The New Rules of Over-40 Lifting

[antiquity]

@TrainForPain

I’ve just grown so bored with static barbell training. It was the most fun thing going for me for awhile, but it’s become pretty tedious.

Yeah, this too. I needed something new to keep me excited and that allows me to progress in a way beyond adding X amount of weight or increasing my reps by n+1. Learning new things, either training-wise or in life in general, keeps you sharper and ultimately leads to improvements that can’t be had by sticking to single modality indefinitely.

[burt128]

@TrainForPain

I think in your example above about we’re either big and slow or small and weak, part of it is just hitting that point of diminishing returns where there’s no more realistic progress to be had (at least on a timescale where I’ll still be on earth).

Or that chasing further progress becomes detrimental to other areas of life or general health. This was certainly my situation towards the end of my time powerlifting.

[barley1]

@antiquity

I’ve been inspired by a few guys in the their mid-50’s

These are the men that give me hope that I’ve got some more battles to wage–and win–against the iron.

My greatest fear is the slide towards irrelevance. Today, I had a doctor indirectly call me old, but I’m sure he knew, deep down, I could bench more than him.

@TrainForPain

I’ve just grown so bored with static barbell training.

Progress is addictive and, for me, progress in the big barbell lifts is sloooow.

Lately, my cardio improves way faster than my strength. The current program I’m running calls for a complex that ends with 1 minute of kettlebell swings. First try, I was on the floor after 35 seconds, gasping for air. The next workout, I got the full minute; the workout after that, I added weight.

@TrainForPain

I talk as if the moms care, but, in reality, it’s only men that say anything.

The world’s completely upside down.

[TrainForPain]

@barley1

my cardio improves way faster than my strength

I noticed the exact same thing with these swings I’m doing. The first couple days I thought I’d die; after that it was mostly a nuisance. I just figured my cardio is in a deeper ditch.

[antiquity]

Getting cardio is way easier and faster than strength. This is part of the reason newbies are drawn to running: they see progress (and initial weight loss) so quickly. If you’re not obese, you can go from a couch to a 5K in a pretty short amount of time. But, you can’t go from a weakling to a muscle-laden dude without a whole lotta time under the barbell.

[meyman3]

I’ve been training 6 days a week doing The Best Damn Workout for Natural Lifters and was just thinking about switching to the every-other-day whole body workouts. I have neck pain, shoulder pain, and cranky knees at 49.

Has anyone had good success with the every-other-day and whole body workouts as far as having less joint pain/feeling better?

[OleMan_Fe]

As a 57 year old who has lifted since the age of 12 when I got my first set of the concrete filled plastic weights I can say that for me personally the EOD full body (or a four day upper/lower) split have really helped me with joint aches. Give it a shot and see how you respond.