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Thread: Why I am no longer "strength training"

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Savannah GA, and White Springs FL
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    390

    Default Why I am no longer "strength training"

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    I will begin by saying that I will continue to use my garage gym squat rack and barbell to perform squats, presses and deadlifts as an important part of an exercise program to maintain strength, cardiovascular health, and endurance. But I am backing away from barbell training as codified by "the books" and this forum. In other words seeking new PR's will not be a goal, although it may sometimes happen. The reasons for this are several:
    1. At age 70 gains seem vanishingly small, and recovery more burdensome. I know some may point out that so-and-so is making gains in his 80's or whatever, but I don't care; we are all different.
    2. My primary performance interest is not a strength sport but cycling both on and off road.
    3. At 5'8" with a relatively small upper body frame, I believe that my current weight of 200lbs is too high and I am carrying too much fat. I am still vain enough to care what I look like, and when cycling, weight is a definite factor when the road or trail departs from the horizontal.
    4. Basically I have reached a point in life where doing something really hard every week is not something I look forward to or enjoy. I still enjoy lifting weights, but if I just want to go out to the garage and just exercise or fuck around, I don't need to feel guilty that I am not following some training program.

    My goals will be to try to maintain my strength, get my weight down to about 185, and enjoy lifting as a part of my overall fitness program.
    I started to delete this post because who cares, but maybe there are other old guys out there with similar thoughts. (and I don't want to hear from 55 year old whippersnappers)

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Location
    MA
    Posts
    1,556

    Default

    I’m fifty-one, so I don’t even qualify for whippersnapper but as an “incorrigible little brat” according to SWMBO.

    I’m pretty sure no one on the forums is going to give a seventy-year old lifter any shit for deciding that maintaining his lifts, cutting body fat, and doing things he enjoys is a terrible path.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Murphysboro, IL
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    726

    Default

    This makes complete sense. I just turned 68 this month and I am now cycling between overtraining and injuries and resets several times a year. The resets are turning out to longer ramp ups to get back to where I left off and the struggle to get there is becoming ever more challenging. I still lift hard and stay strong to compete in the highland games. There's one coming up in October at the local Irish festival. Also, I do some "explosive" (at least for me) lifting to keep my edge for the Jujitsu I practice and teach as well as the throwing and tossing of rocks and small telephone poles.

    These things sustain my interest in life, although it's getting harder to do what I used to. My deadlift has really gone to Hell, although I haven't tried anything close to what I think a max might be for me. Just now, I'm on a better track with them though. It's been a difficult year or so with back issues. I have a lot of other active interests in retirement. My motorcycle and kayak, weather permitting; hiking, especially now that the oppressive heat is easing up. What's more the local university has a rec center with a dizzying array of weights, cardio equipment, striking bags, an Olympic size pool, and a bunch of other stuff I don't use.

    Eventually, I may get to where you are in terms of just maintaining. Maybe I'm there already and just in denial about it. But I do still like to test myself with the challenge. For now anyway. Oh, and I need to lose weight too.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Location
    Paradise Valley, BC
    Posts
    1,907

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    I don't blame you. I'm 55 and when I lift heavy it saps my ability to do anything else physical for the day. I can believe recovery takes even longer the older you get.

    I agree to keep working out, but forget about the PR's unless that is your goal. My wife is similar. She does the same weights week after week because she feels she doesn't feel the need to get any stronger or bigger, just maintain.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    Village of Afton, Virginia
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    947

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    You're just ahead of me, at 58 I'm already having to balance lifting with recovery, work and play. My plans are as soon as I get to the point of diminishing returns, is to shift to maintenance with an occasional strength cycle. In time the strength cycle with fade away.
    I have a friend my age that's an outdoor sport athlete and he does quite well with mostly training sets of 10 in the 135 range for the squat, bench press and dead lift. For him, the weights are a supplement to his activities.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Location
    New York
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    I'll be 69 in 2 months and sure know how hard it is to get stronger or maintain as we age. Getting a tweak in the low back when trying to get one more rep on a DL is no fun .
    I have a book written for us older lifters that may have been at it for a many years.It says a good idea is to stabilize, use the same weight and reps for 4 sessions before trying to increase the weight or reps. Cycling is another way to slowly use heavier weights without trying to go up every WO.
    I read on thus site about Bill Stars advice on this subject, worth a look.Lastly Dave Draper has much to say on this if you car to do some searching.The whole idea is not to quit.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
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    Village of Afton, Virginia
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    947

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gerald Boggs View Post
    You're just ahead of me, at 58 I'm already having to balance lifting with recovery, work and play. My plans are as soon as I get to the point of diminishing returns, is to shift to maintenance with an occasional strength cycle. In time the strength cycle with fade away.
    I have a friend my age that's an outdoor sport athlete and he does quite well with mostly training sets of 10 in the 135 range for the squat, bench press and dead lift. For him, the weights are a supplement to his activities.
    About my friend, I think in part why light weights has worked for him, is he has always been active and at the same time, managed to avoid the injuries that force many of us to slow down.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Posts
    386

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    I so miss "training" even if I wasn't making great gainzzzz. At 68 the thyroid cancer metastasized into bone cancer which made the lifts sort of troublesome to the docs but I was still able to squat and all the lifts except the Olympics. Then a torn rotator put the crimp into the bench, then the cancer hit both hips. Now at 70 the training is a wistful memory and I am "wasting away" and relegated to therapy bands - sigh.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Location
    SE Wisconsin
    Posts
    120

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    I'm 68 and touched my first barbell 4 years ago. At this point my #1 goal is to maintain what I've gained. PR's are secondary. I had a satisfying run at novice LP. But the post novice period has had plenty of ups and downs. Setbacks due to illness, injury (not lifting related that I can tell), minor surgery, etc. I think more time spent working back to prior PR levels than trying to set new PRs. That said, I have hit new PRs on all my lifts in the last few months.

    But I agree, even when I have had uninterrupted and healthy runs at it, PRs are still very hard to come by. Nothing like the steady progression shown in the Barbell Prescription for intermediates. I also agree that my interest in strength training is for overall health and to be able to maintain the activities I like, which are not strength sports. And I agree that there is a limit on the amount of time, and recovery fatigue I'm willing to commit when it interferes with other things I want to do. If I made strength training my highest priority perhaps I'd have more gains to show for it. A 250x5 squat and a 280x5 deadlift are not great even for a 68 year old, but still much more than where I started and much more than anyone else my age I know personally. I will not be disappointed if I can maintain that for quite a few more years.

    The one lesson I have learned with my setbacks is that it is very true that us older guys detrain quickly. Perhaps more so for those of us new to it vs those who have been at it for decades? My experience has been that maintaining over a longer period seems to require trying to still make progress. Setbacks take it away. It takes significant effort to work back. Steady state maintenance is not easy to manage. So I still try to make some progress to the extent I can within the constraints I put on my programming. And I'm not willing to constrain my programming to the point I go backward.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
    Location
    Florida
    Posts
    52

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    starting strength coach development program
    Well Damn
    I’m 75y 6m now and have only been strength training for 2 years. A prior six months were fucking around in a gym with other old guys who were exercising with weights and machines to maintain. No pre-planned attempt to break homeostasis. I’m glad to have found Starting Strength and to be training.
    I agree it’s not as much fun after going through LP , but my setbacks have been few and my health is good. I’m 6’ and my weight has apparently stabilized now around 185 with a trim 33” waist. I try for PRs at least every two weeks and find the biggest challenge to be managing recovery and working through various aches and pains that seem pop up. I often reduce volume, but try to never reduce scheduled intensity.

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