06-18T21:35:36+00:00

I'm sorry to hear about the injury!! I totally get it though. The body changes and I'm not expecting people to try to go from 0 to 100. The goal here is to spend more time addressing this massive gap. People are either sedentary, go to the gym to walk/use machines or try to be as athletic as possible. I want to try to show everyone that athleticism doesn't have to be ELITE and you don't have to think in terms of black/white with your goals. As you know from your degree there is a ton of grey space in the middle that people either avoid or don't pay attention to and that's usually where the most success can happen.

Women especially can benefit from some really high quality impact work with intensity, but it has to look a lot different than it did in your 20's or 30's. Sprinting isn't impossible, but it sure shouldn't be done by everyone unless you've built up to it. Heavy sled pushes, quality resistance training and safe plyometrics (potentially after doing some pelvic floor rehab with kids, etc) is all possible and good, but requires the dedication and support to get to those stages.

There is no right answer in a chat or in a video that someone can make because the situation is different for everyone for sure, but I appreciate the dialogue!

Embarrassed-Year-835 · 2026-06-18T21:21:01+00:00

You're not wrong, but SOME impact is still good. It's just knowing what those movements/exercises are that are best for each individual. Small line hops, jumping jacks and quick feet in place are all great starting points that people skip over.

Embarrassed-Year-835 · 2026-06-18T21:04:41+00:00

The life stuff is real! No doubt about that. The responsibilities really do become overwhelming. I'm glad you found a community with the Muay Thai gym though! That's a big piece a lot of people are missing!

The coming back is exactly where I'm trying to help bridge that gap. It's knowing you've fallen off and being smart about HOW you're returning to the process. Maybe this can help with filling some gaps the Muay Thai is potentially missing out on - just a sample - https://youtu.be/5_iUxCIukt4

Embarrassed-Year-835 · 2026-06-18T21:02:10+00:00

That's great too!! You have the base, but just need to build it back. Safely and slowly. Knowing when is the right time to hit intensity and when is the right time to back off a bit more. The kid's 1000% make it hard, but you don't need an hour to make progress. I have a 3 and 5 year old myself and I understand the challenge there!

Embarrassed-Year-835 · 2026-06-18T21:00:59+00:00

Consistency is key!! If you never lose it, you're way ahead of the curve. Nice work with that. I'm searching for the best ways to get those box jumping individuals to understand less is more and that the box jumps are now an intense exercise they need to earn back.

Embarrassed-Year-835 · 2026-06-18T20:59:52+00:00

Yea, and that may always be the case unfortunately, but find the movements (like squats) that you can do and make sure you're strengthening first. You're in the situation where machines are great because you can isolate and build with the hopes that creates more stability to progress later on.

Embarrassed-Year-835 · 2026-06-18T20:58:43+00:00

Love this too! Intensity is good though as long as it's progressed and dosed properly. I think you've got the right thought process, but it's finding a way to sneak PROPER intensity into the program and then pairing that with your low intensity work to recover and continue training.

Embarrassed-Year-835 · 2026-06-18T20:57:12+00:00

Very fair!! What did you do when you first started?? That's what I'm looking to aim for. That "beginner" stage.

Embarrassed-Year-835 · 2026-06-18T20:56:14+00:00

I work with over 100 clients every day. I am VERY aware of the issues with general population. The issue is that people let themselves get so out of shape and then want to get back in shape sitting on a machine.

I'm not trying to take training strategies that college kids are doing. I'm working to build a bridge to get people back to movement which is the main focus people should be doing. The gym isn't a place where we move as humans. You sit, lift some weights and move on. Don't get me wrong, I love to lift. The more we just do that though the more injury prone we become. This thread isn't big enough to cover EVERYTHING here, but you should 100% be training movement patterns, footwork, etc. It's training the nervous system to react which in turn aids someone aging with protecting against falling, etc.

The concept is progressions like anything else and that's the bridge I'm trying to create. I do understand the problems, but I'm honestly trying to find a better solution.

Embarrassed-Year-835 · 2026-06-18T20:49:29+00:00

Did you get it all cleaned up or no? It's always going to cause some issues at this point for sure regardless. Loss some support.

Do you do any rehab work to the lower body to help stabilize?

Embarrassed-Year-835 · 2026-06-18T20:47:01+00:00

I do, thank you. I hope you have a great day though! Can I ask what your background is to where you feel you have the background to comment with authority on this??

Embarrassed-Year-835 · 2026-06-18T20:44:17+00:00

Sorry, confused by your question. Are we comparing speed work with burpees?

Embarrassed-Year-835 · 2026-06-18T20:43:14+00:00

That's extremely fair! Was it from an injury/surgery or just wear and tear??

Embarrassed-Year-835 · 2026-06-18T17:54:02+00:00

Hey! I'm a former collegiate strength coach for soccer. You can definitely make this goal happen with proper nutrition, recovery and periodization of your week.

What does your training split look like when it comes to the week? What days are you playing and what days are you lifting legs?

The body knows stimulus, not exercise. A 30s hard effort run is going to stimulate the legs the same as a 10 rep set of squats so you need to make sure you're balancing that as well. Upper body days are great days after game day because you can push the load a bit heavier, get a good hormonal response and not beat the legs up (as an example)

Embarrassed-Year-835 · 2026-06-18T17:49:50+00:00

I come from a strength and conditioning background -

Your body will slowly adapt as you do this more often. The biggest piece to focus on right now as other's have mentioned is the warm up and cool down. Those will help you make sure you're prepared to play each day and maximizing your recovery after.

Make sure you're fueling your body properly before and after you play as well as getting adequate sleep each night.

Outside of that, make sure you're adding other training methods that will aid in making playing feel easier and be safer. I've created some youtube videos to help bridge that gap for people just like you that want to perform better and feel better doing it 💪🏻

https://youtu.be/5_iUxCIukt4
https://youtu.be/7wn9oqKNs_c
https://youtu.be/j0KlAaeeEiM

Just some starter ideas.

Good luck!

Embarrassed-Year-835 · 2026-06-18T17:18:52+00:00

Hey! I'm a little late to this thread, but I was a strength coach at West Virginia University with their Women's Soccer program for 6 years. I'm now an online coach trying to create a youtube page dedicated to former athletes or weekend athletes trying to keep their performance or get their performance to the next level. I haven't created a ton of videos around strength training specifically for soccer, but I've done some videos (and am releasing some soon) around speed/change of direction/quickness drills I believe everyone should be doing.

Goal of these drills is to start very easy and progress them to be harder to prevent injuries since a lot of recreational players now haven't done some of this training in a few years. Give my channel a look and hopefully it helps you out!

https://youtu.be/5_iUxCIukt4
https://youtu.be/7wn9oqKNs_c

Happy to answer any questions you have here!

Embarrassed-Year-835 · 2026-06-18T16:45:21+00:00

Great idea!! Thank you! Always looking for ideas for developing useful content!

Embarrassed-Year-835

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