I Taught a 64-yo Woman to Squat, Deadlift and Press Today

[Kregna]

Today's workout for Rosemary
SQ 42.5kg 3x5
DL 70kg 3x3, 75kg x1

Her bench press is stuck, we're moving to dumbbells for a bit and some higher rep stuff to get a bit more control happening through the shoulders. The deadlift still spins me out, 133% bodyweight now, and she wasn't even grinding it out, just a "sorta max". I think her chest and shoulders are 64yo and her legs and back are 24yo.

I've got a 20-something year old buddy who deadlifts barely more than this. Please bring her to my gym to make him work harder.

Good job on the coaching

[Kyle Schuant]

You may recall I've been progressing her like 40kg 3 reps x5 sets, next week 4x5, next week 5x5, then 42.5kg 3x5, etc. If the 5x5 was really hard, then 2x5 instead.

Last week she did
squats of 42.5kg 4x4, then a max set of 10.
This week I was sick and couldn't train her, she came in on her own and did
squats 45kg 5x5
so her 1RM of 6 weeks ago is now her work weight. She jumped higher than with me, I would have had her do 42.5kg 5x5 or if she seemed energetic 45kg 2x5.

She writes, "When I went to start the 45s and deads, I thought: “Wow, can I do this?”…And I could. But slower. I took about a minute between sets."
Wow, a whole minute's rest? Amazing.

And she did it without me standing around telling her what to do. To me, it's not true strength if they won't do it on their own. And ultimately that's what we all want as trainers or coaches, for people to be able to train effectively on their own.

[DPMuller]

And she did it without me standing around telling her what to do. To me, it's not true strength if they won't do it on their own. And ultimately that's what we all want as trainers or coaches, for people to be able to train effectively on their own.

Agreed... but very few people will do that, as we all know. Just makes finding the rare ones who will so special.

Thank you for continuing to share this, Kyle.

[Kyle Schuant]

Gyorgy has come to his last week of training before going off overseas here and there for three months. We've been working up to some max attempts. These are supposed to happen in a couple of days, but this week's been enough to show the trend, he's not like to do more than 10kg higher than this week.

This week he's squatted 100kg, benched 80kg, and pressed 50kg, all for doubles, 5 sets each. He's also deadlifted 140kg for a single. This is all with the stocking on his right leg to control the lymphoedema. These lifts for an adult male after several months are, most here will say, nothing special, and I agree. However for a guy in his 30s working out for general health, they're good enough, and remember this has been done at the same time as taking Interferon, an immune-boosting drug which he tells me makes him feel like he's fighting the flu all the time. As well, this is the strongest he's been in his life. So I think the lifts are not bad.

That said, your lifts go up and down over your life, and you usually won't remember the first time you pulled two plates, or whatever. Much more important and memorable is quality of life. At the beginning of the year he had 2-3 days a week where he could do stuff, after that he was tanked and had to spend the rest of the week sleeping. Now he has 5 days a week, which he attributes to his exercise.

This ties in with Sully's recent talk on "compressed morbidity", that even if this stuff doesn't make you live longer, it makes you live better. This is the sort of stuff it's hard to make scientific studies on, how do you quantify quality of life? But we can say without doubt: you get stronger, you feel better.

[Jonathon Sullivan]

My lady (the one who originally started this thread) has returned after a long layoff due to elbow pain (medial epicondylitis). She still has elbow pain, despite the layoff. She had elbow pain before she ever started. She has apparently decided that she's going to have elbow pain, no matter what. She's decided she'd rather have elbow pain and be strong than have elbow pain and be weak.

She came in, grabbed her shoes from under the plate rack, shook off the chalk, put them on, and immediately pulled, squatted and benched about 85% of the 3RMs (dead 5RM) she lifted at the end of August. The only reason she didn't lift more is because I finally convinced her to stop adding weight to the bar.

I hope she sticks with it. She's a very lively person, and her attentions tend to wander (this is the pot calling the kettle black, here). She may keep coming and she may not.

But the point I wanted to emphasize is one we all should know anyway: Even for the elderly, strength is a persistent adaptation. It's one thing to know it; it's another altogether to see it. I shouldn't be, but I'm stunned.

[Oldman]

My lady (the one who originally started this thread) has returned after a long layoff due to elbow pain (medial epicondylitis). She still has elbow pain, despite the layoff. She had elbow pain before she ever started. She has apparently decided that she's going to have elbow pain, no matter what. She's decided she'd rather have elbow pain and be strong than have elbow pain and be weak.

She came in, grabbed her shoes from under the plate rack, shook off the chalk, put them on, and immediately pulled, squatted and benched about 85% of the 3RMs (dead 5RM) she lifted at the end of August. The only reason she didn't lift more is because I finally convinced her to stop adding weight to the bar.

I hope she sticks with it. She's a very lively person, and her attentions tend to wander (this is the pot calling the kettle black, here). She may keep coming and she may not.

But the point I wanted to emphasize is one we all should know anyway: Even for the elderly, strength is a persistent adaptation. It's one thing to know it; it's another altogether to see it. I shouldn't be, but I'm stunned.

This is exactly why I started lifting: I was suffering from an autoimmune illness--myasthenia gravis--that was making me weaker. I figured I might just as well suffer the illness while trying to get stronger. I hope your lifter sticks with it.

[Kyle Schuant]

But the point I wanted to emphasize is one we all should know anyway: Even for the elderly, strength is a persistent adaptation. It's one thing to know it; it's another altogether to see it. I shouldn't be, but I'm stunned.

Very true. Thus, Gyorgy had worked up to 90kg squats, got cancer and had the lymph nodes of one leg removed and all the drugs and so on that go with that - which in truth were probably more debilitating than the cancer itself - and even after that could squat 60kg, which is more than 4/5 of beginner males. Strength will even persist through cancer and the treatments for it.

What's also significant is the movement skills. A person can stop doing this stuff, and come back literally years later and still be able to squat etc well. Even more than the strength, the movement skills impress me. I've often said I wish I could film people's first workouts and show them three months later. Forgetting the weight on the bar, just compare the quality of the movement.

[hrat]

Hiya. My mum is mid fifties, ~4'11 and probably 12ish stone. She's an ex kayaker, and dislocated a shoulder rock climbing ten years ago, which never healed correctly. She also has scoliosis, kyphosis (used to be 5'1), and an old lumbar disk injury, perhaps also an SI joint issue, also pretty bad arthiritis particularly hands and spine. Worst of all, she has a PE degree from the 70s, and has depression, so doesn't take criticism well, especially from her daughter.
We have a rowing machine, bench, dumbells, and a 1'' bar with plates. I suggested planks last year, but the above mentioned SI issue flared.

So, if I can convince her to do one thing, what should it be? Deadlifts? (NB UK based- I haven't found any decent gym, or trainer worth a damn.)
Thanks

[Kyle Schuant]

hrat, sorry mate, these are things which must be judged in person and very likely with advice from a medical professional. Get her a coach, you can't coach relatives, as your post recognises.

Here's Rosemary pulling 80kg, she'd done a couple of singles already and this was just for the camera so the lockout was brief and she didn't lower it properly. Forgive the blurriness, the phone only cost me $30...

[DustinC]

Just read the whole thread. Awesome, I started training my wife about 4 months ago and she loves it (23yo). Now, wife and I convinced her mother (55yo) to start training with my wife in our home gym. She has stuck with it for about month now. After just a week she said her "Restless Leg Syndrome", that she had suffered with for nearly every night for a long time, had went away. Also convinced her to start doing foam rolling every day. She is very motivated. Worked out her whole life, running, boot camp, total gym, etc. She says she has never felt better then she does now after barbell training. Hope she sticks with it. I am also progressing her fairly slow to ensure safety. Very motivating.