Having talked a bit about this in various threads (train on less days, lower intensity and volume etc.) as well as in Christian Thibadeau’s great article on rules for the older lifter - I was wondering what advice you would share? What to do, and what not. Any excercises to avoid? Please share your experiences. Also, it would be very interesting to hear Dr Darden’s opinion on this.
Personally, I would say do not train two days in a row. Now at 47 yo I can max train three days a week, and realize every third day is my best (in terms of performance vs recovery). Obviously, this applies under full body HIT regimen.
One of the selling points for HIT style training was that it was supposed to be sustainable over the course of one’s life. If that is true, then only minimal adjustments should be required? Of course, when you are young, you might not truly understand how aging will affect your ability to do things in old age. I have wondered if aging HIT guru’s sometimes discover that the HIT methods of their youth are not as sustainable as they once thought? I have wondered if Dr. Darden’s shift to Not to Failure training with 30-10-30 isn’t a discovery born of an aging body?
All-out ‘To Failure’ training all the time is not the answer. Dr D’s writings have reflected this for some time now. Even people like Dante T of DC Training has had to reflect on these matters. I like cycling my work moreso than ever. Focus on periods of Progression — interspaced with or followed by — lighter regimes like 30-10-30 or just plain lighter weight/ higher reps, are the plan for me.
Short rests for a good pump and heart health are more important than ever.
Also, the Full Range of Motion mantra has to be tempered with caution for many of us. Certain ranges are just too risky with any appreciable weight (for example the very bottom portion of presses).
Thanks Simon! Good point there on rep ranges! I used Zone Training to rehab myself out of the recent adductor strain. Could not do any leg work with hips/legs more than 75 degrees. Zone Training in the upper two zones solved it. Now back on regular leg training, but careful not overdoing it. Not til failure that is.
I’ve been training for 30 plus years now using primarily hit methods and over the years I’ve made my best gains by varying my workouts both in terms of volume, frequency and intensity.
The totality of demands and how you regulate them are what keeps you moving forward, so if my life is particularly stressful I’ll back off on the intensity and increase the volume slightly. Or I may reduce the frequency but increase the intensity via more demanding training protocols.
At present due to my work commitments in A&E I currently train once every 6 days using a full body workout, using either the 30-10-30 method or some negative variable. So far it’s working out well for me.
Petterson. My friend, you are not ageing but in your prime… Galloping sarcopenia is snapping at your heels though, and though inescapable, is ameliorated with resistance training. The key word is ‘resistance’.there are those who advocate a gentle walk,prune the roses and use light weights. But it needs to be hard or it doesn’t work.The weight must be ‘meaningful’ (thanks Richard Winett) and serious effort for those last reps. An under recognised benefit - forgetting the everyday. There is an element of zen in those last reps. You can’ worry about those things that are stressing you every day. And it is somewhere to go in your head when you can’t sleep… I am 39 years older than you are.Ageing? Not you…
Have a day in the gym just for metabolic work/active recovery followed by a ton of stretching and mobility work. …focus a lot on hips and shoulders/posture
Go for a proper walk at least once a week
Drop any move that irritates your knees
Not Dr Darden but he’s Editor of the site and has some interesting perspectives here…
I may not feel younger but it’s both impressive and a great hope for the future, you keep on doing the iron game. You are a true role model! I will put a frame around “the weight needs to be meaningful”. Probably the best advice in strength training I’ve ever heard!
So perhaps we can borrow Micheal Pollan’s advice on diet ("Eat food, not too much, mostly plants), and apply it to strength training:
Lift weights, not too much, mostly with meaningful resistance.
Then add to the recipe:
Be physically active most days, doing easy stuff like walks, or other forms of easy exercise (see below). This helps preserve metabolic health and offsets the know detrimental impact of being completely sedentary.
Push your heart rate up with some kind of cardio once or twice week; intervals are good for this.
Don’t dismiss the value of other kinds of exercises (yoga, light calisthenics, stretching) that keep the joints mobile and the body flexible. Even if those don’t build muscle, they improve your ability to function, don’t excessively tax your recovery, and likely make everything ache less.
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Damn, you guys are making me feel like the Bionic Man. I didn’t set and reach my TBDL goal of 405 X 10 until I was 49 and have continued hitting it once a year for the last twenty years. At the end of March I’m going to do it again just to say I did it at 70.
I’m not training for strength either, I train a three way split for ‘BB’ purposes,
never thinking of singles or triples. I think too many guys start considering themselves over the hill when they are not and begin to mentally let go.
If you aren’t into training hard anymore , then that’s fine … but just because you reach a certain age doesn’t mean you’re ready for the scrap heap.
Except for a stiff legged DL I feel really vulnerable and unsafe with a straight bar for the DL. With a Trap Bar and my hands at my sides , a DL feels safe and natural . Maybe it’s all in my mind but having the weight in front of me with bent knees just feel like an accident waiting to happen.
Thanks for the link. Thrall always has entertaining videos, saw quire a a few of them but missed this one so thanks for posting it. I think the Trap Bar is the best piece of equipment ever designed. I don’t have the original one designed by Al Gerald but own the PDA ‘Shrug Bar’.
Ever since I saw Leistner abuse his power lifter secretary by pushing her through a couple sets of TBDL’s at a Rutger’s strength training seminar in the 80’s , I had to have one and start using that movement my own training,
