all posts post new thread

Kettlebell Tips for getting older - feeling stuck in injury loop?

Status
Closed Thread. (Continue Discussion of This Topic by Starting a New Thread.)
strongDad

strongDad

Level 6 Valued Member
Hi Everyone,

Do you have any tips for "restarting" fitness in your 40s?

My situation in brief. I was super fit in 20-30s. My favorite thing was climbing. Pre-pandemic, like just before, I did the simple standard. After the pandemic I stopped going to the gym. With a remote desk job, I'm out of shape and my body feels tight.

A few times I've tried to restart S&S and keep getting injured
- Once, I threw out my back chopping firewood camping (QL was overused).
- Recently, I was like, ok I'm going to eat my pride and use 16kgs just to start moving again. I thought just to scale down I'm doing only ONE SET of swings and one set of presses (since that's easier than TGU). And... and the end of a tiring stressful week, on my 10th press BOOM both elbows got tweaked and now I'm nursing tennis/golf elbow in both arms. It's like 6 weeks later and they still feel off.

At the moment. I'm frustrated and kind of feel afraid to workout with weights.

How to get of the loop and restart? Have any of you been through a similar thing?

Thanks
SD
 
Could you try some bodyweight exercises that avoid gripping things like kettlebell handles or barbells ? ie , squats, hollow holds, long walks, stationary bicycle rides (don't grip the handlebars too hard), planks, leg raises, without hurting your elbow any further ? (maybe pushups do they hurt your elbows ? maybe crawling, again effect on your elbows ?) I think elbow issues are often associated with gripping things too hard but your physio will know more than me.

See if you can start a bodyweight squat program and go all the way up to 1 leg squat whilst your elbows heal ?

See a physio about your elbows as there are various rehab exercises that you can do. Various people on this forum have hurt their elbows and there are some threads you could find with the search function.
 
54 year old here. Work on your mobility.

At least 6 daya a week, I do the 5 daily resets from
"Original Strength: Regaining the Body You Were Meant to Have."
Book by Geoff Neupert and Tim Anderson.

I start to feel stiff when I skip the resets for a week.
 
strongDad said:
A few times I've tried to restart S&S and keep getting injured
Click to expand...
If this is your preferred path, I'd recommend the beginning sections of the S&S book (and get the revised & updated version, if you don't yet have it). Really go back to the learning stages -- the kettlebell deadlift, the get-ups with a shoe, the "15 minutes of practice" rather than 10 sets --- and listen to your body as you go. Also be sure to give the warm-up and stretches just as much attention as the 15 minutes of swing practice and 15 minutes of get-up practice. I think after about 3 weeks of this you'll be feeling good and ready to progress. Remember the idea of the training session isn't to do "X amount of work" -- the goal is to give your body the right dose of stimulation to adapt to the next stage of progress. When you frame it like this, it feels like riding a wave towards where you want to go.
 
It's tough being older out of shape when you used to be young, fit, and athletic. It's pretty common, I think, to be too aggressive with (failed) come-backs.

What do you have access to as far as equipment at home and gym-wise? How much time can/will you give to the process ? What do you enjoy? What exercises/training modes are you good at? What makes you feel good?
 
BLUF: progress slower and deload more.

I feel the longer I train, the more I can handle, which translates into not feeling the need for a break until I break. Deloads are a thing for a reason and finding a trusted periodization that incorporates them is important.

Early in training a person can probably go 8+ weeks before deloading. Later, 4-6 weeks, and eventually, 2-3 weeks. Tudor Bompa recommends for aging or during competitive season, keeping progression flat for two weeks, deloading for a week, and then step up a little higher.
 
Last edited:
watchnerd said:
I blame it all on the Rocky IV training comeback montage. ;)

Rocko whips his over-the-hill, older athlete flabby self into shape by doing all this stuff:

Click to expand...

Rocky IV was peak music montage - there's the lamborgini No Easy Way out flashback scene, and NOT ONE, BUT TWO training montages (essentially back to back in the movie). Sly really pulled out all the stops on that one.
 
strongDad said:
Hi Everyone,

Do you have any tips for "restarting" fitness in your 40s?

My situation in brief. I was super fit in 20-30s. My favorite thing was climbing. Pre-pandemic, like just before, I did the simple standard. After the pandemic I stopped going to the gym. With a remote desk job, I'm out of shape and my body feels tight.

A few times I've tried to restart S&S and keep getting injured
- Once, I threw out my back chopping firewood camping (QL was overused).
- Recently, I was like, ok I'm going to eat my pride and use 16kgs just to start moving again. I thought just to scale down I'm doing only ONE SET of swings and one set of presses (since that's easier than TGU). And... and the end of a tiring stressful week, on my 10th press BOOM both elbows got tweaked and now I'm nursing tennis/golf elbow in both arms. It's like 6 weeks later and they still feel off.

At the moment. I'm frustrated and kind of feel afraid to workout with weights.

How to get of the loop and restart? Have any of you been through a similar thing?

Thanks
SD
Click to expand...
Lots of variety. A person can often find a workaround to an injury /aggravation.
 
Last edited:
I very much respect S&S but it admittedly follows the 80/20 rule and Ive found that I still need that last 20%.... To still sprint hard, I need knee flexion exercises lime GHR to protect my hams. My shoulders feel better with kb presses & band pull aparts. I prefer the look of my arms with dips & chins. Ultimately the judge of any act or program is: is it accomplishing my goals? If just jogging, or S&S or 531 is triggering your desired adaptation, then it works. But if not, change the stimulus.
 
strongDad said:
Hi Everyone,

Do you have any tips for "restarting" fitness in your 40s?

My situation in brief. I was super fit in 20-30s. My favorite thing was climbing. Pre-pandemic, like just before, I did the simple standard. After the pandemic I stopped going to the gym. With a remote desk job, I'm out of shape and my body feels tight.

A few times I've tried to restart S&S and keep getting injured
- Once, I threw out my back chopping firewood camping (QL was overused).
- Recently, I was like, ok I'm going to eat my pride and use 16kgs just to start moving again. I thought just to scale down I'm doing only ONE SET of swings and one set of presses (since that's easier than TGU). And... and the end of a tiring stressful week, on my 10th press BOOM both elbows got tweaked and now I'm nursing tennis/golf elbow in both arms. It's like 6 weeks later and they still feel off.

At the moment. I'm frustrated and kind of feel afraid to workout with weights.

How to get of the loop and restart? Have any of you been through a similar thing?

Thanks
SD
Click to expand...
42yr old average Joe here. Started weights after 36yrs old after I snapped my kneecap. Just over a year into kettlebells.

Got sick of tweaking my back and saw a good physiotherapist ( sports ). Mobility mobility mobility was the answer.

Since then all my warm up is mobility stuff for hips/shoulders etc. I never miss it and while it’s 20 mins ( i could do it in 10 but I don’t rush ) every workout it’s super important for me, and worth doing. I move much better with less injuries since focussing on that.

And I do 3 main sessions a week no more. I may do a 4th for simple things like RDL’s and squats, but not heavy. Never end a workout covered in sweat and feeling destroyed. Currently doing KB Strong and loving it. Easy progress
 
strongDad said:
Hi Everyone,

Do you have any tips for "restarting" fitness in your 40s?

A few times I've tried to restart S&S and keep getting injured
- Once, I threw out my back chopping firewood camping (QL was overused).
- Recently, I was like, ok I'm going to eat my pride and use 16kgs just to start moving again. I thought just to scale down I'm doing only ONE SET of swings and one set of presses (since that's easier than TGU). And... and the end of a tiring stressful week, on my 10th press BOOM both elbows got tweaked and now I'm nursing tennis/golf elbow in both arms. It's like 6 weeks later and they still feel off.
Click to expand...
SD, my initial thought was that it isn't the training that is the issue. You should be able to start almost any beginner program and not have your body react like that. I'd be thinking about what you are doing or have been doing that is making your body so susceptible. That isn't just inactivity. You could have some ergonomics issues with your working set-up (or something else in life); the slow recovery of your elbows make me think you may have some diet issue. Hopefully you can get OS or yoga going while you seek whatever other causes may be in play.
 
The first few months of Geoff Neupert's KBWOD is a great way to ease into physical activity. The basic moves are covered, and it's a five-day-a-week program for fifteen minutes per day. You could always repeat the early months until you feel ready to progress in the program.

I'm on the third month of Goeff's KB365. I really like this one because there is a lot of mobility-type work involved. The workouts are programmed for three days a week, and this one also starts pretty basic. (I still like to do the mobility work on off days, just like Geoff strongly recommends)

Looking ahead in KB365, one can see this program will ramp up.
 
Steve A said:
SD, my initial thought was that it isn't the training that is the issue. You should be able to start almost any beginner program and not have your body react like that. I'd be thinking about what you are doing or have been doing that is making your body so susceptible. That isn't just inactivity. You could have some ergonomics issues with your working set-up (or something else in life); the slow recovery of your elbows make me think you may have some diet issue. Hopefully you can get OS or yoga going while you seek whatever other causes may be in play.
Click to expand...
This was my reaction to the OP as well. It could just be getting back into it too aggressively -- a fit person's mind in a deconditioned person's body. But the vibe I got from the OP was a little more than would be typical in that situation, like almost any attempt at training caused an injury.

I can relate to the OP's situation. I'm now 57, and the first year of the pandemic I stopped playing basketball, basically stopped training, and was pretty sedentary other than walking my dog.

I didn't gain a ton of weight, but went from fit and muscular to...well...not so fit and muscular.

At the beginning of last July, I started to get back into it, and it was discouraging how much strength and work capacity I had lost. I tried to take it slow, but definitely overreached at times and had various little annoying niggles. At this point in life I think I know my body well enough to tell the difference between an annoyance and a real injury, plus I have so many lingering basketball injuries that I'm used to various aches and pains as my normal baseline (none of which, BTW, are the kind of thing that gets better with rest). So I just worked through and around any discomfort I encountered until it resolved itself.

Now, after a little more than a year of regular training, I feel like I'm back at a point where I can really start training again. This week I did Q&D 044 snatch sessions with 32kg x 7/2 x 6 series, 32kg x 5/2 x 10 series, and 28kg x 12/2 x 4 series, and I'm doing C&Ps with double 28s. That's huge progress from where I was a year ago after a year of inactivity. Last summer, when I tried doing Q&D 044 power pushups, I was slowing down on the second set of the first series of 10/2.

I can imagine that if I was inactive for two years instead of one, it would be all that much more of an uphill climb and all that much more frustrating to not be where I once was. So my advice for the OP would be:
1. Consider whether something more is going on that just deconditioning rust and overreaching.
2. Take it easy and start slow, even if it means starting really slow.
3. Be patient and understand that getting back to being "Strong Dad" may take some time.
 
It is worth getting back into it but you will need to scale everything down. The idea to go to 16kg was a good one but it might not have been enough. You might need to scale back to 12kg or even more and build up slowly. Turkish get ups can be done without weight. Swings can be done with 2 handed with a light weight. Also, you probably need to work on mobility using bodyweight only moves. Coaching is one way of getting some help to set things at the right level at the start. A good coach can also spot areas you need to work on. Also, you should not be doing any exercises that cause outright pain (eg your elbows). A good coach can find work arounds or alternatives. Some Physios can be a great help also.
Physical activity is part of an overall package as you need to get enough sleep, healthy diet and so on.
 
Last edited:
Status
Closed Thread. (Continue Discussion of This Topic by Starting a New Thread.)
Back
Top Bottom