Functional Elements

Muscle Matters More Than Ever Over 40
The goal shouldn’t just be losing weight.

It should be:
✔️ maintaining muscle
✔️ improving strength
✔️ supporting longevity
✔️ protecting independence

Muscle influences metabolism, bone health, balance, energy, and healthy aging far more than most people realize.

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Client shout out 🗣️‼️

Big Shout Out to Becky. She’s executed our FE maintenance program to perfection. For a year now, she’s been consistently following the programs we’ve written for her, staying active on her own outside of FE, checking in with us when needed, and the results are showing. In a year, she’s lost 24.3 lbs 🤯, 23.9 of which was body fat mass which means overall muscle loss was only .8 lbs of skeletal muscle mass. She gained 1 lb of skeletal muscle mass in her last reassessment 💪. She’s increased her InBody Score by 11 pts. in that year span 🔥.

That’s the magic formula:
✅ A solid plan
✅ Consistency
✅ Effort and Commitment

We’re proud of the progress she’s making and even more proud of the commitment she continues to show to her health and fitness journey. Keep crushing it Becky! We know there’s more to come 👊.

Today we remember and honor the brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. 🇺🇸

From all of us at Functional Elements, thank you to those who served and to the families who carry their legacy forward. Wishing everyone a meaningful and safe Memorial Day.

Turning 40 changes a lot of things in life.

Your schedule gets fuller.
Recovery takes longer.
Stress is higher.
Sleep often gets worse.

And suddenly, what worked in your 20s doesn’t seem to work anymore.

Getting in shape after 40 is absolutely possible.

In fact, many adults build the strongest, healthiest, and most sustainable version of themselves during this stage of life.

At Functional Elements Training & Nutrition, many of the adults we work with throughout the St. Louis area are balancing careers, families, stress, travel, and changing energy levels while trying to improve their health after 40.

The key is understanding this:

Fitness after 40 is less about extremes and more about consistency, recovery, muscle maintenance, and smarter habits.

As we always say:

Consistency is king.

Let’s break it down into 10 simple truths that matter most.

1. Muscle Matters More Than Ever
After 40, adults naturally begin losing skeletal muscle mass every decade if they are not actively strength training.

That matters because muscle influences:

Adult performing goblet squat during strength training session at Functional Elements Training & Nutrition in Creve Coeur, Missouri.
Strength training after 40 is one of the most powerful tools for maintaining muscle, mobility, metabolism, and long-term independence.

Metabolism

Blood sugar control

Bone health

Balance and mobility

Injury prevention

Longevity and independence

The goal shouldn’t simply be losing weight.

It should be building or maintaining muscle while reducing excess body fat.

Strength training after 40 is not optional if your goal is healthy aging.

It is one of the most powerful investments you can make in your long-term health.

Oh - and one more thing. Right alongside a strategic training program should be an InBody score for benchmarking purposes. Not just a scale - it’s not nearly telling the whole story.

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Turning 40 changes a lot of things in life.

Your schedule gets fuller.
Recovery takes longer.
Stress is higher.
Sleep often gets worse.

And suddenly, what worked in your 20s doesn’t seem to work anymore.

Getting in shape after 40 is absolutely possible.

In fact, many adults build the strongest, healthiest, and most sustainable version of themselves during this stage of life.

At Functional Elements Training & Nutrition, many of the adults we work with throughout the St. Louis area are balancing careers, families, stress, travel, and changing energy levels while trying to improve their health after 40.

The key is understanding this:

Fitness after 40 is less about extremes and more about consistency, recovery, muscle maintenance, and smarter habits.

As we always say:

Consistency is king.

Let’s break it down into 10 simple truths that matter most.

1. Muscle Matters More Than Ever
After 40, adults naturally begin losing skeletal muscle mass every decade if they are not actively strength training.

That matters because muscle influences:

Metabolism

Blood sugar control

Bone health

Balance and mobility

Injury prevention

Longevity and independence

The goal shouldn’t simply be losing weight.

It should be building or maintaining muscle while reducing excess body fat.

Strength training after 40 is not optional if your goal is healthy aging.

It is one of the most powerful investments you can make in your long-term health.

2. Recovery Is Part of the Program
In your 20s, you could often survive on little sleep, train hard, and bounce back quickly.

After 40, recovery becomes one of the biggest keys to progress.

This means:

Prioritizing sleep

Managing stress

Walking more

Eating enough protein

Knowing when to take an off day

More is not always better.

Better recovery often leads to better results.

We often see busy professionals in their 40s and 50s trying to train the same way they did decades ago—only to end up frustrated, exhausted, or injured.

Usually the answer is not “train harder.”

It’s smarter programming and better recovery.

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Beautiful day to celebrate Olivia graduating high school! 🎓 🎉🥳👏

Proud of all the hard work she’s put in over the years and excited for what’s next. Congrats, Olivia!

Shannon wanted to lose a few pounds. Every week when she came to train, she would simply weigh in to see if things were moving in the right direction. And it was! After 8 weeks or so, Shannon dropped over 6lbs…Great job! But hold on a second! Instead of just weighing in, we did a reassessment and found that, yes, Shannon lost overall weight and about 3lbs of body fat mass, but also sacrificed some lean body mass. So, we discussed some key changes that are necessary to at least maintain her current skeletal muscle mass, if not regain what she lost. Don’t worry, she’s still amazingly strong. This is a perfect example why we implement reassessments every 8-10 weeks…because the scale doesn’t tell the whole story.