Hail to the Dinosaurs!
I have many older readers, so it should
come as no surprise that I often receive
emails from older lifters who are a bit
discouraged because they can't lift as
much as they used to be able to lift.
So let's talk about that.
First of all, getting older is a fact
of life. And as you get older, it becomes
harder to handle the kind of weights you
handled when you were younger. That's why
no one wins the Olympics at age 50 or 60.
However, that certainly doesn't mean you
should stop training!
If you're over the age of 40 -- and
certainly, if you're over the age of 50 --
look at your peers. Look at other men your
age. The ones who don't train.
What do they look like?
They're either skinny as toothpicks -- or
they're fatter than Jabba the Hutt times
three.
They're in lousy shape, and they have all
kinds of health problems. And things are
only going to get worse for them.
If you stick to your training, you're going
to be so far ahead of your peers that it's
not even funny. You may not be able to lift
the weights you lifted twenty, thirty or
forty years ago -- but that doesn't
matter. What matters is that you'll be
in great shape -- and far stronger than
the average man your age.
The point is, don't worry about the things
you cannot do any more -- or whether you can
lift as much as you could when you were
younger. Focus on what you can do NOW --
and take some pride in it -- and then work
on getting even stronger!
Quick true story. I know a man whose two
lift total in Olympic lifting (the snatch
and the clean and jerk) was pretty good
when he was younger.
He kept training, but over the years his
total gradually dropped. In his early 50's,
his total was down more than 100 pounds from
where it had been when he was in his 30's.
That's no fun, but hey, it happens as you
get older. Especially in Olympic lifting,
since it requires so much speed and
flexibility.
But he didn't stop training. He kept right on
hitting those snatches, cleans, presses, jerks,
and squats. Never stopped. Never even thought
of stopping.
One day, a street punk snatched a woman's
purse and ran away with it.
The weightlifter (then in his 50's) saw
it happen -- ran after the punk -- caught up
to him -- and tackled him!
So maybe he wasn't lifting what he used to lift.
That didn't matter. What matter was that he was
still strong enough and fast enough to do what
needed to be done.
And THAT'S why you keep on training.
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. My two best books for older trainees are
GRAY HAIR AND BLACK IRON and DINOSAUR
BODYWEIGHT TRAINING. You can find them right
here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_bodyweight.html
P.S. 2. My other books and courses are right here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "One of the most
important rules in life is this: always finish
what you start." -- Brooks Kubik
