Hail to the Dinosaurs!
One quick note and then we'll talk training.
As you probably know, wrestling star Rowdy
Roddy Piper passed away recently. He died
of a heart attack at age 61.
The funeral is today, and his family has
requested a worldwide moment of silence
at 10:30 PDT.
We're going to honor the request here at
Dino Headquarters -- and I hope you are
able to do so as well.
On the training front, here's an email from
an older Dino with a very common training
question:
"Brooks,
My question concerns warm-up sets. As an
older lifter (57), I like to do a lot of warm-up
sets before my top weight for the day. I like
low reps, never doing more than 5, and often
doing triples, doubles or even singles.
If I'm doing squats, and my top weight for the
day is 200 pounds, I might start with the empty
bar, and then do 95, 135, 155, 175, 195 and then
200.
Now here's the question: When I add weight and
progress to a top set with 205 pounds, do I also
add 5 pounds to each warm-up set?
If I do that, eventually the first warm-up set will
be very heavy. On the other hand, if I stay with
the bar, and then go to 95 and so on, eventually
I will be doing many more warm-up sets.
What do you recommend?
Banny"
Thanks for your email and your question. It's a
very common one.
Older lifters need to start light, and they need to
perform a series of gradually heavier warm-up
sets before they tackle their heavier weights.
When you add weight to your working set, you
should keep your initial warm-up sets where they
are. That allows you to start light and work up
slowly and gradually.
The place where you make your adjustments is
at the top of the warm-up progression.
In the example you gave, I would try this: empty
bar, 95, 135, 155, 175, 185, 195, 205.
Or this: empty bar, 95, 135, 155, 175, 190, 200,
205.
By the time you work up to 250 pounds for your
top set, things might look like this: empty bar,
95, 135, 155, 175, 195, 215, 230, 240, 250.
If you end up needing to do a few more warm-up
sets, don't sweat it. Just do them. At our age,
they're very important.
Hope that helps, and hope you keep on training
for another 57 years!
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. For more about effective training for older
Dinos, grab Gray Hair and Black Iron:
http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html
P.S. 2. My other books and courses -- and
DVDs and shirts -- and links to my Dino
Training e-books on Kindle -- are right here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "Start light, slow
and easy, and finish strong." -- Brooks Kubik
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