The most important part of a workout may happen after it ends.
As adults age, muscles can become less responsive to protein and other muscle-building signals, making post-exercise recovery critical for repairing tissue and preserving strength.
Jacob Zemer, a New York-based fitness coach, focuses heavily on recovery with his clients, who primarily range from 35 to 55 years old.
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“Most of my clients are really focused on longevity,” he told Fox News Digital. “They’re not people who are looking to be bodybuilders or power lifters – they want to age well.”
Zemer shared the following six ways adults over 35 can recover more effectively after exercise.
“Getting seven to nine hours of quality sleep is vital,” Zemer told Fox News Digital.
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He suggested the following steps to support deeper, more restorative sleep.
Getting regular checkups and completing recommended lab work can also help identify issues that may interfere with recovery, according to Zemer.
“Make sure you’re keeping up with what’s going on with your hormones,” he advised. “Make sure everything in your body is functioning properly, because as we age, our bodies change.”
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Experts emphasize, however, that preventive testing should be personalized based on factors such as age, gender, symptoms and medical history.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends screening for conditions including high blood pressure, prediabetes/type 2 diabetes and osteoporosis.
Heat exposure may be another way to support muscle strength and recovery after exercise, Zemer suggested.
Warmth causes blood vessels to widen, increasing circulation to tired muscles and potentially helping to deliver nutrients involved in repair.
A 2025 review of 22 studies found that nearly half of participants reported improved muscle-function recovery with heat therapy.
“If you don’t have access to a sauna, taking a hot shower after your workout releases heat proteins that may help with recovery – and actually it helps improve what we call ‘gains’ from the gym,” the trainer told Fox News Digital.
“After you get done working out, your muscles are shortened,” Zemer said. “And so you want to re-lengthen them by stretching.”
As strength training can put significant wear and tear on the body, it’s important to maintain full mobility by moving through a complete range of motion and stretching afterward, according to the expert.
Getting adequate protein after a workout to aid in muscle repair and rebuilding, Zemer emphasized.
The International Society of Sports Nutrition recommends targeting about 20 to 40 grams of high-quality protein after training. For active adults, the general guideline is roughly 1.4 to 2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day.
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Protein needs should be individualized, however, particularly for people with certain medical conditions.
Hydration is also important prior to working out, Zemer added.
“If you don’t drink enough water, you’re really setting yourself up for failure when you’re in the session, which is going to cause you to have lackluster results,” he said.
“You just did something that, even if it’s healthy and has a positive impact on your body, still stresses your body,” Zemer said.
“Your cortisol’s high. So getting a good meal and a little bit of rest before you move on with your day” can help the body recover.
The goal is to give the nervous system and muscles the resources they need to recover.
A 2026 review described exercise as a cycle of “stress response, adaptation and recovery,” noting that the benefits of workouts depend on sufficient recovery time, sleep and energy availability.
While it’s normal and generally a good thing to feel sore after exercise, Zemer said there’s a fine line between “good” and “bad” soreness.
“The soreness should be only for a short period of time, like maybe a day or so after you’re done training,” he told Fox News Digital.
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“If it takes you a full week to recover, you simply trained too hard.”
Zemer noted that the body adapts to training gradually, so people should ease into a new fitness routine rather than pushing too hard too soon.
“If you have extended amounts of soreness that exceed two or three days, you did too much,” he said. “If your knees and joints ache, you did too much.”
That doesn’t mean it’s necessary to stop working out, however.
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“It just means maybe drop back what you did by 30% and start from there,” Zemer advised. “For example, if you did six sets of legs, try instead to do four sets of legs the next time you train. That’s going to make it far more effective for your recovery.”
The most important thing to recognize, according to the trainer, is that exercise-induced endorphins can temporarily mask pain. Discomfort that seems manageable during a workout may feel worse later, once those chemicals wear off.
“If something hurts in the gym when you have your endorphins going strong, it’s going to hurt really bad later – and that’s the last thing you want, because if you’re hurt, you’re not going to be able to train consistently.”
