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

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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
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Hi SD,

Totally understand where you're coming from, I'm 47, was in a similar position 4 months ago, badly out of shape, running hurt and I felt like all I wanted to do was go into a gym and say 'help me'!

A lot of great comments to reflect on, especially on getting coaching, this should also help you understand what your current limitations are and where to begin. Really, don't stress about starting off light, even with a 12kg as oab mentioned, work up from wherever you feel comfortable; you will move up quickly from wherever your starting point is. I re-started my kettlebell journey with a 16kg, and stuck with that until I felt able to move up, but even then I only went up 4kg to 20kg. After about another month with the 20kg I was comfortable to step up to 24kg, another month later I began to incorporate 32kg for single sets, a month on and I'm managing to do 60% of my swings and TGU with the 32kg, but I'm only doing what I feel safe doing, this is where getting some coaching is critical. Don't skip or dilute the warm ups, post session stretches as directed in the book, especially early on.

There's a lot discussed on the forum as to whether S+S is 'all you need'; for me in my time of life, my goals etc, I really do believe S+S is a great program to getting back to a level of strength and fitness, the thing I love about it is the feeling of good general strength I get, all in a very easy to follow PM. The simplicity of it and minimal demands on time are key for me right now.
 
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I think as we get older (I'm 50) and if we let things slide downhill for a bit, then we really need to check our egos at the door if we're trying to build up again. Anna hit the nail on the head- "really go back to the learning stages." Also, make mobility half of your workout. And walk a lot.
 
Troglodyte said:
Anna hit the nail on the head- "really go back to the learning stages."
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Thanks, yeah... I think people hesitate to do this, because they think it means a total setback and then investing the same amount of time that it took to go from A (where you start) to B (where you got to) originally. But it doesn't take anywhere near as long, the second time. In fact, although it depends on how out of shape you are or other factors, I would say it takes 20% to 50% as long, generally speaking. So it's time well spent, and you end up safely back at where you were. I experience this after surgery recovery and wrote about it in this article.
 
Re Tendonitis: it will take time to heal. Maybe much more time than you wish. During that time it will be easy to do the same again and make it worse.
53 years young, managed to damage the tendons on my right hand/thumb/wrist/forearm/bicep in January this year and it’s only just starting to feel normal again. For scale, at first I couldn’t lift an empty mug in my hand with terrible pain.
To echo others mobility I find really helps and partners kettlebell strength work. For me it’s yoga and a bit of original strength work. Maybe explore and find what suits you.
There’s a good thread on this forum about tendonitis that may help

Kettlebell - Medial Epicondylitis (golfers elbow)

Anyone encounter this in their training? I’m running rop with the 24 and cleaning for every rep. Also snatching/swinging as well as pull ups so i guess I’m putting a lot of strain on my forearm tendons. I admittedly am just starting to look into it and don’t fully understand why it’s irritated.
www.strongfirst.com
 
Nate said:
Note #2: I do feel like BW & KB are much easier on my joints than BB was. Plus any soft tissue issues get scraped. Graston technique is gold!
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For some reason that I'm not entirely sure of, my joints bother me less from barbell moves at 52 than at 42.

I don't know if it just took *that long* for my connective tissues to finally catch up with my muscles.

Or that my 1RM these days is about 20% than it was then, so just simply not as heavy.

Or that my mobility, movement quality and skill have improved enough and that I'm not just grinding through super heavy sets with near maximal loads and crap technique 3 times a week because Rippetoe said keep adding weight to the bar every workout.
 
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At some stage, maybe 14 years old, I picked up an empty barbell and started from there. I just did what I did, from memory three sets of 10, and added some weight next time. Not that far down the track I picked up a dumbbell, no doubt also the minimum weight. And then some cable work came along etc etc. Using nothing more than rookie’s common sense and the advice of some good older dudes I started everything light and built up over time, usually using the minimum weight increment. I had no injuries for years until older and dumber me started doing different (stupid) stuff. Now when I’m injured or out of condition I go back to the minimum and build back up over time. Amazing! I am the biggest fan of bodyweight exercises even though I don’t train that way but I never recommend them for people with an injury history - there isn’t enough control and variability to ensure protective factors are in place through smooth progression. I’ve never touched a kettlebell but I understand they have big weight jumps so I wouldn’t go there either. My advice is pick up the smallest dumbbell and do some stuff. Next time pick up the second smallest dumbbell. Substitute barbell with no weight and minimum incremental advancement if you want. Take months, not weeks, to get to where you want to be. And never hesitate to dial the weights back again and take rest days without concern. All the best!
 
Coming off a long and productive block of sandbag Cluster Set last year I was beat to heck. Put on some righteous muscle and strength but was drifting into “only strong in the gym” territory. Left knee torn meniscus, right knee patellar tendonitis, tennis elbow, golfers elbow, lower back arthritis.

I defaulted back to isometrics and even if it failed to deliver any other benefits, the therapeutic effect it has had on my joints has been priceless. There is quite literally no other form of resistance training that allows such complete control over posture under load, contraction force, speed, duration, line of resistance.
 
I am totally in this boat. I keep getting injured and having to cross off the list moves I love to do. Most recently no more Dips due to elbow pain and flexibility issues. Lately I have to take a break from Turkish Get Ups due to knees. My advice is to sink some money into MOBILITY TOOLS like Mobility Star for forearms, LACROSSE BALL to roll glutes out against a wall and a rolling pin for quads. Also remember that the KB swing has a learning curve. Doing it wrong will destroy your back. Doing it right will strengthen your back.
 
Steve Freides said:
@strongDad, get some coaching.
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I'm going to, at the risk of being overbearing, repeat my earlier advice. Injury in exercise is the result of poor programming for your current state or, if it's a good program, then poor execution on your part. I can't think of any other reason - either the program is bad or you're executing it badly. Coaching will deal with both of these things for you.

Visit a StrongFirst Certified Instructor in your area. Find one use FIND AN INSTRUCTOR, available here and on our website proper. Many instructors offer remote instruction as an option and you can even elect to see only those.

-S-
 
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jayjo said:
I am totally in this boat. I keep getting injured and having to cross off the list moves I love to do. Most recently no more Dips due to elbow pain and flexibility issues. Lately I have to take a break from Turkish Get Ups due to knees. My advice is to sink some money into MOBILITY TOOLS like Mobility Star for forearms, LACROSSE BALL to roll glutes out against a wall and a rolling pin for quads. Also remember that the KB swing has a learning curve. Doing it wrong will destroy your back. Doing it right will strengthen your back.
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And be careful not to push the lacrosse ball through the wall.
 
To the specific pains described in the OP:
  • Best thing I've ever done for my back is anterior chain work. Ab wheel and hanging leg raises are great, but start with whatever you can do.
  • For protecting the elbows, wrist rotation (e.g. Thor's hammer) helps me a lot
I think the TGU is actually really good for building up both of those weak points as well.
 
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...
Could try a light single bell carry for the QL.
 
@Steve Freides said get coaching and go see a physical therapist if you can afford it.

OS Strength isn't going to "fix" tennis/golfers elbow if that is the actual diagnosis. Neither is doing a simple version of SnS.

People say it does because reduction in volume normally leads to forced rest and people generally feel better. But the resolved issue is still there.

Get coaching.
 
I'm 65. Last fall I decided I was tired of achey and/or inflamed body parts. I haven't had them for months. The biggest change I've made is to do my primary movements only for time. Here's exactly what I started my workout with today.

First, I turned on the metronome on my phone and set it to beep 60 times a minute. Next was a ring chin up/push up superset.

Ring chins
Set 1: bodyweight: 1 rep: 1" hold at bottom, 9" up, 1" hold at top, 9 seconds down
Set 2: added 15 pounds to a backpack: 1 rep: same time as above
Set 3: added 30 pounds to a backpack: 1 rep: same time as above
Set 4: bodyweight: 1 rep: 20" up, 20" hold at the top, 20" down

Push ups
I place a 4" yoga block under my chest to limit my depth. My right shoulder doesn't like my chest on the floor.
Set 1: bodyweight: 1 rep: 1" hold at bottom, 9" up, 1" hold at top, 9 seconds down
Set 2: band push up: 1 rep: same time as above (not sure of band resistance but its not difficult)
Set 3: same as Set 2 but with a more challenging band: 1 rep
Set 4: bodyweight push ups until I can't keep up with the metronome: 1" down, 1" up (This is too fast. Next time, I'll try adding 1" at the top and 1" at the bottom of the movement.)

Followed this with two trips through a circuit that includes step ups, calf raises, single leg deadlifts, and TRX YTWs.
 
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