Codger's Quest

[SquareOne]

Hi Codger, just discovered your thread, which is inspiring to me, 63 y.o. male 6', 223 lbs., been doing this for upwards of a year and a half.
I wanted to ask your approach, as a masters lifter, to protein, and also whey supplements - I consider you a kind of expert as you have achieved a level of success I dream about.
It's been made clear to me I'm supposed to be getting 200g or more of protein per day. I've found that really hard, especially since I also hear it's best to get as much as you can from real food not supplements.
Do you try to get even close to 1 gm per pound of body weight or more like I'm supposed to?? How much from supplements? Have you felt a causal relationship between lots of protein and lifting success?
I've stalled lately, and I know my protein intake has been nowhere near 200 lately. I'm ready to ramp it up again, but it would help psychologically to have anecdotal evidence from a master that it really works. (I get good sleep and have fairly low stress.)

[codger]

Hi SquareOne,

Thanks for the kind words. I'm by no means an expert but I'm happy to share some of my habits. From what I've read, oldsters like us should aim for about 2 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight. I weigh about 192 pounds right now--87 kilos. So I try to get at least 175 grams of protein every day. Since you weigh 223 pounds, or 101 kilos, your target would be around 200 grams of protein as you said. I think whey protein isolate has really helped me. I typically have two protein shakes every day, with 2 scoops of whey in each shake. So counting the milk those two shakes give me about 120 grams of protein. I get the remaining 55 grams or so from my regular meals--oatmeal in the morning, chicken or fish for lunch, more of the same for dinner, along with lots of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. I also supplement with 5 grams of creatine every day.

[SquareOne]

Thanks for the reply!
This is tremendously helpful, and I'm ready to go. Two shakes a day will make this a lot easier. Trying to eat most of my 200 gm I felt, well, terrible, and it seemed extreme, but I find the whey a fairly painless way to get over the protein hump - especially if I just glug down two scoops with water, it barely feels like I ate anything.
I'll be looking over your training log from the beginning, for inspiration, (even though your very first post starts with weights that are distant goals of mine....)

[codger]

Trying to eat most of my 200 gm I felt, well, terrible, and it seemed extreme,

I feel the same way. Much easier with whey! Good luck with your training.

[Browndog]

I feel the same way. Much easier with whey! Good luck with your training.

Cue Peter Frampton..."I want yououou, to show me they wheyeyey" ��

Yeah, there's no way I could hit the numbers without whey.

[codger]

Cue Peter Frampton..."I want yououou, to show me they wheyeyey" ��

...I remember listening to Frampton perform that song live at a concert in Massachusetts in the summer of 1976...

[codger]

Week 4 day 1

High bar squat with belt: 217.5x8x1@6; 232.5x8x1@7; 245x8x3@8. Four to five minutes rest.

Press: 98.75x8x1@7; 103.75x8x1@8; 108.75x8x1@9; 103.75x8x2. Three to four minutes rest.

RDL with straps: 235x12x1@6; 250x12x1@7; 262.5x12x3@8. Two to three minutes rest.

Single-leg leg extensions: 15x15x3@8. Two to three minutes rest.

BB rows: 182.5x13x3@8. Three minutes rest.

DB curls: 32.5x12x3@8-9. Two to three minutes rest.

Triceps press downs: 75x13x3@8-9. Two to three minutes rest.

[codger]

Week 4 day 2

Touch and go bench: 175x8x1@7; 182.5x8x1@8; 187.5x8x1@8.5; 178.75x8x3@8. Three to five minutes rest.

Belt squats: 190x10x1@7; 200x10x1@8; 210x10x1@9; 200x10x2. Three to four minutes rest.

Flat DB bench: 70sx13x1@10(amrap); 62.5x12x2@9. Three minutes rest.

DB flys: 37.5x16x2@8. Two to three minutes rest.

BB rows: 182.5x13x3@8. Three to four minutes rest.

8 minutes ab work: 90 sec plank, 45 sec plank; 20 abmat situps, 10 ab mat situps.

[Browndog]

I've made a pointed effort to keep my rest periods short(er).

So much so that I dug out my old stopwatch and use it for everything now...accountability my man.

[codger]

So much so that I dug out my old stopwatch and use it for everything now...accountability my man.

I haven't seen a real stopwatch in a long time. They used to be so common. I remember my high school track coach using one all the time.