How has age affected your training?

[Buadain]

Folks,
What kinds of modification if any, have you had to make due to age related factors, more recovery time needed, injury ect.

At 50, I find that I need one day off, between lifitng sessions, to properly recover.

My training log looks something like this:

Tues - Chest/ Back- Cardio
Thursday - Legs
Saturday - Shoulders /arms - Cardio

Monday - repeat cycle

[_bruce_]

Well, I'm just 29, but I can only say that things are running much better than with 20.
I trained for the first time with 14 and it rocked. Later on it sucked. Since 27 its getting better - can train more and longer -> joint aches are gone.
Maybe I'm drinking the right water...
Optimum for me is...

2 on - 1 off,
2 on - 2 off,
repeat

[Dr Pangloss]

I still train 6 days (and many times 7) a week, but the number of times per week i train some bodyparts is lower.

I find myself spending much more time warming up.

I do therapeutic exersizes like external rotator stuff, bicycling.

Gerotol plus iron....

[Timski]

I still train heavy but I do more intensity techniques rather than just moving big weights around.

I do:
Giant-Sets
Tri-Sets
Drop-Sets
Rest Pause
Super-Sets
Half Reps
and that kind of stuff..........allows you to kill a bodypart, but it`s so fast and intense, that heavy weights are impossible to use...still heavy,but for the amount of reps I`m shooting for.

I`ll also make sure to warmup a bit more on certain bodyparts or exercises that are hard on the joints.

Otherwise,there is no excuse to not go balls to the walls at every training session.

[GeorgeForemanRules]

I played all kinds of sports as a young man and that did some damage. I started weight training around 1981 or 1982 and with that and all the sports my body is not the same at all. I think the boxing did the most damage to my shoulders, the football my knees. I only lift 2x a week, never go heavy or even close to failure anymore. The good thing is after 25 years of lifting I don't have to do much to maintain my size and strength.

[Lynch]

Well, I'm 35 and I've training for eight years. Over the last year I've had to dramatically change the way I train due to an inguinal hernia I had repaired last year. I got the hernia from doing drop-sets on the leg-press.

When I was lying in bed the day after the operation I told myself I would never lift another weight again. But, after six weeks I was back in the gym.

I did not train a total of three months. Once I got back into the groove of things I started feeling very confident and I injured my lower back doing dead-lifts, so I was out another six weeks.

I went my doctor and he ask me how hurt my back and I told him, his response was "Why are you so hardheaded, don't you think your body is trying to tell you something."

Since all that shit, I no longer do squats, drop-sets on the leg-press, stiff-legged dead-lifts, dead-lifts, bent-over-rows or t-bar rows. Taking those exercises out I have noticed my legs and back don't look like the used to before my injuries.

So, what I do now is not worry about weight and focus more on form and reps. For legs all I do hack-squats, lunges, leg-press, leg-curl and leg-extensions. However, I will do drop-sets on leg-extensions.

My training partner tells me I need to get out of my "comfort zone". My reply to him is, "But I don't hurt anymore". He's on the sauce year around but that's another story.

I think as we get older our bodies will not allow us to do certain things. The shit that we put our bodies thru just to look good boggles me, we are truly a "different breed."

[NYC BIG MIKE]

I'm 45. I like to lift heavy. I use a EOD day protocol with a 4 way split. 1) Chest and tris and abs. 2) Shoulders and biceps. 3) Back and forearms and abs. 4) Legs. This way I get the recovery I need and hit the whole body in a "8 Day Week". Works for me.


NYC BIG MIKE

[FitnFirm]

I will be 44 in 3 days and I have to say age has not had an impact on my training at all but it has on my diet. I def have to watch what I eat because your metabolism changes with age, so I just keep up the best I can and get help from the pro's when I need it.

[Shark67]

I still train heavy but I do more intensity techniques rather than just moving big weights around.

I do:
Giant-Sets
Tri-Sets
Drop-Sets
Rest Pause
Super-Sets
Half Reps
and that kind of stuff..........allows you to kill a bodypart, but it`s so fast and intense, that heavy weights are impossible to use...still heavy,but for the amount of reps I`m shooting for.

I`ll also make sure to warmup a bit more on certain bodyparts or exercises that are hard on the joints.

Otherwise,there is no excuse to not go balls to the walls at every training session.

I am in my mid 30's and I incorporate the above intensity techniques in my workouts as I work out at home without a training partner.

[NuclearArms]

Hi FnF.
I'd say I'm more intense in my 40's than any time in my past. Recovery takes longer, but I can afford better nutrition and sups to aid in that area.

[Dlew6969]

I now have to get my carer to wheel me into the rack....


Not true but i feel like some days....

[Old Navy]

Does Age Affect Your Training?

In a word, yes. Age does affect your training. That's the short answer. But how it affects your training is really up to the individual. If you are 20-something, you can train until you drop, and other than being tired and maybe a little sore, the effects wear off quickly and soon you are ready to hit it again.

It's not that easy if you are in your late middle age or early old age. I am 64 years-old. I worked out in the gym at least five days a week for about 15 years. My training, while vigorous, was never strenuous. My goal was always to stay fit. Then, about three years ago I got the outrageous idea that I could train to prepare myself to enter a bodybuilding contest. Now that's an idea whose time had come. Imagine my wife's reaction when I told her the news. But, she was supportive and so I proceeded.

Training for a bodybuilding competition required many hard hours in the gym, a strict diet and a totally different life-style. Here, age makes a difference and does have an affect.

Lifting heavy weights with "old" muscles can be dangerous if you don't stay focused. It's easy to pull, rip, tear or stretch a muscle during an exercise that can stop you in your tracks and end your contest preparation on the spot.

I took great care in the gym to make sure I stretched my muscles before and after each set. I drank plenty of water during my workouts and I never continued a lift or pull if I felt the least twinge. I stopped the set at that point and didn't continue the exercise. I also never lifted more than I should, just to lift. My weight training was purposeful and therefore carefully planned.

To prepare for my first contest, I worked out 45 minutes a day, five days a week for 10 months prior to the contest date. During that time, I worked progressively harder each week as I grew stronger and never suffered a single injury nor did I miss a day of training, and my energy level remained very high. My fellow gym rats frequently gibed, "Old Navy is pumped today."

I entered my first contest ready to compete. I continued to train vigorously for the next 16 months and entered a total of 18 bodybuilding competitions, winning 35 trophies and Best Poser awards, including my NGA & IDFA Masters Pro Card, again, without sustaining a single training injury.

Simply put, if you are 20, it's OK to act like you are 20. If you are 64, it's not OK to act like you are 20.

[Rhyalus]

Well said, Navy.

I think you have to listen to your body more and more as you get older. I am turning 40 TOMORROW, and over the past couple of years I have experimented with days / splits, etc.

I feel better all around with three days at the gym, and cardio at home on an eliptical two more days.

If I go on a four day split at the gym, I eventually get behind on recovery and need to take a few days off. Sad but true...

I have tried several supps, and some help, but staying on a four day is tough now.

R

[Sandpig]

The thing about aging is that I have learned what little things make me tick.

I'm talking about hand or foot placement, rep speed, range of motion and so forth.

As far as intensity, it hasn't changed at all.

In fact I recently went back to doing each body part twice/ week.

[Always Sore]

The thing that changed the most is my knowledge. I know more now then I did at 20 and wish I still had the youthfull energy and easy schedual. At 39 I am stronger and bigger and work much smarter then in my youth. I know how my body responds and what to much is. I think back to all the eat anything workout life and kick myself for not being more focused. At this stage in my life I only hope to pass on to my son what I have learned and if he has the same passion as I do maybe he will take it farther then I did.I can only hope.