How do builders/decorators keep working after 40?

[Frequency]

After being let down by a contractor, we arranged to fit the flooring in DD's room and the stairs, and DD having a full-blown panic attack, we decided to fit the floor ourselves.

We did it. It looks fine; there are a few tiny mistakes in corners, but nothing you would notice unless you were crawling around the floor on your hands and knees looking for faults. DD is happy, but I am fucked.

I woke up this morning and every muscle in my body was on fire. I can't lift my arms above my head because my shoulders ache too much. I cannot sit down without holding onto something because my thighs burn with the power of a thousand suns.

I missed my weightlifting class this morning because I physically could not get out of bed, much less lift a barbell.

I still have the stairs' flooring to fit tonight. Most builders I see around town are not fit; my dad was morbidly obese when he was working as a tradesman. How do they manage this work day in, day out?

Am I missing a trick or just not as fit and strong as I thought I was?

@SarahAndQuack I do not possess that skill. It was sheer bloody mindedness that did it!

Other people have covered the practise part of this, but I just want to flag the "obese" part.

Because if you look at strongman contests, they are not ripped. The ripped/skinny sixpack look is not about strength, it's about vanity. It's usually achieved by short-term dehydration.

If you want to be consistently using big muscles, you usually need a layer of fat to serve them with ready energy.

You get used to it. I was a regular at the gym when I finally decided to get back to horse riding again

oh my god. I had to ask a passerby to take my handbrake off my car as I physically couldn’t do it. I was wrecked. But after a few months I was back to where I used to be with riding and very rarely sore