Other/Mixed Aging Strong
- Thread starter coosbaylarson
- Start date
-
- Tags
- aging anti-aging
Other strength modalities (e.g., Clubs), mixed strength modalities (e.g., combined kettlebell and barbell), other goals (flexibility)
Halfakneecap
Level 6 Valued Member
Ah, so that’s actually a thing, not just me. Damn.
I have issues occasionally from my knee injury 10yrs ago. It gets annoyed and I kind of favour it for a few days. That few days of favouring one side makes my hips cranky, even though i stretch/do mobility every few days all year round.
Damn
LukeV
Level 7 Valued Member
One of the things about carrying chronic injury is that after a while you learn to forget everything you thought you knew about exercise and instead learn new things about exercising efficiently and pain-free for you, at that moment. There is no one-way to exercise, nothing is mandatory, other than ‘turning up’ with the intention to get a workout. What I would have once regarded as ridiculously high rep sets (20+) and lower body isometrics have been game-changers for me. Occasionally I try and do what I used to do but it never ends well. C’est la vie
Boris Bachmann
Level 8 Valued Member
watchnerd
Level 8 Valued Member
I will dissent from a good bit of what I've read in this thread. I don't do Original Strength, I don't use a Bosu ball, and I don't stretch after I exercise. On that last point, I'm a music teacher giving lessons from home and I'm often doing my last set of something when a student walks in the door and I holler upstairs, "C'mon in, be with you in a minute." I find the instability of unilateral exercises plenty for me - one-legged squats, one-armed swings and presses. I learned to be more flexible, if you want to call it that, from Pavel's "Relax Into Stretch." In my occupation as musician, if I can't relax my body, I'm in trouble, so perhaps that's a variable here that most people don't have, but in the same breath we must say that strong people are able to relax more quickly that the general population. For me, even if I don't train flexibility for months at a time, it still comes back quickly, and although I do it casually, I do enough to address the basics, e.g., when I go for a walk, I usually put my leg up on my porch railing and stretch for maybe a few seconds each side. I hang from a bar or rings several times a day but usually not more than 10-20 seconds at a time - again, seems to be enough for me.
Practicing StrongFirst's idea on good form and StrongFirst's idea on training will go a long way to preventing injury - they've been enough for me. I have suffered from overuse injuries along the way, but I'm still able to do most of what I could when I was younger and, truth be told, I can do a whole lot more at 68 than I could when I was younger. Max out your weights only a couple of times a year, keep your average training weights moderately heavy at around 75% 1RM. And of course, the non-training things - get outside, have a meditative/soft practice of some kind in your life, and if you have a desk job, get up and walk around regularly.
-S-
Practicing StrongFirst's idea on good form and StrongFirst's idea on training will go a long way to preventing injury - they've been enough for me. I have suffered from overuse injuries along the way, but I'm still able to do most of what I could when I was younger and, truth be told, I can do a whole lot more at 68 than I could when I was younger. Max out your weights only a couple of times a year, keep your average training weights moderately heavy at around 75% 1RM. And of course, the non-training things - get outside, have a meditative/soft practice of some kind in your life, and if you have a desk job, get up and walk around regularly.
-S-
LoneRider
Level 6 Valued Member
For me (approaching decade No. 4 in short order), I plan to spend 12-14 weeks per annum on a Quick and the Dead (044 - Snatches) and 3 Pillars of healthy aging with LISS work to taste, balanced off my BJJ and Muay Thai work.
Three Pillars for Healthy Aging | StrongFirst
In 1922, T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) wrote a memoir of his time in the desert entitled “The Seven Pillars of Wisdom.” In his reflection, he talked of his experience with the tempering of the soul. The word “tempering” is often associated with the process of making something stronger and...
www.strongfirst.com
Dydo
Level 5 Valued Member
You mean just a few times a year to check our one rep max? Or just a few times a year to increase the weight of the KB with which we train.
Yes. Think like a powerlifter who goes to the nationals and worlds and that's it, everything else is training, not competition, and you only test maxes at competition.
-S-
Jim Lauerman
Level 6 Valued Member
Turned 74 this month. Original Strength resets 5-6 days a week, a couple of days of swings and getups and lots of walking and light cycling. Ego no longer driving training. Doing fine.
I'll be 58 this September. Hard to believe cuz I don't feel older. I contribute my overall good health to consistent smart strength training predominantly kettlebells mixed with body weight skills. But also use bands, and barbells. My mobility has served me well through the years. I trained classical ballet and other dance modalities from age 3 well into my 40s. Dance is one of my first true loves and now have time to bring dance classes back into my schedule since my children are all grown. As I age, I feel it is extremely important to continue weight training. I love my cast iron kbs the most
. I will say when I first learned kettlebells back in 2007, I added walking to my physical training 3x a week. It made my body feel so much better. I think walking is underrated and highly recommend it to compliment your strength training.
. I will say when I first learned kettlebells back in 2007, I added walking to my physical training 3x a week. It made my body feel so much better. I think walking is underrated and highly recommend it to compliment your strength training.
The best advice I got from an older co-worker about aging and activity/exercise was, "Whatever it is you do, just DON'T STOP."
Currently at age 55, I think cardio is important, I think strength is important, I think movement quality and stability is important. So much of those come from just being active, and doing what you do -- whatever that is. And, sure, variety helps, progression helps, good technique helps, being mentally involved in the process helps. But the main thing is, just DON'T STOP. Consistency trumps just about everything.
Currently at age 55, I think cardio is important, I think strength is important, I think movement quality and stability is important. So much of those come from just being active, and doing what you do -- whatever that is. And, sure, variety helps, progression helps, good technique helps, being mentally involved in the process helps. But the main thing is, just DON'T STOP. Consistency trumps just about everything.
Boris Bachmann
Level 8 Valued Member
My mantra is often "Keep moving, Boris"
guardian7
Level 6 Valued Member
I have begun taking mobility more seriously in my 50s with some good results. Walking is important regardless of other physical activity. I also recommend rucking or walking with a load. Loaded carries are a StrongFirst staple. Search for the kettlebell mile. Rucking and loaded carries scale very well. Crawling is also good. It serves to knit the body together well and helps with all general physical skills.
I recommend the books "Built from Broken" and "Rebuilding Milo." For bodyweight, my approach has gravitated towards movements that help with both range of motion and strength/mobility/balance at the same time such as the knees over toes guy approach but including StrongFirst staples. For example, lunges, split squats, pulses (downward dog to cobra stretch rotate torso and return), Cossack squats, hindu pushups, goblet squat with hold and pry. etc. World's greatest stretch is aptly named. Stick work with a dowel: shoulder dislocations, extensions with palms facing forward, put dowel on shoulders and extend right back . Band pull apart and related band exercises.
The other issue that is covered well in the Built from Broken book is the importance of tendno strength, a variety of rep ranges, and isometrics. Aleks Salkin, StrongFirst Certified takes a varied approach along much of the lines I have outlined here. I favor mimimalist and more standard StrongFirst main programs but supplemented by a greater variety of supportive/supplementary exercises these days. It makes me feel better and move better than resistance training alone.
Last edited:
If you continue to compete as you age, and if you train intelligently, and don’t seriously injure yourself, you will watch your competition fall by the proverbial wayside.
-S-
-S-
bluejeff
Level 7 Valued Member
I am only just about to turn 40. I don’t feel old, but it’s just “old” enough that I have to watch my volume and recovery a bit more, as well as pay closer attention to how well I am moving…. On that note:
This is related to my above thoughts. The older I get the more I realize how important it is to be able to relax, both physically and mentally. Excess tension (throughout most of day to day life) is the enemy of “quality” movement, imo. We also get tense around injured areas. Even if the injury has healed already, the brain tends to find ways to keep you from re-injuring the same area again, and that limits our ability to move as well as we might like. For example, if you injure your foot, you don’t want to put weight on it, so you might accumulate hip tension and whatnot from walking differently. Now you can’t push into the floor (see above). Once the injury has healed, that unconscious habit might be ingrained a bit, even though the foot might be fine now. As we get older, we accumulate more little unconscious habits like that (at least I’ve witnessed it in myself), so it’s no surprise to me that many older folks get more and more stiff. So yeah, I’d say the ability to relax is important
I don’t know anything about bosu ball methods, but the idea of pushing into the floor has been a game changer for me. i had no idea for years that I was focused so much on tensing more proximal areas like hips and shoulders, when focusing on pushing through the hands/feet for relevant exercises makes the rest of the body do what it needs. We are often told “proximal stability equals distal mobility,” when in fact the ability to generate/maintain distal tension (for certain movements) frees up the proximal areas to move better. Think walking, push-ups, squats and lunges, running…. I even found this cue to help overhead pressing. I now think of pushing my hands up through the bar/bell and my feet down and through the floor. Feels much better to me than thinking about what my shoulders and core are doing.
This is related to my above thoughts. The older I get the more I realize how important it is to be able to relax, both physically and mentally. Excess tension (throughout most of day to day life) is the enemy of “quality” movement, imo. We also get tense around injured areas. Even if the injury has healed already, the brain tends to find ways to keep you from re-injuring the same area again, and that limits our ability to move as well as we might like. For example, if you injure your foot, you don’t want to put weight on it, so you might accumulate hip tension and whatnot from walking differently. Now you can’t push into the floor (see above). Once the injury has healed, that unconscious habit might be ingrained a bit, even though the foot might be fine now. As we get older, we accumulate more little unconscious habits like that (at least I’ve witnessed it in myself), so it’s no surprise to me that many older folks get more and more stiff. So yeah, I’d say the ability to relax is important
offwidth
Level 10 Valued Member
I was at my doc the other day for an annual physical. He basically said the same thing… “don’t stop whatever it is that you are doing”, and “not many 66yr olds come through my door that are like you” (Labs were top notch as well…)
Boris Bachmann
Level 8 Valued Member
I've known more than a few national champs and record holders in Masters swimming. Outliving the competition is a very real thing.
offwidth
Level 10 Valued Member
A brief addendum if I may…
They did an ECG as well. When I saw the graph a few days later it had a scary notation about being ’abnormal’. That got my attention. I messaged my doc right away as you might imagine. Paraphrasing slightly he said something like… “normally yes, but for someone your age, with such a low RHR, it is ‘normal’”
(At the time of the test it was 52bpm. At real rest it’s around 45bpm.)