My Personal Journey

Bigger Stronger Leaner Over 35 Lifter
1

My story-after reading some of the posts here this morning, it’s a common theme. I’m a soon to be 39 year old male. Like most people, when I was younger, sports was my life. I’m not going to say I was a world class athlete, not by any stretch. But I love the competition, the feel of it, if I have to explain further, then you just won’t get it.

I was single until I was 33, and loved it. I would work out three mornings a week on the weights, play basketball for up to 2 hours every night after work. Because I don’t cook, my diet consisted of salads, baked meat, fruit, etc…, I looked good, but more then that I felt good, I felt confident. I met my wife at this time, and my life changed, ( for the better) but I got lazy.

I now had a stepdaughter, we had a new baby, and slowly my gym time dwindled down, I started putting on weight, and last week I got measured by a personal trainer. Over the last 5 years I had gained 50 pounds and instead of having a washboard stomach I now had 27% bodyfat, and as my wife said “you’ve got man boob”. Ouch! I am good friends with her co-workers and one of them is me 10 years ago. He told me that he was putting together a basketball league and I mentioned that I would like to start playing.

He laughed and told me that I could run along on the side-he didn’t think I could keep up and the sad thing was… he was right. This is where I am at. My goal-I don’t really care about the visual, by that I mean, I do have an ego, I do want to look good, but I want to feel good, I want to feel that confidence that comes with being in excellent shape.

Also, I want to get in good enough shape to play 2 hours of basketball without having a heart attack. Here is my plan.

I have always done the 3x weekly, full body plan. I never have done or believed in machines. My belief is that if you work on the power clean, clean and jerk, deadlift, bench, incline, pullups, chinups, and dips-and throw in other exercises, but concetrate on that group, then that is all you need, plus you develop real world strength.

I left out the squat-due to a shoulder injury, I don’t have the flexibility to put my arm back to hold the squat right, if that makes sense. Here is my plan;

tues-thur-sat, around noon time. Weights, focusing on these core lifts. I am training for endurance, conditioning. Before cross-fit became popular, I tried to lift with no rest. I loved to work up a sweat. To me that translates into athletic performance-what sport allows you to sit for 2-3 minutes to recover? I will post on here, my activities and gains. I’m looking for brutal honesty.

2

Welcome mutigers, great to have you here buddy.

3

Sounds like a decent plan. Just a few suggestions: learn to cook, look for articles on Tabata and the 40 yard dash, and get some ART or other type of rehab. I’m 39, seem to find myself in a similar boat (life kinda creeps up on you) and if physivcal issues are not resolved they will start to affect other areas of the body.

4

I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but, you need more …cardio. I’m a great believer in the big lifts for what I do. But I don’t think they’re going to get you up and down that court for 2 hours. Now if you’re looking to play enforcer that’s something else. I think those are great core exercises for building muscle. Dieting will help with the weight. Whole lot of people on here know a lot more about that than me. Good luck and keep us updated. I do think for motivation you should keep a picture of slam dunkin a basketball in Mr co-workers mouth in mind. Even if he was right.

5

Happy to see you made it here. I’m pretty new to the site as well. I post my shit on “need for speed”. I am an endurance junkie, I only train strength and power one month every three. The other three month are all about endurance an been a lean mean machine.

Bring on the cardio, I totally believe weight loss is at best secondary, got to get the heart and lungs strong again. This can only aid your quest to run the court. Lunges are an awesome leg workout. I have all kinds in my leg workout. It’s a really good way to condition your legs for bigger things. Last thing you want to do is strain something right at the start.

Lots of great ideas and feed back on this site. Do some browsing see what looks good to you. Alway remember an injury is six weeks to heal, sorry that was when I was younger. What ever you decide Bro, never stop this is for life, good luck in your quest.

6

Besides a hearty good for you and welcome to the board, I’ll toss in a few thoughts from a “been there, done that” viewpoint.

First off, there is absolutely no reason that you can’t achieve everything you want to achieve. It’s just a whole lot easier of you’re smart about it. The foundation of smarts is knowledge and I believe that one of the things that will help you is the knowledge that it isn’t just your life that has been changing. You’ve been aging and that means your body has been changing from more than just your diet and lifestyle. Your metabolism is slowing down, your hormone levels are falling and your nutritional needs are changing. When you’re a kid, you can get away with being ignorant. You can pretty much eat anything and work out a little and it’s all good. At this point in your life, that luxury is gone.

You need to really pay attention to what you’re doing or you’ll end up spinning your wheels, getting discouraged, and blowing it all off.

Step one - Nutrition. Everyone thinks they know how to “eat right” but if you haven’t seriously studied nutrition you’re fooling yourself. Getting your nutrition right should be your number one priority. Here’s an excellent place to start:

http://www.johnberardi.com/articles/nutrition/index.htm

Start with the first article on that page, the one titled “7 Habits of Highly Effective Nutritional Programs.”

Get plenty of protein and eliminate the starchy carbs.

hel320 is dead right. Cardio is the king for you at this point. Not only will it build endurance, it will keep your metabolism up while you’re in calorie restriction. Your metabolism has fallen from the natural aging process and from a sedentary lifestyle. It’s time to get it going again and High Intensity Interval Training will get it going again. Here’s the idea in a nutshell… you pedal the bike at a decent pace (70% of Maximum Heart Rate) for 90 seconds and then go all out for 30 seconds. Back to 70% for 90 seconds and then all out for 30 seconds. Repeat that for 20 minutes and you’ll have a great workout that will up regulate your metabolism and keep you burning fat all day long. Do this every day. If it’s a workout day, do it after your lifting or early in the morning before work.

Training - The core lifts are great whole body workouts. Keep the reps up. Your goal is to maintain muscle while in calorie restriction. Once you’ve gotten rid of the fat, then it will be time to concentrate on adding muscle. Don’t forget that muscle and strength are not synonymous. You’ll get stronger even without adding muscle because the biggest factor is CNS response. Your muscles have lost the ability to fire at maximum bundle recruitment. Training right will improve that a lot and so you’ll get stronger because you’ll be using the muscle you have more efficiently. Lost the fat first, then go nuts on building bigger muscles.

Lastly, don’t underestimate how difficult this is going to be. Be prepared for a major struggle and don’t get discouraged if you don’t have instant gratification. Your body is the result of your lifestyle and so to change your body, you’re going to have to change your lifestyle and that is an extremely difficult thing to do. It is literally impossible for most people. Look around. How many guys do you know that are lean and muscular? Almost none. It’s an extraordinary accomplishment and it will take extraordinary effort to achieve it, but it absolutely can be done by anyone at any age if they possess the dedication and the determination to set a goal and never give up until they reach it.

You will have setbacks. You will encounter obstacles. You will have to make hard choices. But you absolutely can have everything you want. The man who will not accept defeat can never be defeated.

In the final analysis, good nutrition and training are simple… but not easy. The psychological cost is high. We all have to choose every day between what is easy and what is right. Take it one day at a time. Every day, every meal, every workout is an opportunity to move closer to your goals or further away from them. Carpe Diem!

7

Welcome, there is a wealth of info here, and some pretty good folks as well. Although separated geographically, we’re all pretty much in this together.

8

Nothing to it but to do it! I agree with hel320, you are going to need allot more Cardio in there. Last year I decided to play semi-pro football and found out that years of power lifting did not carry over to the field when I could barely go two series without having to puke. This year, tons of agility’s drills, running, Hitt. I still lift three days a week but I focus more towards short explosive type movements. If BBall is your passion I would gear your training towards that!

Welcome here!

9

Welcome!!! Nothing new to say, but since your goal is to play basketball with the fellas, why not incorporate the court as part of your cardio. Set up an obstacle course to work on your cutting/change-of-direction. Suicides might also help you…start on the end line, sprint to the first foul line, touch and come back to touch the endline, repeat for half court, far foul line and far end line for a pretty sport-specific conditioning workout. As you can, add more repeats. Juggling family life, work, and hobbies can be a lesson in futility, but it can be done. Best of luck to you in your future endeavor.
Art

10

Thanks for the replies. I agree with the cardio and left that out of my firs post. I am a district manager for a brokerage, and work out of my house, so to start, I am entering what I call my own boot-camp. I am planning on doing 1 hour of cardio, in the morning, form 5-6 am. I am switching to m-w-friday weights over lunch and on Tuesday-thur-sat, play basketball. But first, during my 2 month boot camp, I am doing the morning cardio, on tue-thur-sat, doing another 30 minutes of cardio, then basketball related exercises. Here is what I did yesterday.

Did 8 sets of bench/pullup. Started with the following

245, then decrease by 10 pounds down to 185 pounds. I started doing 245 once, and ended with 185 6 times. I know it’s weak, but I love doing bench, standing up, and immediately banging out pullups.

Incline=started with 10 reps at 135 and worked up to 5 reps at 185.

While waiting for the guy doing curls at the squat rack to get done, I did alternating sets of dips and chinups.

After reading how good and great squats are for you, I did 6 sets, working from 135 to 185.

I know these are weak amounts, but they will improve.

11

Thanks for the replies. I agree with the cardio and left that out of my firs post. I am a district manager for a brokerage, and work out of my house, so to start, I am entering what I call my own boot-camp. I am planning on doing 1 hour of cardio, in the morning, form 5-6 am. I am switching to m-w-friday weights over lunch and on Tuesday-thur-sat, play basketball. But first, during my 2 month boot camp, I am doing the morning cardio, on tue-thur-sat, doing another 30 minutes of cardio, then basketball related exercises. Here is what I did yesterday.

Did 8 sets of bench/pullup. Started with the following

245, then decrease by 10 pounds down to 185 pounds. I started doing 245 once, and ended with 185 6 times. I know it’s weak, but I love doing bench, standing up, and immediately banging out pullups.

Incline=started with 10 reps at 135 and worked up to 5 reps at 185.

While waiting for the guy doing curls at the squat rack to get done, I did alternating sets of dips and chinups.

After reading how good and great squats are for you, I did 6 sets, working from 135 to 185.

I know these are weak amounts, but they will improve.

12

[quote]mutigers wrote:

I know these are weak amounts, but they will improve.

[/quote]

Weak is a relative term. I know I can out lift a whole lot of the NBA but I ain’t playing one on one with none of them.
Be sure and check some of the West Side stuff and some plyometrics. Strength doesn’t necessarily equal moving/jumping ability. I know some guys can squat a whole lot of weight and have a vertical leap of about 2 inches. We throwers live by Mr Newton’s 2nd law, F=MA. Force = Mass x Acceleration. It’s that acceleration part gets you up to the rim. Don’t loose it in your quest for strength. (damn, I sound almost philosophical today). Checkout Colin’s thread(Phatman’s Rehab Log). He does a lot of agility stuff you could use.

13

As a former MU Tiger myself, I wanted to pop in and say hello & welcome you to T-Nation.

MIZZOURAH!!!

Best of luck on reaching your goals.

Personally, I love the idea someone mentioned about putting a pic up of yourself dunking a ball into your coworkers face!!! Classic!!

Can’t wait to keep up with your progress.

B-3

14

How about those tigers. This last year was great as far as football. Now they just have to keep it going. I’m already looking forward to labor day weekend, Mu vs Illini, two preseason top 20 teams.

Mon, Jan 28th. Spent 30 minutes on the stairmaster, then 30 minutes on the elliptical. Went as hard as I could, I don’t want to do more then an hour, but I want to increase my intensity. I don’t know how accurate the calorie counters are, but I will use that as a guage. Burned 1300 in that time. Like to see if I can get to 2000.

15

Memo to self. I am 38, not 28 and I am in terrible shape, check ego at the door. Started with the following numbers

Deadlift,

Warmups, then started at 95 with 8 reps, increasing by 10 pounds until I worked to a 1 rep at 185 pounds. Jumped into the clean and jerk, starting at 95 pounds and worked up to 135 pounds where I felt that pull in my lower back, that I have felt to many times. i stopped immediatly, tried to stretch it out, then did the following to finish up my workout.

6 sets of alternating pushups with pullups. Right now I can do 20 pushups and 2 pullups (embarrasing and disgusting even writing those ridiculous amounts.

6 sets of chinups alternating with dips. I can do 5 dips and 2 chinups.

Finished with 30 minutes on the elliptical./

16

[quote]mutigers wrote:

I know these are weak amounts, but they will improve.

[/quote]

I know Chief already responded to this but I wanted to reinforce it for others that may be reading your thread. Your Numbers are just that…Your Numbers. You own them and they are yours to beat each and every work out. Anyone who wants to compare their numbers to your numbers can F off. Cause there is always Bigger, stronger, people out there. Hell Becka Swanson can out bench more than 75% of this board, lol!

The important part is that you HAVE numbers and you are working to improve them, that’s it really.

Train hard & Stay Strong!

17

I know these are weak amounts,BUT THEY WILL IMPROVE!!!
You said it right, stay strong this is for life

18

[quote]Colin Wilson wrote:
mutigers wrote:

Cause there is always Bigger, stronger, people out there. ![/quote]

Got to tell this story. I once knew a guy who was truly huge. Something like 6’10 and 350+ pounds. He really got tired of people always talking about his size. Had a story he used to tell.

Back in the old west there was a outlaw feared thru out the land. He was so big he had to ride a buffalo and used barb wire for the reins. Instead of a six shooter he wore a winchester on his belt.
One day he rides into town. Goes to the local salon, rips the swinging doors off the hinges and walks in. Tells the bartender, whiskey. The bartender gives him the bottle. He bites the the top of the bottle off and downs it in one drink. Throws a $20 gold piece on the counter and turns to leave. The bartender fearfully says. “Wait, you’ve got change coming”. The outlaw keeps walking and yells back, “ain’t got time for that, there’s a bad Mother F…ker chasing me”.

19

Mutigers: good job on the decision to take charge of your life this way. It may be rough at first, but just keep taking small steps and progressing. You will feel better and look better, and that will bless you and many around you.

20

Thanks for the replies. Love the stories. My back is killing me, I need to remember that I should be going for endurance, fitness, not just what I can do for a 1 rep max. I know at some point the “300” workout has been discussed, my neighbor challenged me to this. I have been looking into it and it seems to me that if you are in good enough shape to complete it, that would be something to shoot for. Here are some numbers to shoot for;

Bench 225-20 times.
Deadlift-225 20 times, the 300 workout calls for 135, 50 times.
Clean and jerk-135, 10 times in a row.
Pushup-50 reps
dip and pullup-30 reps.

Is it possible to attain these strength goals and lose 30-40 pounds?
I know this isn’t perfect, but this is a good goal to shoot for and will require a lot of work and conditioning.

Yesterday-did 30 minutes on the stairmaster, 30 minutes on the elliptical. According to the counter, burned 1300 calories. After two weeks of this, I want to do an hour of cardio, then complete 30 minutes of basketball related workouts. I found that the Local YMCA has a business man’s basketball league that plays at noon time, I want to transition to this on my non weight days.