Hello, and Combating Old-age Soccer Atrophy...

[Bean1871]

Hi, folks. My name is Bill, I'm 51 (no AARP card yet) and have been lurking around the geezer forum here for a little while now, so decided to jump in and introduce myself. I've been back on the Program since November, and continue to make somewhat linear progressions (I've had two resets).
About me:
I started lifting as a teen and through college along with doing martial arts, track and soccer. I would describe my body type as " thin-boned ecto-mesomorph. I've always been on the lean side and somewhat of a hard-gainer. I play club soccer ("Over-30" league) from April thru October, then spend the winter months trying to regain lost muscle mass lost during the course of the season. We play 8 or 9 competitive games in the spring and again in the fall, with twice weekly pickup games over the summer months. I am a forward, am still a pretty strong sprinter, so my game is very anerobic. I'm 5"10", and go from 175 lbs down to 165 during the course of the competitive season. The loss in weight (combined with the onset of decrepitude) has in the last few years posed some issues in the form of injuries (sprains, strains, meniscus tears, separated AC ligament, bruised ego, etc.), so I've been looking for ways to put muscle back on without gaining too much extra weight. I tried Crossfit, which for me was about as useful as tits on a bull, but it did introduce me to the O-Lifts , kettlebells, and THE BOOK. I started the Program back in 2009 and was on it for about 3 months before starting soccer again that spring. Once the season started in April, I was playing most of a 90 minute match on Sundays, but then (at least over the past few years) taking at least three or four days just to recover, which didn't leave much room for lifting. A year of kettlebell work (and no SS) in 2010 was good for conditioning, but I still lost mass, and was pretty useless by the end of the season. This winter I deliberately stopped playing indoor soccer just to avoid injury and to get stronger.

My goal for 2011 is to start the season at 190+ AND to stay on the Program through the season. I don't think I can continue to be competitive without it. Maybe it's time to re-think my priorities...

Here are my current numbers:
Age 51
5'10", 185lbs (2011 goal is 200).
SQ 225x5x3 (2011 goal is 250x5x3)
BP 185x5x3 (215 1RM, 2011 goal is 225x5x3)
DL 255x5 (300 1RM, 2011 goal is 340x5)
PR 110x5x3 (2011 goal is 135x5x3)
PC (135x5x3. These aggrivate an elbow injury, so I have laid off these for awhile)

I don't count calories, and eat whatever I want whenever I feel hungry. Maintaining ½GOMAD


I take two days between SS workouts, and typically do three workouts most weeks.
I keep my own detailed log, so won't be posting one here (unless Rip insists).
I guess I am wondering if it is possible to make appreciable strength gains during the inseason.
Thanks for your consideration.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Welcome Bean! There are more of us old guys (age 60 myself) around here then you might think. Your goals look achievable but I wouldn't fret too much about the power clean if it gives you problems. Rip has said there are enough drawbacks to them for older folks that foregoing them won't hurt gains too much. Personally, I don't have any experience in the opening rounds of Rip's Starting Strength routine because I always needed to lose rather than gain weight. Oh to eat with joyous abandon! I just don't want to have Goodyear emblazoned on my side. I get bounced around 2-3 times a week on the mat in jujitsu, and do some cardio so gains are possible despite the other activities, but like I said gaining weight has been more of problem than a goal for me. No one here will insist you post a log here, but you will find plenty of people willing to help and comment when you are having problems or ask. So take your own counsel on that. Good luck and good lifting.

[Bean1871]

Thanks for the kind words, Mark. I'll think about posting a workout log. I kinda miss doing the power clean because it (for me) is the only lift that really gets my heart rate up. I had to stop doing chins and pull-ups for the same reason; really tweaks my left elbow, and takes me 3 months to recover to the point where it doesn't wake me up at night anymore. I have toyed with the idea of getting some bumper plates for the cleans, because I was using standard oly plates, and letting them down was doing all the damage I think.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Bean, do you have a heart rate monitor? If not, think about getting one and wearing it during your lifting and checking it periodically. You might be surprised how high your heart goes and stays during lifting. I know I was when I started doing this. My own experience of lifting indicated that the cardio effects were at least as good as walking and usually better. Cardio helps the heart, lifting helps the muscles. This is a broad generalization, because there is come crossover from strength training to cardio but not so much the other way. You can use the strength training to supplement the cardio, but use the iron to get stronger as your primary focus. If power cleans hurt you, don't do them just for the sake of getting your heart rate up. Go run, swim, row, or use some other cardio equipment to meet that need.

[hbriem]

Hi Bill and welcome.

I really enjoy doing cleans and snatches too, but they're pretty unnecessary for guys our age. I injured my bicep a couple of years ago doing them (controllingthem down instead of dropping them) and it took nearly a year to clear up. I take more care now.

As for the heart rate thing, I enjoy DB swings for that (I don't have access to kettlebells). I use straps so that grip isn't an issue and perform 6 sets of 10-15 as quickly as I can, alternating arms. That really gets the heart racing I can tell you and works the old posterior chain in a similar way to the Olympic lifts. No elbow strain either. For cardio, I much prefer them. It's a smoother motion that doesn't bang the joints in the same way.

[Bean1871]

Thanks, hbriem. I have few concerns about getting my daily dose of cardio once the soccer season begins, and the heavier I lift the more i notice that my heart rate is elevated. I spent last year just using kettlebells and a suspension trainer (no SS), and there are few things like doing heavy kettlebell swings and snatches to get into anerobic territory. Thinking about it, I may throw some heavy kb cleans in to my SS routine, because they never affected the elbows the way a straight bar clean does. I'm really focused on just getting bigger, stronger this year. This week I hit a squat PR of 230/5x3, and am still quietly riding on that high. I have alot of faith in the Program. BTW: does Strong Enough? address geezer strength? I have that on my "get this" list.

[Mark E. Hurling]

It has a chapter on it in there. It's a good set of general advice for people our age. You might also take a look at Dr. Lon Kilgore's age adjusted strength charts for the big lifts he and Rip find most useful. http://killustrated.com/illustrations.html

[Bean1871]

Thanks, Mark. I thought I saw a similar age-adjusted strength chart posted somewhere else on the web. Now I can't find it. It looks as though I'm lifting what are considered strong Intermediate numbers in all my lifts. I'm kinda in between weight classes, having just made 190 lb for bodyweight (+15 lbs since November).

[Mark E. Hurling]

Kilgore's charts did more to fire me up than anything else I saw here. I went for so many years (decades) wondering where I was in relation to any kind of standard. Why that was and is important to me probably takes more couch analysis time than might be useful, but it was good to know where I stood in this respect for once in my life.

[Hour of Judgement]

Bean,

One thought I had is that 3 SS workouts each week might be tough in-season, especially when you say that the recovery required from your soccer game doesn't leave much room for lifting.

I found that I could do the early SS progression 3x per week, but as I progressed in weight, I really found that I felt much fresher and better recovered with 2x per week. The gains are made on the recovery, and if your system isn't recovered, from soccer or lifting, there's probably not much point to that extra workout.

My other thought is that you may have to eat more than whatever you want whenever you are hungry. Especially with the soccer also burning calories. Maybe it's some protein powder with your half GOMAD, maybe it's a somewhat-forced midnight snack. But, given your predisposition to lose weight, I think you will have to proactively counter that just to hold steady, never mind to still make gains.