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Working out in your 40s or older.

#64
BboogieXVII said:
My recommendation: Don't even think about doing deadlifts or other hernia or back stressing lifts. The day will come when you will really regret it. Unless you are 22 years old and trying to be the baddest thing to hit Venice Beach and trying to pick up 22 year old girls, it's not necessary to look like Arnold, jus fehgidaboudit Get into general condition like ZenG recomends.
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nonsense, I still work out regularly with 500+ lbs in the deadlift, for reps. I do less sets now per bodypart than I used to, but my strength hasn't changed. Injuries are part of any athletic endeavor.
 
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#65
two fingers said:
We're talking about how folks in their 40s or older work out and/or stay in shape. @MJ5150 thought you might have particularly good insight.

Dazzle us!!!! :D
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I mentioned it in another post. The set totals have dropped. For instance, I used to do a 20 set quads workout, then move on to hams & calves. Yesterday I did 12 total sets for Quads, and then moved on to an 8 set hams & 6 set calves workout. In my experience, once your muscles are "trained: by hammering them for years, it becomes much easier to generate results with far less total volume. I do keep the pace kicked up though, just to generate the intensity I may be missing. Works like a champ. I've been heavier in my life, 245 lbs. But I carried a bunch of fat around too, 36-38 inch waist. Now I'm wearing 32" pants, I still take a 54 jacket with 19.5" neck dress shirts. So you tell me, Was I better then or now. You can still generate outstanding results, you just need to approach things froma different angle. I'm actually toying with the idea of doing a master bodybuilding competition this year. Oh yeah, almost forgot. Diet is EVERYTHING !!!!
 
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#66
ZenG said:
Strength training is not the same as bodybuilding,cardio or endurance exercises.

Most strength training exes are compound exes. with low reps per set. (As low as 2) And not very many sets.

You can get seriously strong on a strength regimen without seeming to add huge muscle. Although many "strength" practitioners eat like a horse.

Check out champ-of-old Doug Hepburns' routine.

The other thing about strength exes is the way you do them. Many will tout "full range of motion' when exercising. But you are never as strong in a full-range -of-motion ex as you are when the ex is modified for maximum mechanical leverage.
Which is why power lifters often have what looks to be a weird way of benching, squatting or deading. The idea is to cut the range of motion to the zone where the muscle is stongest in it's shortened travel path.

You don't need an hour and half workout three times a week to get strong.

Bodybuilders often spend half their lives in the gym. But bodybuilding is not straight strength training per se.

They should throw most of the bodybuilder mags into the garbage. The purpose of those mags is to sell Whey protein and other muscle enhancing additives.

But most of the guys in the photos are on 'roids anyway.
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not true about the 1/2 your life in the gym part.
 
#72
Jloch86 said:
Leanness is what gives the appearance of a hard body. Working out helps, duh, but if you're eating too much, all that muscle and hardness will be covered by fat. We all have six packs under our fat, even without doing a single sit up. Stay lean. Simple as that.

Curls, 4 sets of 10
Bench, 4 sets of 10
Military Press, 4 sets of 10

Just do that entire thing 3x a week using weights you can handle and you'll be solid.
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This will be good, it really doesn't take much. As with all exercises, let me tell you (sorry, that sounds very Trump, doesn't it?) that I got much better results with Military presses when I started using LESS weight and higher reps (at least to start and end that exercise). As with most any exercise, the right contraction is important. Use light enough weight that you can get full arm extension and squeeze at the top (like a shrug motion). I only come down until my tricep is parallel to the floor, and forearm perpendicular to floor, on this one as I like to focus on thickening my neck and building up my trapezius to "shorten" the appearance of my long neck (I'm 6'3"). I've been in good to great shape for the past 20 years but people really started commenting, without my mentioning anything, when my neck and traps grew and that was just a few years ago (I'm 48).

One more thing. Legs. Legs are what really matter. You hit legs hard enough, particularly in the form of squats or something that makes that motion like kettlebell swings and you eat whatever you want and you don't get fat. Exaggeration but not far off. Squats are the real deal, though. I've done everything and only when I started squatting did my 6 pack show up and my obliques popped out for the first time since about 20 years old; and of course, almost every other muscle gets worked. Again, this was just a few years ago when I finally "got it" and I had never been out of shape. I know you don't want to be a gym rat so if you can squeeze a squat rack and as little as 200lbs of weight in your house, do it.

Get back to me if you want more details. I recall your pic from when you were a kid- I made the Caddyshack reference. We appear to have the same body type so I think you would get results from the same type of approach. I was 6'3 and 160 at 21 and I go between 200 and 210 these days (and I still get called skinny by knuckleheads who are still living in the 80's (haha) because I'm lean. But your wife will love it, and she'll probably stop thinking about screwing the drummer, too). Wait, I screwed that up. Everybody screws the drummer's wife but all the women want the guitarist. My apologies.
 
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#73
buzzbass said:
not true about the 1/2 your life in the gym part.
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There's guys (and girls) in the gym six days a week on 'split' routines.

There's also guys and girls at home (their own equipment) doing six day 'split' routines.

Then you get these people that are in the gym 3 days or 2 days a week and on their "off" days they do their running or cardio.

There's loads of people that are addicted to "more is better".
 
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#74
Ant Illington said:
One more thing. Legs. Legs are what really matter.
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I was going to mention this earlier...too many people concentrate on the "beach muscles" (arms and pecs) and overlook their legs. I now work out at home, but when I used to have a gym membership I was often the only person on the squat rack while a dozen people were doing bench press and curls. Sure, some of them had nice arms, but they had chicken legs and looked unbalanced.

Your legs are half of your body and need to be trained at least as much as your upper body.
 
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#75
I thought I'd go ahead and be specific:

Monday: Superset pushups (including knee, or "girl" pushups for toning) with bent-over dumbbell concentration curls (Arnold-style; arm hanging straight down, not against my thigh); single-arm dumbbell rows; laying-on-the floor leg lifts

Tuesday: Squats with light dumbbells or jump-style squats with no weights, superset with bodyweight standing calf raises; single-leg extensions with a 20-pound ankle weight; sit-ups

Wednesday: Superset standing dumbbell curls with dumbbell shoulder presses; superset bent-over dumbbell laterals with shrugs; leg lifts

Thursday: Superset lunges with bodyweight standing calf raises; superset standing knee raises with hamstring kickbacks using 5-pound ankle weights; sit-ups

Friday: Superset pushups with triceps kickbacks using 10-pound dumbbell; bent-over barbell rows; planking on elbows (or hands) and toes while tightening my abs as much as possible; arching my back up and down on hands and knees, squeezing my abs as much as possible when arching up

Saturday and Saturday: Off


Each workout takes about 35-50 minutes or less. All done in my house. Staying in shape hasn't cost me a dime in many years!
 
#77
duff beer said:
I was going to mention this earlier...too many people concentrate on the "beach muscles" (arms and pecs) and overlook their legs. I now work out at home, but when I used to have a gym membership I was often the only person on the squat rack while a dozen people were doing bench press and curls. Sure, some of them had nice arms, but they had chicken legs and looked unbalanced.

Your legs are half of your body and need to be trained at least as much as your upper body.
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Yes..there is a specific squat (Leg) regimen that when done actually increases your testo level temporarily throughout your entire body..which in turn helps your other worked-out muscles grow.

Exercise regimens should be specific to the user.

There are hundreds of exercises and routines.

Asking a power lifter for advice on fitness is like bringing a D-9 cat to a Bonsai gardening convention.

If we are getting in shape for, say, rock climbing or competitive swimming then a powerlifter's advice is virtually useless...and vice versa.

A bodybuilders advice is of limited use if we're in MMA etc etc etc etc.

We have to know what we want specific to what we are trying to do.

Heavy muscle is generally counterproductive to endurance events because of the oxygen requirement , which is inefficient for that type of regimen.

The body does not like heavy muscle for endurance. It seeks THE most efficient effortless way to get the job done without extra taxation. If you take up strictly endurance events there is a good chance your body might shrink some muscles to pare them down for maximum performance. Long distance marathon running with gigantic quads won't last too long.
Many bodybuilders despise running for that exact reason.

Anyway, endurance events use different muscle fibers than maximum force events.

( A muscle is composed of several types of fibers).

You can tire your muscles out doing low weight endurance reps...then immediateley go and do a max single lift with no problem. Why ? Because the endurance reps didn't use your type A (strength) fibers much if at all.
 
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#78
BboogieXVII said:
My recommendation: Don't even think about doing deadlifts or other hernia or back stressing lifts. The day will come when you will really regret it. Unless you are 22 years old and trying to be the baddest thing to hit Venice Beach and trying to pick up 22 year old girls, it's not necessary to look like Arnold, jus fehgidaboudit Get into general condition like ZenG recomends.
Click to expand...

I would agree with you only for someone with a history of back problems, but for everyone else if you had to do only one weight resistance excercise that would be the one, assuming proper technique of course. It is a full body excercise that emphasizes the back. See link.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
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