Building muscle after 40 is a different game than it was in your twenties. And what often gets missed is that the workout is not always the variable that changes. Testosterone in men declines gradually starting around this age, and women see their own hormone shifts through perimenopause that affect how the body holds onto lean tissue. 

A review of research on men in their 40s with low testosterone found that treatment was linked to gains in lean mass, particularly when paired with lifestyle changes like exercise (1). For men experiencing changes in strength and energy, it is worth asking whether the workout is really the variable that changed, or whether something underneath it has.

That does not mean building muscle after 40 is off the table. It means being intentional about which movements you choose and how you combine them. 

 

Does Walking Build Muscle After 40?

Walking is one of the easiest habits to build, but on its own it is a modest tool for muscle growth. A 10-week study comparing walking alone to walking paired with simple home-based resistance exercise found that the combination group saw meaningfully better improvements in muscle quality than the walking-only group (2). 

Your daily walk is a great foundation for cardiovascular health, but if muscle is the goal, pair it with resistance work, even something as simple as a few bodyweight squats or a resistance band, on the same days. Two people can do the same combination and still see different results, which usually has less to do with effort than with what their hormones are doing in the background.

 

Can Runners Build Muscle After 40?

Running is excellent for cardiovascular fitness, but distance running by itself does not fully prepare the body for what decades of training demand. As the body ages, recovery slows, muscle becomes harder to maintain even with the same training load, and small errors in programming take longer to resolve. Distance running alone will not close that gap. It takes deliberate strength work, not just added mileage, to protect the muscle that running alone tends to wear down over time. 

On the other hand, recreational runners who added a running-specific strength program to their training saw improvements in body composition and strength that runners doing endurance training alone did not see (3). Muscle retention naturally gets harder with age, and for men specifically, that often traces back to slowly declining testosterone rather than anything happening in training.

 

Does Swimming Build Muscle After 40?

Swimming builds muscular endurance and cardiovascular fitness through natural resistance of water, but the research on swimming as a standalone muscle-building tool is limited. A systematic review and meta-analysis of competitive swimmers found that meaningful upper body strength gains came specifically from added dry-land resistance training alongside swimming (4). 

Swimming is an excellent cardio workout, but it is important to add a few on land strength training sessions a week to maximize muscle mass. If strength has plateaued despite consistent dry-land training, that is often a sign to look at what is happening hormonally rather than adjusting the program again. 

 

Does Pilates Build Muscle After 40?

Pilates is well documented for improving muscular endurance, posture, balance, and core strength. These key benefits are essential for how your body moves and holds up over time. A randomized controlled trial in women 60 and older found meaningful improvements in strength and walking speed after 12 weeks of Pilates (5). 

Pilates is a great workout for supporting muscular endurance, but to ensure the support of strength gains, try implementing a few weight training sessions alongside pilates each week. For women navigating hormone changes, it also helps to have hormone levels working with the training instead of against it.

 

Does Calisthenics Build Muscle After 40?

Calisthenics includes bodyweight training like pushups, squats, and rows. This type of training works surprisingly well compared to traditional weight training. A review of research on older adults found that resistance training, even at low intensities, can meaningfully increase muscle size and improve muscle quality (6). Try a few reps a day to start, and as the reps get easier, add more reps, slow the tempo down, or move to a harder variation to keep challenging the muscle. 

 

Does Yoga Build Muscle After 40?

Yoga is often thought of as a flexibility practice, but sustained practice can improve muscular strength as well. A 12-week study of yoga postures and breathing practice found measurable increases in back, leg, and grip strength over the training period (7). Also, a nine-month comparison study in adults with obesity found yoga practice increased and preserved hand grip and overall muscle strength, while a nutrition-only approach did not (8). 

For a low-impact form of exercising, yoga is a great addition to building muscle after 40, especially for people who have joint sensitivity. However, it is a slower path to strength and can be best maximized by implementing a few light to moderate weight training sessions a week.  

 

The Hormone Piece of the Muscle Building Puzzle

None of this is to say that movement doesn’t matter. But lifting weights supports overall long term health. Whichever form of exercise you prefer, both strength training and stretching are essential components for building and maintaining muscle safely after 40. How you maintain muscle mass depends heavily on hormones. Every person’s body is different. Two people can follow the exact same routine from this list and land in very different places depending on what their hormones are doing in the background. 

At Therapellet, Dr. Charles Virden and his team run blood panel testing hormone levels alongside bioidentical hormone pellet therapy for men and women whose levels are working against them, not as a replacement for training, but as the part of the equation exercise alone was never designed to handle.

 

References

1. Canal de Velasco, L.M., & González Flores, J.E. (2025). Testosterone Therapy in Men in Their 40s: A Narrative Review of Indications, Outcomes, and Mid-Term Safety.
2. Yoshiko, A., et al. (2018). Effects of 10-Week Walking and Walking with Home-Based Resistance Training on Muscle Quality, Muscle Size, and Physical Functional Tests in Healthy Older Individuals.
3. Prieto-González, P., & Sedlacek, J. (2022). Effects of Running-Specific Strength Training, Endurance Training, and Concurrent Training on Recreational Endurance Athletes’ Performance and Selected Anthropometric Parameters.
4. Jin, G., et al. (2024). The Methodology of Resistance Training Is Crucial for Improving Short-Medium Distance Front Crawl Performance in Competitive Swimmers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
5. Aibar-Almazán, A., et al. (2022). The Influence of Pilates Exercises on Body Composition, Muscle Strength, and Gait Speed in Community-Dwelling Older Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
6. Ikezoe, T. (2020). Age-Related Change in Muscle Characteristics and Resistance Training for Older Adults.
7. Bhunia, G.B., & Ray, U.S. (2023). Improvement in Muscular Strength, Body Flexibility and Balance by Yogasana and with Reduced Detraining Effects by Yoga Breathing Maneuvers: A Non-Randomized Controlled Study.
8. Sharma, S.K., et al. (2024). Muscle Strength and Body Composition in Obese Adults Following Nine Months of Yoga or Nutrition Advice: A Comparative Controlled Trial.