General fitness

sirloin said:
Whut?! How do you imagine weightlifters train?
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Weightlifters have a different training regimen to bodybuilders, but it hardly matters as they are both 'damaging' muscle to promote growth primarily in the first case, and strength primarily in the second. The body cannot repair the damaged muscle if you continue to damage it by excessive training. Bodybuilders and weightlifters will try to work around this by using splits, basically exercising/focusing on different [muscle] groups on different days, but there is such a thing as 'total' recovery because you are stressing the whole body.

A lot of young, inexperienced bodybuilders don't understand this and overtrain, then get pissed because they don't see the gains that they think they will get.

Again, muscle CAN ONLY repair properly when resting.

Good form(technique), quality nutrition, and quality rest are essential for any athelete.
 
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This was actually what I was getting at. Training daily (more likely 5-6 days a week to keep sane and not burn out mentally) is quite possible in most sports if; program/cycle is controlled, nutrition is good, athlete is rested, the team around the athlete is supportive and so on. I know this from experience.

For ppl training "for fun" and already with an established good form, 6 days a week is still very much doable. Naturally with lower intensity and greater variation as the goal are different than from the athlete. 3/w with semi heavy weight should actually be enough while still having progress, when a certain level is established. Add walking, yoga, biking, running etc. as you prefer.
 
One thing I've noticed with my middle age is that you cannot store fitness for very long, but I need less exercise than previously. One session on weights in the gym a week and then a couple of 1-2 hour bike rides and that's sufficient to keep muscle strength and pot belly at bay.
 
I get the rest part, but on the day I'm doing abs, I'm resting arms and vice versa. So there is 48hrs between repeating work on each muscle group. Are you saying that's not enough rest?
 
Lord Buckley said:
One thing I've noticed with my middle age is that you cannot store fitness for very long, but I need less exercise than previously. One session on weights in the gym a week and then a couple of 1-2 hour bike rides and that's sufficient to keep muscle strength and pot belly at bay.
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:mog:
 
Recognize
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It don't hurt you now, but in 20 years time when you've got Desperate Dan jowls and all manner of ailments and are flabby all over, you'll remember back and say, "Man, that Lord Buckley was right in his assessment of 'roid and creatine abuse." Just warning ya' for your own good.
 
Lord Buckley said:
It don't hurt you now, but in 20 years time when you've got Desperate Dan jowls and all manner of ailments and are flabby all over, you'll remember back and say, "Man, that Lord Buckley was right in his assessment of 'roid and creatine abuse." Just warning ya' for your own good.
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not to get too technical but creatine is not the same as steroids and is fundamentally impossible to "abuse". excess creatine just gets excreted via urine. all you're really doing is pissing away money if you take too much of it.
 
Rambo said:
not to get too technical but creatine is not the same as steroids and is fundamentally impossible to "abuse". excess creatine just gets excreted via urine. all you're really doing is pissing away money if you take too much of it.
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Its hard on your kidneys.
 
I don't do roids. That was a joke. I do C4 for pre and isopure for post.

Started swimming again.
 
My shoulders aint that weak, not as round as they used to be though.

I am going to try to lose some mass, shirts are getting harder to find with my shape and pants are getting too tight.
 
My weakness is arm strength and I've never really trained these muscles, except for the last 18 months where I've really pushed them. Despite being mid-40s+ the results have been quite impressive, including increased muscle definition on the chest.
 
Since I tend to use this thread as my "senior fitness blog," I just thought I'd give an update: I had been having some trouble sleeping, and I concluded it may have been due to overtraining, so I decided to split my workouts:

On one day, I'll do the Indian clubs (15 minutes or a little less) and then do 14 sets of kettlebell exercises. I alternate between a 62- and a 75-pound kettlebell depending on the exercise and how energetic I feel. I find I cannot press the 75-pounder to lockout in the clean and press (although I can do it with a 70-pounder at the gym without too much difficulty). I suspect the 75-pounder is going to be my upper limit in kettlebells. (It would have been interesting to see what I could have handled in my lusty prime, but kettlebells were regarded as archaic gear, in the same category as globe barbells, back then.)

On the alternate day, I do the same routine with the Indian clubs and then about 15 minutes of sledgehammer swings. I think I mentioned earlier in this thread that I had bought a 16-pound sledgehammer. This has proved to be a bit unwieldy, so I have been doing my swings with my maul, which I thought weighed 10 pounds. On closer scrutiny, I discovered the maul only weighs 8 pounds, which seems like a rather light and "girly" weight, more suited for my wife than me, and so I ordered a 12-pound sledgehammer, which should be arriving on Tuesday. I hope it will be a nice compromise weight for the John Henry stuff. The remainder of the workout consists of assorted stretches, abdominal exercises (sit-ups, crunches, torso twists--all with the resistance of a kettlebell or medicine ball-- and leg raises) as well as push-ups and some power band work.

Each of these workouts takes a little less than an hour. I try work out every day. Sometimes I feel like a wraith of the man I once was, but the daunting realization crossed my mind the other day that I am now closer to 90 than to 60!
 
Jan Libourel said:
Since I tend to use this thread as my "senior fitness blog," I just thought I'd give an update: I had been having some trouble sleeping, and I concluded it may have been due to overtraining, so I decided to split my workouts:

On one day, I'll do the Indian clubs (15 minutes or a little less) and then do 14 sets of kettlebell exercises. I alternate between a 62- and a 75-pound kettlebell depending on the exercise and how energetic I feel. I find I cannot press the 75-pounder to lockout in the clean and press (although I can do it with a 70-pounder at the gym without too much difficulty). I suspect the 75-pounder is going to be my upper limit in kettlebells. (It would have been interesting to see what I could have handled in my lusty prime, but kettlebells were regarded as archaic gear, in the same category as globe barbells, back then.)

On the alternate day, I do the same routine with the Indian clubs and then about 15 minutes of sledgehammer swings. I think I mentioned earlier in this thread that I had bought a 16-pound sledgehammer. This has proved to be a bit unwieldy, so I have been doing my swings with my maul, which I thought weighed 10 pounds. On closer scrutiny, I discovered the maul only weighs 8 pounds, which seems like a rather light and "girly" weight, more suited for my wife than me, and so I ordered a 12-pound sledgehammer, which should be arriving on Tuesday. I hope it will be a nice compromise weight for the John Henry stuff. The remainder of the workout consists of assorted stretches, abdominal exercises (sit-ups, crunches, torso twists--all with the resistance of a kettlebell or medicine ball-- and leg raises) as well as push-ups and some power band work.

Each of these workouts takes a little less than an hour. I try work out every day. Sometimes I feel like a wraith of the man I once was, but the daunting realization crossed my mind the other day that I am now closer to 90 than to 60!
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There's always TRT if you feel like you could use some extra strength. At your age it's perfectly acceptable, and might have a whole host of benefits. Of course you'd need a good doc to supervise you.
 
Monkeyface said:
There's always TRT if you feel like you could use some extra strength. At your age it's perfectly acceptable, and might have a whole host of benefits. Of course you'd need a good doc to supervise you.
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Thanks for the suggestion, which Rambo also had tendered earlier in this thread, but I always shunned 'roids as a younger man, and the less my system is tampered with, the better it suits me.
 
Jan Libourel said:
Thanks for the suggestion, which Rambo also had tendered earlier in this thread, but I always shunned 'roids as a younger man, and the less my system is tampered with, the better it suits me.
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Things have gotten a little more advanced over time, but I do agree to some extent. No need explore other options if you're happy with the way things are!
 
Jan Libourel said:
Thanks for the suggestion, which Rambo also had tendered earlier in this thread, but I always shunned 'roids as a younger man, and the less my system is tampered with, the better it suits me.
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To be fair, TRT isn't the same as steroids, as you're just trying to get back to normal, not go above what would naturally be existent.
 
Just an update: I got the 12-pound sledgehammer yesterday. It didn't come until almost 6:00 and I had to postpone my workout to use it. It proved to be a perfect choice--much more challenging than the puny 8-pound maul yet not as unwieldy as the 16-pound sledgehammer I got last year. I really think tire pounding with the sledgehammer is my favorite form of exercise. Anybody else here use a sledgehammer regularly?
 
I mostly excercise (30mins upper body weights, 25 mins cardio: 5-6 times a day) to sleep well and feel healthy, but every so often I walk past the mirror and say ‘not bad for a 46 year old bloke’.

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Dropbear said:
5-6 times a day
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a week I hope. Otherwise I completely misconstrued what your profession is.

One of your arms is more than both my arms together. People must eat a lot to maintain that.
 
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