Starting over at 70 in France

[FRECHETTE]

I'm glad I discovered this forum.

I have no past athletic experience but started working out 15 months ago, and barbell training 5 months ago. Everybody thought I was crazy. I had arrived at a sink or swim dead end: with chronic arthritis in the knees, my quads had melted and almost unable to climb up but especially down the stairs! I was offered spinal surgery, knee replacement, you name it! I said "no way" so I was tossed a bone and "well all you got left is therapy".

I'm a semi retired surgeon and I know some of the ropes. I said therapy means exercise… Then, as a stroke of luck, I discovered SSBBT.

It has changed my life. I do 3, 75 min. workouts a week. Have no Coach around (I live in the French countryside) only local gym jocks but they don't help much. I stay concentrated on the book and the video.

I started slow and worked up to:
SQ @ 127 x 5 x 3, Press 66 x 5 x 3, DL 167 x 3 x 3, BP 13 x 5 x 3 + curls etc.
… then hit a wall. I said to myself this is not possible despite my age (6,1 198 lbs.). My form must be off.

So I backed off 60% and am starting over and adding only 2 to 3 lbs per workout. The only thing I feel I'm doing right is DL: I hit 176.

My question is this: do you think I'm still doing too much, wrong? Or am I on the right track and at a good pace?

Obviously, my weakest point are my quads. If I can't finish a set I leave it for the next time.

Thanks for your feed-back

[FRECHETTE]

Thanks carson for the heads up and excuse me paladin for marching on you lawn! I'm new and didn't understand the rules.

[mweitz]

Great job.

I would post some form checks in the technique or coaches forums.

You should also get and read the Programming book, Practical Programing v3. This will help you through when you get stuck and show you when (and if) you need to change your program.

[carson]

Frechette,

It's not always easy to figure these things out. Anyone who can manage two language, plus modern technology, plus strength training deserves admiration not condemnation. My coach, Coach Sullivan, says that anyone reaching our ages and doing well is an athlete. He says it better than I. You are three years my senior. I congratulate you on starting on your own. I see you are making progress. That is a great thing. Deadlift is my favorite lift. I'm getting to like the others but there is nothing like looking at the bar lying on the floor and commanding it to get up and then we grab it with proper form and it comes up. Keep up the good work.

[FRECHETTE]

Right. How can I post form checks? I'll take a look and see what that's about. Thanks

[mweitz]

Right. How can I post form checks? I'll take a look and see what that's about. Thanks

You need to upload them to Youtube. Do you have a smart phone, like an iPhone?

Here are some tips for doing the video:

http://startingstrength.com/resource...ad.php?t=16744

[FRECHETTE]

Thanks again. "Three years my senior". …that don't count after 20! Hold your praise: I'm a US citizen who got hooked on French coffee, cheese and Parisians. I just ordered PP3. A whole new world is opening up. It's funny but I had gotten to a point where I was actually afraid to WO, especially the squats, because I was afraid I'd fail my sets. Today, I went in more confident because I've learned here that I'm not alone; everyone has their hang-ups, you just have to talk about it and the problem is half solved.

[FRECHETTE]

terrific

[FRECHETTE]

OK, now for some specifics about programming.

I copied Ripp's sample programming and basically alternate the 5 exercises plus one ancillary exercise each wo 3 times a week over a 2 week period. Also, the weights are down 60% because I'm really working on form (I'll get to video form checks later - too much too fast will jam this little head 'o mine).

WK #1
Mon. SQ 0 x 5 x 3, 42 x 5, 56 x 5 x 3; Press 42 x 5, 56 x 5 x 3; DL 110 x 3, 140 x 3, 172 x 3 x3; 45° incline sit-ups 25 x 3 = 75 min wo with roughly 2-3 min recup between sets

Wed SQ & bench press 42 x 5, 75 x 5 x 3: Clean 40 x 3, 55 x 3 x 3 (learning phase, my SVJ is awful), dumbell triceps 16 x 5 x 3, dumbell curls 26 x 5 x 3,

Fri SQ, Press, DL, Lats pulls 88 X 5, 100 x 5, 120 x 3 x 5,

WK #2
I continue to alternate, I only change the dumbell triceps & curls to LTE 20 x 3, 38 x 3, 46 x 5 x 5 and barbell curls 37 x 3, 55 x 5 x 3
I use 2 lb. LP (when I can) for all except in DL where I dare to use 4 lb. !

That's basically it.

My goal is to lift 200 in all exercises and do pull-ups & dips. When I get there, I'll probably change programme.

Comments? Happy Thanksgiving to all of you back home.

[carson]

Frechette,

You will find very quickly that 200 lbs for DL should come fairly quickly. However, the presses won't come that easily and the Squat will be somewhere between the press and DL. E.g., When you hit 200 on DL you may hit 130 on Squat, 100 on Bench Press and 70 on Overhead Press. That's the nature of the body parts that are mostly engaged. Your hips are stronger than you shoulders and your legs are stronger than your arms. Even though in this system all of your muscular systems are engaged in every lift the hips and legs do a majority of the work in DL and Squat and the shoulders and arms do a majority of the work on presses.

It's difficult to tell what ones ultimate goals might be. I only know my lifts at this moment and hope to increase those numbers but unless one is seriously injured one should expect that one would always lift heavier weights on DL and least heavy weights on Overhead Press.

Go get 'em expatriate!