I haven’t lifted seriously in about 20 years. I’m 42, 5’10" and weigh 335 lbs. After eliminating added sugars, reducing carbs, and walking 30+ minutes every morning, have lost 15 pounds recently and am continuing to lose weight. I am much weaker than I was 20 years ago and really want to get stronger than I ever was before. I’m ok if this takes awhile as I’ve already dealt with tendinitis off and on over the years and would prefer slow and steady progression instead that my body can handle.
I can’t currently do pushups, pullups, chinups, or dips as any type of assistance work until I drop a significant amount of weight and get much stronger. The gym in my city didn’t have a machine that provides assistance to pullups/chinups/dips. I want to continue walking 30+ minutes every day. I can do additional cardio if needed but the walking is a must. When l was younger, I really enjoyed doing pullovers and lat pulldowns. I don’t know if these exercises would be beneficial to me right now but if I had to do some assistance work, I wouldn’t mind adding those in if it made sense.
With this all in mind, which variant of 531 would you recommend to me to use for am extended period of time? What if any modifications would you make sure to my limitations?
Thank you.
While the knee-jerk reaction might be “Beginner’s Prep School”, given your age and history and weight, I would go for a single lift a workout with supersetted assistance. Check out “Prep and Fat Loss” from Forever as an example.
I would choose assistance based on you capabilities. For example, if it were Bench Press or OHP day: Bodyweight squats, inverted rows (if possible, or chest supported rows), knee raises.
For squat or DL day, maybe high incline push ups or knee push ups, DB rows or seated rows, and KB swings.
Start with a low Training Max ™ and don’t overdo it with the pace or the assistance. Build up to push the assistance, and progress to DB squats (after you can crank out BW squats), regular push ups, etc…
And I agree: keep up the walking!
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Thank you. I think I’m going to get and read 531 Forever and go from there.
Good for you for having the balls to make a change - it can’t be easy.
Keep your walking consistent - I’d like for you to eventually be able to walk for 60 minutes/day but for now, just keep doing it as much as you can. For lifting, as long as you can do the 4 lifts correctly and feel relatively confident, lift 3 days/week, rotating the lifts in a 9 day rotation:
Monday
Squat
Wednesday
Bench
Friday
Dead
Monday
Press
Wednesday
Squat
Friday
Bench
Don’t worry about assistance work - just get the main lifts in. Do 5’s PRO and 5x5 FSL for each lift. Keep it simple, don’t go crazy with the training max. Work on perfect reps.
If you are truly ready to make the commitment: Email my wife at WendlerStore - followed by gmail.com. She will hook you up with a free membership on my forum so you can get some personalized attention by a bunch of people who have experience in coaching AND people who have been in your shoes.
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What an amazing gesture. I’ve always appreciated your writing style and commitment to being a good man (even in the cesspool that is fitness Internet); I’m a huge fan that you’re "give-back’ avenue of choice is coaching kids. It says something when folks will do things when they don’t have to, and I will continue to support your store because this is a differentiator (I mean, I can buy a t-shirt anywhere, but why would anyone not support someone actually trying to do something?).
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That is an amazing offer. Thank you! I’ll be reaching out later today when I have more time.
I can increase my walking to 1 hour immediately. I would also like to purchase one of your books today. Which do you recommend?
Thank you!
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No advice, just wanted to say good luck. There will be good and bad days/weeks/months, but stay at it! I’m in your corner!
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