The Over-40 & Formerly Skinny(fat) Guy's Log

Training Logs
1

Background: former long-distance runner (HS, College, 5 marathons, hundreds of road races), high school/college bench PR 175 at 150#.

2005 – Had to quit competitive running for medical reasons, but that’s fine I was sick of it. At that point I started screwing around with weights and xfit workouts, never stuck to a schedule. Weight went from 160# to a soft 210#.

2011 – Got into BJJ for about 18 months but realized becoming decent would require more time than I can commit, but I did drop some weight (got down to 175#) and got a bit stronger from it. I also realized the value of size and strength in combat. October 2012 I did a watered down version of Starting Strength, I was benching #165 at the start. Worried I was going to hurt myself, I switched to a “lite” version of Stripped Down Hypertrophy (some days I only do half the workout), hoping to gain some size and strength before trying to methodically increase my lifts.

Near-term goals: consistently lift 3-4x per week, Bench 225, Military 135, gain weight and drop body fat, maybe join a gym and find my squat and DL maxes. Basically I’m a guy who’s been pretty weak for 40+ years trying to get stronger before age makes that impossible.

Today 1/25/13:
Age: 42
Ht. 6’
Wt. 195 and pretty flabby

Bench:
20 X 45
10 X 115
10 X 135
10 x 135
4 x 165
1 x 185
1 x 200

Bent dumbell rows:
4 x 12 x 35#

Squat (nursing a sore lower back, squatting off bench pins):
10 x 65
10 x 95
10 x 115
10 x 145

  • water break -

Military:
4 x 10 x 75#

Overhead rows:
3 x 10 x 35# plate
1 x 20 x 35# plate

Bodyweight lunges:
4 x 10 (10 each leg)

Any constructive advice is appreciated.

3

Former marathon runner here, though much younger than you are.

I’ve found that I can handle a lot more volume for lower body movements than the average person, likely due to my distance background.

Main thing I would say starting out is to get on a real program and follow it to the T for a couple of months at least.

Don’t be discouraged by your low squat and such. My first time squatting after my running days, I could only do 95lbsx5. I was just so skinny and had really beaten most of the type 1 fibers out of myself.

Good luck!