Hail to the Dinosaurs!
Questions are like bananas. They always
seem to come in bunches.
Over the past week, I've been getting a
ton of questions from older readers.
They're all different, of course, but
they all address the same basic issue:
"Is it possible to make good gains
after age [fill in the blank -- 40, 50,
or 60 have been the most frequent
numbers so far]?"
The answer is -- ABSOLUTELY!
BUT -- and this is important, so pay close
attention -- you need to do it the right way.
You need to do everything possible to help
your body recover from your workouts.
You need to do everything possible to reduce
soreness and inflammation.
You need to do everything possible to keep
your training fun and exciting and interesting.
You need to focus on the things you like to
do the most. For example, I enjoy doing Olympic
lifting, so that's what I do. If you enjoy doing
something else, that's fine -- do it! When you're
a grandfather (or old enough to be a grandfather)
you can darn well do what you want to do when you
train.)
You need to reduce your training volume and
train as efficiently as possible. Get more done
with less volume. Focus on quality training.
Every rep you do eats into your recovery ability,
so make every rep as productive as possible.
Above all else, you need to avoid injury. If an
exercise hurts, don't do it. Find a substitute.
Avoid the crazy "over the top" stuff.
Protect your joints. Do a thorough warm-up before
you even touch the bar for your first set. Always
be sure you're nice and loose and ready to go.
Start light and perform a series of progressively
heavier warm-up sets. That's good advice at any
age, but for older lifters, it's career saving.
Train with precision. Use perfect form. Control
the weight at all times. That doesn't mean use
light weights and train feely-weely style. You
can do heavy squats, heavy deadlifts, heavy Trap
Bar deadlifts, power cleans, power snatches, etc.,
but you need to do them in perfect form and with
total and complete control.
Never miss a rep or miss a lift. It takes too
much out of you. Train hard and heavy, and
challenge yourself, but always make the rep --
and always make it in perfect form.
Use sensible cycling systems. They're very
important for older lifters. See Gray Hair and
Black Iron for details.
Finally, train smart. You're old enough to know
how to do it -- and it's fun to do, especially
when you make the young guys wonder "How
does that old guy do it?"
As always, thanks for reading and have a great
day. if you train today, make it a good one!
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. Gray Hair and Black Iron covers productive
and effective strength training for older lifters,
and gives you more than 50 workouts designed for
over-40 Dinos. Grab a copy right here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html
P.S. 2. Many older trainees enjoy bodyweight
exercises (or a combination of barbell, dumbbell,
kettlebell and bodyweight work). For the very best
in old-school bodyweight training, go here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_bodyweight.html
P.S. 3. My other books and courses are available at
the Dinosaur Training Bookshelf:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 4. Thought for the Day: "That old wolf may be
gray and grizzled, but he'll still surprise you."
-- Brooks Kubik
