Need to find some optimism

[Mike Carlton]

I began Starting Strength training 6 weeks ago, aged 58, 67 kg weight (147 lb) and 178 cm tall (5 foot 10). BMI 21 - skinny
I've always been a poor physical specimen, last at races in school, less strong than the toughest girls etc. Fortunately my career has depended on brains, not brawn, but now I'm getting older I'd like to get stronger and be in better shape for whatever life is going to throw at me.
My lower body is responding well to the novice progression; in 6 weeks my squats are up from 40 kg to 70 kg and my deadlift from 60 kg to 120 kg. Sadly my puny arms are lagging behind; my strict press, which I find really difficult, increased from a feeble 25 kg but has been stuck at 35 kg for a couple of weeks. My mental strength is also substandard; today I attempted the Crossfit 'Kalsu' workout but timed out after 30 minutes. For 2 of those 30 minutes I scored no reps at all, breathed hard and just wanted to go home and feel sorry for myself. Some of that was physical discomfort but mainly I just didn't have the cojones to carry on working while all around me people were putting in an effort.
Is there an obvious reason why my arms aren't progressing as well as my lower body? Is there a secret way to gain mental strength that I've been missing all of my life? How can I grow a pair?
Any advice, facetious or otherwise, will be considered.
Thanks
Mike

[Budgie Smuggler]

Is there any particular reason why you’re trying to do WODs as well as LP at your age? Are you eating enough? Getting enough sleep?

I’m almost 40 and can’t imagine trying to do CrossFit at the same time as LP as I genuinely don’t think I’d be able to recover sufficiently between workouts.

[carson]

Stay away from Crossfit until at least you finish the Linear Progression. The biggest mistake people make is to combine programs when they should focus on getting strong. Your linear progression could last from 3-8 months. So stop fooling around with whatever "kalsu" is. Who cares at this point. The second biggest mistake is to think that one should be underweight and still gain strength. You need to shoot for 195-215 lbs. not 147. Eat, eat, eat.

[Bestafter60]

What Carson said. And this:

Confidence comes from within, and you already know that. When you were a kid and recognized you were "brainy", it was probably because you started getting good grades on tests, and that became your habit and expectation. You got the good grades because you were interested and applied yourself. And in this way you became confident in your intellect.

You aren't doomed to being forever skinny and weak, you had been doomed to finding the wrong program up until now. This Elderly forum if full of people who had the same circumstance, did an LP, and have surprised themselves at how strong we've become.

Your confidence in you physical dimension will improve as you follow the program and stack up a succession of steadily increasing gains. Just like the tests back in school.

If you are not currently experiencing this steady stream of small successes, just read the article "The First Three Questions" and adjust accordingly.

It's all up to you, my friend.

[carson]

BTW I'm not being facetious.

[Tiburon]

3 great responses here - heed well.

You are very very skinny -- as you get bigger (please eat eat eat), you will get better leverage, and you will reach a "tipping point" for the upper body exercises and get unstuck. Think about the bench press for example....the bigger your chest is, the more you can bench (see the Blue Book for illustrations)....and the more you can bench, the bigger your chest gets....and the bigger your chest gets etc etc. Keep hammering away at it.

1- get microplates, especially for the press
2- heed Rip's advice to finish off your last set of presses with some push presses
3- put crossfit on the shelf for 8-12 weeks and really focus on getting strong. you'll be amazed how much better your WOD times are once you are strong enough to actually move weight around
4- ask yourself critically why you are only 147 pounds in our current obesogenic environment - what are the barriers (mental/physical/dietary/stress/lifestyle) that prevent you from gaining weight?


Overall KEEP IT UP and stop talking shit about yourself. Read a chapter of this pre-workout: Ironmind: Stronger Minds, Stronger Bodies: Randall J. Strossen: 9780926888029: Amazon.com: Books

[Tiburon]

And maybe get your T checked

[Charlocity2]

Takes more cojones to squat heavy than any crossfit Wod. Transfer your intestinal fortitude from crossfit to barbell training.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Eat more.

Resort to rest and recovery judiciously.

Leave your youth and attendant self pity from it behind.

Set firm goals for future progress.

Work hard to achieve them.

Plan your work, work your plan.

[Meshuggah]

I don't want to burst any balloons, but the strength game requires a lot of mental fortitude, self discipline, and self motivation. It comes down to you and the weights.
Best of luck on your quest.