Originally Posted by
blues
Very interesting and timely material for me personally. I'm a mid sixties aged male who has "exercised" since college pretty religiously but not always progressively during the ensuing decades.
In particular, the last few years I've primarily done my weight training non-progressively following an idiopathic injury to my rotator cuff / shoulder girdle area which set me back several months (to recover) and saw the ability to move prior poundages diminish.
Just recently I made a commitment to myself to get back at it progressively and be all I can be, wherever that may take me. I am not doing the program (per se) but I am applying the principles that I have learned via the Rippetoe / Sullivan texts to the movements I perform.
The interesting part for me is this: I have always had a great memory and was a superior student through university level. When I tested I generally came out within the top 1 or 2 % nationally and family and friends did not like to play "Jeopardy" or "Trivial Pursuit" against me. (This is only for background, I am not trying to say that the testing was valid or that I'm really that smart. There is no denying that I had a great memory, however.)
In recent months, however, I've seen a decline in my ability to instantly recall certain data as I once had been able. As I am now committed to the idea of seeing how I can progress on the weights, I will be very interested to see (as a sample of one) whether any improvement to my memory and cognitive abilities becomes apparent. (I'm still quite good at crosswords, word jumble puzzle and other such word / math puzzles which I enjoy doing during the week.)
I'll try to remember to report back any progress (or lack thereof). (Sarcasm intended, but only in part.)
I owe a debt to the aforementioned volumes both for the material and the motivation even if I am not following the program to the letter in terms of the lifts.