Aging Chimp: Be Hard to Kill

I’m a 43 y/o Homo sapien. Started lifting and wrasslin’ age 10-11. I grew up in small mountain towns in Oregon and (mostly) Idaho after being born in the furnace called Phoenix. My folks both have Master’s degrees but my dad’s job necessitated country living.

My earliest memories are hunting, fishing, and cutting firewood with my dad.

Growing up, I took every hard job I could find. We always had manual labor on our property but I took jobs on ranches, eventually logging and wildland firefighting to pay for college.

I observed, quite early in the Iron Game, I was unlikely to have the genetic potential for bodybuilding. My dad is 6’1", brothers are both over 6 foot, mom and sister 5’9"-5’10". I ended up 5’7" but I’m not the classic fire plug. People think I’m taller because I’m broad shouldered and narrow hipped. Its the German/Austrian side I take after

I did discover I had good potential for strength. As a freshman in high school wrestling in the 119-lb class, I was deadlifting 315 for 5x5 and could nearly out bench most Seniors.

I was a decent wrestler winning districts my first 2 years, lettering my freshman year, but never pulled off the “big time” i.e. placing at the State comp. It was mental. 100%. And it still haunts me because I feel it reflects in a deeper character flaw.

I’ve faced down 300 lb predatory black bear and was EXCITED to scrap but I couldn’t pull out that mental win against my human opponents.

Off the mat, I have a killers instinct. On the mat, I think I always felt “I don’t deserve it”. I was born this way. My parents are wonderful people that did not contribute to this mentality.

I was obsessed with having proper technique and tracking my progress via log book starting age 11. I spent hours going over bodybuilding books, magazines designing programs with pen and pad.

I don’t remember my high school competitive powerlifts well but they were around 225-lb bench, 365 deadlift, and, yes, 225 lb squat (long femurs are my bane in life). I was 135 lbs day of comp.

I got Pavel Tsatsolines first book "Power to the People " when it was released around 2000. My freshman year of college. It literally changed everything for me in training.

I became obsessed with old time lifts, kettlebells, minimalist heavy daily training, and Olympic lifting (thanks to the Ironmind journals).

The strength coach at my college saw me training and he also competed. He took me under his wig and my obsession with Olympic lifting was now full bore at 17-18.

I did…ok for a 90% self taught lifter. I believe my best lifts were at 169-lbs with 140 kg C&K, 115 kg snatch. Not great but I loved the sport. Injuries and becoming a single parent at 25 ended that.

When the routine settled with my boy and I, I re-entered powerlifting ending at age 30 with more injuries. I managed a 535 deadlift (raw), 300 lb (raw)/365 lb (single ply) bench, and 405 (raw), 475 (single ply) squat in the 165 lb class.

I competed up to the 198’s but never got the strength increase I expected. I WAS a beast at 198 lbs Olympic lifting in regards to all around strength. I could behind the neck jerk 165 kg, deadlift 500 lbs with no warmup, jump onto kitchen counters flat footed, etc.

After “retiring”, I never let up on training but it just became "be as strong AND athletic as possible "…without breaking my body again.

Age 39, I achieved my second most muscular physique with sub-20% bodyfat at 200 lbs using “The Best Damn…” series. I ate 6 meals per day, walked 5 miles/day, and trained 6 days per week without "enhancement " to get there

Today, I’m an aging but spry primate. I started TRT for hypogonadism 9-10 months ago. One of my “boys” gave up the ghost d/t an anatomical defect. 100 mg/week. No "blasting and cruising ".

Current stats:
Bdywt: 185 lbs, sub-20% bdyfat. Just above 15% on Inbody.
Ht: still 5’7"

Training: 3x/week rotating Push/Pull. 2 weeks ago, added 10-15 minute HIIT sessions on off days to trim the fat a bit.

Goals: strength and muscle as I age. I want to be the capable man I’ve been trying to be my whole life. I deep country elk and bear hunt every year for 2-3 weeks straight. Solo.

I NEED to come back to my son and wife so my mentality is “be hard to kill”.

Training session pending…and a horrible picture of my back at 200-lb bodyweight 4 years ago.

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Our “gym”. Basement in our 109 y/o house flooded 3 years ago. Previous owners butchered this old Craftsman bungalow so I’m making it right one day at a time…

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Catching up. 1/22: Pull

  1. Hamstring curl: drop set with lengthened partials to failure esch set x3 sets.
  2. Deficit SLDL: 235x10. light
  3. Strict curl (competition format): x3 descending sets
  4. Seated cable J-row: 90x6, 70x10
  5. Wrist curls: x3 descending sets.
  6. Ab wheel: kneeling x too many, standing: x3 controlled negatives only.

“Meh” day. Felt good but nothing spectacular. Low on kcals so not as strong but hitting bare minimum targets or better.

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1/23-1/24: De-fattening Sessions:

10 minutes of non-stop: chins or strap rows, dips or strap push ups, Bulgarian bodyweight squats, farmers (100-lbs/side), KB swings, calf raises

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1/25: Push

New Nuobell adjustable dumbell set (5-80 lb) arrived just as we were about to head downstairs! Haven’t used dumbells in a decade.

Incline dumbell press: 70/handx8-4-2 rest pause. Deep stretch, slow eccentric. Will outgrow these soon but good. “Chest” isn’t a priority.
Leg extension: 80-50xdropset
Kneeling cable lateral: 20-15-10xdescending sets.
PJR tricep extension: 70x8-4-2 (rest pause)-felt good!
Chest dip: +35xreps (slow, deep)
Calves: bdywtxbuncha reps

The rigged janky pulley system and the leg extension/hamstring curl attachment on the new adjustable bench have been life changing. No hyperbole. I’ve spent a lifetime grinding my body down with heavy barbell work, some dumbell work, and a fair amount of kettlebells.

Cable laterals have completely changed my shoulder health for the better. The whole complex is more stable.

The leg extensions have improved my legs in two weeks. My knees are FUBAR from the billion squats, the countless hours/days rucking the mountains. I haven’t been able to squat in years. Pair this with a primary focus on Bulgarian squats has me optimistic for the first time in a while.

I shunned all this (perceived) bodybuilding fluff because of the focused mindset and the silly trend that (for me) started with Pavel. But it was a worthwhile exchange overall. But we have to adapt with age and let the damn ego go. Most of the time.

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Welcome, following along. Your log name drew me in for a start!

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[quote=“sirdanoman, post:2, topic:289895”]
Our “gym”. [/quote]

Sick!!! I love seeing people’s home set ups

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1/26: Extra stuff

Random movement, stretches, mobility whatever work.

The prize goes to the “chest opener” stretch. Lay on an incline with very little weight or just hands. Spread your arms wide. Allow the ribcage to open, pecs stretch and relax. Move the scaps, go overhead. All of it.

Wife and I always come back upstairs feeling more cat-like vs middle age-like.

Drop sets, lengthened partials… do nothing but accumulate fatigue, buddy.

Ditch the intensifier stuff and do straight sets… 2 sets to within 1or 2 reps of failure.

You still have plenty of solid mass and can get full MUR in far fewer sets without all the added stuff

Wrestler Fraternity fist bump

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Nice room.

Hey, appreciate the comment. This is what works, for me, surprisingly. Trust me. It suprises me too! This far into the game, if its not working, I ditch it. That workout was meant to be short and sweet from the jump anyway.

My "heavy movements " like incline barbell presses, weighted dips, etc are typically done with straight sets a la Jordan Peters but…if I’m feeling froggy, I’ll do old school DC rest-pause. The key is I manage volume.

I thrived on daily (sometimes twice/day) training for most of my strength carrer. Sheiko, Bulgarian-type hyperfocused Olympic lifting, etc. All money for strength.

I never want to do that shit again.

This style of training has:

  1. Met my objectives the last 4 years,
  2. Managable recovery by manipulating volume,
  3. Been highly enjoyable.

I’m a fast-twitch motherfucker, my friend @marine77 , what can I say? Lmao!

What’s cool is I’m working on our house daily, often all weekend, and it often is considerable labor like resurfacing the foundation. LOTS of mud work.

What I’ve noticed is this…higher intensity approach has granted me suprising endurance. And my strength, especially in awkward places, is SUPERIOR to when I was specializing. No suprise there with the greater variety of lifts and could be done other ways but hey…

I’ve been grinding the iron for nearly 23 years straight now and I’m finally…LISTENING to my body and letting the ego go. It’s glorious

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1/27: Pull

Incline dumbell curls: 20x myo match. Haven’t done real bicep work since Jr high!

Standing wrist curl: 95x buncha reps x2 sets (while the lady finishes up cable work)

Cable row: 140x10, 120x12. Just waiting for something to go boink and kill me. Picture below!

Hamstring curl: 2 sets. How the hell are these so hard???

Nordic curl: x1 “set” i.e. controlled fall.

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1/29: Push

Little low on the ol kcals the last couple days. Oof.

T-Press: 150x5, 120x6

Cable upright row: 35x10, 25x15
Leg extension: 80x10xmyo-match, 60x15
JM Press: 115x5, 95x8

Totally gassed. Just did some work. Tried these crazy decline flyes with an almost overhead reach at the bottom. Some giant meathead that’s been on Mike Israetel’s show does them. He said something I appreciated about doing some movements like this as much for longevity/resilience as muscle building. Meh. Sure.

I don’t need ANY direct chest work. My pecs grow from opening a sticky jar lid.

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1/30: Extra shit/Trimming the Fat

10 minutes of straight: swings, pullups, Bulgarian squats, calf raises, farmer walks, dips. Only weighted movement was cardio-range weight on the farmer’s (80 lbs/hand).

Felt good. I built a massive cardio base growing up at: 1) Running daily with my Dad starting age 10-11, 2) high elevation living, hunting, hiking, laboring, etc.

I did some lung testing in my mid-teens and the doctor kind of looked at me funny and said “you have ridiculous lung volume and not just for your age”.

This isn’t bragging. It’s just cool to see how long lasting our early life efforts are and how we can quickly become reconditioned.

Couple weeks of these little HIIT workouts and you can’t get me out of breath.

Here’s an example of how I treated my body like a crash test dummy:

One summer, because I was bored and had days off after leaving a fire (2 week little deployments then mandatory days off), I decided to do the infamous and mythical “Devil’s Run”.

Our neighbor, who I was on that very fire with, inadvertently goaded me into it. He said he had never done it and he’s a hardcore endurance runner. Same as my Dad. And the same age. My 22 year old brain was like, “It’s on”.

There’s a road up to a mountain lake with the turnoff just a couple miles upriver from the front door of our home.

Our house is at roughly 5500 ft elevation. The lake sits at over 9,000 ft. It’s an 8 mile climb up that dirt ass road.

The challenge…well, run up that fucker and back down. No stops. No walking. Get 'er done.

I did. Strapped on a crappy backpack with a handful of bite size Snickers, 1 quart H2O and up I went.

I regret every decision I made prior to this. One car passed me. On it’s way down. It was my pretty hot high school English teacher coincidentally. And no,we didn’t shake the bushes. I kept going because I was only halfway. Up.

Every goddamn step was an intentional conscious effort on the steep grades. Leaning so far forward I could almost go quadrepidal.

I hit the top, rounded the campground and started back down. Oh, I tried to piss on the way up by hanging dong while I ran. Didn’t work.

The first few miles down was exhilarating. It was like being Superman. Full on sprint at times. Then the eccentric trauma kicked in at about mile 4.

The last 4 were hell. My shins, knees, and quads were FUBAR. I was praying for a truck to come by. The Universe hates me so it was left foot, right foot the last 4. Bam. Bam. Every step was agony. But I refused to walk.

I also told NO ONE where I went and cellphones…naw. Not then and they don’t work up there now. I went up that road last summer.

I got home, drank a stout beer and basically went inert for 2 days, pissing maple syrup colored urine. I was 22 and about entering my last year of my nutrition degree that Fall. I knew I had a little of the ol rhabdo.

Long story short: don’t let yourself get to the point a flight of stairs puts you in cardiac crisis. It doesn’t take much. But I do have a decent base.:grin:

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1/31:
Extra stuff again x15 minutes straight through. Mostly swings for me. I’m impressed by my lady. I initially set the timer for 10 minutes but went I asked her if she wanted to go 5 more…I got the nod.

She is a self-described "slug " by nature. She grew up in ballet even trained in France but is not someone that grew up physically active or who had an exercise regimen once she retiredfrom ballet. Her mom is the same. City folk. I can’t sit long enough to finish a meal.

Anyway, she just turned 50 and looks amazing. I’m going to be 44 soon. I’m proud to see her literally change her view on health, resilience, and the mental health benefits. She flat out says, “If it wasn’t for you coming along I would be an obese, alcoholic cat lady with diabetes”. I told her I would likely be DEAD (long story).

And we’ve only lived together 3 years. Good times.

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2/1: Pull

Meadows row: 95x8, 75x8
*Nice strong pull, zero body english, deep stretch per rep. Felt every rep. Quality.
God bless and rest well, John Meadows.

Hamstring curl: very light x3 sets. Hit failure in plantar flexion, switch to dorsiflexion to failure.
*This is part of long term injury prevention in my brain. I tore my left hamstring competing. These just feel so damn good I don’t care

Lying cable curl: 50x4 (bonked), 30x9
*Felt every rep. Quality.

Slight incline DB curl: 20x6, 15xforgot-to-count
*Excellent stretch after the pump. My biceps have always been tight. More love for a neglected muscle group.

Calf raises: 70 lb vest xmyo-many
*Basically doing mini-sets between helping the wife on her movements

Calves and biceps have been neglected most of my 32 years pumping the iron…except for the first few. Ha! Teenagers.

I’m making it a priority in my mid-40s to train neglected areas, progress in others, shore up even more.

It’s a rolling average of needs, wants, and other random notions.

Leaning into a modified protein sparing modified fast. My fast-twitch ass hits the wall fast.

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2/2: R&R

Day of rest. Need some downtime. Mobility work at best. I have some rifles and pistols I’m working on so Man Cave time.

Work has been highly stressful for both my lady and I. I’ve also been training most days and doing some cyclical fat loss (push hard, cruise, rinse/repeat).

Our biological and essential makeup as humans does not jive well with our modern living. The chronic psychological stressors, multitasking, population density…all of it is just not meant for me. I ponder so much about our species. We are…atypical.

But, I know now when to just lay off and recuperate.

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2/3: Push

Leg ext: 70x12, 50x15

Bulgarian squat: 50x5
*Just feeling out the knees. Felt good.

DB incline (45 degree): 60x10
PJR: 75x8

Everything done at about a 7-8 RPE. Easy efforts, not close to failure. One of those days.

Bodyweight: 183-lbs…a few days ago.

2/5: Pull. Took 2/4 off altogether.

Standing cable curl: 50x8, 40x8
*Good solid focused reps.

Incline dumbell curls: 25x6, 20x8, 30xstretch for time.
*Almost 33 years of lifting and never jad good mind-muscle link to biceps. I’m finally, literally and figuratively, feeling it.

Seated J row: 70x12.
*Goddamn I LOVE this movement for both a pump AND stretch. Put those Versa grips on, crank the music up, and dig in.
I’ve focused on back since I formally started picking up weights and putting them down age 11. It doesn’t need much.

Face pull: 30x20-myo match

Wrist curl: 95xreps x3 sets
*Why count reps?

Softball hold for time: 10x3 sets for time.
*I can believe I still have this! Drilled out a softball and put an eye bolt through it. Add a carabiner, chain, and you got yourself a finger/forearm exercise. I made this in my teens!

Hamstring curl: one set.
*Nothing notable. My “hypertrophic rehab” movement. My hamstrings feel grisly. Tearing one will do that.

Today was just a “blah” day. Stressful week with challenging patient cases, shitty drive in the snow, etc. Cry me a river.

I said, “Fuck it” and stuck with the theme but had some fun, got a good pump. What more could you want with minimal motivation?

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2/6: Extra stuff

10 minutes, no breaks of: swings, pull ups, calf raises, farmer walks, Bulgarian squats.

For some reason, musing on near death experiences as I’m sucking wind. That imminent pressing fact of: this is it. This. Is. It.

My brain is a mess of snakes at times. Snakes comprised of regret, guilt, shame, and, self hatred. I was born this way for some reason.

But I’m not ashamed of how I reacted-and performed-in the face of IT. The One waiting for us all at the end. But I wonder if that matters?

Invincible season 3 just dropped. Ponder later.