Turning what age hits you the hardest?

So far, 39. I think its the dread of turning 40.

I think 35 is a crucial stage in life because

* You notice your parents becoming elderly. They've probably retired. You feel a responsibility towards them.

* If you have a desk job, by now you should be in management. If not, you're probably not management material, and your career is probably on borrowed time. Also, you may be already "old" for some careers such as tech.

* Dating opportunities are seriously lacking. I noticed a huge drop-off from age 30 to 35 in the number of matches I could get on dating apps.

* This is the age where your friends who are married start having kids. This makes you realize that you should probably start having kids. But you can't (See previous point).

At age 51, I had what I was told was a running career-ending injury. I asked for a second opinion and went to the Mayo Clinic. Same answer. It took two years to recover from that injury. When I finally was able to run again, I took a hard look at my competition and decided that I simply lacked the talent to compete at the top level.

No matter how hard I tried, I would still just be above average against local runners my age.

I didn't give up. I reasoned that if I lacked the talent, I might still eventually be able to beat my competition if I could just age slower than my competition! It gradually worked as I moved up a little every few years. At 70, my relay teammates and I set 4 relay world records. At 75, I reached a 20-year dream of becoming a national champion at the USATF Masters Championships, although it wasn't the distance I had anticipated back in 2001.

You can't quite turn back the clock, but you can dramatically slow aging if you research what works and make slowing aging a top priority in your life.

To answer the OPs question, the very first time in my life that I felt "old" was after I turned 75. I'm 77 now.

You can control how fast you age if you make it a top priority in your life. That means researching EVERYTHING related to aging as a masters athlete... sleep, recovery, injury prevention, rehab, nutrition, heart health, arterial health, diet, reducing inflammation, boosting the immune system, and using state of the art training.

When I turned 20 I looked 25 and felt 25

When I turned 30 I looked 25 and felt 25

When I turned 40 I looked 30 and felt 25

When I turned 50 I looked 30 and felt 25

When I turned 60 I looked 80 and felt 90

Don't be like me,

don't turn 60.

Surprised to see all the people on the first page that said 30 hit hard. I'm about to turn 30, and I'm honestly kinda looking forward to it. 30 is still relatively youthful (I consider 40 the start of middle age) and I'm a lot less dumb than I was at 20. Don't have that aura of invincibility anymore, but while the 20s where fun, early 20s was especially turbulent being a dumb, broke college kid. I feel like now I have a stable job, 30s is still pretty young but with more wisdom and stability after learning life lessons in my 20s.

Meanwhile, my dad just turned 60, and he said it hit him pretty hard. He's still relatively happy and healthy, but seeing his age start with a 6 made him feel old

No, aging doesn't hit them harder, faster and more cruel; they just have farther to fall, since they had an automatic privilege that fades away leaving them closer to being where the vast majority of men are at. Men handle it better because they never fell off so hard, many were invisible or undesirable their entire lives.

nothing hit harder than turning 16 and getting my license and my own car

the ability to go virtually anywhere anytime has probably been the most consequential byproduct of simply turning an otherwise arbitrary age

If all of that is true, why then are there so many middle-aged & senior men using TRT/HRT? More & more older guys that I talk to at my gym are using TRT/HRT, DHEA, etc. Masters athletes, non-athletes, fitness influencers, fitness enthusiasts, retirees, still work - it doesn't matter, so many using these hormones.

Hormones start slowly declining after age 30 but the decline really starts accelerating in your 40s. I posted earlier here my struggles as a 64 yr old. My testosterone levels are about half of what they were 35 yrs ago when I was a natural bodybuilding champion. Now there's so muscle atrophy & anabolic resistance from the muscle cells that it's not even funny. No diet, sleep or excercise program can reverse that. If it could, people wouldn't go on TRT - there would be no need for it.

Did you know RFK, Jr is using TRT? Take a look at his transformation. 😯

honehealth.com

RFK Jr. Says He Uses TRT, But Not Steroids

Rebekah Harding, NASM-C.P.T.

After photos of RFK Jr. working out at Gold’s Gym went viral, he denied using steroids. But he is on testosterone replacement therapy (TRT).

Open link

Seriously? I didn’t notice any effects of aging until I hit 35. Until then, life was golden. The next big heartbreak was at age 50. I was able to run a sub-16 5K well into my mid-40s, but that was the last hurrah in terms of being able to train to get racing fit.

Hitting 30 was very depressing but none of the birthdays after that really mattered to me. I am not a party person so that is probably the main thing I don't like about milestone birthdays. Everyone else would be making such a big party.

I take comfort in the fact that the greatest runner in the world is still 6 years older than me and ran a 2:01 WR marathon when he was a year older than I am now. Bekele's masters WR's in Valencia and London give me hope that I should be able to achieve my marathon goals when I'm his current age.

35-40

I had a huge mid-life crisis around this time.

Realized that my best running was either already behind me or I’d have to reinvent the wheel in terms of training to ever PR in the 5K-10K again.

Training for the half or marathon is still an option but at 35+ overuse injuries are a bigger threat

Also, if you made some really poor decisions in life, this is the time where you realize “it’s too late” to fix those things. You’re wiser, know more about yourself, what you need, and how many things you were told or keened from others was simply wrong, but you’re stuck now and must hope for the best.

Don't worry. Being 30 is incredibly cool.

The problem with taking TRT (unless medically necessary) is it will signal to the glands to produce less hormones naturally. So you'll essentially have to inject T for the rest of your life.

LOL, in my early 30s I moved back to an IC role from leadership. 20 years later and don't regret the decision at all.

It's much more fun to actually do work than be a glorified babysitter.

Anyone else feel like after their 24 or 25 year birthdays time starts to go faster? Like the year just doesn't feel as long as it used to. All of a sudden 3 or 4 years go by much faster than I recalled them doing when I was in college or younger. I wonder if it is because of more responsibility or just a fully developed brain. It's crazy the shift.

Yes, I think it was after 30 that I really stopped thinking about my age and what it meant. I know I'm 55 now, but it's just a number now.

That's exactly my sentiment from my post just above.

Except the "very depressing" part. Sorry for all the add-on posts.

AS of now- 60. I don't FEEL old physically. I don't act old. I'm in great physical condition and health.

But being in my 60's (65) makes me think of actually getting old.