Quite s bit older than you and I:

• Hike and/or backpack, anywhere from 3-12 miles and up to 5k ft elevation depending on the weekend (and weather, icy mountains are slow going)
• Gravel biking, or on the trainer with Zwift
• Running, though I don’t particularly like it, so not much
• And days I just want to move around, archery

You are not old at 30, your body is just out of practice and your mind lacks motivation. Both can be tough to overcome.

If things are hurting, I highly recommend cycling of some form, as it’s way less impact. Or hiking with poles, helps a ton. Just take it slow to start.

Anyone replying “stretching” is basing their response on grade school gym class, not science.

Studies have not shown that stretching has a positive impact on injury prevention, and this has been widely known in the literature for over 20 years. Stretching can improve performance in some sports like gymnastics where increased flexibility is needed, but that is unrelated to injury.

Stretching has a negative effect on performance in other cases because it actually decreases muscle force generation.

Think about it, would you think that loosening all the belts on a machine would automatically make it less likely to break down?

So what does prevent injury?

• Good warm-ups. Walk before you jog before you run. Lift an unloaded barbell before a loaded one, etc.
• Strength. A joint surrounded by muscle is a stable joint. That means doing exercises that strengthen all the muscles, including minor ones. It’s part of why most people who know what they are talking about will try to get you to do compound lifts with free weights over single joint exercises on machines.
• periodization/progressive overload. Basically slowly building intensity and then backing off to recuperate.

Big one is just walk more. If there’s anything near your house that you regularly drive to, start trying to walk there as much as possible.

I have a lot of trouble motivating for the gym and similar self-directed activities, so I find classes or semi-organized sports much easier to do consistently.

I still lift weights, although now it is more about staying toned than getting huge gains. I also try to do cardio at least twice a week.

Injuries are harder to recover from so if something starts to hurt in a bad way I stop and do something else.

Ping pong / table tennis (depending on how seriously you take it) can be a VERY good way to get your steps in. In a 2 hour session I get about 8-10 thousand steps. This is 4 to 5 miles. It is low impact and you can really get a good sweat on.

Yoga. I started doing some distance running and besides learning to run in the correct zone so I am not maxing out my body everytime I have been doing this Post Run Yoga after most runs. It really helps and allows me to cool down and stretch well. The rest of her videos also rock

I am 40+ and I just realized the huge importance biomechanics has in choosing a sport or, in my case, the right free weights exercises to do in the gym: if you get someone who ACTUALLY STUDIED Biomechanics in university or anyway an academic-level course, they can take measurements of your limbs and torso and suggest literally the kind of exercise that would have the most return while keeping the chance of injuries at a minimum.

Of course, personal preference/enjoyment will always have to play the most important role in your choices, but when not having strong opinions reducing your chance of injury so that you can be constant in your practice is the best long-term strategy.

Hookers and blow.

My heart is the size of a basketball. I’m going to live forever.

Walk a lot with the dog, also stretch!!! Before doing any big exercise. It would have been better to stretch when you were younger but it still helps. Also just exercise and eat healthy

How do you even get back into it… So hard

I’m in my 40s and I’m really glad I got into martial arts back in my 20s and kept up with it.

Stretch, start slow, build up gradually. Stretch again. Stretch a third.

Get a decent set of exercise bands. I have 5lbs all the way up to multiple 100lbs ones. They are relatively cheap, light and highly mobile.

As a 54 year old who has just had two weeks of agony because he forgot his age and tried to deadlift a 225kg motorbike by himself, I’m going to skip this one because I clearly haven’t learned anything.

I’ve had to come to terms with taking things slower than I used to. I learned the hard way that I can’t just train for a 10k in a few weekends.

The rule of increasing distance/duration by 10% per week is to protect our joints/bones/etc when they ain’t what they used to be.