TYMR Geezer hopes to be worthy of your guidance

[Cheesepuff]

Age 62
Male
Weight 280 -> 260 (over 118 days)
Height 6'2" (ok maybe 6'1" now)
College football (knee)
11 years of triathlon (very experienced over trainer)

Series of injuries, and internet expert advice had me using a cane, and eyeing walkers at Target. Walked with trekking poles, because otherwise I could not walk very far, and the canes hurt my back. (maybe that over training wasn't the best idea)

Log comments: If there is a weight posted I did my 5x3 for the squat, or my 5 on the deadlift. My rack comes in next Wednesday, (YNDTFP alert) so most of the squats are done with a hex bar. If John's is in the comment, I had access to a rack and did a low bar squat.

Squat Deadlift Thoughts Days
3/25/2016 0 16 Failed Squat 0
3/26/2016 0 16 able to squat 0 1
3/27/2016 16 16 assorted hand weights 2
3/28/2016 30 30 3
3/29/2016 50 50 Hand weights only thing available 4
3/31/2016 50 50 6
4/3/2016 65 115 John's equipment 9
4/7/2016 45 115 Home 300 lb Barbell set 13
4/10/2016 45 125 16
4/13/2016 70 140 Squat setup at home Hex bar 19
4/21/2016 90 135 27
5/1/2016 95 145 37
5/4/2016 100 150 40
5/8/2016 105 155 44
5/11/2016 110 155 47
5/15/2016 165 160 foot knee allignment fixed squat 51
5/18/2016 170 165 54
5/22/2016 175 170 Pattern breathing for recovery 58
5/31/2016 180 175 67
6/4/2016 185 180 71
6/7/2016 190 185 74
6/10/2016 195 Hurt back on photo album shoot 77
6/13/2016 200 190 80
6/17/2016 205 195 Airdyne out of storage 84
6/20/2016 210 200 87
6/24/2016 215 205 91
7/4/2016 180 185 Tweak on warmup set at John's on 6/25 101
7/7/2016 180 180 Felt normal 104
7/10/2016 185 185 Good 107
7/14/2016 190 190 ok 6 min Airdyne after heavy 111
7/21/2016 120 195 knee problems / knee sleeves / moving 118

on 6/25/2016, I had access to John's rack and managed to tweak my right knee going too heavy the day after going heavy. (<-don't try this at home kids)
I also realized that the trap bar could not adequately simulate the low bar squat and began making space and shopping for a rack.

The last 2 weeks I helped my daughter move, and I was actually useful. (TYMR) I also re-tweaked both knees and discovered that all I seemed to need was a little more warmth. I had a cheesy knee sleeve and it worked great. Went to Dick's and got two neoprene knee sleeves. I'm pretty confident that my next cycle I'll revisit my recent 5RM in squat and DL (215/205). I'll post.

In the last week I also started doing HIIT on the Airdyne which seems to be working great, but may have added to those knee failures. The most recent workout with one knee sleeve felt great.

My middle lift for most of the above was a clean and OHP. Shoulders had some iffy moments so I did not push up the weight very often. I'm hoping that next Wednesday I'll be able to follow the program much more closely. Yes I realize that I'm DL-ing twice a week... but at half my body weight recovery has not been a problem... I know that when I get to real weight, I will need to do this correctly.

My goal is to squat 405x5x3 and DL 405x5 and bench 300x5 at 220 lbs.

Thanks to all of you that post answers on the forums. I've found many very good answers to my problems... especially the self inflicted ones.
I feel 20 years younger. TYMR

Humans are not physically normal in the absence of hard physical effort. -Ripp

[carson]

Do you live within 100 miles of a certified SS coach? If so go see him at least once per week. If you live within 1000 miles see him/her at least four times a year. Don't do anymore damage to yourself when you have access to certified SS coaches.

[Cheesepuff]

Good advice.

Scheduled a squat seminar at Jonathan Sullivan's facility. Good investment in two way... I learned something when I got there, and not wanting to embarrass myself I started doing videos of my squats.

Bought a real rack, no more trap bar squats.

7/03/2016
Squat (actual low bar squat but struggled with depth)
45x5
95x5x3
tweaked my back, not used to this yet and still beat up from moving someone

BENCH
95x5x3

8/4/2016
SQUAT
45x5
100x5x3

CLEAN AND PRESS
60X5X3

DEADLIFT
205x5

2 lift days a week (I'm 62)
BLAH BLAH BLAH... LOT OF PAGES
Squat seminar
knee sleeves / better form
Barbell Medicine Book
... fixed a stalled deadlift 255 and squat 215 with protein powder and spreading lifts across 2 days

1/16/2017 Monday
SQUAT
45x5x2
150x3
190x1
220x0
Didn't feel right called it, this is before the protein powder hit

1/17/2017 Tuesday
BENCH
45x5x2
80x3
110x1
130x5x3


1/21/2017 Saturday
SQUAT
45X5X2
150X3
190x1
220x5x3


DEADLIFT
135X5X2
180x3
220x1
260x0
245x0
220x5
*** decided I needed to read the forums more, check fundamentals from books / videos... felt gassed

decided to spread workout across two days... got my protein powder... ordered Creotine monohydrate
lower reps on warmups where possible, sipped gatoraid as well water during workouts

1/24/2017 Tuesday
SQUAT
65x3x2
160x3
190x1
222.5x5x3
felt great

1/25/2017 Wednesday
CLEAN AND PRESS
45x5
65x3
80x5x3

DEADLIFT
135x3
180x3
220x1
260x5

I feel great and back on track. I also started micro-loading recently with a pair of 1.25lb weights.

[Trib77]

Doing well, keep practicing that technique. Take an extra day off if you aren't feeling right, I've found that when I don't feel like I'm recovered..... I'm not. Learnt that a couple of times already and it makes sub par training.

If you don't eat tons of red meat, you will notice a huge difference after a week or two on creatine. You will probably put a couple of kgs on in water (in muscles not under skin) and you will have so much more Recovery between sets and you will feel stronger

[carson]

Were you there a few weeks ago? We probably met. I'm glad to see you back on track.

[Cheesepuff]

Hi Carson, went to the fall seminar. They said you were usually there but not that day. Great seminar. I wanted to thank you in person, perhaps another time.

Couple days of 5g creatine, not expecting a lot for a week or so.

Fri 1/17/2017
Squat 65x3x2 160x3 190x1 225x5x3

Sat 1/18/2017
Bench 45x5 80x3 110x1 132.5x1 120x4 110x5
The PR work set was planned for 132x5x5x3. It has been more than a week since I benched. Otherwise felt good going into this.
May back up to 130 for next week.

First issue since I started the protein shakes. My job takes a lot out of me. lifts generally go better early in the week. Saturday I typically recover from my work week.
No panic. Keep moving the squat and the dead lift and things are good.

I'm attempting to implement a 4 day program. With Squats only on Monday and Thursday and Press/Bench/Dead lift on Tuesday Thursday. (alternating press/bench 1 DL/wk)

I think I can be more consistent on this schedule and hope to have better energy to progress on my Squats / Deadlifts. So far it feels good and seems doable. I'll know more in a month or two.

[Cheesepuff]

Ok, those last two lifts were 1/27 & 1/28. I'll do better.

1/30/2017 Mon reviewed videos and not enough depth on previous squats, additional depth seemed warranted on the warmups as well even though they were "fine"
Squat 65x3x2 160x3 190x1 220x5x3 (still had 5 bad depth squats across this work set) (warmups were fine)
Set felt just as heavy as a pr set, probably stay at this weight and try again... failing that I'll go down to get depth.

2/1/2017 Wed scheduled for Tue but... life
CLEAN AND PRESS 45x5 65x3 82.5x5x3 PR =)
DEADLIFT 135X3 185X5 225X1 262.5x0 255x0 245x5
Creotine appears to be kicking in. was more aggressive in my retries. previous failed attempts had me pretty down. I still had some piss and vinegar after two fails. I got the bar off the ground with both fails.

My job has had toxic levels of stress for the last couple months. Year end sales support will do that.

Every time I use my rack is a small victory. I'll be back.

[Cheesepuff]

While this study is not as well written as "The Barbell Prescription" (first ballot hall of fame book), it does confirm some of the notions I've had about my own journey.
Effects of resistance training on the inflammatory response
Namely, HOLY SHIT has my inflammation improved. Not to mention my level of pain. This program has been a miracle.... there is just not another word for it.

I fully realize that my "adherence" to the diet & rest / recovery advice is remarkably less than optimal. And I'm old (62), and injured (referred several time for knee replacement), had a military disability for back injury / pain. Oh, and I've been a special snowflake. Program still did great things for me.

No excuses, no apologies.

Today is my rest day. Nothing to see here.

[Cheesepuff]

6/14/2017

5RM's as of 4 weeks ago when I got injured.

SQ 232.5 3 sets of 5
OP 85 3 sets of 5
BP 125 3 sets of 5
DL 255 1 set of 5

Injury was first noticed descending stairs rapidly, left (good) knee gave out. Was unable to load with very sharp pain well above knee. (thinking ligaments where quads attach?)
I never figured out how I injured myself. But am suspicious of new knee sleeves that were too short and too tight. My brother also injured his knee (not as bad) at the same time, we got them together. We have since discarded them, went back to my old pair.

Initial attempts to squat "unloaded" went stupid bad.
Decided to work "the range of motion I had" which ended up being sort of odd.
Then I tore my rotator cuff.
Did Rip's video for that. TYMR.
Decided that putting the bar in the squat rack, I could do an "unweighted" squat hanging on to the bar. (like a reverse pullup) Of course it was difficult to simulate the squat motion at first. But after a several sessions I got full depth.

Then I was able to squat with the bar, lacking some depth.

During this outage, I backed off on my DL to 135. and began ramping up to what I though I could handle. I lifted twice a week, and Deadlifted each session.

Wednesday 6/7/2017
Press 2x5, 52x5x3
Squat 0x5, 45x5x3 Depth OK (had been problematic)
Dead 135x5, 225x5

Saturday 6/10/2017
Press 55x5x3
Squat 0x5, 55x5x3 Depth a problem
Dead 135x5, 235x5

Sunday 6/11/2017
Hiit Airdyne 5/15/5 15sec @75 rpm / 45 sec @ 30 rpm New

Tuesday 6/13/2017
Press 65x5x3
Squat 0x5, 80x5x3 FULL DEPTH
Dead 135x5, 240x5

I really feel like my dead lift, although limited has carried me.
With my Squat 5RM at 232.5, I figure that once I get to 190 squat I should quit Deadlifting every session.
Knee is feeling better, almost able to walk down stairs normally... normally for me. LOL.
Once my press gets to about 80, I'll start alternating with the bench again. I'll be micro loading from here also.

This has been a little bit of a mud slog, but I'm finally getting some traction.
It is great to be squatting again... even in modest amounts.
This has been weird. I'll feel better when I can get above 80% of my 5RM (190-ish) on the squat again.

The take away for me is don't get demoralized with setbacks. Keep working and work smart.
If you're not smart... be cautious.
The reason I was so cautious on the Dead was that it was the only lift I had that made me feel "like I was still lifting". I needed something... even if it was sub optimal.

[waistline warrior]

Keep plugging away, it seems to get better for us mature gentlemen with consistency and patience.