My 62 year old father starting out

[Derf123]

Hi,

Would a two day a week training schedule looking like this be ok?

Workout A Søndag

Squat 3x5
Bench 3x5
Deadlift 1x5

Workout B

Squat 3x5
Press 3x5

Advice appreciated.

[Mark E. Hurling]

I can't see anything wrong with it. Why not?

I'm not being critical here, so pray don't take it that way, but he could be capable of 3 times a week alternating the A and B workout each day. At least starting out. As the weight mounts up on deadlifts, he may want to keep those to once a week or even once every other week. My own routine is not all that dissimilar to what you are asking about and I'm 62 myself.

Us old guys can surprise even ourselves sometimes. I know I surprise the Hell out of our daughter and people half my age all the time. Perhaps your father might enjoy that novelty himself.

[Derf123]

Thanks!

To start with he wants to devote 2 days. So instead of pushing for more, I found it best, just to get him started.

[pkelly54]

My workout is similar to your Dad's. I am 61. I try the twice a week schedule. I noticed when the weight got heavy, for me, the extra day of recovery was a benefit. Mark is correct. At the beginning of the novice program he may surprise himself with his progress. good luck.

[ChessGuy]

Yep, I'll be 61 in 5 days and I've surprised myself. I did take 10 days off just now but am back in to the game. Pretty soon I'll have to take more days off between workout.

I'm thinking something like
Day 1 workout A,
Day 2 rest,
Day 3 Workout B,
Day 4 rest
Day 5 rest
Day 6 Workout A
Day 7 Rest
Day 8 Workout B

Basically, after two workout, have 2 days rest.

[Gene61]

I'm 61 and have been going at it 3x per week since August. I moved to advanced novice programming in the 3rd month with a light squat day on Wednesdays. Twice a week will work, though. There is no rush if he sticks with it! Have him get involved in the forum here and he will get lots of encouragement.

[Gene61]

After a couple of weeks add Pullups (or cable pull downs) to work out B.

[Kyle Schuant]

A couple of times a week is fine. Just be aware that the progress - adding weight to the bar - won't be as rapid as for someone younger. Adding weight to the bar may happen every session for squats and deadlifts for a few weeks, then go to once a week, and after a couple of months of that, once a fortnight. Bench and press may go weekly almost straight away.

I would make it SQ/BP and DL/OHP, that spreads the work out.
Or if you want to squat every workout, SQ/OHP/DL and SQ/BP, since obviously bench press is more draining than press. So you put the press with the deadlift.

[Derf123]

Thanks guys,

We had a great day with introduction to the 4 lifts, ended up spending 3 hours.

Seeing as my dad is basically a 29 year older version of me, it was a bit like seeing myself starting out, with somewhat lower kilos.

Like myself he has some issues squatting, he's 6.4 I'm 6.6. So we ended up working with the bar untill he was comfortable sitting back. Bench was pretty straight forward he did 3x5 with 40 kilos and could probably have handled a good deal more - but weight can always be added. Not wanting to overdo it, we did press with the bar - which went ok.
Deadlift seemed a natural fit for him. His arms are as long as mine, but him being shorter he could very easily set up and practically tore 5x80 kilos from the floor.

All in all a very good day.

[Oldman]

Derf123, your dad is about 7 or 8 years older than I am, and I want to say that this is the best thing I have done for myself in a long, long time. Keep encouraging him, especially through the first few weeks. After that, when he sees the improvement, my bet is that he'll be focused on his own. You're doing a great thing for him.