I just started doing push-ups again after a couple of decades (or longer). I’m getting better results than when I was around half the age I am now. I’m not doing any more than I did then. What gives?
When you say “better results”, what are you measuring?
It could be that when you were young, your naturally-strong muscles weren’t challenged as much by push ups and didn’t need to increase as much. But now that you’re older, your age-reduced muscles are finding it harder to do those same pushups and they’re signaling your body to build them up. Your body is overcompensating for the new effort. Over time your body will adjust and won’t build up the muscle as quickly since it will be in normal muscle-building mode rather than overcompensating mode.
Makes sense to me. It’s strange that I have bigger biceps at 56 than I had when I was half as old and exercised harder. Now that I think of it, my leg muscles don’t look much different when I’m running 4 miles or so every other day than when I ran double that amount. Maybe the fact that I’m consuming more protein and less carbs makes a difference as well.