Prepare to train my mum and dad

Hi:

I am preparing myself to convince and train my mum and dad with strength training.
I understand it is not easy to convince people to do this but that is another topic.
Let's focus on the program and practical plans here. :)

I have read SS 2nd edition and is on the way of reading Practical Programming and The Barbell Prescription.
Taught a few friends how to high-bar squat, deadlift and press. I do not consider myself a coach, or anywhere near perfect with my technique.
Just that guy knows a thing or two, made some mistakes here and there, willing to learn and share, kind of deal.

Currently I am consistent with strength training, nutrition and recovery. Recently started to post/read here and found out so much more from you guys!
Many thanks to that.

My parents are 65 years old, quite active(at least 1 hour walk per day, or some group cardio thing for 1 hour a day), not obese, dad quit smoking long time ago, no medical emergency.
But i can see that they are losing their strength and muscles.

I understand logically the inevitable curve but I would like to help them bend the curve as much as possible.
Especially after reading this: Barbell Training is Big Medicine | Jonathon Sullivan

I am very keen to hear from any of you with experience regarding this topic.
Many thanks.

Can you be more specific about the questions you have?

Yes. More specific questions on my mind at the moment:
I want to get one thing out of the way, I understand that exercise selection is not the main variation here in the context, weights are the things changing.
Eventually, I want them to be able to do Squat, Press, Bench Press, Deadlift and Row(maybe not power clean till they get stronger....) However, for their specific situations/conditions. I have some thoughts accordingly.
I am very keen of suggestions and discussions, please do correct me if I am wrong.

Q1#Teach my mum squat who has knee degeneration and some leg pain/itchy, I am thinking about mimicking squat to a chair and stand back-up. Teach her to get tight even when sit on the chair. Then start loading from there. Which I am thinking in my head: will not allowing excessive knee travel forward.
Is this a valid approach?

2#Teach my dad to squat and dead-lift who had Lumbar disc herniation when he was around 40. Never believed in operation, instead, rested in bed and did some low back strengthening. He went normal again after that! I think Ripp has covered something similar in one of the podcast. Both me and my dad agree on stronger muscle supports him better and helps him with his issues.
How do I get started with him?
What precarious should be taking into consideration other than teaching myself and my younger friends?
Maybe start with High bar then switch to low-bar?
*You probably remember that I am currently switching to low-bar squat. It is off topic here. I'll continue in Technique instead

Would a rack pull be beneficial here? what about SUMO? For myself, it was easier for lower back. My dad has 95% the same proportion as me. 4 cm shorter than me.

3#I consider both of them novice, so probably I will be running a NPL program with them. I can see myself picking up more knowledge after reading the books, especially Practical Programming. Anything i need to bare in mind while design the program? So far, I have used this one as my base for myself and teaching my friends Starting Strength Training Programs

4#Is it allowed to translate Barbell Training Is Big Medicine to Chinese? Or has anyone already done that? I am not planing to use it as my own benefits or any commercial reasons. Just found it is a good reading for my old folks.
I will add reference there. Been doing my bachelor be back in Technique forum regarding this topic. and master thesis the academic way, understand it is very important to refer to the author when quoting them. Still, want to ask first.

There are more but I will stop here and do my homework first. :) I have roughly half a year to get ready before I start to train them in person.
Which mean plenty of time to convince them first. We shall see how it ends up with.

Hi Zao,

All of your questions are answered in The Barbell Prescription. Please skip ahead and read that book first. To summarize, though:

1) Many people who are aged are very weak and do not have the strength to squat below parallel with their body weight, so yes a good starting point would be a chair. Once form is good with that, lower the chair/sitting height little by little closer to the ground (have them sit down and get off of something progressively lower).

2) A disc herniation isn't necessarily going to prevent someone from doing regular deadlift training and pulling from the ground. You will have to see if your father can get into the proper setup position and is able to set his back properly. If he can, you can start him with the full lift. If he cannot, then starting the deadlift higher off the ground is a place you can start. You can then work your way back to the ground little by little over time. For someone who can't get set up close to the ground at all, you can start them with rack pulls and work them down from there. They shouldn't need to start with sumo unless their body proportions are very unusual. For the squatting, many aged people cannot get into a low bar position, so be prepared to have them do high bar if they get to the stage where they can squat (i.e., graduate from the chair to a very light barbell). Note you will need very light barbells (i.e, 15lbs) and micro plates when working with aged populations.

3) Yes, you can start them with a NLP, however please see the Chapter 20 of The Barbell Prescription for suggested ways to program for people of your parents' age. You will have to make modifications.

4) Yes, for personal use only you can translate.

Thanks a lot Hayden-William!

Really appreciate the summary. My books are on there way from Assagard. Looking forward to dig into this topic.