I did a little home-workout yesterday morning and am feeling the effects today. Over the last year tendonitis kept showing up and causing me to have to stop any weight lifting or strength training. I'm pretty sure it was my failure to recognize that I now must be really warmed up before lifting anything heavy. 33 is not old, but it is a bit different from 23. I am pretty sure that weighted chin-ups were the main culprit. Anyway, I did the following circuit 3 times yesterday in the living room, using some kettlebells and a "Perfect Pullup" doorframe-mounted bar that somebody gave to me:

Pushups with various hand positions
Single leg semi-stiff legged deadlifts with kettlebell
45-degree bodyweight back row, using pullup bar in low position
Standing kettlebell shoulder press
Single leg pistol squats, holding pullup bar to "cheat" a bit
Lying ab crunches with a kettlebell held overhead
Kettlebell hip swings

I rested about 30 seconds between movements and about 2-3 minutes between rounds, so it was maybe 30 minutes after warming up a bit. The "Pefect Pullup" device is actually pretty solid and useful. It felt like a pretty good workout for such a short timeframe and I was soaking wet by the midpoint. Amazing how "blah" you feel when you aren't getting any exercise, even if you are eating reasonably clean.

Right now I'm kind of glad to have that handicap rail next to the toilet in my office bathroom!

You're just a pup, JPro.

Round is a shape......



The sorest I have been was after PT. Someone was messing up and resulted in extra everything. It didn't help I spent an hour and half in the weight room before.

33 hell, wait until you double it and then you can have something to complain about.

33 ?

Phfffttt. You aint seen nothin yet brother.

I know it. Even so, I find it's a bit easier to get injured as each year passes. No complaints, just the way it is....

you have no idea just the way it is, until you reach our age

You guys are not painting the best picture of things to come!

WHat Bea said.

It's not a problem once you figure out that it hurts to get old....

One of the best-built guys I know is a 43yr old coach who does all the P90x and Insanity infomercial stuff. I can tell it takes some work, as he is often seen around town with icebags taped over his joints. 43 ain't old either, but I suppose it might be getting a bit old for some things. I want to keep my pants size the same keep my joints working as well as I can. There was a day when shoulders, knees, and lower back were of no concern at all.

As someone once said,"Getting Old isn't for sissies"

It also takes a schit ton of time.


Travis

Wait until 40. After that, it takes a whole lot longer to get in shape. You'll do well to not get out of shape and have to play catch up.

I can officially say: Golden years my azz![b][/b]

try being motivated to stay in shape when your knee caps are laying on their sides acting like a sanding block on the end of your femur.....im 30.....not sure im even interested in seeing 40....last doc to look at x-rays of my knees said he would guess going by the x-rays and nothing else that i was 65

You look a lot older than 33 in your avatar.

That sucks. I baby my knees more than anything else and have to wear corrective insoles every day, which do really help. No surgery, but they sound like Rice Krispies every time they flex. My wife cringes when I stand up from a crouch, as she can hear it. Sounds like it could certainly be worse, as they do still work....

I get that a lot.

im missing the notch in the end of my femur for the knee cap to ride in.....one of the specialists ive seen says that while there is a wide variation between people im about as close to flat as he has seen and my knees are bout like a bowling ball on a table going where ever in the hell they want....no cool story, no injury, bad roll of the genetic dice and i came up snake eyes......2 out of 3 siblings have similar problems...

Do those look like this?

Needs to add a little pelvic thrust in there and he'd have it.

A friend of mine who is younger that me retired. he walked all the time to stay in shape, and is a health nut. I recently saw him and hardly reconized him . He walks with a walker all bent over and can hardly get one foot ahead of the other. can barley talk.from strokes ETC. I think too much exercise is worse than no exercise, it simply wears you out.My excerise consists of mowing the lawn, riding my Horse and damm little else. sure I have cancer and it may get me some day but I am in better shape than some others my age that exercised all the time..

I'm almost 40.....still going strong and don't plan on slowing down. I agree with the poster that said don't get out of shape. Setting aside time to train is the toughest thing.....make it an integral part of your life (not the focus, but an important part).

If you did all that coming from a sedentary lifestyle you got your just desserts. Ifn' you're gonna be stupid, you've gotta be tough. Keep it up and you'll have tendonitis/arthritis for sure. You've gotta ease into this stuff. A workout today that precludes being able to work out tommorrow is counterproductive. Crossfit, scaled to the "Pack" level, works for me and I'm 52.

I've not been totally sedentary, just out of the weight room for a couple of months. I look like I am in good shape, but am really not by my own standards. This is week 2 of "getting back into it", and some new moves obviously uncovered some stuff that hadn't been broken in all the way just yet. My weights are kept fairly light at this point and everything is 10reps+ to avoid injury. That being said, I always hate this part of getting back into it, as each workout is a new kind of sore....

Sounds like you aren't doing to bad, J. OTOH, I think TAK makes some good points. Tendon injuries suck!

Oh, you have no freaking idea! Just wait.....

He'll be crippled up real good by the time he's 50.

HAH! Running can really tear you up over the long haul. As I have gotten older, it has been necessary to pace things a lot slower. Longer time between sets, and LOADS more recovery time. Had a real drop off at 52, but at 57, I am still beating the young guys a lot in bench press. Actually had my highest contest bench ever last Sept. 525 @174 bodyweight, 56 years old. Some sports demand a change in approach, but you can still be competetive for a long time. ( injuries, though rare for me, take a LOOOONG time to heal)

That's it?




Twice and some change for what I do during my sets.

I am 52 years old, and I recommend swimming a couple of times a week.

Yesterday I moved crab pots for the first time in decades and I feel fine today - but I have been swimming and doing some light weight lifting, nothing over 100 pounds for a couple of months now, and it really does not take much time.

I'm 72. Got out of the shower this morning and caught a glance of myself in the full lenght mirror. "Hey, what happened to the other guy?"

I'm close to your age (35) and I've been working with a strenght and condition trainer for a while now. Since late Dec. early Jan. I'm out of shape physcially and had back issues. It was ALWAYS sore.

I've always lifted weights and thought I knew a fair amount about it. I now know I don't. We had an interview that lasted around a half hour. I told him my line of work and what I like to do when I'm not at work.

He built a program just for me and it's working. We started off slow and didn't lift much weight for the first two months. I now understand why. It was building joint strength.

I'm stronger than I've been in years. I dont have joint or back pain and I'm noticing a change in my body shape and I'm waaaay too lax on the cardio. It's all from lifting. My pants fit better, or actually now, they're too big.

Most of the work is on cable weights and the TRX program, which I love. It's a lot of balance and "body weight" type of excersizes. Everything we work on, leads into the next series of excersizes. We meet twice a month and I work out on the program for two weeks before we switch it up.

i'm fixing to turn 49 and except for arthritis in my right ankle i'm in better shape than when i was younger.

I follow. I do believe I'm pretty much done with the 4-5rep heavy stuff, as it seems I just wind up hurting something. I have nobody to impress anymore with how much weight I am lifting, as I'm not competing or playing sports. I will leave that stuff to benchman, as it sounds like he does enough for two people anyway. (grin)

Crunches are really hard on your back. You ought to do planks instead for your abdominal muscles.

What I hate are the unexplained pains. The, "why does this hurt" owies.

Working out is mainly staying motivated .
I got carried away for a few weeks and did nine workouts in one week ,Weightlift and cardio in the morning before work -then run and do pull-ups/dips at a park behind my house every other evening.
That proved to be a little much for 52yrs of age.
Glad to hear of people working out -wish it would become a trend again around here and the women would give it a try.

JPro, I dare say that if you suddenly felt at your age the same way I feel waking up each morning at 61 that you would call the EMT to take you to the ED. Decades take their toll. Enjoy all of them.

+1

Seem to be more of those each year.

Yeah, it's embarrassing... I used to do 700 when I was only 50.....I was fatter though.

Weak stuff.........

I couldn't do that at any point in my life.

My friend does what I do, but with ease. I hate working out with him, makes me feel weak. Versus lifting with a skinny kid, a Superman feeling overcomes me.

Well, I am 43 and working out is a pain. I was 270lbs in Feb. I now weigh 218 and work out 4-5 days a week. My goal is 205.

I don't ever want to get back up to that weight!

Yeah, and when you're older and things break they stay broken. Pull a muscle, tendon, or whatnot, and it just keeps on hurting. I'm a veteran of PT and it hasn't helped that much. You just learn to live with it. 39 isn't my age, it's my vintage.

Paul

I did a 3D shoot Sunday and the course took 4 hours. Walking up hill, down hill, up hill, down hill. Half way through the course, I wanted to go back to the truck. I'm 42 and walk behind a lawn mower all Summer long. I could be a good 50 pounds lighter and I'd do a lot better. It's hard though.

How much without that gay-assed bench shirt? Also, what is your current 5K time? How much can you overhead press with ZERO hip drive?

Near 66 and brought in 3 cords of wood split between Sunday and today. A few aches, but still good to go.

Trainer guy has me do 3 sets, heavy or light.

Great job sactoller! I peaked at 270 lbs but that was over a decade ago. I dropped most of that excess but I still am not at what I'd call my ideal.

Your joints and back will thank you. Keep it up.

I know the feeling. Try officially joining a fire dept at 47. I"ve always been called in to help big stuff, but never the small stuff and finally decided I now had time to dedicate.

Seems like just when I get going good on weights or insanity, I go to a fire and have to (have to?) pull or lift or push or carry something, and then its not just a few friggin days to recover. Right now I have a neck issue thats really getting to me, and finally went to the doc. She laughed, says yeah there is a knot there, but lets put on on some meds for a couple of weeks first unless it gets worse. Probably just slower healing than you expect.

Well at least I"m not into weights for big numbers, but sufficient numbers to get better but stay healthy/cardio related.

Good luck!
Jeff

[bleep]. I don't wanna get old.

Will trade your 33 for 63 in a pair of seconds! I have crap that has fallen off and don't even have time to pick it up. Anybody else? But, I will take the health I have after reading about a lot of what the turd like clan is going through.

I've watched a couple of those early mourning workout shows on TV this week.

So far I haven't noticed a difference or any soreness. I think I might be able to safely move up to watching them four times a week.

Don't want to over do it right off the bat.

HAH.. Wait'll ya get to 63...

I'm pretty stiff from 12 hours yesterday in a tractor cab, towin' a chopper around. Gotta suck it up - have another 12-hour day comin' in about an hour..

Damn - a gear hater. Tell you what, I'll lend you the shirt, load up about 600 or so, and you can mess yourself up real good. Hip problems prevent running, and I always pretty much reeked at distances. Good sprinter though.....Don't overhead press, as my workouts are geared primarily toward benching in a shirt, which is what I compete in, after all. I do about 355 without the shirt, but don't train raw, so the numbers are a bit misleading. Locked out 455 raw off a 2 board last night. By the way - what are YOUR competition numbers? Not some gym punk trampoline bench - a real competition lift. Lotsa good buddies lift in gear, and it is a different lift than raw, to be sure . Pretty sure they don't consider it gay. I suppose you play football without a helmet too. Seems so, anyways....

My warm ups are as long as my workouts...lol

All good questions, but even without the bench shirt the dude is obviously strong. I worked out with Bill Kazmaier when I was in college and he owned a gym in Auburn. When I say I worked out with him, that means after he warmed up, I was long maxed and loaded plates for him. Great guy. Can't begin to describe how powerful "The World's Strongest Man" really is.

No bench shirt, no arch, and was repping 585. For a visual, that is six 45 pound weights on each side plus the bar for 4 and 5 reps.

Got good advice on many levels from Kaz, including "there is no need for you to ever do single max reps if you are not a competitive powerlifter. I do this for a living, while everyone else in the gym does it for ego. Save your joints."

What does the shirt do?

How much without that gay-assed bench shirt? Also, what is your current 5K time? How much can you overhead press with ZERO hip drive? [/quote]Damn - a gear hater. Tell you what, I'll lend you the shirt, load up about 600 or so, and you can mess yourself up real good. I suppose you play football without a helmet too. Seems so, anyways.... [/quote]

Oh, I'm pretty sure it would kill me, literally, just like the guy (about one a month) who gets killed benching, most of whom are wearing that stupid shirt. So, benching WITH the shirt is analagous to riding sans helmet.

I'm a tad out of shape currently and my Crossfit Total is only about 725 ( 325 deadlift, 275 back squat, 135 shoulder press) BW 168/5'8". 5K time is a little under 25min. Hardly impressive numbers by Crossfit standards but that puts me in the top few % of 52yo's. Lay off the bench dude ( you likely have the posture of an ape), and loose the shirt, it's a parlor trick.

Exactly.


That guy is great. Loved watching him compete on World's Strongest Man. He was a BEAST. Excellent advice too. Really cool that you got to workout with him.

Throw some road bike or some kind of biking and save the knees. I've dumped an embarrasingly large amount of # in 1 year (more than 3/4 of that since I got a half way decent road bike).

I have bad knees, back (lower, mid and neck) and walking any kind of distance is pretty painful, bicycling, magically doesn't hurt the knees anywhere near as bad. The back still hurts but losing very nearly 2 big azzed bags of dogfood weight wise really helps cardio wise. I still want to dump another 20# but dang, I wish I would have listened to my big bro's advise from several years ago and got to it sooner. Not to say biking does it all, but it got me to a place to start the rest of the stuff needed to get to the best I can hope for.

Be safe and if you don't do it already, give cycling a spin...
Patty

87 minute workout (Cardio only) this morn.on an inclined treadmill. The first 60 minutes I did 3.1 miles and climbed a total of 1847 feet in elevation. I do not run anymore just walk at a fast pace ( for me) . I'm 63 and had quad by-pass 4 years ago. Cardo exercise saves lives. Web

You done good�real good! 50 pounds in four months!

Wonder what I can do in the next five months until my birthday.
And I am way older than you.

Started adding distance and time to my walking and lost 5 pounds in the last three weeks.
So for fathers day I just ordered a set of lighter kettle bells. Need more reps. Also need to get my K35 back from my grandson.

For us older guys and gals I have found the �Kettlebell Boomer� DVD by Master RKC Andrea Du Cane a lot of help. This lady really understands the special problems that come with age and all that wear and tear.
www.dragondoor.com/Kettlebells

They are called "Golden Years" because it takes a LOT more gold to pay for your comfort, and to ease the aches and pains.

Kaz was great to be around. Genuine and without a massive ego as long as you were the same. He hated gym jerks and show offs. Had great stories about competing in th Scottish Highland Games and his try out with the Packers.

Week 1 as a nose tackle - he blew the center into the backfield 7 yards on every play.

Week 2 - they introduced trap blocking. Uh oh! He honestly told me that they kept him around longer than he deserved because of his strength while guys with real football skills needed the reps. How's that for no ego?

I looked around to find a list of Kaz's workouts, and this is prety much as I remember it:
http://muscleandbrawn.com/bill-kazmaier-training-routine/

So you do NOT lift competetively, are pretty weak, but can run ok. Great. I'm happy for you. I have been setting world records in bench press for the last ten years or so, with AND without the shirt. Although I do not compete in squat or deads, my raw numbers are 405 or so dead, 425 squat. This is with a bad hip. Don't have a suit. Shirted benches don't kill people that I am aware of. Please show me the statistics. I have been doing this steadily for the past 12 years, and am unaware of any deaths. I HAVE seen a few injuries. Not as bad as say, soccer....Why the HECK would YOU give advice to a multiple fed world champion? Sheesh, if I were just putzing around in a gym, and using gear to get bigger numbers, I could see it, but this is a legit sport, with legit gear, and I have been at the top of the age/weight class for years. Also ranked # 51 of all time 181. You are goofy....and don't know what you are talking about.

Based on his TV persona and watching him compete, I am not surprised to hear you say this. Glad to hear you confirm what I suspected without the benefit of firsthand knowledge. Watching him was inspirational. He had that electric quality, like Tony Dorsett doing his thing in college.

Now let me add, Kaz had undiluted self confidence, but who would question or challenge him in the gym? On topics he didn't know much about, he didn't pretend he did.

I'm sure he probably talked trash to his fellow competitors, in a "can you do this, Alice" sort of way. He was good to us mortals.

Generally speaking, the top guys are good guys. Heck - there is good natured stuff, and even some feuds, but they'll still save ya with a good spot! One of my best buds in the sport is a legend as well, rough around the edges, but a heart of gold. It's the wannabees that give you trouble. Oddly enough, the impression of powerlifting is that it is about intimidation, but I rarely see anything remotely approaching that at meets. Really a good sport, especially for the ancient athlete like myself.

Looking at your lift totals I'm guessing you could overhead press 200 or nearly so. That would give you a Crossfit total of over a 1000#, which is indeed in the elite category strength-wise. Now, if you would get serious about getting truly fit, you might be able to dodge that nursing home down the road. Remember nature always penalizes the "specialist" in the long run.

I have a workout for you. 10 bodyweight deadlifts followed by a 400 meter run, 3 rounds for total time. You post your time and I'll post mine.

Ok, ya got me - I can't run anymore because of the hip.1200 meters would leave me recovering in pain for a month! All in good fun, my friend. If you are ever in Southern Md, stop by the gym, and we'll have a good workout. I'll show you how to bench, you show me how to run....Gawd I hate to run....We DO have a prowler to push though. You are right - gotta balance it out, even if there is heavy lifting to do. Just have to cycle around meets. Can't be running much AND staying heavy. I have NO idea what I could overhead press. Not my thing - I save wear and tear on my shoulders for bench. Betcha it would be less than 200. I'm guessing more like 185. "Run", is of course, a word that means something different to you and I.....

Well, since you can't run, and strength ain't an issue for you, just figure out some other way to get a good cardio workout 3 days/wk. I might suggest a Concept II rower for one day, push the Prowler another, and maybe find one of these:

http://www.globalfitness.com/fitness-equipment.aspx?fID=321

You really should consider adding some Crossfit workouts to your regimine. Strength is what limits most (me included) but that wouldn't be an issue for you.

Also, whatever your hip issue is, don't just suck it up and live with it, someone might be able to help you. Go to a ortho MD and get his opinion, then try to find an experienced PT who will also work with a sports chiropractor, it may take all three to get you fixed.

Hip was dislocated 5 years ago - basically just a bunch of scar tissue and ligament damage. Can't train heavy in squat and deads. Cardio is out close to a meet, but we DO cycle it in. Heck - I still have to be able to drag out a deer without dying!!!!! I have often thought of putting together a "fit hunter" program so older guys can still get out and have fun.

Provided you are not beat to hell to start with, the under 50 crowd has not even scratched the surface on the motivation it takes to stay in overall good shape.

Accept that it's going to hurt, accept that it's going to never feel like when you were younger. Lift with common sense. Jog slower, get a Concept rower, Nordic track, stepper and use them even when you don't feel up to it. Kettle bells are great, but watch the back. All are money spent that will return a bigger investment than a new rifle.

Out the door for an hours slow jog on trails and walking some hills. A marathon runner changed the shoes I wear and how I run. I'm going to buy her a gift in appreciation for showing me a new path, that I didn't know was there.

Shakespeare: "We know what we are, but not what we may be."

Keep moving....

Piece of living room furniture.

That rower might be the single-best investment you'll ever make. Row 500m in under 2min, then do max reps of pushups holding on to gynnastics rings. Repeat three rounds for time.

A rower works just about every muscle you can't see in the mirror.

Just finished and easy hour trail run/walk the big hills workout. Best I've felt all day.

Usually do 5000M at a time on the rower. Hard workout time will be around 25min, give or take a partial min. Easy around 28.5min.

At 68 every day is not a hard as I can event. Today was good and I could have pushed it, but I had made up my mind today wasn't the day. So when I went out of my zone, I would make myself slow down.

Pushups are 4sets of 25 spread throughout the day, usually 5 days per week.