I and 55 years old and for over the last couple of years I have been training full body twice a week following Starting Strength and when linear stopped I did 5/3/1 for the main lifts. It is getting to the point that workouts are starting to take longer as I need more time to rest between sets. Plus I am getting a little bored. I was thinking about going to a 4 day a week split like something below.
My question is how many of you over 55 lift 4 days a week? I read where our CNS can not handle it but if I am spreading the work out during the week I don’t see what it matters. I do confess I am not too bright in those matters.
did CT’s built for bad strength circuit for 5 wks. Had to skip every Thursday’s workout and couldn’t start the 6th but still made phenomenal progress. I usually workout 3-6 times per week, but not at the intensity of that strength circuit. I’m 60.
I’m younger than you (almost 43) but no spring chicken, and I have been running various forms of 5/3/1 for a few years now, both 3 and 4 days per week, but currently 4. I have found that as long as I do my pre-hab/mobility work (I don’t touch a weight before 15 minutes of this stuff) and keep the assistance and conditioning volume low enough, plus taking the deload week every 4th week, I can get through it injury free.
I take short rest periods (60-90s) on all warm-up and assistance sets, but longer on the heavy work sets (3-4 minutes). Another method I use is alternating sets, especially on the assistance work (e.g. on bench day, incline db press, rest 60s, face-pulls, rest 60s, repeat). This keeps the workout brisk but allows more rest between sets of the same exercise. My strength performance is better this way.
Will be 55 in a few months and my program is 4x per week. If I happen to get 3 it doesn’t do any harm, but I’ve learned I get better gains on 4x.
It really depends on the program you are running. My program is identical to yours, except I don’t take a deload week. I take a deload day each week. I’ve modified my 5/3/1 template to allow for this.
I think I remember Wendler saying he responds well to 2-3 days a week of training. From my broscience perspective, CNS overload depends on intensity. The only time I feel hammered is after 90%+ deadlift work or shooting for a 1RM dead. Max squats, bench, OHP don’t seem to be a problem, but that’s just me.
Yes, as far as lifting. Sun, Mon, Wed, Fr.
T, Th, Sat, base cardio, abs, lots of stretching.
Today begins another cycle of TUT (30sec wk1, 35sec wk2, etc.)
Broken it into 3 day split.
Will be interested to see if it promotes any more strength with the greater times between training.
I’m 56. I’ve been training twice a week for a very long time (how long I don’t really remember). I have my own program that I made up because I think I know things.
I know I am a little late to this thread - but I thought I’d share something with you. I am 47 and have had a ton of injuries but all has actually settled down the last 5 years or so. Injury free, competing and doing 5-3-1 actually since '07. This may seem simple, but I changed my workout week from 7 to 10 days.
I number them in my journal 1-2-3-4 etc. When it comes to lifting I have no idea what day of the week it is, only the number of the day. Similar to the idea behind Wendler’s 3 days per week template. More time for recovery and added days for conditioning too. I am fresh almost every lift - at least from lifting fatigue. Much more progress - and that is what is most important.
40 here. EDT 4x/week (upper/lower split) and two days of full-body active recovery or assistance work. Shit like high-pulls, farmer’s walk, landmine variants, stretching. There’s usually one day a week where shit goes sideways early on, so that’s my off day.