I am reader of T-Nation for a few years, but decided now to register as one question is on my mind recently.
I am 46, former runner, have trained hard to get half marathon below 1h 28m. But always trained some accessory movements for strength like bench press and so on - which those days gave nothing to my musculature due to hard running training.
Four years ago stopped running, decided to focus on strength, it was in my case good decision. Now I enjoy strength training.
Now when I am training with heavier weights, to which my body was never exposed, I am very focused to listen to my bodyâs response. I know my numbers are not big, but for two years one of the exercise I enjoy most is farmer carry. I started light with dumbbells then when I reached 50kg each, I switched to trapbar. Now I am at 140kg at trapbar and started to think that somewhere must be a limit, especially at my age. They say at T-Nation to aim for double body weight which is about 160kg in my case. I read here also that if the weight doesnât scare you it is probably too light
Anyway, do some of you know or could share some information about warning signs, what could be felt before some injury, especially during deadlift or farmer (theyâre a bit similar). I am listening to my body and focused during training but am afraid to miss some relevant response body might give me.
I am familiar only with running injuries due to prolonged hard run training but they are very different I think.
People can make gains at almost any age in one form or another whether it be a relatively young fit person like yourself getting stronger and faster or a 90 year old getting back the strength to move about independently in their homes and daily lives.
Age wonât be holding you back. Past injury history might tho. If your knees are shot from running or there is some other injury e.g. chronic low back pain you may have to adjust training to avoid flaring up past issues. You havenât mentioned anything specific in that regard but with your running history Iâd be surprised if there was nothing hurting a bit.
I donât think holding yourself to arbitrary standards is a good idea e.g.a double bw lift because everyone is different some lift 2x bw their first day in the gym whereas others may take years. Look instead for consistent sustainable progress and definitely donât be limiting yourself by placing upper limits on your gains.
That being said it is a good idea to go about things in a way that minimises injury (different topic for another time). One part of that would be recognizing when youâve pushed too much and/or when one shouldnât push further.
Things to look for include: pain (joint, muscle or other) that is excessive, doesnât follow the pattern typical of DOMS or otherwise feels off, persistent/excessive fatigue/tiredness or soreness, disturbed sleep, low motivation, mood changes e.g. irritability etc.
Youâll probably know if an acute injury e.g. muscle strain has occurred tho this is unlikely if you are training smart but some other things can creep up on you. Fatigue generated from hard training accumulates over time and needs to be managed by optimising recovery (see below)
If thereâs any sharp pain, any spasming or you feel stiff outside of DOMS thatâs a good sign something is up, also if you are super fatigued you are probably at higher risk but really, you are running a risk of injury by strength training, as you did with running - thereâs no way around it. Last time I did my back was picking up my son, 5 days after deadlifting.
You are very unlikely to hurt yourself in a way that seriously impacts your quality of life in the long term. Wear issues aside.
As for limit, O wouldnât consider 2xBW a limit - perhaps a starting point.
When pressed, many lifters who had a significant orthopedic injury while lifting will admit they experienced premonitory pain shortly before the injury occurred; eg, a pec-insertion twinge the rep prior to the one that blew the tendon. Because of these reports, wise lifters donât ignore such signs, and will opt to abort a set rather than risk injury. (John Meadows has spoken of doing this.) Less-wise lifters soldier on, and many end up with a story to add to the premonitory canon; âI felt a pain in my shoulder, but wanted to finish the set, so I attempted one more rep, and thatâs whenâŠâ
I really appreciate your answers.
Seems I have to keep an eye on my body and keep doing
And this 2xBW I see as a kind of milestone similar to what it was to go under three hours in marathon a few years ago. I had never imagined I could even tear 100kg off the ground and this is still so surprising me thatâs why it was my concern.
Often it is ego, but sometimes itâs just ignorance as the warning signs are there. Often we think we canât âaffordâ to take a week off, because we are making great progress and are almost at the end of a training blockâŠAs others mentioned before, DOMS is fine, tendon stiffness is a red flag. If you add fatigue and perhaps stress of life to this, one can easily forget to e.g. brace properly. Someone like James Strickland (former swimmer now powerlifter) praises this and advocates to not be afraid to âshut it downâ before it gets worse.
