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For those of us who lift weights to train-have you who have worked out consistantly between 40-60 years lost 20% of your max lifts?

I am just coming back to weight lifting at 54 (didn't expect touch weights again!) and I seem to be able to make progress in my totals.

I don't think strength losses of that magnitude are inevitable. The performances of masters athletes are amazing and show that we are capable high levels of fitness throughout life.

At 50, compared to my all time maxes set in my late 20's and early 30's, here is where I stand in a few lifts.

Now Then
Squats 150kg 160kg (didn't back squat much back then)
F squats 145kg 160kg
Bench 102kg 100kg
Snatch 115kg 120kg
C&J 130kg 137.5kg

So as you can see, I've lost between -2% and 10%, with reasonable hopes of getting all of these up beyond what I did as a youngster. The reason I haven't lost much I think has to do with smarter training and better nutrition.

I don't know if this is typical or not. It would be interesting to see other people's results.

So does this mean that if you keep using your muscles you don't lose them-or does it means that the muscle fibers you have left are better trained?

In my case at least, there seems to be little, if any, loss of muscle mass. I'm about 10 lbs heavier than when I was strongest, and not quite as lean.