I’m 51 and I’ve stopped and started who knows how many times. Don’t stop. Watch the alcohol intake. Don’t stop. LISTEN to your body. Don’t stop. Work on your grip. Don’t stop. Be a good gym partner. Don’t stop. Don’t get in a rut doing the same exercises. Don’t stop. Respect the old farts like me. Don’t stop. Listen to your shoulders. Don’t stop. TRY and not to overtrain. Don’t stop. DL and squat with good form. HAPPY NEW YEAR
If it hurts don’t do it!! “Does it hurt” is a yes or no question. There is no such answer as “a little”. You are not a pro athlete, you don’t have to work through pain and injury. Let it heal and come back strong or “work through it” and limit your ability to lift in the future. The choice is yours. And don’t mess up your shoulders!
Find something to compete in. I lift to throw, so my training is based on that.
Mix it up. Past couple of months, been sticking with backsquats, rack pulls and hang cleans.
Probably start complexes in the spring.
Workout for 30 minutes. You don’t need to do 30 different variations, keep it simple, go home.
I’m 58 and having fun.
It’s too easy, it just takes injuries and time to learn and since you asked, please take the advice on this thread 'cause that what’s we went through.
Shoulders and knees - don’t fuck these joints or they will fuck you.
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Go deep in your squats - every squat.
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Do not increase the weight if it is at the expense of form - when your back loses the arch, or the hips can’t get low enough, or your pulling with your arms instead of your hips, it’s too heavy.
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Avoid exercises that rotate the humeris outward (behind the neck presses and pull ups), these will fuck your shoulders. But do perform a rotation called “shoulder dislocates”.
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If you are working out on machines, you’re wrong. Free weights, placing you between a barbell, dumbbell, or kettlebell and the ground is all you will ever need from the weight room.
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Run, sprint, jump, and fall. Learn to, and move your body through space often.
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Joint rotations to warm up/stretch prior to working. Martial artists don’t kick high because they do splits… they can do splits because they kick high. Full Range of Motion.
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Learn how to eat and eat for performance and quality of health. In other words, don’t listen to the FDA.
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Focus on functional fitness and everything else can look towards in a goal will follow on.
Good luck.
-SK
[quote]Gary John wrote:
Find something to compete in.[/quote]
Great thread from all you old farts. Gary John brought up a great point. Even if it’s just a stupid bench press competition at the campus rec center I always like to have something I’m working towards and for.
I would like to add another nugget of wisdom from a semi-old fart (35+ years of lifting): The importance of dynamic stretching and warming up has been discussed. In addition to those, I have been using a muscle warming cream on all of my critical joints prior to every workout. Been doing it for 20 years or so.
I’m 51 and I have no joint issues. None. Cramer “red hot” is the one I use, but many others would work as well. I also do 2 warm up movements per set before I up the weight. Although I have injured various joints over the years, all have healed just fine. Good luck and lift smart(ly) !
The whole thing about competing, is it keeps you in the game.
Shaving in a 5x mirror so your glasses won’t fog up reminds you of how old you are.
Throwing a couple of feet farther than you did the week before makes the hard work worth it.
Track meet last week, I sucked, this week, kicked ass. Threw the weight against some studs from the US hammer program. They, of course killed me, but I threw far for an old fart.
Pounding weight to even out my peck symmetry is a waste of time. Snatch grip deads mixed in with high weight rack pulls, hit something that carried over to the meet. Cause and effect can keep you going forever.
31 as well.
When I was 18 all that mattered was muscle, so cardio always took the back seat… Until I got a stress test a couple years ago and I came up average, or even below average.
Train your heart for god’s sake, it’s what keeps everything going. After a year of focusing of cardio I am amazed at how much better I feel, and look. I don’t get dizzy when I lift super hard, and I’m more vascular.
And it’s been mentioned on this thread repeatedly, but STRETCH. I don’t agree with before, unless you do something to warm up the muscles first. But at least stretch after EVERY workout. In between sets is good too, so don’t be lazy - you’re not doing anything but standing around checking out the babes anyway.
If I could change one thing about my training over the years, it would be to be completely consistant. Train no matter what. Break your leg? Fine, go train your arms. Torn rotator cuff? Get in there and do some cardio and lower body work.
Best of luck.
[quote]magyar wrote:
I would like to add another nugget of wisdom from a semi-old fart (35+ years of lifting): The importance of dynamic stretching and warming up has been discussed. In addition to those, I have been using a muscle warming cream on all of my critical joints prior to every workout. Been doing it for 20 years or so.
I’m 51 and I have no joint issues. None. Cramer “red hot” is the one I use, but many others would work as well. I also do 2 warm up movements per set before I up the weight. Although I have injured various joints over the years, all have healed just fine. Good luck and lift smart(ly) ![/quote]
I don’t know what type of warming cream yuu use, but most of them iritate the skin, cause the blood to flow to the surface where it is cooled down.
The skin feels hotter, but the muscle actually gets cooler.
I want to put my .02 in for the skinny guys who “can’t get bigger and I eat like a horse” blah blah.
I said the same thing in my teens and twenties. I bellyached about my metabolism, complained about my backbone sticking out 1/4 inch, and wished like hell I could gain weight.
All the while I ate 2-3 times a day, lifted upper body only, smoked cigarettes, and binge drank.
My advice is if you are serious about getting bigger then you need to do squats and deadlifts alongside your other (favorite) lifts, and eat 6 times a day, increasing your calories until you can actually eat enough to gain weight. Please do it while you’re young, I wish like hell I would have earlier.
Friends,
After a long absence from T-Nation (I think it was just T-Mag when I left), I’ve time and space in my life again to throw down with you. I’m 52, have been lifting for most of my life since I was 16, but oddly enough, took most of the last two years off from serious work in the gym to try to change myself (and my body) into a road bike racer! Now I’m hammering again in the gym, but that’s not what this thread is about.
My input so far: stretching is overrated, and most of us won’t perform stretches in either case (see Dave Draper’s life)
Drink red wine rather than beer (not as much insulin spike and mad hunger for burgers and fries).
Engage in powerlifting and strongman workouts periodically, for weeks at a time, to completely change the stress on your body and brain.
Whoever suggested walking away from weird aches and pains is absolutely correct. Do it, live to fight again the next day.
Eat six to seven times daily, small meals. Believe me, I tried the 3 square meals deal while riding, and it doesn’t work. Not for musclebuilding and strength.
I think regular, great sex is important for lifting well into your middle years (or perhaps it’s the other way around).
Flood your system with protein. Eat more tuna.
I am looking for advice for a good meal/diet plan.
I am a 40 year old and was really into working out until a year ago when I had to have shoulder operation. I feel that I am ready to start agian. I would really appriciate any advice you all could give me.
Thanks
devildog
A general piece of advice: Just stick with it, I was an all or nothing type of guy for years, meaning if I got too wrapped up in work, or couldn’t eat perfectly I just quit working out for a while, and before you know it 6 months goes by. Slow steady gains or even just not losing ground goes a long long way over a twenty year span. The older you get the harder it is to make up lost ground.
[quote]piper1 wrote:
A general piece of advice: Just stick with it, I was an all or nothing type of guy for years, meaning if I got too wrapped up in work, or couldn’t eat perfectly I just quit working out for a while, and before you know it 6 months goes by. Slow steady gains or even just not losing ground goes a long long way over a twenty year span. The older you get the harder it is to make up lost ground.[/quote]
I couldn’t agree more. In the past two weeks I’ve lost control of a leg press sled (18 plates), and had it slam my right knee into my ribs, cracking a rib. Then a week and 1/2 later I heard and felt a ripping sound in my upper left hamstring, while in the squat rack with 225 on my back, using a sumo-style stance. Recovered from both, didn’t miss my workouts (in fact completed each of those workouts with modifications), but am learning the hard way that as my strength levels increase (I was off the iron for a couple of years while concentrating on competitive road cycling), my body remembers what it used to be able to do, my mind wants to do even more, but supportive and connecting tissues need a bit of coaxing and gentle love.
So take your time, concentrate on your diet and be as strict as possible, because excess or wrongly timed calories make a bigger difference to us now, and are more difficult to work with. So if you don’t put them in your pie-hole at the wrong time, you won’t have to attempt to erase them.
[quote]Desideratus15 wrote:
What’s up guys, I thought this might be a good topic (sorry if it’s been posted already).
For all you older guys out there still training, what advice would you give the younger guys such as myself (age 20) to help things such as my joints, muscles and just overall body feeling good for down the road in 20, 30 or however many years?[/quote]
Proper form and controlled speed of your reps. This will cut down on the wear and tear on joints. Don’t over train or try to impress people with how much you can lift.
Some good advice given already. My 2 cents:
1/ Avoid injury, it sucks, your body goes back to how it was before you trained and you can’t do anything about it. It also makes you more likely to get injured again. You get weak, and the weaker you get the more injured you get, the more injured you get the weaker you become.
2/ It’s much better to get really good at squatting and deadlifting than to get quite good at lots of things. Squatting and DLing make you strong where most people are weak and less likely to get injured if you’re sensible about it.
3/ With the stretching, I don’t think there’s an absolute right answer. Being flexable for the sake of it is a waste of time and energy. Being too stiff to squat and then squatting anyway is asking to get hurt. Become an expert on yourself.
4/ Never listen to negative people.
5/ Don’t let your shoulders get rounded with too much benching
See all the posts on this “Over 35” forum about HRT, low testosterone levels, etc? It could be a fact for you young bucks out there once you reach this ripe old age!
My suggestion: get your levels of testosterone checked right NOW. Don’t just get one test as one test doesn’t tell the whole story. Get several tests in the morning to establish what your young baseline hormone levels are.
By doing this, you are armed with the knowledge of where you really need to be the rest of your life. I think one always should be at their “peak” levels, and the only way to know what your peak levels are is by getting a good reading of where you’re at when you’re 25 years old or younger.
You may not think it can happen to you (low Test levels), but the major events in life other than aging such as family, greater job responsibilities, and different life stresses will all gather and try to bring your levels down.
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Have a spiritual life.
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Remember what troubles you is common to all men, and then act accordingly, like a man, of course.
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Join a web site that challenges you with mental exercises every day because the mind is the single greatest tool God gave.
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Do Cardio no matter what, because no one ever died from a ?bicep attack? but a heart attack will sure ruin your day. Plus, cardio will minimize your Viagra bill and allow you to spout your opinion on websites when no one else cares.
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Read all you can by Vince Gironda and then pick and choose what works best for you. If you could only have one coach for the rest of your life, you?d only need Vince.
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Build a realistic home gym because exercise increases in direct proportion to the convenience of initiation. ( = Smartbulldog?s rule #1 … Hey, I did thunk it up all on my own).
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Do martial arts, if even only just alone at home, because life isn?t a cakewalk and martial arts empower.
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Winners never quit. Quitters never win.
I am 58 this year and have been gyming it since my son dragged me into a gym to train with him when he was 18, he is now 33. I am probably one of the oldest guy in the gym still lifting loose weights. When you reach my age you have to set priorities in order to avoid the pain and strain that comes with age. Retaining muscle mass (not bulk) and flexibility is the main priorities. Controlling diet and weight is paramount.
As you get older it is important to slowly increase cardiovascular activities towards the end of each session ensuring you monitor your optimum heart rate for age and weight. Do not do any stretching exercises at start of training. Check your recovery rate between any sessions. Do not compete with younger guys and do not try to impress the women.
1)The best advice I ever got was in a magazine as a poster. It said: There are two rules for bodybuilding:
a) Everything works
b) Nothing works for long
(I’m 39, been training since I was 22. Was 6’2" 150 lbs with 5% body fat, am 6’2" 200 lbs with 9% body fat. I work as a firefighter so being in good condition is a real benefit to my career. In the best shape of my life. I can vouch for these rules.)
2)Hire a GOOD trainer once in a while for a period of several months. I thought I knew training and I did, but it’s what I didnt know that’s made me strong and fit today.
3)Read, talk, ask… test. If something sounds good, test it on yourself, if you get results, put it in the reportiore, if not, discard it.
4)Keep notes and journals, nothing gets you in the gym on a lazy day like reading how much stronger you are today than a year, 2 years or more ago.
5)One last thing, always remember that no one workout will make any difference at all, but the cumulative effect of all your workouts over time will have huge effects.