Joining the Old Mans Club

Training Over 35 Lifter
1

Been lurking and reading, decided to let you guys know who I am.

My story, short as I can make it.

All my youth I was a pudgy kid. Maybe never quite obese, but always heavier than I wanted to be. At 18 I joined the Marine Corps and they ran a lot of it off of me, but I was always on the verge of joining the Pork Chop Platoon. Once I got out and joined the cubicle world I filled out even more. Eventually a friend talked me into joining a gym around the age of 30. He was a strict form freak, and that has always stuck with me, if you cant do it right, lower the weight. I loved it, so much we dabbled in some gear for awhile, until my wife caught on and well, that ended that.

Then things changed, I got fired from a job I was in for 11 years and ended up at another that took 14 hours out of my day 6 days a week. 4 years into that job I was so out of shape that I would get dizzy walking across a room. I decided work day be damned, I was going back to the gym. That was 2 years ago, and I am soooo happy to be back.

Within a year of going back to the gym I was back over 300 on my bench, squat and deadlift, but my weight had been creeping up too. Eventually I got on the scales and I was 208. At 5’6" and 40 years old, I new that wasn’t any good, so I decided to do something about that too.

I changed my workouts to full body, 4 days a week with cardio every day. I got a new job, one much closer to home and with shorter days. A bigger deal was changing my eating habits, I went low-carb. I made it down to 171 in June of this year, at which point everything stalled. New goal, get stronger.

I changed my workouts to 3 sets of 8. If I can do it, move up. Its rough on my elbows, as I have pretty bad bone spurs in both of them, but Ill hang with it as long as I can. Basics current lifts are as follows-

Flat bench - 230x8x3
Deadlift - 245x8x3
Squat - 240x8x3
Clean and press - 140x8x3

Attached is a pic of me at 173lbs. Im a 178 now, but actually have a tan and a couple abs.

Sorry to make my first post so long. Tried to cut it as short as possible.

2

Welcome Leaddog, you have taken a helluva journey. I think you will find the old folks home here quite hospitable. Don’t worry about the length of your posts. Some folks here (i.e. me) tend to ramble on at nothing for pages and pages

3

Good to have you on the board Leaddog.

Looks like you have done your research and put a good system in place. You also have a very good base to work with.

You will get some great advice from everyone on the forum. Many members have similar goals as you.

My only initial comment would be to make sure you are getting a lot of healthy fats (fish oil, olive oil) to help with the elbow pain.

What types of cardio are you doing?

4

Good on ya for deciding to get back in the game!

Don’t worry about lengthy posts. I’m the Queen of Verbose.

Looks like you have a great start!

Cappy

5

Welcome from one old dog to another…

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Welcome Leaddog, good story & looking forward to hearing more from you.

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Welcome, look forward to following your progress.

8

I hate when life gets in the way of my workouts…

Good to have ya on board!

9

Welcome Bro!

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Welcome…these old guys are pretty friendly. The chip must of got knocked off our shoulders years ago.

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Funny how life sorta creeps up on you and “holy shit” you mean its not 2001 anymore?!

Good to have you in here Leaddog. I think this forum (35Lifter) does as much good for my head as it does for my training.

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Thanks for the welcome everyone.

As far as fats go, there isnt a shortage in my diet. Fats and protein are the vast majority of my diet. I do supplement with Omega-3 fish oil, magnesium, L-Glutamine and Glucosamine. I cook with coconut oil or olive oil also.

Cardio is on the back burner right now. I am off my weight loss kick for awhile and am back to strength building. The funny part of that is I am usually sweating like a pig before my first set is done, and I look around at all the people on the cardio machines and they havent even started sweating. I did clean and press as my first exercise tuesday and was a sweaty pig after my second set of 8. After the 3rd set I basically collapsed where I was and laid down to recover. A lady got off her treadmill (where she had been since I walked in the door) and asked me if I was ok. I just nodded yes and laid there.

I figure about 10 weeks of this and my elbows will be shot (again). Then Ill go back to dieting for awhile and give them time to recover.

Its just a vicious cycle, isnt it?

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[quote]Leaddog66 wrote:
The funny part of that is I am usually sweating like a pig before my first set is done, and I look around at all the people on the cardio machines and they havent even started sweating. [/quote]

There is a part of me that thinks something is wrong with me when I do this. I do a dynamic warm up to get loose and a few warm up sets. When I hit my focus exercise (compound of course) by the 2nd set I need a towel. 3rd set I look like I got dressed in the shower and 4th - suffice to say it is worse. Big breaths and happy to have a respite.

I look around and people are on benches like they are sitting at their kitchen table lifting the sunday paper over there head.

I never ceases to amaze me how just “showing up” makes people fell A-O-Kay.

Leaddog - question. I upped my fish oil and took out the Glucosimine. I was doing all right until this week. I have been on this regiment for over 2 months. Now my knees forget to bend or stay bent. It sucks. I know your elbows are a source of bother. Have you had success with this combo (FO and Gluco) for a long period.

14

Welcome. Sounds like you’re on a good path at present, very motivating.

As far as sweating like a pig goes, I think that is actually supposed to be a good sign - not just in that you’re getting a good workout, but also that your body is becoming a conditioned machine who knows how to cool itself. No other animal has as perfect a form of air conditioning as man.

I will see if I can find a link or article to support this. I know I read it somewhere.

15

[quote]Leaddog66 wrote:
Thanks for the welcome everyone.

Cardio is on the back burner right now. I am off my weight loss kick for awhile and am back to strength building[/quote]

I hate to say it, but if you’re doing cardio just to lose weight then you’re short-changing yourself. I’ve learned that it’s a big mistake to drop cardio … EVER. Especially as you age. Cardio improves overall conditioning, which helps strength training. The more efficient the heart and lungs, the less they’ll struggle when the going gets tough. Unfortunately, cardio conditioning declines rapidly when dropped. (For me, a few weeks off sets me way back!) So by keeping a moderate level of cardio in your current program you can avoid having to go through a break-in period when you want to reintroduce it to the program again. I don’t know about you, but I think having to start cardio from scratch totally sucks canal water. You don’t need a lot of cardio to get a decent bang for your buck. Twenty minutes 3 times a week would be my rock-bottom minimum. (Four times would be better!) How hard can that be? :slight_smile:

Cappy

16

Welcome leaddog! Still looking thick buddy, great to have you aboard.

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Welcome

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welcome, there’s a wealth of knowledge to be gained from these old coots.

semper fi!

19

Welcome to T-Nation bro.
I read your post and got that guilty twinge in my gut because I am in that boat too. I do nothing for cardio except walk with my dog…literally for a job since I am a K-9 Officer. However past that all I do is powerlifiting workouts with no other thought to other exercise.

I have low BP, good muscle to fat ration, but high cholesterol due to genetics the doctors say. They also say I need to cardio, but I don’t. Gotta say that I read here for motivation in certain areas like that. Hate running like most people, and sure as hell ran enough in the Infantry to last a lifetime. NCO creed, Results Not Excuses!

20

[quote]Leaddog66 wrote:
A lady got off her treadmill (where she had been since I walked in the door) and asked me if I was ok. I just nodded yes and laid there.

…

All my youth I was a pudgy kid. …

… 4 years into that job I was so out of shape that I would get dizzy walking across a room. I decided work day be damned, I was going back to the gym. That was 2 years ago, and I am soooo happy to be back.

Within a year of going back to the gym I was back over 300 on my bench, squat and deadlift, but my weight had been creeping up too. Eventually I got on the scales and I was 208. At 5’6" and 40 years old, I new that wasn’t any good, so I decided to do something about that too.[/quote]

I’m 5’5" … :wink:

Welcome on board, you might want to try sprints for cardio rather than the tedious stuff. I’ve always wanted a long slide so I could sprint up, slide down, repeat.

Looks like you are where you belong and that you’ve got a handle on intensity. Wish I’d gotten that strong in just two years of lifting, but welcome on board, welcome on board.