Hail to the Dinosaurs!
I'm doing a radio interview today at 12:00
noon on SuperHuman Radio. The topic is strength
training for older lifters. So that's the topic
on my mind this morning.
There's an interview by Mike Burgener, a top
Olympic weightlifting coach in the USA, where he
comments on the type of workouts that work best
for older weightlifters.
It's pretty simple stuff.
1. Do lots of warmups and stretching and get as
loose as you can.
2. Do snatches.
a. Do singles.
b. Start light and work up.
c. Go as heavy as you can on that particular day,
and then stop.
d. Note that "as heavy as you can" does NOT mean you
go to your current top weight. It may mean you only
go up to 80 - 90 percent of your top weight. And that's
for ONE set of one rep.
3. Do clean and jerks.
a. Do singles.
b. Start light and work up.
c. Go as heavy as you can on that particular day,
and then stop. (See note above re how heavy to go.)
4. Do something for a light warm-down (or cooling off).
5. Go home.
6. Train 2x or 3x per week.
If you're a powerlifter or if you prefer powerlifting
work to Olympic lifting work, you might do something like
this:
Mon
1. Do lots of warmups and stretching and get as
loose as you can.
2. Do squats.
a. Do singles or do low reps.
b. Start light and work up.
c. Go as heavy as you can on that particular day,
and then stop. (See note above re how heavy to go.)
3. Do gut work.
4. Do something for a light warm-down (or cooling off).
5. Go home.
Tues
1. Same as Mon, but do bench presses.
Fri
1. Same as Mon, but do deadlifts or Trap Bar deadlifts.
If you prefer, feel free to do overhead presses or incline
presses instead of bench presses and front squats instead of
back squats. And feel free to add some lat work, and some
arm and grip work. But keep each workout short, sweet and
simple.
Now, that doesn't seem like very much, but for an older
lifter, it's exactly the kind of training that will bring
good results.
As an older lifter, you need to focus on QUALITY training.
Get in, get warmed up, get it done, and get out of there.
Do THAT, and you can keep on training and gaining for far
longer than you imagine.
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 information about effective training programs
for older lifters, see Gray Hair and Black Iron. It's a must
read for anyone over the age of 35:
http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html
