Gains at an older age (Page 2)

03-22-2025, 11:50 AM

davetherave

Originally Posted by AndyJ

The trainer concensus seems to be that strength declines slowly with age, but recovery capability declines much faster. Dropping back to twice or once a week is normal. Even longer recoveries aren’t unknown; Mark Rippetoe mentioned he only squats once every two weeks now. He’s in his late 60s.
A lot of trainers get their freak on about their definitions of the difference between "training" and "exercise", exercise being "a useless waste of time." For a competitive lifter, probably true. But when you’re an ordinary guy past your mid-40s, plain old exercise becomes *much* more valuable for general health than it would be for a younger man.

For my part, I’ve been lifting weights for 30 years and while it’s true about recovery not being the same, I think if you keep in good shape then it won’t change much. But I’ve made some adaptations for sure so while it’s squatting 3x a week, even a hard session like 5x5@85% isn’t quite a true max effort cos it’s based off a non-grindy 1RM.

I personally find that if I focus on pushing as fast as I can with a sub-max weight it has a better effect than going heavier but grinding it out. Both for recovery but also strength.

03-22-2025, 12:15 PM

Buckfever

I agree with this. I think as an older lifter you can go lighter and push it safely. But you can also go heavy but just a little less heavy so that you are not grinding, have good control of the weight and do full range and still get very good responses. As long as we pay attention to recovey.

One of the biggest advantages of being older in terms of making progress both in terms of fitness and PE is that it’s often not new ground. Losing penis length for instance is normal as you get older, but regaining lost length is not the same animal as going beyond natural limits. Same with getting fit, you fall off as you get older but if you have a history of being fit there is muscle memory and you can get some back that was just dormant and just needs to be restimulated.

That’s the one thing that I don’t get when we know that for instance a modest use of the pump improves EQ and yet there is no widely held position that as we age we could help ourselves in this regard. I guess not enough of a profit motive.

Plus the stupid toxic masculinity narrative. God forbid men are encouraged to bring their best masculine self..

Big cock, tight abs, fit body, strong mind.