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Best strength training routine? Thoughts?
- Thread starter GromsDad
- Start date
Hi Guys
We moved out to Minnesota in May 2020 and I got kinda fat and lazy so I started lifting weights at 48 and being the nerd I am I did a lot of research into what was best. I bought and read Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe (the Greg Griffin of strength training) and a companion book The Barbell Prescription. Both great reads and very helpful in training. When I was surfing I usually weighed in around 165ish depending on how much beer I was drinking. I’m up to 180 now and carrying about the same body fat % - around 20%. Got my lifts up to bench 210, deadlift 285, ohp 120.
Based on everything I’ve read, VM really knows what he’s talking about
As an older guy, I think you have to pick what to focus on. If you’re lifting heavy and getting strong, you need recovery time, so if you surf a bunch, your recovery will suffer. Both the books I mentioned get into this quite a bit. They also say that practicing your sport is the best way to get better at your sport. Adding weight to similar movements doesn’t really help and can actually hurt.
I do low bar squats occasionally and one thing for sure is that nothing in my workouts gets my heart pounding like they do. The leg press machine doesn't get my heart rate up anything close to doing squats. I guess its the balance factor or the fear of getting hurt doing them
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It’s the overall stress they put on your frame and nervous systemI do low bar squats occasionally and one thing for sure is that nothing in my workouts gets my heart pounding like they do. The leg press machine doesn't get my heart rate up anything close to doing squats. I guess its the balance factor or the fear of getting hurt doing them
Try deadliftsI do low bar squats occasionally and one thing for sure is that nothing in my workouts gets my heart pounding like they do. The leg press machine doesn't get my heart rate up anything close to doing squats. I guess its the balance factor or the fear of getting hurt doing them
I feel like they engage even more of the body and get everything pounding even more
I'm really careful about that stuff due to back issues. Deadlifts is one I completely avoid.
I'll take your word for it. I've only ever tweaked my lower back once and it was enough for me to know its not something to mess with. Also for the past 20 years I've dealt with upper back / neck issues triggered by lifting things and prolonged paddling that can screw me up for 2 - 6 weeks. Something pinches and I'll get intense knots and pain radiating from my shoulder blade (rhomboid) all the way to the base of my skull. I do my best to avoid triggering that.
I would just be cautious with the load. Absent a current trauma, if doing something is causing pain it usually comes down to you doing either too much volume or the stress of it being too great for your current physical condition. You can overcome this quickly by training below the external resistance or volume (both) that cause pain or discomfort and intelligently add either (both) as you physically adapt to incremental increases in stress.
I wear a belt when I conventional deadlift heavy but only on the heavy sets where the focus is on doing a heavy set. Maybe last couple of warmups and the working set(s). Back off sets I rarely wear a belt unless I feel that something is askew and I want to work on something. If I do pause deadlifts I don't wear a belt even at RPE9..
I don't believe there is a strong correlation between belts and protection against injury but I do believe you can lift more due to the remarkable difference in tightness and bracing.
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I started getting a really sore neck from doing the hair flip every time I duck dove a wave. Now I look forward to winter when I can wear a hood and no one notices. This summer I tried wearing a bucket hat but the rim would flip down going through waves and it was as much a hassle as flipping my hair with my hand. I do some neck stretches and try to be conscious when I surf- paddle head down when possible. Study the wave as it approaches so I don't have to crane my neck looking back over my shoulder.
Do the deadlifts! And squats. I don't squat heavy because I don't have a rack or room for one. But when I try to up the volume I pay a price. It seems so easy, like I could do a lot more. A lot more. So I keep doing them. Then get I get DOMS for two days that negatively affects my surfing, which, for me, defeats the purpose.
I think if you slowly and steadily ramped up on the basic starting strength routine for 8 weeks a bunch of the nagging old guy stuff you’re talking about would work itself out. Surfing creates a lot of imbalances and weird stuff in your body that doing regular compound exercises can fix. Squat, bench, deadlift, overhead press. All you need.
Most of the imbalances I have are due to sitting at a desk and driving a car most of the day 5 days a week.
If you look at which professions have the highest rate of back surgery, I believe drivers/truck drivers is number one and office workers are in the top five.
So inactivity of the body part on the job is a better predictor of developing pain. You'd think brick-layers would have more back pain because they use their backs so much, but they tend to have knee pain instead from being on their knees. This is very consistent with pain science.
Vonmeister thinks mobility exercises are bunk but there are reasons why they work for people with pain and without enough mobility.