Geezer Newb at Sea

[bbuszard]

When does true geezerdom begin? Do I truly geez? The following will be the results from my laboratory experiments on myself. How fast can I recover, and what concessions must I make to incipient geezerhood? My logging has been in a spiral notebook, and I've been at the program for some six weeks now, so I'll just record the first 2 sessions I wrote down (at about the 2nd week into the program) and my 2 most recent sessions.

I doubt this will be too interesting, except perhaps to other geezer / newbies who may learn something from my mistakes. The most obvious shift I've had to make is in recovery time. At my current weights, I need 6 minutes between squat sets, 5 between upper body sets, and 4 between the power-clean sets. I've also been conservative with weight gains; I didn't advance by 10 pound increments for long. I miss being 20 years old sometimes.

Stats: height 5' 9", weight 180, age 44

Monday 3/6

squat 165: 5/5/5
press 85: 5/5/5
row 105: 5/5/5
dips: 11/10/10

Yes, yes, the verboten rows. I transitioned to power cleans soon after, though. I incorporated dips for the first couple of weeks, then dropped them to help my recovery on the main lifts.

Wednesday 3/8

squat 175: 5/5/5
pseudo-bench 255 5/5/5
pull-ups: 11/7/7
back xt: 15/15/15

My workout partner bailed on me early on, so no spot and no true bench at the moment. The pseudo-benches are on one of those gawd-awful independent Hammer machines, and I look forward to being away from them asap. I should have a power cage arriving in the next couple of weeks at home and I can move back to a real bench press. The pseudo-bench clearly gives the lifter a mechanical advantage. My real bench numbers won't be anything like as high.

--- Time passes ---

Monday 4/10

squat 240: 5/5/5
pseudo-bench 345: 5/5/5
chinups: 11/9/8

Wednesday 4/12

squat 245: 5/5/5
press 115: 3/5/4 (first miss; form error or too hard on the warmups?)
pcln 95: 3/3/3/3/3

I discovered today that I have a tendency to shift forward and left on the tougher squats, which has been aggravating my left hip flexor and quad. Having identified the error I hope that mentally screaming "back and centered" will correct it. We'll see.

I'm having trouble with form on the power-clean, which isn't surprising, I suppose. I had it up to 110, but wasn't racking the bar well or consistently. I've backed off and have been practicing form with lighter weight. Hopefully I can progress up from here without any more major hiccups.

One other point to add: I alternate power-clean and deadlift, as per the program. The deadlift just hit 300 last Friday.

[bbuszard]

Friday 4/14

squat 250: 5/5/5
pseudo-bench 347 1/2: 5/4/4 (miss)
pull-ups: 10/8/7

Form much better on the squat this time. I'll see if my left quad & adductor are happier over the weekend. Missed the fake bench and don't care too much. I hope to transition to a real bench in a couple of weeks anyway, and I'll have to regress a bit in weight in order to be that sure my form is ok.

[bbuszard]

Monday 4/17

Squat 255: 5/5/5
Press 115: 5/5/5
Deadlift 305: 1x5

Got the press this time, though it was a bit of a grind on a couple of reps. I'm debating whether I should micro-load the press starting next time.

Squat form felt pretty good, though I have to keep my back from good-morning-ing on the toughest reps. I think I'm looking too straight down, and should stare at the ground a couple feet in front of me. I've sat back better the past couple of workouts, and the left quad and adductor felt better this weekend.

Deadlift went fine, with only the last rep really needing a grind. It was almost 100 pounds ahead of my squat at one point, but if the squat stays on a linear progression it will catch it in a few weeks. I may revert to 10 lb. increments on the deadlift next time.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Welcome, but since you asked here the official geezer taxonomy.

40+ Geezling.
50+ Geezoid.
60+ Geezer. (I'm 61)
70+ Geezasaur.
80+ Geezolith.
90+ Geez!

As for your reference to Hammer machines, I'm no fan of their pressing apparatus either when I used to use them I always got tendinitis in my elbows. But their pulling machines for the back I always found to be pretty good.

[bbuszard]

Very helpful, Mark. So I am technically a geezer, but only barely. That's reassuring, I suppose.

[Mark E. Hurling]

You betcha and no charge. You have plenty of time to work on the combine and make the cut for Team Geezer.

[DaddyMantz]

Welcome Geezling. I am also 44 and pretty new to strength training. I hope you keep up this great experiment and find out exactly what your true potential is. There are a lot of other Geezers on this forum to listen to very closely. Mark Hurling is one of them. I learn a lot from them.

[bbuszard]

Does teem Geezer have a slogan yet? How about, "Team Geezer: we do fewer things slower."

[Mark E. Hurling]

Welcome Geezling. I am also 44 and pretty new to strength training. I hope you keep up this great experiment and find out exactly what your true potential is. There are a lot of other Geezers on this forum to listen to very closely. Mark Hurling is one of them. I learn a lot from them.

You are too kind Sir. Oldster is far more knowledgeable than I am on how to get really strong. I have my areas of specialization like how to stretch, blend conditioning, and martial arts into a fading pool of energy as you get older. I'm still learning the more complex elements of programming.

Does teem Geezer have a slogan yet? How about, "Team Geezer: we do fewer things slower."

Oh, we had a whole entertaining thread in The Elderly on this.

http://startingstrength.com/resource...ad.php?t=28543

[bbuszard]

Funny stuff, that. I wish I had seen it. I'm a classicist by trade and might have made an Odysseian contribution or two. Anywho...

Wednesday 4/19

squat 260: 5/5/5
pseudo-bench 347 1/2: 5/5/4 (miss 2)
back xt: 3x15
chin-ups: 12/9/7

The squats were a serious grind, and I fear that my first miss isn't far off. I do have a nice pair of squat shoes on the way, though, and they may help out. The Chucks aren't bad, but I'm sure a firmer base will be better. I'm going to try to eat like a horse and sleep like the dead the next 2 days, and hopefully the progress will continue for a bit.

Pseudo-bench is slightly better, but still not 3x5. Who really cares? May the power cage arrive soon!

I re-inserted back extensions because my back has been feeling pretty good and because they give my lats a bit more rest after benching. I think that helped a bit in the chins this time.