The over 30's

[McKwl]

Yeah, I'm over 30. Wonder if that's got anything to do with my shoulder mobility (?) being stuffed, leading to tendinitis (?) that gets in the way of bench pressing, most of all...

Haven't done much exercise over the years either, since late teens or so, must admit.

Any advice, with regards to making sure my body doesn't resent my new hobby (strength training), or at least, doesn't punish me for it?

Or is it just the bad low bar squat form I was unknowingly using, probably, and should I just get that right - with light weight at first of course - before doing much of anything else...

I've skipped a day already, just to let it heal. Hope that's the right thing to do.


edit: Not meaning to flood the forum with this crap. But I only just realised, when I saw this thread, that hey, I might be "old", for starting lifting, haha. :/

 

[harry1970]

I'm 42 and started lifting just 6 months ago. Making great progress from where I started. Best advice is to keep your ego in check and put the time in under the bar by building a good solid base.

My first squats were in the smith machine with no weights and after 3x8 reps I couldn't hardly walk the next day! I have slowly progressed to 90kg x3 reps and aiming for 140 1RM by Xmas.

Best advice is just to put in the time and be consistent.

 

[vonfram88]

I'm 41, and had a large part of my training life interrupted by family and work stuff. There are lots of aches and pains but they are worse if I am inactive. I'm trying to get in shape for a raw 650 masters total, which is probably about a year's worth of training away from where I stand now.

Recovery is everthing when you are older. Less frequent training, more rest and use a little bit of intuition.

 

[taurus]

im 34, still training hard as ever.
its tougher though, wife, kids, mortgage etc, hence the 5am training sessions, not to interrupt family time. then another session after the kids are in bed!

 

[MikeW]

Any advice, with regards to making sure my body doesn't resent my new hobby (strength training), or at least, doesn't punish me for it?

I'm 41, turning 42 next month, and all I'd suggest is keeping your fish oil intake up and giving your body enough time to recover. You'll also need to trust your gut on those days where its telling you not to push it.

I blew my left shoulder, anterior pec, doing a bench rep PB a year or two ago and it took me ages to recover back to where I was. Now my right shoulder joint is painful all the time if I let the fish oils slip.

Lubricate your joints, eat enough and sleep enough and do less in each workout than the teenage bucks. Its a marathon, not a sprint.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[Goosey]

For us older blokes and younger, it's important to workout as much as possible and as hard as possible, I don't believe in "deloads" hate the term, but I do know it's important to intergrate a maintenance work every second workout, it's just a good thing to do, but if you can do an extra rep here or there then do it.

 

[McKwl]

Lubricate your joints, eat enough and sleep enough and do less in each workout than the teenage bucks. Its a marathon, not a sprint.

Cheers,
Mike

Thanks, Mike - I'll keep all that in mind, definitely. Not sure where I heard the term "redlining" - some blog, maybe - but yeah, that was me for a while, every session, and I don't think it was helping.

Been trying to eat more fish, but maybe fish oil is a good idea too...

Just getting used to lifting again, mysefl, after effing up my left shoulder and arm a couple of weeks ago. So far, so good.

 

[Darkoz]

See if I can post this in the right thread this time.

I wonder if there's something amiss with the way we've conducted our workouts over the years with amount of people you read about in their training logs and even in this thread of injuries/joint problems sustained and most are still well under 35 years of age.

 

[Oznut]

See if I can post this in the right thread this time.

I wonder if there's something amiss with the way we've conducted our workouts over the years with amount of people you read about in their training logs and even in this thread of injuries/joint problems sustained and most are still well under 35 years of age.

Does a lot of said injuries come from lifting or other sports over the years? I know personally, my body was screwed well before I started lifting. If anything, it seems to be getting better.

 

[Darkoz]

Does a lot of said injuries come from lifting or other sports over the years? I know personally, my body was screwed well before I started lifting. If anything, it seems to be getting better.

I'm sure a lot of it might be from sports but it seems pretty common from lifting as well

 

[Oznut]

I'm sure a lot of it might be from sports but it seems pretty common from lifting as well

Hmmm, I guess I haven't really been lifting long enough to comment there when I think about it.

 

[walt]

To Darkoz and Goosey,

was i wise in dropping deadlifts seeing as i plan to be lifting for a while and don't plan to powerlifter but bodybuild? I felt as though my back was slowly getting worse and worse

 

[Darkoz]

To Darkoz and Goosey,

was i wise in dropping deadlifts seeing as i plan to be lifting for a while and don't plan to powerlifter but bodybuild? I felt as though my back was slowly getting worse and worse

You'll get 10 different answers on this one but my take is that it's not absolutely essential as a recreational Lifter to do any one exercise if you don't want to do it for whatever reason.
With deadlifts and squats more than any other exercises your form has to be spot on otherwise sooner or later you'll pay the price.
If you're having lower back problems and you know you're deadlifting enough weight with good form then there might be other causes for it, I don't know and I can't make that call for you but if you know that deadlifts are directly causing you problems then I wouldn't hesitate dropping them from your routine.
I've never had any problems doing deadlifts myself but then again I don't do really low reps or 1 rep maxes with super heavy weights.
Short answer though, do you have to deadlift to build a strong muscular back? no I don't think so.

 

[walt]

You'll get 10 different answers on this one but my take is that it's not absolutely essential as a recreational Lifter to do any one exercise if you don't want to do it for whatever reason.
With deadlifts and squats more than any other exercises your form has to be spot on otherwise sooner or later you'll pay the price.
If you're having lower back problems and you know your deadlifting enough weight with good form then there might be other causes for it, I don't know and I can't make that call for you but if you know that deadlifts are directly causing you problems then I wouldn't hesitate dropping them from your routine.
I've never had any problems doing deadlifts but then again I don't do really low reps or 1 rep maxes with super heavy weights and I'm always sure to use good form.

thanks mate

 

[Goosey]

Great answer.

 

[NightFallTech]

I've 34 and i've noticed a good run of injuries and less mobility than when i was younger, harder to increase the weights as well. My right shoulder is a little damaged it would appear although i haven't actually had it looked at.

 

[Jungnaut]

Definitely at the wrong side of 30 I am finding mobility and flexibility an ever increasing issue. I have to do stretches or I end up hurting or injuring myself. The agile 8 is a great routine, bit tedious (I dislike the rolly polly one the worst), yet my body especially the hammies and hip flexors thanks me for it when I attempt to squat afterwards.

 

[taurus]

As jungman said, stretching is key to longevity!!
Early this year i was training very very hard & my sciatic got so bad I couldn't walk or drive. I was so right thru the glutes and back it was terrible.
I made myself a foam roller & stretch every night in front of tv for just ten mins, it's made a massive difference!!