Feeling way to tight

[JETSR71]

This is my first post. For my 45th birthday, I decide to get into shape. I started on another program and then found Starting Stength. Good progress for the last few months. At 196 lbs,

Squat 320 3x5
Dead 250 3x5
Bench 210 3x5
Press 125 3x5

Squat still making progress. Dead, injured my lat doing chins and trying to get it to heal. Second stall on bench and second stall on Press. Looking into going into the TM. I have already dropped Wed squats to 80% to keep from feeling so beat up. Ibuprofen is a daily event.

Part of getting into shape was to play with my boys but I just can't seem to loosen up enough to run. They could never beat me in a foot race before I started lifting heavy.

I need advice on how to get the kinks out to feel "loose" again.

[mcclamic]

I'm 41 and have found that playing racquetball or other sport, sometimes it's basketball or even swimming, that gets me moving a couple of times a week, helps loosen me up. I do these at reltively low intensity, just to get the blood flowing through the muscles. I also make sure to take protein right after my workout, usually with a banana or other fast acting carb.

That said, I'm not trying to establish and world record marks in the lifts. I just want to be able to do the physical stuff I want when I want as I get older, like chop wood, wrestle with my daughter, move furniture for my wife, etc... . The key, for me at least, is to remember the last two sentences while lifting as I'm not 20-something. For reference, I am 238 lb and still on linear progression:

Squat 365 3x5
Dead 415 3x5
Incline Bench 225 3x5
Press 165 3x5

Any chance with a handle like JETSR71 that you're a fellow engineer?

[Mark E. Hurling]

So do you stretch at all?

[JETSR71]

I stretch after my workout. I have even gone to the local Y and did the yoga class a few times.

And yes, I are an engineer.

[Gunnhild Bruno]

How often are you lifting?

Also, the way to get better at running around is to run around. If you lift for [x] months and don't train running around, you're going to lose some running around capacity. Just start running around. Add a day of wind sprints or something. That sort of conditioning comes back quickly,

[JETSR71]

I lift 3x per week. I was running 2x per week but I stopped since running is not part of the program. I'll be happy to give it a try.

[dkggpeters]

Being tight and taking a long time to loosen up is an unfortunate reality to getting older. I am 48 and run a lot and it takes me a good mile or 2 to loosen up. In the morning I have to walk like Frankenstein and takes a bit of moving around being I can move normally.

[Mark E. Hurling]

I had something about this with some young 'uns a short while back. Here's what I said then:

I may over-generalizing here, but it looks like most of you are relatively young and under 30. I didn't stretch at all until my late 30's to allow me to keep my heels on the the floor doing squats. That gradually led to more general stretching as I got older. I've had a history of injuries of the shoulder and knee among other things from college athletics and other antics that began to get more uncomfortable as I got still older. I spent the second half of my 50's doing more general stretches to include my lower back and the rest of my body too. Now I stretch at the end of my lifting session because I'm already warm and I too have read the advice about how doing it before a big effort tends to weaken the affected muscle group. I wish I had started sooner, at the age the rest of you are. If you are still abusing yourself at my age (61 shortly) you will find it essential and you may have some of the same afterthoughts I do.

Here's what I do:

Foam roller (a really hard one) of 10 rolls on the lower back, 10 rolls on the upper back, 10 rolls lengthwise on the right shoulderblade, 10 on the left.

Grab a post below waist level and let your weight settle back for a count of 30 for the full back upper and lower, then take your left leg and bend your knee crossing your ankle over your right knee for a stretch of the left hip flexor for a 30 count, then do the same with the right leg.

Bring your left leg up to at least waist height for a 30 count for a hamstring stretch, do the same for the right leg.

Grab a rail or some piece of equipment to steady yourself and bend your left leg at the knee behind you and grab your ankle with your right hand for a quad stretch 30 count, then the right leg.

Set the balls of your feet on something at least 4" high to stretch out your achilles tendons, 30 count.

Grab a towel or rope or broomstick and take a wide grip with 10 dislocates backward and forward.

Turn your neck to left and look over your right and then your left shoulder, try to touch your left ear to your left shoulder then the right one, look down with your chin on your chest, all for a 10 count.

Swing your arms across your front crossing them and then back behind to touch 10 times.

Kind of long winded, but it keeps this geezer fairly well oiled and not frozen up like Dorothy found the Tin Man. Oh and by the way, belated welcome to the new geezling.

[Gunnhild Bruno]

I lift 3x per week. I was running 2x per week but I stopped since running is not part of the program. I'll be happy to give it a try.

A lot of 40+ folks lift 2x/week. Judging from your first post, it's possible you may be having some recovery issues.

[MPE]

This is my first post. For my 45th birthday, I decide to get into shape. I started on another program and then found Starting Stength. Good progress for the last few months. At 196 lbs,

Squat 320 3x5
Dead 250 3x5
Bench 210 3x5
Press 125 3x5

Squat still making progress. Dead, injured my lat doing chins and trying to get it to heal. Second stall on bench and second stall on Press. Looking into going into the TM. I have already dropped Wed squats to 80% to keep from feeling so beat up. Ibuprofen is a daily event.

Part of getting into shape was to play with my boys but I just can't seem to loosen up enough to run. They could never beat me in a foot race before I started lifting heavy.

I need advice on how to get the kinks out to feel "loose" again.

Don't know that Deads 3x5 is a good idea. Your dead ought to be ahead of your squat, and 1x5 is probably the key to getting it there.