Key Advice For Older Trainers

Arterial Dan

Arterial Dan

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Staff member
Thinking about the way the forum scene has changed, it also occurred to me that so much of the advice is for younger people.

We are part of a small community of people who have been doing this for decades rather than years.

  1. What are your goals now, in respect of training?
  2. And what are key pieces of advice you'd share for the older trainer?
 
1; def going for higher reps with lower weight. I never saw the point in 1-rep max movements even when i first started training, thats just a road to ruin. These days i rather stick to weights i can control better and therefore keep form. Form is key, not weight. (i should have remembered form two weeks ago before popping my back out...twat lol)

2; for me, treat injuries sooner. Looking into the past when ive been injured ive tried to train through or around problems, tendonitis, rotator cuff tears, pulled back, strained forearms etc. I suffered in pain for months before going or asking for treatment. Now i think why, why did i suffer so long for?? So soon as i get an injury im on the home to someone to treat it asap.
 
Wisdom over injuries has to be the key factor, as clubber alludes to. Incorporating basically mobility work in to your programme is also a sensible decision IMO, young or old but certainly pays off as you age.

Training wise... obviously this is goal dependant to a degree. But don't wing it (my biggest persistent mistake)... have a plan, follow the plan, stick to the plan. And plan progression (strength or hypertrophy). Train in blocks/cycles. If hypertrophy is your goal then for all intents and purpose ditch the ego max weight lifting for 95% of your training time and work within 5-20 (maybe even 30) rep range. If training strength still keep 1RM lifting out of the way except for competition or once or twice a year tests for setting your %ages.
 
1) Goals for training well I am just coming back after yet another lay off so its to get back into shape and add a bit muscle plus drop a bit fat pretty much what I have always aimed at. My physical fitness is becoming more and more paramount these days I do a lot of heavy manual graft so really need to keep in shape

2) Form over weight everytime,I have achieved much better results by concentrating more on how to move the weights than just going nuts and trying to pile a load on.TREBOR once told me "train your body and not your ego" don't know if that was actually his or he found it on google and nicked it ,he's a Northeast lad so probably stole it......but its very true......Also No pain No gain is bollox

What about you Dan? And don't go all Skinny Joe and go missing from your own thread
 
1) Learn to use your scapular
2) learn to use your hips.

So m ah people who train don’t even know the most basic of movements and how to perform them. All these quad tears, shoulder injuries and bicep tears are avoidable but people plain don’t know how to move right.

90% of the people in any gym at one time are performing the movements wrong and it’s so easy to learn.


My goals are phaggotrey, I do CrossFit, jiu jitsu and a bit of general purpose lifting in a pure gym now.

Don’t take it too seriously anymore.
 
Crossfit !!! What's going on last time I spoke to you you were taking drugs,shagging women and killing the weights.
 
RAD said:
Crossfit !!! What's going on last time I spoke to you you were taking drugs,shagging women and killing the weights.
Click to expand...

That lot nearly killed me mate haha!

Still hitting the weights just doing a lot of mileage running and doing some CrossFit as well. Life’s a lot more balanced these days as it has to be after 30 doesn’t it!

Seems mad mate but I actually really enjoy it, it was a living nightmare for the first 8 months as it exposed every mobility, strength, movement and cardio weakness I had, was like starting over, had to learn everything over again and after ten years of training it was hard to rewire the movement patterns. Still have my moments.

Bout a year in now though and feel tremendous and progressing well, even managing to get the hang of the gymnastics which isn’t easy at 17 stone!,

Fittest I’ve ever been though, running 10/12km for fun and pushing that up, due a 15km tonight after work and I feel bulletproof in terms of injury. Aiming for a half marathon before the summers out!

Just want an easy life with my bird now tbh mate.... Think I’ve earned it!

Will catch up on your journo later this morning mate, see how life’s treating you! Hopefully pleasantly!
 
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Part of me is well happy that you've got your shit together tbh mate the other part is slightly sad that the drug crazed shag machine has gone forever, I will miss the posts of how you shagged a lass and now the bitch won't leave your house haha!!

Kudos on the cardio I can't run to save my life, sprint yes, distance fuck that and get the bus.I am a old man now so If I can still sneeze and not shat my pants or piss myself that's called a positive result.

3yrs off 50 and still waiting for maturity to kick in

Gymnastics!!!! please tell me its the rings or the pommel horse and your not running about in a leotard chucking a ribbon about.

Definitely pop into my journo it needs all the help it can get LMAO
 
Now it's a bit busier on here again I'd love to see what others have to say on this sort of thing.
 
NM1 said:
Now it's a bit busier on here again I'd love to see what others have to say on this sort of thing.
Click to expand...

I'm early thirties but got to agree with clubber ref rep ranges.

Pretty much everything I do now is 12-20 reps, less rest time too but with a moderate weight.

When I tore my pec a good few years back (very much ego lifting, not warm enough) changed my outlook a fair bit on it all
 
Few of us get to put in 20 years of training without getting some kind of injury that ultimately hampers being able to lift with high intensity, especially productively and frequently. It goes without saying that higher volume, lower intensity session are lower risk anyway so once being the strongest is no longer anywhere on your goal radar this is the logical way to go. It's not easy, it can require a lot more soul searching (in some opinions) to bang out a high volume leg session than doing a few singles or doubles at high intensity. Frequent higher volumes have their own problems with regards to managing recovery and weekly loads etc too.

The good news now is that there are studies a plenty reaffirming the notion that whether it be 6 reps or 30 reps, the hypertrophic response is largely unchanged so we know we can reduce the risk factors without compromising our aesthetic goals (neurologicaly you obviously won't be your strongest but if you have ruptures, tears, breaks and dislocations you aren't likely to be breaking new ground here anyway).

Rest intervals are a factor factor.... lower rest periods require greater set volume than longer rest periods for the same response. 1 min rest periods have repeatedly shown to provide a lower hypertrophic response than 3min .... unless extra volume is added (probably due to the drop in volume achieved due to lack of recovery in lower rests). 2 and 3 have negligible difference
 
Yeah definitely, I found the same also.

Blood and oxygen are life at the end of the day...just have to be mindful that all repetition in and of itself is degenerative.

Do you guys find some muscle groups respond better to higher/lower reps? Like for me, rear delts can take a shit ton of volume 20-30 reps and need it to grow.
 
I have high response muscles but not so much with varying rep ranges other than heavy work generally compromising the focus of a lift
 
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