Author Topic: How old is too old to go hard .  (Read 9503 times)

Eat2Grow

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How old is too old to go hard .
« on: February 05, 2019, 01:45:16 PM »
What is a good age to stop going "hard" before you start doing damage to your nervous system?
41 5"10 205.  Pushing to hit 600 on dead's and 500 on squats for reps.   Not recovering like I used to and getting new pains.   Am I doing more harm than good at this age? Not on gear either,  just TRT prescribed from after a motorcycle accident.
D

oldtimer1

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Re: How old is too old to go hard .
« Reply #1 on: February 06, 2019, 08:49:56 AM »
What is a good age to stop going "hard" before you start doing damage to your nervous system?
41 5"10 205.  Pushing to hit 600 on dead's and 500 on squats for reps.   Not recovering like I used to and getting new pains.   Am I doing more harm than good at this age? Not on gear either,  just TRT prescribed from after a motorcycle accident.

Big numbers on those deads and squats for a natural. Amazing even.  Are these deads off the floor?  Are the squats fairly deep? I have to ask because the last time a guy gave me deadlift numbers I later found he was deadlifting a bar raised in a power rack. If legit you are strong as hell.

I know you don't see it now but 41 is really young.  It's old for a professional athlete but young for a gym rat. Damage to the nervous system is a new one on me. You can burn out from systemic fatigue from not giving your body a break but damaging your nervous system is new to me.

I noticed joint problems when I hit around 55.  Prior to that for the most part my elbows, shoulders, back, and knees were bullet proof. Sure I would injure something on occasion. An acute injury but I'm talking about chronic problems. My shoulders and one in particular is shot. My elbow gives me problem from time to time. Now shockingly my knees are giving me trouble. I have been lifting and running hard for 46 years.

Most big bench press guys (over 400lbs) that I personally know who reach their 50's can't bench anymore due to damaging their body. I think the bench press has ruined more shoulders and elbows than any lift.  I was never a big bench guy. My highest lift was 300lbs at around 175lbs.  Now I can't bench. Every time I tried to get back into it my shoulder eventually goes south. I still think if I'm careful I can bench again with a bar but I've been down that road too many times. Dumbbells for some reason work well.

Couple of ideas for aging and longevity in training. Cut the amount of weight you can use by using a full range of motion and a moderate rep cadence. Sure you can sit and do dumbbell presses with huge dumbbells if you do half reps. You can use much less weight if you stand and go all the way down. Always think how can I make this exercise harder and it will cut the weight. Another thing I've changed is that I do deadlifts after the back/chest routine is finished. I'm completely warmed up and pre fatigued. It limits the weight so I don't have to pile on the weight making it safer. Learned that one from reading about why Yates put his deads in last instead of first. Another aging protection method is to test your strength for a single after the exercise is over. What I mean by that is lets pick the bench. If you are doing something like 2 sets of around 6 reps to failure then the time to test your strength is after the 2 of 6. Now load up the bar for a single. You are pre fatiqued and won't be able to pile on the plates as if you did a moderate warm up sets and dove into the that one single. I've used this method for decades. Using this method if I can do a single in a dead for 350lbs I know I'm good for 405lbs fresh. I don't powerlift. This is all part of my bodybuilding fitness routine. Another point as you age. If an exercise hurts then dump it. I know it's hard after getting good results from it your whole training career but never love an exercise over your joint health.

You are obviously very strong. If you are concerned about protecting your joints there is nothing wrong with training with high sets of high reps like 12.  It hurts my ego to train like that because of the light weights I'm forced to use but truth be told from a joint health prospective it might be the solution. I was having elbow pain and I read about those feeder exercises on the main board. If you are not familiar it's using 100 reps for bicep and tricep out side of normal arm training on off days. The first time I did it the pump was unreal but the next day my elbow pain was gone.  I guess all the low set to failure stuff I do was aggravating it and this high rep stuff flushed the area with blood and lubrication.

Anyway that's my bro science bro. Hope something I said struck a chord. This whole thing about how to train natural as we age deserves and encyclopedia of a book for info..

Eat2Grow

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Re: How old is too old to go hard .
« Reply #2 on: February 06, 2019, 01:37:21 PM »
Thank you for the input.   I'm about at the stage where lower weight, more reps is appealing.   But, and there always is one, I have always wanted to hit those numbers I stated, but never really worked that hard at it.  Now that I'm on the tail end of strength gains, I want to really focus, but not at the expense of future damage.  This is why I asked.
As for my #'s, I lift from the ground on deads and "lock out" at the top, full range.  The rack pulls you mentioned, I maxed out once  at 605lbs with a body weight of 195.  So I think 600 from the ground is doable if I focus for a few months.
Squats, I make sure to get below parallel, if I don't my buddy doesn't count it as a rep.
I don't flat bench anymore because of my shoulder, strictly incline, and I do sets of 8+ at 315 now.  I hit 365 for a double a while back, again at 205, my current weight, but don't go "heavy" due to shoulders anymore.
I've always been naturally strong, and lean.  Blessed except that I cannot gain weight like I'd like. Dream is 220, but, after excessive amounts of food I have only ever hit 210, for a week, then lost it.  I sit at 200 to 205 depending on how much I eat and lift.   
Thank you again for the input.   I'll try some of the things you had mentioned.
D

oldtimer1

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Re: How old is too old to go hard .
« Reply #3 on: February 06, 2019, 02:13:50 PM »
Thank you for the input.   I'm about at the stage where lower weight, more reps is appealing.   But, and there always is one, I have always wanted to hit those numbers I stated, but never really worked that hard at it.  Now that I'm on the tail end of strength gains, I want to really focus, but not at the expense of future damage.  This is why I asked.
As for my #'s, I lift from the ground on deads and "lock out" at the top, full range.  The rack pulls you mentioned, I maxed out once  at 605lbs with a body weight of 195.  So I think 600 from the ground is doable if I focus for a few months.
Squats, I make sure to get below parallel, if I don't my buddy doesn't count it as a rep.
I don't flat bench anymore because of my shoulder, strictly incline, and I do sets of 8+ at 315 now.  I hit 365 for a double a while back, again at 205, my current weight, but don't go "heavy" due to shoulders anymore.
I've always been naturally strong, and lean.  Blessed except that I cannot gain weight like I'd like. Dream is 220, but, after excessive amounts of food I have only ever hit 210, for a week, then lost it.  I sit at 200 to 205 depending on how much I eat and lift.  
Thank you again for the input.   I'll try some of the things you had menti

Eight reps with 315lbs in the incline is amazing. Not often you see that in the gym especially at your weight. There are 400lbs  flat bench press guys  that can't do that. I wouldn't worry about body weight. Make your body the best it can be at what ever body weight you are. Soon enough as you get older you will wish you were at a lighter body weight. Hope you're not thinking about juicing to get a $40 dollar trophy.  Unless you can make a living off this game that's a risk to health and yo yo game.

Eat2Grow

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Re: How old is too old to go hard .
« Reply #4 on: February 06, 2019, 03:31:52 PM »
No interest in competing whatsoever.   My buddies do, and prep looks like hell in a handbasket. Not to mention full body shave, meaning full body stubble a day or two later. Walking porcupine.
No need to screw up my hormones at this age, they will do it on their own. 😑  just still have the lingering 20yr old "I want to hit x lbs on the (insert lift)" mentality I guess.
D

Humble Narcissist

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Re: How old is too old to go hard .
« Reply #5 on: February 13, 2019, 03:51:27 AM »
You should never go too hard regardless of age.  That's like asking "at what age should you stop eating rat poison?"

oldtimer1

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Re: How old is too old to go hard .
« Reply #6 on: February 13, 2019, 04:33:17 AM »
You should never go too hard regardless of age.  That's like asking "at what age should you stop eating rat poison?"

When you work out you take it easy?  ???

Humble Narcissist

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Re: How old is too old to go hard .
« Reply #7 on: February 13, 2019, 04:36:02 AM »
When you work out you take it easy?  ???
Not going too hard is not the same as taking it easy.

oldtimer1

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Re: How old is too old to go hard .
« Reply #8 on: February 13, 2019, 05:38:05 AM »
I have always felt and believe that outside of genetics/drugs the most important factor in training is a work ethic. That applies to life too.

IroNat

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Re: How old is too old to go hard .
« Reply #9 on: February 13, 2019, 05:52:35 AM »
TRT is gear.

Humble Narcissist

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Re: How old is too old to go hard .
« Reply #10 on: February 13, 2019, 11:11:05 AM »
I have always felt and believe that outside of genetics/drugs the most important factor in training is a work ethic. That applies to life too.
Frequency is probably more important than training hard.  Doing daily or every other day workouts at the 12-20 rep range will build just as much muscle size than "killing it" with high intensity training and frying the CNS.

Eat2Grow

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Re: How old is too old to go hard .
« Reply #11 on: February 18, 2019, 06:43:12 PM »
TRT is gear.
Technically, yes.  But if I told someone I was on gear, at 150mg/wk I would get laughed at.  Damned if you do, damned if you don't  call it steroids.
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kevcat

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Re: How old is too old to go hard .
« Reply #12 on: March 12, 2019, 04:20:30 AM »
Frequency is probably more important than training hard.  Doing daily or every other day workouts at the 12-20 rep range will build just as much muscle size than "killing it" with high intensity training and frying the CNS.

Not for everyone.
I used to train heavy every single session, as a kid watching the Ronnie Coleman DVDs, that's what I thought I had to do.
Ended up wi so much aches and pains in my early 20s through that style of training, so I had a break with an injury, and came back training smarter, dropped the weight, and was contracting the muscle and slowing everything down.
I never was able to ( naturally ) get the same size back, even though I was still training to failure etc, and I never dropped any exercises from the routine. I just slowed everything down and stopped throwing heavy weights around for the sake of it.
I still look better than most guys my age ( now in my 30s ), but I disagree that a 12-20 rep range will build the muscle the same as lower rep ranges.
For me anyway.

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Re: How old is too old to go hard .
« Reply #13 on: March 12, 2019, 01:32:19 PM »
There really is no right or wrong answer. As you get older you’ll naturally decrease in your strength and size. Unless you have an injury it’s important to train fairly heavy (not on every movement) and to keep power incorporated into your training to keep lean muscle and strength. One of the first things that will deteriorate will be lean muscle tissue then your metabolic system.

oldtimer1

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Re: How old is too old to go hard .
« Reply #14 on: March 28, 2019, 10:52:42 AM »
Frequency is probably more important than training hard.  Doing daily or every other day workouts at the 12-20 rep range will build just as much muscle size than "killing it" with high intensity training and frying the CNS.

You have a valid point.

Charlys69

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Re: How old is too old to go hard .
« Reply #15 on: June 15, 2019, 09:05:00 AM »
Changed some exercises with getting older. The exercises which i still can do in a rep-range below 10 i do, others i Train with more reps, and others i had to quit to Keep my Body away from serious injuries.

i Train mostly in the rep-range of 12-25....and it still works. on scottcurls i do sets with 110lbs for up to 25 reps. When i was younger i did my sets with + 165 lbs. on preacher Curls, and Standing-barbell curls 6-8 reps with 220lbs. but those weights will kill my Joints and tendoms after some time.

p.s. get 56 not that far away…