Reply With QuoteYes age plays a factor
No, you're not too old and decrepit to get strong
No don't limit yourself to 250/whatever/300. You have way more in you.
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Does Age Play A Factor In When To Cut Short Linear Progression?
Hello,
I'm 36 and currently in pretty poor shape, I did lift as recently as a few years ago and got to a 375 lb squat, 405 lb deadlift, 365 lb bench, and 205 lb press. Injury and pneumonia set me back to zero, the pneumonia had me on prednisone and a myriad of inhalers for about 6 months, I could barely walk to my car without a coughing fit and feeling wiped out. I figured I had lung cancer from smoking until 30 years old, but apparently just a really bad pneumonia infection that beat my lungs to hell. Only a few years has done a number on me though, now I know why a pro-athlete goes from the top of the world at 32 to worthless at 37.
Anyway I've been lightly lifting and I'm ready to start LP again and get some strength back. I just had another pneumonia that wasn't nearly as bad as the original one, but knocked me out for a couple weeks.
My body and back hurts from fairly minimal activity because I'm a fat weak shit, I wonder what I should set as a goal for LP at my age? Should I look to just to a 250lb squat, 300 lb DL, etc... Then move off to something less intensive to keep from injury? Anyone else train at this age successfully, or should I just look at jazzercise and be happy with low lift numbers, but stay healthy enough to lift another day?
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Yes age plays a factor
No, you're not too old and decrepit to get strong
No don't limit yourself to 250/whatever/300. You have way more in you.
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Assuming you're free of illness, why would you look to cut your progression short, especially when you had great numbers previously? What is the injury you are worried about recurring?
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Mike - I'm 34, 275lbs and > 20% bodyfat (was > 25%). I started lifting again seriously six months ago after a decade off.
This Monday I squatted 425x5x3 and I pulled 450x4 on Saturday. Start your LP, stick with it and you'll probably surprise yourself. I have.
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Can we please stop associating mid-thirties with being old?!?
I believe the following statements are from Karl Schudt and sum it up nicely
I'm much stronger now at 35 than I was a decade ago when I had no clue what to do in the gym. I agree with everyone else saying to just go for it and see how far you get. I hit 5 reps at 415 on the squat last week at BW ~215lbs. I know that's not all that much compared to many others on the board, but it certainly puts me well above jazzercise!33! You're in your weightlifting prime! Well maybe not as much as if you were 18…
For the record, part of the reason he is in his prime is because at 33, one generally still is young enough to make good gains, but old enough not to be an idiot about training.
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Mike, it's ultimately your call, but here is my input:
You're smart to be thinking about this as a long-term project, but don't get overwhelmed by determining a precise end point for your LP right now.
Keep it very simple. Get back into the swing of performing the main lifts correctly. I'm not sure what your new starting weights will be and maybe you're not either - and that's okay. Take a few sessions to regain some of that motor coordination. Then get back to putting weight on the bar and eating/sleeping/recovering from your workouts.
If you feel very burnt out prior to your old LP numbers, and feel that a more intermediate program is due, that's allowed. Don't forget about trying the advanced novice method, too. Yes, it's nice to max out an LP and milk it for all it's worth, but ultimately consistent long-term training is more important.
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My back is iffy so I'm always concerned about injuring it. I'm between going for big numbers (for me) 400+lb squat, or getting down to 185 and around a 300 lb squat, 350 DL coupled with a 7 minute mile and 20 pull ups, and keeping my back and joints healthy.
We'll see how it goes, just bringing down the stall mats for the home gym I'm building strained my back, I'm in a sorry state.
To be honest there's a HUGE difference between 32 and 36, at least for me.
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From the sounds of it there was much more than just 4 years of time contributing to the difference between 32 and 36. I wouldn't give another thought to your age or fret over how you got to where you are now (doesn't look like you are doing the latter anyway). Take BareSteel's advice above; run LP, see how it goes and make adjustments as necessary.Originally Posted by mike_d36
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Norman and Nermin are both right. Just do the program. See where it takes you. Don't set yourself up for early failure.
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I would say quit running LP when it quits working. Having said that, certainly age will play a factor but it's probably too individual to be useful in planning. Your LP might play out faster at 36 than it did at 26 but you might still be able to run it longer than someone else that is younger. I'm 47 and just started back training in November. LP lasted about 14 weeks (seems short)for me. Once the worksets on squat got heavy (for me) I had to back off or my recovery from that started to hamper my other lifts. Just get in there and do it, your body will tell you when it's time to move on to something else.
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