I recently turned 40.
In the last few years, I have clearly felt my physical strength declining. If I push myself even a little, I get tired immediately. Just having plans in the evening feels exhausting. There are days when my weekends end with recovery rather than enjoyment.
On the other hand, there are people who seem like "stamina monsters," handling work, family, and private life with ease in their 30s.
I realized that the foundation of life is indeed stamina.
I have had atopic dermatitis since childhood and was physically weak; I was even bullied. Honestly, I was never on the side of people with high stamina.
So, I had given up, thinking stamina was just a matter of talent.
But around age 38, my thinking began to change.
I started to see a realistic path for someone weak to "build stamina without getting exhausted."
This isn't about stoic muscle training or intense morning routines. It's about the techniques a weak person uses to increase their output despite being weak.
What we are aiming for here is not to become a "real stamina monster" born with natural energy.
It is a method to aim for being a "Pseudo-Stamina Monster."
These are the insights I assembled through trial and error to gain more action-power than the average person, despite my frailty.
I believe the true identity of people who look like stamina monsters is that they are "people who are good at managing their energy."
They rest effectively where it's not visible. They don't accumulate unnecessary fatigue. Even if they break down, they recover quickly. That's why they (appear to) keep moving constantly.
It's natural for the stamina gap to widen in your 30s because this is the period when you start spending the "savings" of your youth.
In your 20s, you can push through with willpower. Even if you stay up late for a day, you recover. Even if your diet is junk, you can somehow keep going.
But in your 30s, the story changes. The damage from bad habits accumulates. Recovery power drops.
Before you know it, you're in a state where you're easily tired, prone to weight gain, unable to concentrate, and your weekends are spent just recovering.
It's quite dangerous. You don't even have the stamina to build stamina... In fact, this was the trap I fell into myself.
There are three concepts to avoid this and aim for being a "pseudo-stamina monster."
**1. Suppress damage. First, reduce energy leakage. 2. Suppress energy consumption. Improve fuel efficiency and create a state where you don't get unnecessarily tired. 3. Increase stamina stock. Have a reserve tank so your body doesn't easily crash even with a little strain.**
In other words, instead of trying to get strong through sheer grit and force,
It is a process of preparing yourself to be less easily drained, less easily tired, and able to handle a bit of pressure.
Through my late 30s, I realized this is how you aim to be a "pseudo-stamina monster."
Today, I want to verbalize 10 habits to aim for being a "pseudo-stamina monster" starting in your 30s.
1. Prioritize Sleep Above All Else
Ultimately, this is the foundation.
Both mental state and motivation are heavily influenced by sleep. Lack of sleep also dulls your judgment.
What's scary is that the more sleep-deprived you are, the more insensitive you become to your own performance decline.
Famous studies report that staying awake for long periods degrades reaction speed and accuracy to a level similar to being drunk.
When you're sleep-deprived, don't trust yourself when you think "I can still keep going."
If you do, your performance drops further. Work takes longer. It doesn't finish. You go to bed later. Performance drops again.
This loop is dangerous.
To raise your stamina baseline without getting tired, securing sleep is the first priority.
Don't try to work hard by sacrificing sleep; secure sleep no matter what. That mindset is just right.
2. Value Your Gut Environment
The gut environment is incredibly important.
The gut and mental health are directly linked. Research shows the gut and brain are connected, affecting mood and concentration.
I feel this impact significantly.
When my body feels heavy, my head is foggy, or I feel mysteriously unstable, my gut condition is often poor.
If it gets particularly bad, it can approach a state called leaky gut, making recovery very tedious.
I once significantly improved my allergies, and at that time, I spent about two months solely focused on fixing my gut environment.
Even now, if my health worsens, I check that first.
If you're interested, looking into the Paleo diet or Mediterranean diet can provide hints.
It's a quiet habit, but it affects your overall health.
If you want to be a pseudo-stamina monster, look at your gut before you look at training.
When the gut is disrupted, life itself becomes disrupted.
3. Sweat Every Day
If you haven't sweated lately, your stamina is likely dropping.
The sweat I'm talking about here isn't the passive sweat from a sauna. It's sweat from moving your body.
Use the stairs at the station. Walk one station's distance. Walk a bit faster. Occasionally sprint up stairs.
Just this makes a difference.
It's hard to suddenly make intense exercise a habit. But you can create a life where you sweat a little every day.
People whose stamina drops often aren't just lacking exercise; they've stopped using their bodies in daily life.
Just by starting to sweat a little in your daily routine, the floor of your stamina rises significantly.
Increasing daily activity and load is more natural for humans than training intensely at a gym.
4. Do Breathless Exercise Once a Week
Moving every day is important.
However, there are parts that won't improve with that alone.
So, once a week, include exercise that gets you out of breath. This is an effort to raise your heart rate and improve cardiopulmonary function.
That said, you don't need to run intensely. You don't need to do it like a harsh sports club.
Moderate-intensity exercise is enough.
For example, a 20-minute brisk walk, a stationary bike, burpees, or light HIIT. These are fine.
By the way, I do HIIT about once every two days.
Beginners might find it easier to start with something like the Tabata protocol.
Increasing daily activity and occasionally stimulating your heart and lungs.
With both, your stamina will change significantly.
A pseudo-stamina monster isn't someone who pushes to the limit every day. They are someone who sweats daily and occasionally gives their heart and lungs a tough stimulus.
5. Eliminate the Causes of Stress
I believe there are two types of stress.
**One is good stress. It is proactive and brings a sense of accomplishment. The other is bad stress. It is passive, chronic, and slowly drains you.**
This bad stress is truly dangerous.
It erodes the mind and increases bad habits: staying up late, binge eating/drinking, mindless scrolling, and escapism.
If these are increasing, be careful.
Even if you think you are mentally strong, if your life is falling apart, you are already breaking.
So, what's needed isn't symptomatic treatment.
It's cutting off the root cause.
I recommend writing it down on paper first.
What is painful? What is on your mind? What is draining your mental energy?
Visualize it, dig deep, and think of countermeasures.
Sometimes people who decide to change jobs suddenly see their performance skyrocket because they cut off the root cause.
When bad stress decreases in life, people truly regain their energy.
When we think of building stamina, we tend to imagine exercise, but just by reducing stress sources, the stamina you can actually use increases significantly.
6. Know Your Fatigue Triggers
This is also personally very helpful.
What type of things tire you out? What makes your body feel heavy all at once?
Just knowing this makes a huge difference.
For example: Packing your schedule the day after a lack of sleep is a disaster. Spending long hours with people is exhausting. Consecutive dinner meetings make it impossible to wake up. Five hours of meetings in a day makes the brain overheat. Overeating makes the next day useless.
It's like this.
Knowing your "drain points" is very important.
People without stamina will collapse if they try to imitate strong people.
So, what's needed isn't self-denial, but self-understanding.
If you know "Why do I get tired?", it becomes much easier to protect your stamina.
A pseudo-stamina monster isn't someone with pure grit. They are someone who knows their weaknesses and takes preemptive measures.
7. Secure a Place for "Mental Laundry"
When you are hopelessly tired or fed up, have a place to go to wash your mind.
I think this is essential for modern people.
When you have a family or a position at work, these places disappear unless you are conscious of them.
I feel this is one reason for the sauna boom.
For me, it's saunas, public baths, manga cafes, quiet private spaces, a favorite Chinese restaurant, or a favorite large bookstore.
I found these to be very effective.
Places where you can shut out the outside world. Places where you don't have to think about anything. Places where no one expects anything from you.
Just having such places helps not only your stamina but also your spirit to return.
Don't just have techniques for working hard; have a place to return to.
This is important.
Not just training, but time to refresh is vital.
8. Try Various Supplements
Supplements are just supplements.
Actually, you feel the most effect when you supplement nutrients you are lacking.
It's wrong to try to fix everything with supplements when your life is a mess.
But if you use them after setting the foundation, they are helpful.
Moreover, different things work for different people.
For example, in my case, when I want to increase concentration, I use theanine with caffeine.
For my allergic constitution, high-absorption curcumin was easy to feel the effects of.
When I lacked motivation, creatine worked.
When I had trouble falling asleep, magnesium sometimes helped.
These are things I personally felt the effects of.
So, I think it's good to start by trying things like these.
Life is the lead; supplements are the training wheels.
Don't forget this order.
A pseudo-stamina monster isn't made by magic supplements.
They are made by adding a few missing components to the foundation of life.
9. Detox Occasionally
The detox I'm talking about here isn't some mysterious spiritual thing.
It's simply the feeling of returning a body that has become heavy from overeating or a messy diet back to a light state.
In my case, I occasionally do things like fasting or "cutting out the four poisons" (prohibiting wheat, dairy, sugar, and vegetable oil).
Always eating. Always taking in stimulants. Always making the internal organs work.
If you keep this up, damage accumulates.
So, let them rest once. Reset.
You don't need to do it perfectly every day.
But it's powerful to have a way to return when things fall apart.
People with stamina aren't always in perfect condition.
They know they will fall apart and know how to return when necessary.
I think this is very important.
10. Schedule Based on Your "Tired Self"
Finally, this is incredibly important.
Plan your schedule based on your tired self.
We tend to make plans like: "Since I can run 100m in 15 seconds, I can run 10km in 1500 seconds (25 minutes)."
But that becomes an unreasonable pace, like a marathon world record.
Instead, you should plan at a pace where even your tired self can manage, like 100m in a minute.
With this, it's okay to walk midway, and it's hard to collapse even if there's some fluctuation.
A common mistake for people without stamina is trying to build stamina, getting exhausted, and becoming less able to move than before.
I've done this many times.
In terms of productivity, it's actually a minus.
So, don't base it on yourself on a high-energy day. Design it so it works even on a tired day.
Stamina is ultimately just the power to act.
So, keep your plans in a form that works not for your ideal self, but for your tired self.
A pseudo-stamina monster isn't someone who runs through with grit. They are someone who is good at designing a pace that is hard to break.
Summary
The stamina gap widens in your 30s because it's the time you start spending your youth's savings.
Damage from bad habits also accumulates.
Before you know it, you're easily tired, prone to weight gain, and lose focus easily.
So, what's needed isn't getting strong through force.
Suppress damage. Suppress energy consumption. Increase stamina stock.
It's about quietly accumulating these three things.
Specifically: Prioritize sleep. Fix the gut. Sweat daily. Include breathless exercise. Cut off stress roots. Know fatigue triggers. Have a mental laundry spot. Use supplements as aids. Reset occasionally. Schedule based on your tired self.
Accumulating these things was ultimately the best way.
Pseudo-stamina monsters rest where it's not seen, avoid unnecessary drain, and have systems to return to normal.
I am still on the way myself.
But I feel that even someone on the frailer side can change little by little.
So, just one thing is fine to start with.
Before building stamina, I think it's best to start by reducing the habits that drain it.
On this account, I verbalize daily growth under the theme of "1mm growth a day." Following is an encouragement.
https://x.com/antoshia2n/status/2073331909892166120
https://x.com/antoshia2n/status/2072961167761293413
**Reference Books + Recommended Books "The Stanford Method for Ultimate Sleep" by Seiji Nishino "The Upside of Stress" by Kelly McGonigal "Saiko no Taicho (The Best Physical Condition)" by Yu Suzuki "The Bulletproof Diet" by Dave Asprey**
