Geezer's Long March Toward the Elite Sneaking Up On the Finish Line
I'm turning 60 next month and just found out about Lon Kilgore's age adjusted strength standards. Looks like all I have to do is show up (80% of success) and keep lifting and I'll amazingly be at elite levels for some of them. Because of some low back issues that are no doubt just a function of age and some old shoulder injuries from competing a little too hard in judo tourneys in college, I dropped some exercises from my lifting over the years.
Deadlifts and back squats hurt at my L4 and bench presses made my right shoulder feel wobbly, so I did stuff like trap bar deadlifts, dips, and added hip belt squats recently. I practice and help teach jujitsu 2-3 days a week, and that taxes my lower back pretty hard. I didn't want to miss sessions because I had taken too much out of my back on the iron.
The last few days I decided to test my confidence in what I could manage with some 1 RM's. I hadn't benched or deadlifted in over 10 years but got 255 and 335 for each respectively. Both have me in Kilgore's elite category for the over 60 crowd. I'm still paying for that deadlift a little, but the shoulders feel good. I'll stay the course with them until or unless they hold me back on the tatami. Then I'll just go back to trap bar deadlifts and dips if necessary.
I'm 59, weigh 232 lbs, and am 5'11". My current best lifts are:
Dip: 75 lbs. Power Clean: 185 lbs.
Hip Belt Squats: 240 lbs. Bench Press: 255 lbs.
Overhead Press: 190 lbs. Deadlift: 335 lbs.
Trap Bar Deadlift: 415 lbs. Pull-Up: 25 lbs.
One Arm Dumbell Row: 145 lbs.
I'm currently doing a stripped down A and B 5/3/1 routine twice a week. The A routine is Press and Dumbbell Row on Sundays followed by Deadlifts later in the week. The B routine is Bench Press and Pull-Ups followed by Hip Belt Squats and Power Cleans. Warmup is 5 minutes on a stationary bike. I do a 15+ minute "hot stretch" after lifting to keep limber.
I get my conditioning from 2 GXP sessions a week with a couple 60% MHR for 20-30 minute session tucked in. Also some of the conditioning comes from the jujitsu I do.
I'm pretty happy with my current lifts, but I'm going to push the envelope and add to them as long as I can. I have no doubts I can add at least 10 more lbs. to most and get the Hip Belt Squats to 300+. I also want to drop a weight class to under 220 lbs. This will undoubtedly be the hardest goal to reach for me.