Strength Training and Age
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Kevinm
Strength Training and Age
How does one weight train after 40? I've found that my body (I'm 45) doesn't recover nearly as fast as it did when I was younger. I can no longer workout three times a week. Tendinitis is a frequent problem even though I only workout once a week and since I only workout once a week, stagnation is a problem too. Clearly, I need to get a lot stronger to start doing isometrics.
Re: Strength Training and Age
Kevin, I'm surprised that you aren't able to make any progress on the weights even if you are training once a week but there are many reasons for why that might be. I wonder if your intensity level is approrpriate. I think you'll need to experiment a little to determine what intensity and volume is appropriate for your situation.Kevinm wrote:How does one weight train after 40? I've found that my body (I'm 45) doesn't recover nearly as fast as it did when I was younger. I can no longer workout three times a week. Tendinitis is a frequent problem even though I only workout once a week and since I only workout once a week, stagnation is a problem too. Clearly, I need to get a lot stronger to start doing isometrics.
I think that if I was you I would first try increasing the number of workouts to twice a week. If that doesn't work, then you will know that you can't progress regardless of whether you work out once, twice, or three times a week so that will rule that variable out. Then I'd try experimenting with intensity. Try increasing the intensity by cutting down the rest time between sets or making pushing harder to your limit. If that doesn't work then you might have to decrease the number of exercises and sets but still keept the intensity high.
If none of that seems to work, you might have to consider out-of-gym factors such as your diet, level of stress in life, and amount of sleep you get. Without knowing much more, I'm not sure there's much we can suggest. It sounds like you'll have to play with the various training variables and find what works for you. There's nothing magical about being 40. But you are correct that recovery will become more difficult for you than it would have been if you were 20.
Make sure to keep records of what you are trying and whether it works or not.
Good luck,
Mark
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Kevinm
Re: Strength Training and Age
mmeloon wrote:Kevin, I'm surprised that you aren't able to make any progress on the weights even if you are training once a week but there are many reasons for why that might be. I wonder if your intensity level is approrpriate. I think you'll need to experiment a little to determine what intensity and volume is appropriate for your situation.Kevinm wrote:How does one weight train after 40? I've found that my body (I'm 45) doesn't recover nearly as fast as it did when I was younger. I can no longer workout three times a week. Tendinitis is a frequent problem even though I only workout once a week and since I only workout once a week, stagnation is a problem too. Clearly, I need to get a lot stronger to start doing isometrics.
I think that if I was you I would first try increasing the number of workouts to twice a week. If that doesn't work, then you will know that you can't progress regardless of whether you work out once, twice, or three times a week so that will rule that variable out. Then I'd try experimenting with intensity. Try increasing the intensity by cutting down the rest time between sets or making pushing harder to your limit. If that doesn't work then you might have to decrease the number of exercises and sets but still keept the intensity high.
If none of that seems to work, you might have to consider out-of-gym factors such as your diet, level of stress in life, and amount of sleep you get. Without knowing much more, I'm not sure there's much we can suggest. It sounds like you'll have to play with the various training variables and find what works for you. There's nothing magical about being 40. But you are correct that recovery will become more difficult for you than it would have been if you were 20.
Make sure to keep records of what you are trying and whether it works or not.
Good luck,
Mark
Hi Mark,
Thanks for answering. Let me tell you what I've done, specifically with the biceps. I progressed initially with one set for awhile (I'm doing 8-12 reps), and when I stagnated, I went to two sets and then three, still with no progress. Finally, I've started doing what I call a "megaset", where I start with an initial weight, go to exhaustion, then pickup another, lighter weight, go to exhaustion, etc.. in rapid succesion. (I'm doing 40, 15, 10 and now 7 lbs like this.) This might be working but the jury is still out yet.
I'll know better on Saturday. My biceps do feel and look stronger. Like you said, it's possible that my biceps have gotten to the point where I need to train them twice a week to catch the supercompensation peak.
So far I'm progressing steadily on the lowerbody exercises (lunges and goodmornings) with one set, but the dumbell bench press, like the bicep curl, seems to be approaching stagnation. Also, I'm concerned about something I just read in "How Not to Strength Train". Mr. Kurz says not to "strive to the limits of your strength or work to failure". I don't understand this. I thought the objective was to work your muscles to exhaustion. I don't know if this applies to what I'm doing with the "megaset" or not. I've just discovered this site and it seems the more I read, the more questions (and confused) I get.
Kevin,
Your "megaset" (some people refer to this as "strip sets") sounds pretty intense, perhaps too much so. I think you may be falling into a common trap, that of trying to do too much work to break out of a plateau. It's natural to counter frustration by trying extra-hard but in the case of strength training that can sometimes be counterproductive.
The part about your biceps looking and feeling stronger may actually just be due to the "pump" that you get after working out. It would be remarkable if you were gaining muscular size so quickly that you could see it in the mirror like that. Your workouts will show whether you are increasing in strength or not.
I certainly am not qualified to speak on behalf of Mr. Kurz but I think that when he urges you not to work to failure that he would recommend against your megaset. It's not necessary to work your muscles to complete exhaustion and sometimes that can be too much to try to recover from.
-Mark
Your "megaset" (some people refer to this as "strip sets") sounds pretty intense, perhaps too much so. I think you may be falling into a common trap, that of trying to do too much work to break out of a plateau. It's natural to counter frustration by trying extra-hard but in the case of strength training that can sometimes be counterproductive.
The part about your biceps looking and feeling stronger may actually just be due to the "pump" that you get after working out. It would be remarkable if you were gaining muscular size so quickly that you could see it in the mirror like that. Your workouts will show whether you are increasing in strength or not.
I certainly am not qualified to speak on behalf of Mr. Kurz but I think that when he urges you not to work to failure that he would recommend against your megaset. It's not necessary to work your muscles to complete exhaustion and sometimes that can be too much to try to recover from.
-Mark
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Kevinm
mmeloon wrote:Kevin,
Your "megaset" (some people refer to this as "strip sets") sounds pretty intense, perhaps too much so. I think you may be falling into a common trap, that of trying to do too much work to break out of a plateau. It's natural to counter frustration by trying extra-hard but in the case of strength training that can sometimes be counterproductive.
The part about your biceps looking and feeling stronger may actually just be due to the "pump" that you get after working out. It would be remarkable if you were gaining muscular size so quickly that you could see it in the mirror like that. Your workouts will show whether you are increasing in strength or not.
I certainly am not qualified to speak on behalf of Mr. Kurz but I think that when he urges you not to work to failure that he would recommend against your megaset. It's not necessary to work your muscles to complete exhaustion and sometimes that can be too much to try to recover from.
-Mark
Hi Mark,
Just did my workout and saw no strength gain from the megaset (for the third time). Clearly, it isn't working. Today I did a normal two set routine and I'll do another on Tuesday. I'll let you know how it works in a week or two. It makes sense to me that the recovery time (supercompensation peak) will shorten with improved conditioning, so I'm optimistic that this will work. We'll see.
Hi, Kevin,
What is your purpose of strength training? There's the different strength training method for different sport you know. If you are doing body building work-to-failure is correct but you should allow for sufficient rests between sets. On the other hand work-to-failure is not good and usually is bad for almost every sport. If you exhaust your muscle all the time and your body gets accustomed to it (even if you don't get injured), when you perform sports skills your neuro system will call up more than needed muscular strength to complete the task resulting in a lack of balance. In addition different sports need different types of strength. Check out Kurz columne and his book Science of Sports Training.
To increase strength working on larger muscle groups at the same time is a lot better than working on small muscle groups separately simply because there are (almost) no movements that only use a single muscle group. That's why Tom says "if you can do chin-up doing arm curls is a waste of time." I view bicep curls nearly useless except for the purpose of shaping the look of the muscle.
What is your purpose of strength training? There's the different strength training method for different sport you know. If you are doing body building work-to-failure is correct but you should allow for sufficient rests between sets. On the other hand work-to-failure is not good and usually is bad for almost every sport. If you exhaust your muscle all the time and your body gets accustomed to it (even if you don't get injured), when you perform sports skills your neuro system will call up more than needed muscular strength to complete the task resulting in a lack of balance. In addition different sports need different types of strength. Check out Kurz columne and his book Science of Sports Training.
To increase strength working on larger muscle groups at the same time is a lot better than working on small muscle groups separately simply because there are (almost) no movements that only use a single muscle group. That's why Tom says "if you can do chin-up doing arm curls is a waste of time." I view bicep curls nearly useless except for the purpose of shaping the look of the muscle.
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Kevinm
Hi,
What you say is true and thanks for the info, but I was more interested in the underlying physiological reason for the stagnation as this has implications for every exercise that I do.
As it turns out, and this is a note to Mark, I had to go to two sets three times a week to start seeing a strength gain. Clearly, I'm recovering faster due to improved conditioning. No signs of tendinitis. Yahoo!
What you say is true and thanks for the info, but I was more interested in the underlying physiological reason for the stagnation as this has implications for every exercise that I do.
As it turns out, and this is a note to Mark, I had to go to two sets three times a week to start seeing a strength gain. Clearly, I'm recovering faster due to improved conditioning. No signs of tendinitis. Yahoo!