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Kettlebell Training as we age

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jhpowers

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THis post was inspired by a conversation on a different thread. I've been noticing some changes in my training as I approach 50 this December. Most specifically, I can tell that my body takes much longer to warm up than it used to. When I do KB Strong with it's ten sets of Double Clean and Press, these days I notice that I don't really get going until the fourth set or so and not uncommonly my last sets are stronger than my first few. This effect seems to be getting more pronounced over time. I'm also starting to think that I need to think more actively about recovery between workouts as they take more out of me than they used to.

Frankly, I was feeling a little discouraged by these observations until I noticed that some of the more active and knowledgable members of this forum are somewhat (or considerably) older than I am and still training with grit.

So, I'm love to know...
What changes have you noticed as you get older?
How have you adapted your training?
Are you still getting stronger or focusing on maintaining strength?
Has the emphasis of your training changed (e.g. strong endurance vs max strength, etc)
 
@jhpowers

...You run, and you run to catch up with the sun, but it's sinking
And racing around to come up behind you again
And the sun is the same in a relative way, but you're older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death...

- Time by Roger Waters

I find I can still train hard, and perform hard.
Some of my younger partners can seemingly do this day after day with no ill effect.
Me... not so much. It takes me much longer to recover from a really hard effort than it used to...

Pavel summarized this quite nicely by quoting Toby Keith.

"I'm not as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was"
 
I'm only in my mid-forties, but even now I find that a bit more of a warm up is necessary than it was for me in the past. I just do a few minutes of jumping jack variations to get the body temperature higher and the blood flowing in the morning -- then I do my regular S&S warm up and practice.

Also, as I have had a torn meniscus in my left knee, I might do 30 seconds of leg bicycles right after getting out of bed, as a precaution. Doing them seems to help make sure my knee is working in the right "groove."
 
Has the emphasis of your training changed (e.g. strong endurance vs max strength, etc)
I come just out of a cold shower after a nice MAF (around 139bpm) run of 40 min, with an A+A snatch session earlier in the day. A big impact on my training how I train and what I find important was when I started A+A training under @aciampa's guidance in an A+A sub forum I am still a member of.

So Alactic + Aerobic it is and will be the bunch of my training accompanied by GTG/Easy strength training I rediscovered lately. Easy strength and easy endurance and a bit of stretching covers my needs or what I think I need quite holistically. I am happy that I get just a bit stronger slowly over time relatively. Building and having great aerobic functioning organism is the key element to recovering ability and leanness as I age. Looking forward to StrongEndurance in September.
 
At 50 I've noticed I need to warm up a bit more. I need a bit more recovery time between heavier workouts. I need to pay attention to my diet a little more. I need to be extra mindful of form and exercise selection.

I feel I get a much better outcome by dialing up the intensity, possibly due to stronger hormonal responses but whatever the case. I feel worse when I dial it back. I am still capable of quite a bit if I demand it of myself. More variety also conducive to feeling better.

I still train to slowly increase strength and add/maintain size, but as so many other factors tend to interfere with long term consistency these goals never seem to go away.
 
How many times your bodyweight?
365 lbs. lifting at 67.5 kg bodyweight, raw division, and by my own choice, no belt. That’s about 6 lbs less than 2.5 times bw. I am now lifting as a 66 kg and have a best of 162.5 kg, again a little short of 2.5 times bodyweight.

EDIT - was a typo on my part. My USAPL state record is 162.5 kg, not 152.5.

-S-
 
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One thing I've found at 59 is any change in routine has to be done slowly and incrementally, otherwise I pay the price.

I've always been a go-for-it type of trainer so that's been a tough adjustment. Not the wild and crazy type but one that calculates a path and then wants to go hard and dig in. A+A training has been great but I really crave GT stuff sometimes. The problem with that is recovery, so if I get my GT fix it ends up costing me on the other end in 1 or 2 lost training days.

My martial art (karate) training has always been the hard style GT type. It makes me feel alive. These days I've had to cut back on that a bit too.

I guess the thing about aging that's been hardest for me is frustration. I can't do all of the things I used to do. You would think after 30 yrs of MA training I'd have a more zen attitude like @Harald Motz but my spirit is still difficult to temper. Everyone I know thinks I'm pretty mellow but the fire still rages inside. Perhaps some day I'll learn to temper it a bit but as the Irish say 'You're a long time dead' so while I'm alive I want to feel that way.
 
What changes have you noticed as you get older?
How have you adapted your training?
Are you still getting stronger or focusing on maintaining strength?
Has the emphasis of your training changed (e.g. strong endurance vs max strength, etc)

Until age 40, I exercised. I did not "train."

Age 40-45 I learned how to train through bike riding. So my focus was endurance training, not strength. I did several century rides (100 miles) and regularly rode around 20 mph avg in group rides; pretty good for a middle-aged female, but nothing elite or competitive.

Age 46 I learned how to strength train with kettlebells. Added in a bit of bodyweight and barbell work, but mostly kettlebells until last year. I trained consistently all this time and put a lot of emphasis on strength endurance - A+A protocols, etc.

Age 49 started focusing on the barbell and increasing pure strength. I'm currently 50 and still working on that. It has been quite transformative.

I can't really attribute anything regarding my training to age, because my training methods have changed along with my age. I feel like I keep improving, physically -- I really haven't felt like anything is heading in the other direction. I do have less endurance now than I did 5 years ago but only because I changed the emphasis. I have no doubt that I could ride the bike at the same level if I changed back to focus on it. Probably even better now, because I have more leg strength and I know a lot more about training.

I suspect that the "age effects" on training, to the extent that they are negative, are related largely to three things:
  • life stress - we often have it piled on as we get up in age; job stress and responsibility, kids, taking care of parents, taking care of our expanding world of home and whatever else we own, taking on additional projects for other groups we are involved in
  • cumulative effects of less than ideal living - years of poor movement, or smoking, or not eating right can catch up with us
  • genetics - some people just break down sooner than others.
So I feel like if we are lucky in our genetics (I know I am, looking at my parents and grandparents), live a decently healthy life, and keep our life stress in check, we can then train very productively and not be limited by age.

Expanding just a bit on the "life stress" part -- it's really important to pare down your life after that middle-age hump where it's all getting bigger and bigger. In other words, pass up that last chance at a promotion. Let the kids go off on their own (empty nest). Sell some of your possessions so that you don't have an ever-increasing pile of stuff to take care of. Say "no" to organizations and people that need your skills and talents and time so that you can say "yes" to the ones that are truly important to you. Fiercely guard your personal time for training, relaxation, and mental recovery.

Good topic - thanks for posting it!
 
I notice an increased need to warm up for volleyball - until I get a little sweat going, I feel like I'm not moving or jumping well. But I don't notice the same about strength training - at least, not yet (I'm 42).

I'm noticing that persistent aches/pains are more persistent - they don't just go away after a while unless I do something about them.
 
As far as adapting to exercise I haven't lost much. The biggest thing is working around the injuries that have accumulated. Which ones need to be ignored, which ones need to be respected.

Whenever this feels burdensome I remind myself there are young people who through illness or serious injury have had to deal with similar and worse their entire lives - in some cases just to get around normally. It'll be alright!
 
turn 50 soon. Some aches and pains that seem to pop up here and there but no loss of size/strength/cardio.

Still train BJJ 4-6 times a week, several strength sessions and rucking and cardio. I can still whip most anyone within 30 pounds of me and about my experience level (10 years and counting) and regardless of age.

I give all the credit to Simple and Sinister and Strongfirst.

S&S made my grappling much better and fixed neck/shoulder/lower back issues.

I would not be in the game without it I believe.
 
I think the biggest thing as we age is proper nutrition. Not that I do it right, but can't get by with junk like you used to. When my diet is dialed in it seems that helps recovery which is the biggest issue I have. Next would be finding the proper program to meet your goals. As we age those goals hopefully have changed so think that through. A+A like Harold mentioned, S&S, or whatever @offwidth is doing. That cat is like some kind of freak.
 
Curiously, what is the minimum age requirement to qualify as "classic"?
Not sure if you're joking here or asking about powerlifting because some federations do use the word "classic" in some of their class distinctions, basically to accommodate a rules change. E.g., the WNPF changed its Raw division rules a while back, disallowing knee wraps and some other things, but maintains a Raw Classic division in which you can lift if you wish to follow that particular set of rules. Raw classic is basically just a little more gear allowed than the current Raw division.

From www.wnpfpl.com - click on Home, WNPF Rules, All Rules

4-9. Raw standards

Raw/Unequipped lifting is defined as using only the following gear and accessories as previously described:
(a) Non-supportive singlet, (b) T-shirt (cotton), (c) Underwear (cotton), (d) Socks, (e) Belt (maximum 4” in the back) (f) Shoes, (g) Wrist wraps (36” max), (h) NEOPRENE Knee sleeves w/o VELCRO tightening or bands

4-9A. Raw classic standards

Raw/Unequipped lifting is defined as using only the following gear and accessories as previously described:
(a) Non-supportive singlet, (b) T-shirt (cotton), (c) Underwear (cotton), (d) Socks, (e) Belt (maximum 4” in the back)
(f) Shoes (g) Wrist wraps (36” max), (h) Knee wraps (2.5 meters max) or knee sleeves (i) Elbow sleeves for the squat and deadlift only


-S-
 
At 68 I definitely need more recovery time and the rare times I get "tweaked" somehow, take longer to recover even from minor injuries. I do think this is very relevant:
I guess the thing about aging that's been hardest for me is frustration. I can't do all of the things I used to do. You would think after 30 yrs of MA training I'd have a more zen attitude like @Harald Motz but my spirit is still difficult to temper. Everyone I know thinks I'm pretty mellow but the fire still rages inside. Perhaps some day I'll learn to temper it a bit but as the Irish say 'You're a long time dead' so while I'm alive I want to feel that way.
I am well familiar with this from my own transformations over time. What I have found is that the more I honor my body's messages and take rest as needed, adopt different goals, etc (without succumbing to laziness or allowing mental weakness), I have found that I feel more alive and more fully embodied than ever before. It is an interesting dance to distinguish between a moment of or period of "self-pity" causing a desire to back off and a real message from my physical body that I really do need to push a bit less hard, rest more...
 
What changes have you noticed as you get older?
-I need more warm up time and to pay attention to keeping the system loose. If I neglect this then I will get tight and start to have recurrent issues with old injuries
-I noticed that if I neglect a quality for a while it takes a lot longer to get it back. Ex: I had struggled with a back/SI problem for a while, and experimented with a few things before seeing significant improvement. When I began sprinting again, the feet/ankles/achilles and general elasticity/bounciness took a long time to come back (in fact I'm not sure they've fully rebounded yet)

How have you adapted your training?
-I try to never be far from training speed/power/strength, but rarely try to max out any single quality
-at different times of the year, I bias my training towards one or the other quality, but all qualities are touched on
-example: in the winter I can't get out to sprint as often so I do small volume jump/hop training and focus more on strength and then strength endurance, and on keeping the ankle/foot complex capable; in the warmer seasons I get more sprinting in and a bit less strength work volume.
-I try to combine my aerobic work with my warm ups, so I do a lot of easy multidirectional skipping and hopping to preserve that bounce/elastic quality in the legs; I also do a lot of walking like @Steve Freides has recommended...no agenda, just enjoy!

Are you still getting stronger or focusing on maintaining strength?
-I strength train three times a week but the workouts I gauge myself on are a Tuesday top speed sprint day and a weekend tempo run session
-in other words, I try to improve strength, but not with such a focus that I am too tight or sore from my strength training to move explosively on my running days. The set and reps scheme are very easy strength style

Has the emphasis of your training changed (e.g. strong endurance vs max strength, etc)
-knowing how power/speed/endurance qualities decline with age, and knowing now how long it takes to regain a neglected quality, I bias my training towards maintaining all qualities, with a minor focus so to speak on improving certain qualities at certain times of the year, but usually by trying to nudge the system in a certain direction, instead of bullying it as I used to do
 
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