In Fitness and in Health
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For years I swore I’d never lift weights. I hated the gym, and mainly did cardio, then dropped it completely in favor of mountainbiking.
Then, when my youngest was about two years old (six years ago) I put her in her pram while she was sleeping. I had to bend down to do it, and I almost never got back up. My lower back was stuck.
So I went to a physiotherapist who convinced me that lifting free weights were the way to go if I wanted to increase core strength and mobility. And that included deadlifting.
And to my great surprise I found that I really liked it. I still prefer road biking (it replaced the mountainbiking a few years back) and playing Padel, so I mainly lift in the winter. My records stink though, I’ve acquired a nasty habit of injuring my ribs every time I get into a really good rhythm (not in the gym, twice on water slides, once on my commuter bike and once doing gardening). But there is a magic to deadlifting that is quite addictive.
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I can tag on to the shout out to @yannis and have been meaning to do so, regarding the low back strengthening. Yannis turned me on to the Low back ability program and I’ve been at it with consistency and focus the last 4-5 weeks. I’ve seen clear and notable progress with my low back pain issues.
Before I could make it to about 1pm in the work day before my lower back was killing me. I had two weeks of vacation during the holidays and I started my first day off. I’ve been back to work for two weeks and have not had any flare ups so far. Can’t thank you enough, Yannis. Feeling better and maintaining progress are the greatest motivators to staying committed to rehabbing and strengthening my back. Feeling the most optimistic I’ve been in 6 months.
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@yannis said in In Fitness and in Health:
Bodyweight deadlift at the tender age of 68 is a big deal and a milestone. You will hit 100kg before you know it. And you are very welcome. Great to see the progress you made in a short period of time.
Was confidently expecting to do 100KG today.
I did 1 set of 5 at 60, 1 set of 5 at 70 and 3x5 at 80kg, but chickened out of a heavier single lift.
I did a lot of leg presses and torque tank pushing over the weekend, so maybe I had not fully recovered.
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@Giles Pretty normal to have off days. Stress, sleep, fatigue from over exertion, nutrition, etc. are all huge factors. I had an off day last week where I tried to lift at 10 am and couldn’t get into it. Quit after 15 minutes and tried again a few hours later. Turned a shitty workout into a really good one by changing my mindset and waiting a few hours.
Today is my deadlift day and am dreading it…however a couple of cups of coffee and a solid breakfast may change that. …and hopefully not shoveling any more f’n snow
Edit: Most importantly, there is nothing wrong with taking a day off. Sometimes it helps more than anything else.
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Thank you. If I am in Gosport, I hate missing a day at the gym.....Anyway Brett beasted me on the leg press after the deadlifts, so I think I won't mind not going in tomorrow....
He also experimented with me doing pull downs before the lifting, that may have had a negative impact on my ability to lift straight after as well..
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Recovery from deadlift takes longer than any other exercise. Elite deadlifters pull only once every 10 days or even once every 12. Keep that in mind. You can squat or do upper body multiple times per week but not deadlifts with challenging weights. Training your legs will increase the deadlift in most people as the initial pull of the floor is the hardest part of the lift and the most important to insure that form is not braking dowm. You need strong legs to brake the floor with heavy weight. The back is a stabilizer in the beginning of the lift. As the bar hits mid shin and gets close to the knee then the hips move farward and do the rest.
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Perhaps an odd question but does anyone have experience with peptides? I’m almost 50 and have no interest in TRT but peptides seem like a potential option to support recovery and well being in a way that doesn’t permanently shut down any biological processes.
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@jdwaid I have no experience with peptides but form what I hear from friends of mine they are hit and miss. Even with TRT you will not feel a big difference in recovery as the dosage is very conservative. Now there are TRT clinics that subscribe 200mgrs of test per week but that is not a small dosage. That is a small cycle and yes you will feel that. The best advice I can.give you is solid nutrition, good sleep, creatine and an adequate amount of protein per day in the range of 1 gram per pound of lean body mass.
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@yannis all good advice and the exercise and diet protocol has been my regimen for many years now. In the US there have been a lot of changes to wellness industry and my algorithm is overloaded with all things TRT, peptides, wellness optimization, etc. I am all about doing what I can to stay feeling young but TRT has never been on my radar. The fact peptides return to baseline when you stop them got me curious. I appreciate what you’ve heard about them being hit or miss. It’s a costly investment and I wouldn’t want to “miss.”
