Originally Posted by
Mark E. Hurling
You're still young. You can probably get to those goals you want with a few runs and cycles up and then backing off again. Just be patient and recognize that it will take a while because of slower gains.
I've been lifting on and off since my late teens and I'm coming up on my 67th birthday. Since the 1960's, I've tried not quite everything, but a lot of things that came and fell out of fashion over the decades and wasted my time and potentially top gains I could have made. What the hey, nothing to be done about that now. All things considered, I have been reasonably lucky and have not lost much strength from my peak in my early 40's. In fact, I bumped up my DL about 20 lbs. from a 405 gym lift to a 425 gym lift when I got SS coaching at a seminar 5 years ago. I haven't managed to get over 400 for a year and a half. My bench press has fallen off about 20 lbs. too from that period of time.
This will happen to all of us one day. Not you, and not now, but someday. In spite of that, I refuse to go quietly and simply give up. I am going to continue to push to maintain or even re-expand the edge of my envelope until the 3rd or 4th time The Reaper comes for me and I don't whip his ass again. Giving up is not in me.
Relax, regroup, recharge, and get back and hit it again.