…So don’t let anyone tell you that you’re too old to train for size and strength.
I hope this helps you. Don’t let anyone steal your dreams.
Ass Buster[/quote]
Ladies & gentlemen, this thread contains some of the most real and inspirational conversation on any posting site period. It stands in stark contrast to some of the many other threads on T-Nation where you ask a question and then get squashed by an insult or see an endless argument over the most minor of issues, most relating to supplements.
I’m 35 years old and have decided to hang here where the older guys (as ornery as you can be sometimes) hang to gain some wisdom and learn some true life applications. But most of all to stay inspired. Let’s face it, life can be hard, so we need as much encouragement as we can get.
I have four young daughters and a full time job and make time to be in the gym to train hard 4 days a week. It’s a part of who I am and - as much as it depends on me - it always will be.
I have purposed in my heart that by the time I am 60 and older I will be an inspiration to my family and to society, not a burden. Everyday that I wake up and eat right, train hard, rest easy and live life with joyful expectation is a day closer to my latter years being the best years of my life. I’m having fun now, but baby just you wait 'til I’m “old”. Bring it on…
very good,
i too am pushin 49 and look much younger
than my fellow 49 year olds.
as a man thinks with in himself so he is.
i think animal,i live that thought at home in the gym at work and at play.
keep up the good work.your words are an inspiration.
Greetings I am also 44 and bust my ass and love to do so 5 days a week in the gym. I am currently taking Haladrol alnog with Novadex and Vaso pump. I have been getting great results but was wondering if there is anybody out there using anything comparable from our friends at Biotest and what would be comparable.
Another data point for y’all. I’m 55, I lift twice a day on training days (before work and after supper). I don’t take any hormones, I do supplement with Tribulus and I’m making great gains. I started the twice a day sessions about three months ago and they’ve added 1/2 inch to my arms and an inch to my legs in that time.
Gaining lean mass for me is all about training hard and eating right. I’m very careful about my diet. I count every calorie, I eat complete protein six times a day and I adjust my calories by watching the scale and the mirror. My experience is that when I train hard and eat right, I make gains.
It’s as simple as that for me right now and if things change, I’ll adjust and do whatever is necessary to meet my goals. Age isn’t the issue. Working hard and having your head in the game is the issue.
I look at my buddies my age who don’t work out and I feel sorry for them. They’re looking and feeling old. They all pass off my fitness and vigor (and my 32 year old girlfriend) as me “being lucky”. I try to tell them there’s no luck involved, but they don’t want to hear it. So keep up the good fight my friends, it can only make your life better every day.
I agree, don’t pay any attention to the 40+ training articles. Look for the best advice out there and do what makes sense for you (which won’t be in any of those articles).
A little off topic (though I’m 44 myself), but do I see a “kilted” bushido?
A fellow kilt wearer!
You guys may not know it but kilt wearing is directly proportional to lean muscle gains after the age of 40.
In fact, regular kilt wearing has been shown, without steroids, special diet, supplements, or EVEN EXERCISE, to increase a man’s lean muscle mass, and testosterone production.
[quote]happydog48 wrote:
Another data point for y’all. I’m 55, I lift twice a day on training days (before work and after supper). I don’t take any hormones, I do supplement with Tribulus and I’m making great gains. I started the twice a day sessions about three months ago and they’ve added 1/2 inch to my arms and an inch to my legs in that time.
Gaining lean mass for me is all about training hard and eating right. I’m very careful about my diet. I count every calorie, I eat complete protein six times a day and I adjust my calories by watching the scale and the mirror. My experience is that when I train hard and eat right, I make gains.
It’s as simple as that for me right now and if things change, I’ll adjust and do whatever is necessary to meet my goals. Age isn’t the issue. Working hard and having your head in the game is the issue.
I look at my buddies my age who don’t work out and I feel sorry for them. They’re looking and feeling old. They all pass off my fitness and vigor (and my 32 year old girlfriend) as me “being lucky”. I try to tell them there’s no luck involved, but they don’t want to hear it. So keep up the good fight my friends, it can only make your life better every day.[/quote]
I like this post so much I wanted to bump this thread.
95% of people who tell you that it’s very hard to add LBM when you are in your 40’s don’t know what the’re talking about. Why? Because they are younger then 40 and believe the sterotyping that they’ve been told for so long. Lift heavy, pound the clean calories, drink your water ,take your supplements and over 40 lifters gain just like young ones.
Here’s an example,
yesterday, I’m out working in the yard
and one of my new neighbors come by walking his dog and we talk a little bit, he notices my AIRBORNE tattoo and asked when I served. I told him my service began in 1968,he says he served in 69 and walks away. Comes back and says “you know, the kind of shape you are in I thought you would say you served in the 80’s. How old are you”? I said,“I’ll be 58 in February” He was amazed.
Don’t get caught in the “Well, I’m over 40, I can’t gain, so what’s the use”. Bust your ass and eat right and the gains will come.The only thing you will probably need is more rest than younger guys. GO HEAVY OR GO HOME.
Being ONLY 40, it’s good to know I have another +20 years of productive lifting ahead of me. I may need to abandon the powerlifter approach well before that though.
[quote]bobzan wrote:
Being ONLY 40, it’s good to know I have another +20 years of productive lifting ahead of me. I may need to abandon the powerlifter approach well before that though.
Great post![/quote]
20 years hell… A guy in my gym is in his 80’s, lifts three times a week, every week and looks like a 60 year old. I’m thinking of getting a picture, with permission, to post for inspiration. He won an Olympic Medal in power lifting, (before most on this board were born) and never quit. He moves kinda slow but never misses a workout. Makes me feel like a kid.
He had an episode a few months ago and almost fainted. EMT’s were called and he was sent to the hospital.
He was back in the gym the next week…said he didn’t eat enough breakfast that day.
I’m fifty. After not exercising worth beans for years, I started at a gym a little over three years ago. I could barely move forty pounds on a cybex machine (and I’m talking with my core body, forget the arms).
Now I’ve maxed the machines out and have decided that I need to learn how to really lift.
The guys at the Judo forums tend to quote from here a lot, so it pointed me this way.
I think I’m going to learn to squat and deadlift … and try to find a way to lift more than once a week. I think I’ve probably gotten as far as I’m going to get with HIT style workouts.
But it has been nice to go from over 240 to under 170 and to discover that my wife likes vasculatity.
I'm 50 now and I weigh 40 pounds more than when I was 40, with no body fat increase. I was 5'10," 150 at 40 years old and now I weigh 190. I gained most of that muscle when I was 47 and had the luxury of going on an all out mass-gaining binge (7 meals a day, 10 hours sleep a night, 5 way weekly split with emphasis on powerlifting lifts) for 4 months.
My job doesn't allow me that much free time now, and I can't stay as mentally sharp on that kind of routine as I need to be for work, but I have maintained my size and actually continued to get a little stronger. I look forward to a time (soon I hope!!) when I'll be able to get back to that kind of routine again.
I can definitely feel my age some, but mostly it is just the result of sloppy form and failure to take care of ligaments and tendons when I started lifting more in my late 30s (thinking I was running out of time!). I have a bum elbow (tendon fray) which interferes some with bicep work, but I just have to be creative. I use the smith machine a little more than in the past, and I would be lost without my Manta Ray when doing squats. Generally though, I feel much better than when I was 30 , and I'm a LOT bigger (I only weighed 135 pounds at 30).
I still hope to gain 50 more pounds before I turn 55. I plan to weigh at least 240 lean pounds when I get that piece of mail telling me I'm eligible for a senior discount card. I frequently get women telling me I look 10-15 years younger than I am, which tells me that they aren't looking at the wrinkles around my eyes, but somewhere below :)
Thanks to Throttle 132 for starting this thread and all the great contributors who have kept the thread alive for one and a half years or more!! Great stuff! An inspiration to all lifters. This is my first post at T-Nation . I am new to lifting on a regular basis (5X/week). Started lifting about the same time this thread started (just found it though).
Glad to hear I can expect to see some gains at my age … 62. I have already realized improvements in strength and some rippling where flab once resided. My goal is to keep the 175 lbs. on my 6 foot frame as lean as possible for as long as possible!
I started checking out this site about a year and a half ago. This is really my first / second post.
Thanks to alot of info at this site it helped me greatly.
I started working out again after years of abusing my body about Nov 2004. I used a combo of power walking , a total gym and free weights and ended up losing 40 lbs in about 9 months. I can add the wife lost a bunch and looks about 30-35, (she’s 48)body of a young thing… she’s HOTTER than ever! Basically eating very clean, nutritional supplements, and working out. Believe me when I tell you, I’ve gained some decent additional muscle action upper body, legs, you name it. I’m 48 now.
During summer 2005 / fall 2005, I started taking Alpha Male which was wonderful in many respects, however, it gave me an appetite of an 18 YO and I gained some weight back. Also made the mistake thinking that I could start eating alot of HIGH carbs again. Without getting into details, I now have re-committed (part of the reason I’m making this public, for commitment sake) to eating clean, walking again, (I quit walking last spring) and losing that bulking weight.
I just bought Doc Berardi’s book THE METABOLISM ADVANTAGE and I’m getting ready to implement his wisdom. Berardi is great! Don’t get me wrong, I never stopped working out, I just never got a handle on how to CUT the bulking I achieved and was worried about losing muscle, so I just kept lifting and eating like an 18 YO :}
Present Future Goals:
Clean eating for a healthy tomorrow.
Lift weights and work out till the day I’m dead.
Keep reading and educating myself @ T-Nation
Weight Goal 185-195 - Keep off the weight when I get there. Need to lose about 35-45 Lbs again. Easy !
Look 45 when I’m 55-60. Feel like I’m 25!
Keep away from the Doctors and
pharmaceuticals as long as possible.
Benefits from my lifestyle change two years ago and thanks to T-Nation …
I feel Strong like bull
I’m flexible
My back problems are gone
Acid Reflux gone
I feel like I’m 20
Awesome Sex Drive
Stress and anxiety levels LOW
Thanks’s to all the folks @ T-Nation The Over 35 Lifter / for all the info and advice I’ve read the past 16 + months.
I also want to thank throttle 132. I love this thread and read it often. It is very inspiring. Let me share a quick story. A few years back I was at the playground with my son and an older gentleman sat down next to me and we started talking. I could see he worked out and in fact I was impressed with his arms and overall he looked very strong.
I guessed him to be about 70. He told me he was 86!!! I just about fell out of my bench. The dude looked awesome for his age. He told me that he started lifting weights and working out when he was 50! and he had built up to a 300 bench when he was in his late 60’s.
He told me he still worked out almost every day but with lighter weights. He said he had lost but damn. I hope i look something like that when I’m 86. I don’t know who said it on this thread but I’ve adopted it as my personal motto. “You rust out before you wear out.”
[quote]eddie407 wrote:
I’m 50 now and I weigh 40 pounds more than when I was 40, with no body fat increase. I was 5’10," 150 at 40 years old and now I weigh 190. I gained most of that muscle when I was 47 and had the luxury of going on an all out mass-gaining binge (7 meals a day, 10 hours sleep a night, 5 way weekly split with emphasis on powerlifting lifts) for 4 months.
My job doesn't allow me that much free time now, and I can't stay as mentally sharp on that kind of routine as I need to be for work, but I have maintained my size and actually continued to get a little stronger. I look forward to a time (soon I hope!!) when I'll be able to get back to that kind of routine again.
I can definitely feel my age some, but mostly it is just the result of sloppy form and failure to take care of ligaments and tendons when I started lifting more in my late 30s (thinking I was running out of time!). I have a bum elbow (tendon fray) which interferes some with bicep work, but I just have to be creative. I use the smith machine a little more than in the past, and I would be lost without my Manta Ray when doing squats. Generally though, I feel much better than when I was 30 , and I'm a LOT bigger (I only weighed 135 pounds at 30).
I still hope to gain 50 more pounds before I turn 55. I plan to weigh at least 240 lean pounds when I get that piece of mail telling me I'm eligible for a senior discount card. I frequently get women telling me I look 10-15 years younger than I am, which tells me that they aren't looking at the wrinkles around my eyes, but somewhere below :)
Nothing beats the power of distraction!
[/quote]
Eddie
What did your pogram look like, bodypart split, sets/reps etc, to failure or not?