I should make clear that any perceived 'doomandglooming' is entirely piss-taking.
I'm minded to think that out of all the various physical and psychological mechanisms that might contribute to someone in their 30s/40s/50s finding climbing / weights to feel harder this year compared to 5 or 10 years ago, 'molecular ageing' is a long way down the list of most likely mechanisms. Impossible to prove against though, and it's always good to have another arrow in the excuse quiver. 
Or what Duncan said.
Literally the second fucking line in my first post
I've noticed an accelerated decline in my strength over the last year - worryingly more than I'd expect.
I don't know all the mechanisms. I just know what actually happened to me. If there are alternate explanations for "steady gentle decline - major drop in mid 40s - steady gentle decline" then maybe they will be useful to know about (yes, I know "mental health problems" and "quarry cleaning fatigue" have been covered but the former doesn't have a clear cut correspondence nor explain the fluctuation in declining, and the latter has been resolved).
As for excuses, the net effect is the opposite. There's a _possible_ explanation for both a major drop AND for no future major drops occurring for quite a long time. That is a strong motivation to keep what I'm doing, i.e. trying as hard as I can to reduce the intermediate gentle decline in that quite a long time.
Or what I said to Duncan.
When I have done things semi-regularly, I have regularly obtained poor results.
Also in my first post:
My previous experience is: If I go to the gym sporadically, but maintain a good level of activity with climbing days out, indoor walls, and other stuff, I can get back into gym lifts pretty quickly - I don't progress nor get near PBs without more regularity, but I regain previous norms well with just a bit more regularity.
And my current experience is, the semi-regularity has got me to hold steady(-ish) at the new low level. In the context that is a good result not a poor result.
Also in terms of regularity, if it's a choice between 3 gym sessions and 1 wall session a week, or 3 wall sessions and 1 gym session a week - I'm going to choose the latter. Too much gym regularity would lead to fatigue for climbing and possible bulking up, as well as missing on the pleasure and social benefits on the wall regularity. So I have to get the balance right for me. Which does include going to the gym - and aiming to do it more over this winter (possibly could be persuaded for a 2/2 balance...).
