Am I Crazy???

Training Over 35 Lifter
41

Doc…I’ve avoided this topic like the plague. I’m 39 and have been in denial to believe that I belong in group. But reading posts like yours makes me feel a lot better about it. I’ve been fanatical about training for the last 9 months.

I’ve been lifting for the past 30 years but only seriously since December. This includes deadlifting (which I never did before), and squatting heavy again (I gave it up because I had a bad knee from wrestling, not knowing squatting would help).

Just wanted to say thanks for giving an almost-forty lifter some hope for the next decade. Good luck with your continued training.

42

Thanks, Matkov. I’m in a wonderful mental place right now, I’m loving training again. After college, being a busy doc took my love of lifting and gradually turned me into a casual semi-bodybuilder without mass or definition. Then, my serious accident turned me into a disabled person playing with rehab rubber bands. Now, I have found a way to lift again, and live again.

I still am pretty confused, some kind of multiple personality disorder variation, because I am now 35% Olympic lifter, 25% Powerlifter, 25% Bodybuilder, and 15% lunatic. Or maybe I got those percentages backwards. But I love it all, and I am FIFTY FUCKING YEARS OLD! Some of my friends have had heart bypasses and take handfulls of prescriptons meds. I was almost there. I'd rather be a weight-training fanatic and take handfulls of supplements instead. 

Keep the faith, and keep the posts coming, and I might just put in a newer picture (that one's ten years old). Don't you just love the plant in the background?
43

doc, i only catch about a 1/3 of my cleans/snatches and have decreased recovery times and better joint health because of it. as long as you’re not training for comp you get the athletic benefits of the lift with substantially less wear and tear. get yourself to a proper gym with bumpers and say goodbye to lowering forever. that shit will kill you.

44

Stymie, that is BEST DAMN ADVICE anyone has given me yet. I HATE that lowering shit. I had convinced myself it would make me tough, improve my grip, etc, but it is just WRONG. I’m either going to have to make a long drive to a different gym, or set up a home gym, but you are absolutely right, gotta do it. Thanks a million. Doc

45

HA… that’s funny shit. I just got in from practicing the lifts in the driveway with my wife. I sign out some bumpers and a barbell from work so we can practice on the weekends. So she’s like, “you’re really going to fuck up those plates dropping them on the concrete.” I explain to her just that: lowering sucks the soul out of you!
Great point, stymie.

46

AL, I’ll be glad to post some workouts with numbers, and even leave out the drama (I’ll put that in other posts). I have tremendous imbalances in strength, partly due to my accident, partly due to genetics and preferences.

 Over the last three months, I am gradually conditioning myself into more barbell work and less machine stuff. I am experimenting with different splits, and typically do two major lifts or bodyparts per workout, sometimes three.

Today I was scheduled to do legs/shoulders with squats and presses the key lifts. My knees, normally no problem, were hurting today and not up to squats.

I started with 10 minutes stretching, and 15 min cardio. Then did Military presses, 15x45,5x135,5x155,3x175,3x185. The triple on 185 was a comeback PR. Followed with my secondary shoulder exercise, machine lateral raise. These actually feel better on my operated shoulders than dumbell raises. Did four sets up to 10x stack(220) although I have no clue what those numbers mean relative to dumbell raises.

 Instead of squats, did leg presses. Did 10x180,8x270,8x360,8x360,7x405. Again, meaningless numbers compared to squats, but decent workout. I make myself do this adductor machine for four sets because my radiculopathies affected the muscles on the insides of my legs and calves. I have no medial gastrocs at all. This machine is like torture for me, my legs twitch and shake. But I'm moving up the stack, so I know it's helping. Part of the joy of my comeback is finding out that I can still squat and I can make steady progress in all my leg exercises, even calf raises. Finished off with 3x30 crunches.

Let me hear about your workouts. Doc

47

[quote]Dr.PowerClean wrote:
DZ, love talking about cleans. A clean is from the floor to the chest. A power clean means you bends your knees only a little, at most your thighs are just above paralell. Squat cleans are more advanced, where the lifter catches the bar much lower, in a low squat position, and then stands up. A hang clean is done with the bar held just above the knees.

 The press is simply the pushing of the weight from shoulders overhead to lockout, with the legs kept straight. Pushing the weight up with additional leg thrust is a push-press, and a jerk involves the complex movement of splitting the legs underneath while lifting the weight overhead.

 The different components can be done separately, and invariably are in dedicated Olympic lifters and other serious weightmen. Doing the full clean and jerk, or clean and press, is a tremendous overall strength and conditioning exercise, but is very taxing on the body, especially with high volume, and shouldn't be done too often. 

 I am currently trying to figure out which combination of separate components will work best for me now. I have found that if I do more than 3-5 reps in full cleans, my back and grip start to give out. Many lifters use straps to prevent grip give-out, especially on hang cleans, as catching the bar repeatedly at the thighs can easily loosen the grip.

Hang cleans focus more on the upper body parts of the lift than from the floor. Right now I pull two days a week, one day hangs, one day from the floor. I clean and press on a third day, but only because my clean is way ahead of my press right now. Later on, I will get back to just taking the weights off the rack for overhead presses and jerks.
Hope that helps. Doc[/quote]

I appreciate your taking the time to explain that to me, it’s help a ton! I’ve been doing hanging clean and jerk. Tough movement, that’s why I like it.

48

Hey guys and gals, new topic.
REST DAY

Today is my rest day, after three days of split routines. There is no doubt I must take this rest day, as my muscles and joints are complaining to me as if I have been a cruel master. The rest day is also planned into my workout schedule. Plus I actually have a life and have a full day of work today.
But I don’t like it.

This is a new phenomenon. This is not my OCD flaring up, although that would have been a good guess. No, it is because of this strange feeling I have that the clock of life is ticking, and every workout is precious.

Oh, I can already hear you.
"Doc, you know your body needs the rest.""
"Doc, your rest day is your growing day."

Yeah, yeah, I know. But I also feel like I got PLENTY of rest when I wasn’t working out for the last five years.

Oh, it gets worse. I did a lot of reading of interesting articles lately. This is an excellent way to get confused. You've got so many different regimens, with so many different theories about rest days. I read some of the Muscle Revolution stuff, with every other day training.

I read about the world’s masters OL champion’s training (Jacobsen), four days a week with pulling on every day. I read Shane Hamman’s training, our OL hero who C@J’d over 500. He trained twice a day, six days a week!!!

I know it's an individual thing, and you need to listen to your body, vary it around periodically, and us "mature" lifters need more rest than the young bucks.

But I still don't like it. I can hear that clock ticking...
49

Ignore yesterday’s post (everbody did anyway) because a temporary neurosis about getting older is not inspirational, and not terribly funny either.
Today, however, I want to throw the gates open for discussion of mental illness, without the jokes.
As I move more into age management medicine, I can’t escape psychiatric illness, because people over 40 have it just as much as everyone else. What I have found interesting is that non-psychiatrist age management docs (which is 95% of them) believe that with HRT, exercise and lifestyle change nearly all psychiatric illness can be eliminated.
How exciting a concept. However, not true. But, I must say that a “significant” number of people suffering from mental illness of situational origin (e.g.temporary states of anxiety, depression, insomnia, substance abuse, etc) can truly get well in many cases with the new age management paradigm. But if you have a genetically predisposed illness which has troubled you most of your life (e.g. Bipolar disorder, ADHD, OCD, Schizophrenic-spectrum disorders), just adjusting your hormones, diet and exercising is not going to make it go away. It should IMPROVE the condition. Plus, it can helpful in NEGATING the common bad side effects of psychiatric medications such as weight gain, jitters, lethargy, etc.
Alright, let me hear it. Soon. I’m going away on a trip later this week, to Fiji, Bali, then Sydney and Melbourne. OOPS, sorry, can’t help one joke, it’s just a trip to Melbourne, Florida. Doc

50

[quote]Dr.PowerClean wrote:
But if you have a genetically predisposed illness which has troubled you most of your life (e.g. Bipolar disorder, ADHD, OCD, Schizophrenic-spectrum disorders), just adjusting your hormones, diet and exercising is not going to make it go away. It should IMPROVE the condition.
Doc
[/quote]

In the pure interest of scientific research, I have ONE of the aforementioned illnesses. I have kept a clean diet for 23 years, and was a semi-athlete (field hockey and rugby) for just about as long as my condition was diagnosed. So I can’t very well say that either has improved my condition.

But this I know for sure. I am a post menopausal woman, and my condition seems to be worsening with age, despite ramping up my activity levels and changing my medication.
I do not take HRT. Estrogen makes me very nauseous, bloated and irritable. I could not tolerate birth control pills.

So I am a conundrum, as usual.

51

Hey DPC,

cool to see another MD hanging around here.

There are a few things you might want to look into

1). Raising work capacity- doing lower intensity, higher volume workouts. A good base of this sort of work seems to provide a nice base for recovery and allow one to survive higher intensity work better

2). Kettlebells- high rep kb swings are very nice for the low back, gluts, and hams. Minimal compressive load, lots of strength-endurance.

3). Strongman stuff- sand-bag work and farmer’s walks are good for work capacity

4). Sled dragging- for beat-up shoulders, the variable loading seems to really help

5). Overhead lockout figure 8 waiter’s walks- another good one for beat up shoulders- put some weight overhead with one arm, walk in figure eights for 60s or so. This requires you stabilize in multiple directions and seems to do good things for the shoulders

Later,

Andrew

52

  1. Yo momma, hang in there, we’re all on a journey to find the answers. One thing, have you tried bioidentical estrogen (eg Elestrin). I can’t swear by it, but the thinking behind modern HRT is that the newer bioidentical hormones are received better by the body and often side effects are minimal to non-existent.

  2. Andrew, I enjoyed your post. What an odd world; when I gave up heavy OL and power lifting in 1980, the other dream I had besides the Olympics was going into Strongman competition. Kazmaier was my hero every bit as much as Arnold and Alexeev. And almost thirty years later, I’m getting a recommendation to do the things I wanted to get into but never got a chance.

    I’m sure I’ll give it a try. Things are happening fast for me, and my head is spinning. I did a moderately heavy deadlift today, 395. I’m not proud to say I was scared to death to blow out my back, really petrified. It went up easy and I’m fine, but it’s the first time I’ve done anything with a barbell with almost 400 pounds in 27 years. I’m in a weird but exciting place, and getting lots of cool advice.

Someone emailed me a ton of Staley weight training principles, which I loved. I love the idea of being an “athlete” training for PERFORMANCE, rather than an “exerciser” training for a pump or a theoretical “good workout.” And by the way, of course Staley loves kettlebells, and so do many on T-Nation, so I have GOT to give them a try…soon. Stay in touch. DPC

53

PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS!
I am forcing myself to post my leg workout today, which is pathetic, especially pathetic given its my best yet in my comeback. But I figure if people just use their threads to brag, where’s the honesty and self-respect?

Full squat 8x135, 8x185,5x225,4x255,2x295.
Calf machine-10x180,10x225,10x225,10x270,10x270
Hack squats-8x90,8x180,6x225,6x270,4x320.
Long way to go, Doc

54

Damn, my whole post got erased somehow. What’s with this thing?

Anyway, as to my workouts:
monday saw a fifty:
50 x box jumps
50 x 16kg kb snatches
50 x walking lunges (count 1 leg only)
50 x dips
50 x knees to elbows
50 x squats (BW)
50 x 95lb push presses
50 x burpee/pull ups

tuesday has us:
1 mi run
27 x 135lb power cleans
27 x pull ups
18 x 135lb power cleans
18 pull ups
9 135lb power cleans
9 pull ups
1 mi run

today was:
1 mi run
5 x pull ups
10 x push ups
15 x squats
for as many rounds as possible in 20 min - (not the run)
max deadlift - singles to 365lbx

55

Hey Al, you gotta break down that volume on the power cleans. 27x135, then 18x135? If you did 27 reps in just one set I’ll have to hang up my straps and give you my post name. You can’t tease me like that…you took a breather in there didn’t you? And floor or hangs?

56

Hell yeah, I took a breather! The cleans were from the floor… The goal is for time, so you rest as needed for grip, lungs, hamstrings, etc. I got 18 before I needed to let go. The rep scheme is just for your mind. 90% of my work is done in this high intensity/work capacity fashion.

Like today, is my foot march day, so it’s a long walk with a heavy pack. Since my back is thoroughly warmed up, Ill get some OH squats when I’m come in. Tomorrow is nothing but a long run, so I’ll take advantage and get some push jerks in. My single heavy lifts are supplementary to the high output, lighter loaded, intense bouts - but it’s job focused in my case Doc.

Al

57

That’s very interesting. I’ve always been a low rep/set guy, and even when I use weight less than 50% of my single rep max and try to do a high rep set, I peter out quickly after 13-15 reps, even less with cleans. That either means I’m fast twitch dominant, or have never been conditioned for muscular endurance. Both, probably.

 I am going to try some of the higher volume stuff because I can tell at my age my body is not recovering like I expect it too as I am now getting back to heavier weights. If I continue my old school style of maximal power training with high weight/low rep (2-6) sets, I will have to take three days rest a week minimum.

Two questions-first, how much has this style of training helped your single rep PR’s, and second, how does your body recover from this form of intensity training?

And do you do it more because you love it, or because it works?

By the way, I'm not a gym addict, I love to challenge myself in other ways. My son and I like to go on nature hikes, and last month we climbed our first mountain, Mt. Chirripo in Costa Rica. Damn near killed me, but it was an awesome experience. While I was climbing, I thought to myself that cardio training on gym machines is really useless in the real world.
58

Dr C&J… have you tried Greek yogurt? 20 grams of protein in each serving. Add some fresh berries to 1.5 servings and you’ve got your 30 grams :slight_smile:

Love the thread!

59

Greek yogurt? Never even heard of it. As long as it doesn’t taste like Feta cheese, I’ll give it try. Thanks, H.A., Doc

60

[quote]Dr.PowerClean wrote:
Greek yogurt? Never even heard of it. As long as it doesn’t taste like Feta cheese, I’ll give it try. Thanks, H.A., Doc[/quote]

Try Fage and Chobani brands for real Greek yogurt. Around here in CT, Fage is easier to find. But I like Chobani, 14 grams of protein, 17 grams of fat. But I’m a full fat kinda gal. Good fats only, of course!