Advice for training mom

[daniel9]

Hey Rip,

first off, SS continues to be awesome for me. deads and squats are jumping into respectability and bench and press are still going up modestly (considering switching to intermediate in a bit for those). its especially cool how despite gaining 25 lbs, im doing more chin-ups and haven't lost anything in the way of speed or jumping ability. in basketball im just throwing guys around. if i had SS in high school instead of fuck-tard coaches, i'd be going to school for free instead of being shit-broke.

which brings me to my question; back home for break and mentioned to mom how barbell training has helped my knee problems. she seemed intrigued, meaning she had probably heard similar things from friends or a magazine. she is in her 50s, with no weight-training experience but is pretty healthy. i think she'll buy in.

should i start her on the program? and what, if any, moderations do you reccomend? any way to avoid buying a lighter bar?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Start her, sure. Buy the lighter bar and smaller plates. Don't try to make her clean. Go slowly. But go up. You're a good son.

[daniel9]

Thanks. Moms went through the basic lifts with a broom yesterday. Sadly, her form is better than mine was in the beginning. She’ll be going below parallel with the bar by 2011. Apparently she heard about the magic of this “new barbell training thing” from an attractive Hispanic lady that she works with. Unfortunately, Selena already seems to have a capable trainer.

I was thinking; it’s weird that my mom and several of the younger ladies I’ve put under the bar all start with and keep decent form. But me and many of my buddies spent our first (pre - ss) workouts quarter-squatting and benching 6 inches from our chest to “lift” more weight…I guess women can be more rational in this instance. Or maybe they really fear that you'll drown a kitten in milk.

Thanks Rip. I have another question going up soon before I go back to my state of silent, avid lurking on the forum.

[hh23]

I am doing the similar thing for my mom and found this aluminum bar very useful. You may want to check it out.

My mother is 55+ is having a hard time going below parallel. She goes only around 70%. Could hamstring flexibility be the problem?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Strength is more likely the problem. It just looks to you like flexibility. She won't use a range of motion she cannot control with her strength if it is inadequate for the task.

[daniel9]

thanks for the advice hh. i think the regular bar might be ok for her eventually because she's 5'9 and used to be an athlete but i'll keep that in mind. right now we're using a curl bar because she prefers it to my old kids bar. i worry this may make me a shitty son but frankly she's doing well and is close to being at the regular bar anyway. did you always have your mom use that short aluminum bar?

[MazdaMatt]

Daniel, I have had racing instructors tell me exactly the same thing with men and women. The women follow the correct line and learn the skills but drive slowly because they are cautious. They want to do it correctly before they do it quickly. Typically the men are equally slow, but it is because they're plowing into the turns and burning rubber on the exits because noisier is obviously faster (which holds as much water as quarter squatting more weight makes you stronger). The instructors have to pull the men back and push the women forward.