Coming Back From the Dead

Training Over 35 Lifter
621

I’ve been job hunting for the past couple of weeks. My income from the school is barely enough to live on. No word on whether I’ll be hired back for spring, and even so, a whole month off between semesters. No income for that. So going out and getting no, no, no, no openings, no positions, no how, no way. So I’m stressed.

Upper body today. DB clean and press. Well, mostly press.
20 x 10 good
25 x 8 tough
30 x 8 barely
35 x 5 supposed to be 6 reps, but weights suddenly stopped in mid air, shove, strain, nothing, drop them to floor
35 x 4 supposed to be 5, but hit failure again
35 x 3 left arm in particular - I’m pushing with legs, jumping, but arms just won’t lock out

CG bench with thick bar - empty bar is 85 lbs
85 x 10 wrists are shaking all over the place, grit teeth, try to control
105 x 8 just made it
115 x 3 was supposed to be 6, but bar suddenly stopped on chest and I strained for 10 secs, NOTHING

DB row
25 x 10
25 x 10
25 x 10 grunting, struggling, very tough

Tate presses - trainer says go to 10 reps
25 x 9 weights drop on chest and just stayed there despite straining
25 x 5 hit failure again
25 x 3 and again

DB shrugs. 55 lbs. He says do 10 reps.
55 x 9 weights jam to a halt and just can’t budge them
55 x 6 again failure
55 x 4 again

Cable machine tri pressdowns. He sets weight, I grab bar, GGRRRRNNNNNNNN, nothing. He takes weight down. “Go for 10.” I whip through the first 7, suddenly gets hard, barely grind down the last. He sets weight UP. Try again - hit failure at 8 reps. Try again. Failure at 6 reps.

I am not in a good mood. Very irritated. “Are you SURE this isn’t burning me out?” I asked.
“Nah” he says. He’s sure it’s good for me. In fact, he says I should be doing this 3 times a week. Whatever.

622

Dropping a heavy plate on his foot by accident might’ve cheered you up. Not that I condone violence but if it was an accident.

Nothing like stress to ruin things. Good luck with job hunt.

623

Good luck with the job hunt. Its crappy when they leave you hanging.

624

Don’t tempt me, Techno. BOOM!!! “How’s THAT for hard work?”

Corrmhona, just heard from a friend at another school. They’re starting a class I’m perfectly qualified for - in fact, already teaching the same thing. Unfortunately, I’m afraid they need me to have a degree I don’t have. We’ll see.

Really stressed out yesterday, dropped into bed and slept for something like 11 hours. Feel way better today.

625

If you have the chops then a degree is just wallpaper. If they can’t get past the lack of degree then their HR people don’t know how to select the skillsets they need.

626

I’m finding up here anyway, once you are in the 40+ crowd the degree is way less important that what they are doing now. Just hired a guy with great experience, been doing what I need him to do for years, but only 3/4 of a degree. Got him a senior position. They should do the same for you if they want the work done. Good luck, if you push for it as hard as you do in the weight room I’m sure they will see reason.

627

Must be something about Canada. Down here companies are weird, they have weird rules, they discriminate like crazy - just getting a job if you’re over 50 (illegal, but how do you prove it?) Lost two positions because of age discrimination. Other jobs I proved myself, then the rules changed - BAM, out you go. If you know of places where HR “sees reason”, I wish you’d tell me.

Really stressed after last workout. Slept, slept, and slept some more. Getting 10 hrs or more a night. Today actually feel refreshed.

Sled pull, 4 trips down and back. Did it all in one trip without a break.

Hip belt squats. Trainer wants fairly high reps to build me up. Try to pause on bench.
70 + carriage x 10
90 + carriage x 8
another x 8
another x 8
another x 8
another x 8

reps started getting a bit tough, but sucked breath, pushed knees apart, arched back. Trainer didn’t complain, surprisingly.

Stiff leg deads, 2 50 lb kettlebells. Try to stretch hams.
100 x 10
100 x 10
100 x 10
100 x 10

Panting, but going OK.

Kettlebell swings. Been a few months since doing them.
50 x 10 he wants me to put hip only into it
60 x 10 really slammed out the first few reps, then BAM - ran out of steam and dropped the weight. No pain - just couldn’t keep the rhythm going. Paused a moment, then did the rest.

Reverse hyper
70 x 10 weird. Really plowed into first few reps, then bam - lost strength and could barely do the rest.
70 x 10 same thing happened
70 x 10 first few really flying up, then tough.

Looks like I’m really putting full force into the sets and running out halfway through, but don’t want to hold back. Body’s acting different than usual - hope it’s good.

Leg curls. Two sets. Not bad.

He said that was it. “Didn’t you say side bends?” “Well, if you want to.” I wanted.

65 x 18 each side. Good job.

Trainer agreed extra sleep was great idea. I ran into Matt and mentioned the sleeping. He agreed I definitely should.
“I sleep 12 hours a night” he said.
“Ah, that’s your secret.”
“That’s one of them.”

628

12 hours a night? I wish I could sleep 12 hours a night. I can’t sleep 12 hours straight if I wanted too…

I don’t know if it is a Canada thing or an Alberta thing. We have more jobs than people, and no one wants to live here…we are offering packages to keep people from retiring.

Keep fighting the good fight.

629

[quote]corrmhona wrote:
I don’t know if it is a Canada thing or an Alberta thing. We have more jobs than people, and no one wants to live here…we are offering packages to keep people from retiring.

Keep fighting the good fight.[/quote]

And the difference between your land and ours. (One of them) We’re still crawling out from under the recession, more people than jobs. Some folks actually unemployed for a couple of years, have given up all hope. Or else working at minimum wage jobs. Considering I’m in my fifties, technically I’ve beaten the odds.

Friend at the gym said he might be able to get me some part time work at a bank in IT. Sounds great.

630

Been sleeping heavy all week. Think it’s done me some good.

Trainer had told he would be gone today, so do generic upper body work, bodybuilding stuff.

DB OH press
20 lb DBs x 15
25 x 15
25 x 15
30 x 12
30 x 12
concentrate - suck air - make the durn things go up
30 x 15

Last few reps tough, but powered them up

DB bench on large foam blocks (so elbows can’t go below body)
30 x 20
35 x 12
35 x 12
I kept thinking surely I can do more - I have to do more - just concentrate
35 x 14
was tough, but if I can do 14, surely I can do 15
35 x 15

Chins. I’ve never been able to do chins. Why can’t I do chins? I wanna.
4 reps sorta kinda chins
4 or 5 reps
5 reps

ok, so I didn’t go all the way up, but it’s a start.

Face pulls with thick rope. Two thirds weight stack.
18 reps
12 reps
15 reps

Shoulders have been growing a teensy bit. I wanna do shoulders. I find a band, not the hardest, but not the easiest. Grab both strands.
10 reps tough
10 reps
I think of pictures of bodybuilders with monster shoulders.
12 reps
keep thinking of it. If can do 12, can do more.
15 reps

Go home and eat.

631

I LOVE sleep! Unfortunately have not been getting as much. And growing shoulders is a worthy goal.

Hmmm maybe you can find away of smuggling some money out of the bank electronically like in the movies.You can train and sleep the rest of the time.

632

Good luck with the work. IT isn’t bad. I like it better than herding teenagers…

Good to hear you are growing. You win the perseverance award!

633

Um, Techno . . . that only works in the movies.

Corrmhona, thanks.

Speaking of money, may be switching gyms. Ludus Magnus is nice, but costs. Looking into regular places. Never gonna look at AussieFit again, not since they started helping themselves to my bank account (no, really - they did that).

Some treadmill for warmup. Then step ups on a 3 ft tall foam block - trainer is obsessed with my flexibility.
10 reps each leg
10 more
another 10

Man, I was panting and exhausted, and the workout hadn’t even started.

Front squats. He has the Buffalo Bar on the rack. It’s the bar with a little curve to it. He shows me how to rest the thing on shoulders. Sure, works great for him, he’s got thicker shoulders and pecs than me - will it work as well? I fuss with it, it slides around a little. Pressing against my windpipe - one false move and I’ve had it.
bar x 5
55 x 5
65 x 5
75 x 5
85 x 5
90 x 5
90 x 5

Gagg. Throat hates it. Gotta wrestle with it to keep on shoulders. Arch back, arch back, arch back. At least I’m getting low. Still got stress from personal life, making things tough. Also PO’d that I’m using so little weight. Well, first time I’ve done front squats in . . . forever.

Stiff leg deads with kettlebells.
60 x 8
“Are those 75 pounds?” “No, 60.” “I thought they were 75?” “Do you want 75?” “Well, I need to get strong .” He replaces them with 75s.
75 x 8
75 x 8

I feel much better.

Leg curls. Modest weight. I started whipping it. “You can do 12, easy.” I strain, focus, pause, do 15. Rest. I do 14 next.

Reverse lunges. Oh, dear Lord. I more or less do them. All the balance of a drunk on a Bosu ball.

Another set of curls and lunges.

Hyper extensions. I want to do weight. He hands me a 45 plate. I knock out 8 reps. Whew. Rest. Again. I want this so badly . . . 10 reps this time.

Abs. Decline bench. He hands me a 18 lb ball and I rep for 60 secs. Whew. Pant, pant. He just wanted me to do the one set. I ask to do another, and this time . . . please give some weight. Pretty please. He hands me a 50 lb kettlebell. I whack out reps for, not sure, he called time, I think 30 secs.

Feeling good.

634

You did all that and you feel good! Victory! Good luck with the gym. They all seem to suck here except for the community center ones but no trainers in those.

635

OK. I just quit Ludus Magnus and found a more conventional gym. Never heard of Power Shack, but trainer recommended it and looks decent. It does mean no more sled or prowler . . . no more heavy kettlebells, kegs, tires, or stones . . . no more monolift . . . no more weird bars, chains, or bands. Just free weights and machines.

Money. I just can’t afford all the training, and you can’t use LM without a trainer.

Not in a good mood. 1: job hunting always grinds me down 2: don’t like change, such as a new gym 3: the realization that even a full year of steady training by national and world class lifters still couldn’t build any appreciable strength on me. My body got slightly tougher - that is, I can bench 100 pounds with a bit more control, and I improved on sled pull quite nicely, but that’s it. No real improvement on lifts. Barely any muscle growth. I was really, really, REALLY hoping that this time I could break through the barriers and gain. Again, dashed hopes.

Conclusion: big name lifters don’t know what they’re talking about. I did everything they told me, and zip.

So . . . here’s my first day at the new place:

Bench
95 x 12
105 x 10
105 x 8
95 x 10

OH press
45 x 10
65 x 5
55 x 10
55 x 10

hmmm . . . this new place has mirrors. Watched myself pressing and damn, I sure make faces lifting. It just takes so much effort.

Seated row
80 x 18
100 x 10
100 x 10
100 x 10

Tate press
17.5 x 20
20 x 15
20 x 14 hit failure

Dip
zero - like trying to lift a Mack truck. should know better than try after frying upper body

Grip machine
90 x 16
90 x 15

636

Big name lifters know what they needed to do to lift heavy. They frequently don’t know what you need to do to gain mass or lift heavy. I think you have the drive you just need to find your own way and grow how you can.

Good luck with the lifting and job search, I know you will persevere.

637

Still putting solid work, I see.

I think it’s good you’ve gotten away from that gym. It seems like the trainers are using some cookie cutter methods that aren’t conducive to getting you where you want to be goal-wise.

I was going to write a long winded thing about simplifying and finding “that” system that will work for you but I went back through your logs and you certainly have the experience and work ethic in your favour, so I’m not going to tell you what I think you need to do. I am mutually frustrated that you are not where you want to be in regards to your progress. It’s just very puzzling.

638

Good luck with the new gym I think it will do you good…it was obvious from your recent posts that you were growing more frustrated with them and needed a change…keep on keeping on!

639

Corrmhona, Crushed, that’s what made me so very skeptical of lifters who claim to be experts, but everytime I tried to implement what they said, zilch. It really looks like genetics is king - they think their program made them champs, but how many others can duplicate it with the same program?

Yes, Goat, frustrated. When world class guys tell you “Do this”, and I do this, and don’t grow, you get frustrated. Worse, they didn’t even seem to notice. When I ask them “how long should this take?” and they give evasions like “it takes time” or “we’re all different”, you get frustrated.

Lower body day. Decided to take it easy on the assumption I’ve been overworked into the ground and need some deload. Also, job interview tonight, so gotta get in and out fast.

Squat
45 x 10
95 x 5
95 x 5
135 x 5

Shoulders hurt some at first reaching back for bar - I really must be whacked from last workout. Otherwise, went fine.

Leg press
2 plates x 10
4 plates x 10
4 x 10
4 x 10
4 x 10

left ham strangely hurting on first couple sets - are these SL deads doing me more harm than good? Otherwise, good.

Leg curls
3 sets medium weight

Hmm, actually feeling good leaving gym. Might actually sleep well tonight.

Made it to interview on time. He was impressed with me and will look for openings.

640

I do think at the end of the day people need at least good genetics to be world champion, but I think no matter what you’ve got, you can get stronger. I think that is depends a lot on finding your way though. Maybe you have a weird genetic mix and some of the programs that don’t work for most people might work for you like GVT? Keep working and you’ll keep making gains, but it would be nice to see you gain faster.