Athletic performance in your 40s?

[Cruiser]

Take Harry's stuff. Or get him a Chuck Norris approved total gym for cheap on your local craigslist and profit.

[Stikki]

When I've advised people on a home gym for weight lifting the starting point is either a dumbbell set or Olympic weight set.

The dumbbell set would be for people who either won't lift a lot of weight or are scared to so an Olympic bar would be overkill. This means a 1" (diameter of the hole) spinlock dumbbell set. New handles can be picked up for as low as $20. Then buy 1" weight plates, try to build at least a 50lb set, so 4x2.5lb, 4x5lb, 8x10lb. 1.25lb are also nice to have so you don't have to jump 5lbs. Search the online classifieds for the weights or even used sports shops, but even new 1" plates aren't too much. Try to buy local as shipping weights and equipment can get pricey. Add more 10lb plates if you wish until the bar runs out of room. You should be able to build at least 80lb (4x10lb per side per dumbbell) dumbbells with thin style plates. You could add a spinlock bar but the problem with that is most of them are pretty narrow so they're awkward to use for a lot of exercises that are intended for Olympic bars.



For Olympic weights check the used sources for the cheapest stuff. If buying used make sure the sleeves (the end of bars where the weights go) spin easily. Also make sure the end screws aren't stripped and stay in. Get a bar, 2x45lb, 2x25lb, 2x10lb and 2x5lb plates. 2.5lb are nice to have. No need for 35lb plates. If you are strong get a second or third set of 45lb plates. If you have to buy new anything decent will last a lifetime for a home gym. If you started with Olympic weights the dumbbell set would be a nice addition and opens up a lot of exercises.

That's the minimum, obviously squating and benching will be difficult but there's a ton of exercises you can do with just dumbbells and/or an Olympic bar. The next piece to buy is a bench and squat rack or stand. For benches the basic is a flat bench, new start around $100 at sporting goods stores which for most are fine, heavier lifters and the strong will have to pony up more for a more solid bench. If you can get an adjustable bench that goes to 45 and 90 degrees upright get that as it offers some nice variation. Or go used if you can. Whatever you buy lay on it before purchase if possible to check the stability and how the width of the pad works with your body, they are not all the same.

Squat racks are great and if you are going all in and have the room then go for it. But most people can get away with a squat stand (see below). They are quite a bit cheaper, take up less space and work just fine. Even the best in the world still use squat stands. If you go with a squat stand and plan to bench press make sure to get one that has the lowest setting at or lower than your bench press rack height.

[neufox47]

So husband has started lifting more weight this past year (he turned 40 this summer) and I want to add to our home gym.
We’ve always worked out with hand weights so we have the sets of 5lb, 10lb, 15lb and a 35lb kettlebell
Do you guys have any recs on a more substantial barbell set to incorporate?
Here’s the garage space currently where he is lifting with cinder blocks on a heavy duty bar supported by saw horses. I think a bench or barbell rack could work in the space. what do you guys use/recommend for regular lifting?
I’m trying to figure out how much we will end up wanting to lift when looking at the sets available too
Attachment 431134

What type of lifting does he do / want to do?

I’d go with some adjustable dumbbells and a bench to start. I just bought the wife the Core 50lb adjustable set and I was blown away with how nice they are to use. Adjusting weight is as quick as switching dumbbells, and they still have a traditional shape so you can use them for goblet hold stuff. The bow flex and some others that use a “cage go up to 90 plus though.

I’d go with those and a bench to start. Also add in some heavy kettlebells and some bands. Kettlebell swings are great for skiing. One of the only things that prepares my lower back for moguls and crud.

Barbells, especially when over 40, just are often more trouble than gain. Maybe I’m just bitter because I decided to try to train to hit a 200lb overhead press and my shoulders aren’t happy about it.

[gaijin]

Is a gym out of the question?

I started lifting again 15 months ago at age 45 and liked getting stout again. I lifted a bunch in my 20s. Felt great. At first I wasn't putting on any muscle (as I was on keto) so I decided to add protein and carbs again. Then I gained some size and thought "fuck it, how big can I get?" Answer-- not very. I was eating more than was comfortable, always full, outgrew my suit in the shoulders and legs but could't break 180lbs @ 5'8". The day I hit 180, I was like-- "I'm done with trying to get big." Too much money, too uncomfortable always being full.

Joining a gym was key. I have a home bench and bells, but it's just not enough. I hate going to the gym. I don't have time. I love having gone to the gym. Being at the gym is peaceful with nothing else distracting me. Leaving the gym is awesome.

Plus, there's all that equipment I don't have at home that I suddenly use and didn't know I needed. And then there's the outside motivation of the fact that I'm paying for it. "Don't waste your money by not going."

Deadlifts, squats, back extension, lat pull, seated row, curls, overhead press, upright row, bench press, incline press, dips, flies, Arnie press, hammer curls, deltoid raises (?), face pulls. So much to do.

Jeff Cavaliere is the awesome trainer/therapist you need to get to know: https://www.youtube.com/c/athleanx

If a gym isn't an option, explore Jeff's non-gym workouts. They're legit. But either way, stoked you're getting Harry's Olympic stuff to get rid of that cinder block death trap. Also awesome that your husband is hardcore enough to actually work out with cinderblocks. Imagine what he'd do with proper gear. This will be fun to watch.

40 is a turning point. You either decide to get it together or you don't. And then it goes whichever way you chose quickly.

But fuck abs. All ab workouts can go to hell. I'd rather run a painful 40 minutes than endure a painful 10 minute ab workout. Weird.

[sb]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eQCkJp...ature=youtu.be



The kettle bells seem to work well for me when i use them.

The backside of 40 was 10 years ago for me.

[gaijin]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eQCkJp...ature=youtu.be



The kettle bells seem to work well for me when i use them.

The backside of 40 was 10 years ago for me.

How often do you use them? And for how long have you been?

I'm tempted to invest, but I know my lack of discipline for my home set-up is quite real so I'm reluctant to buy.

Maybe I just need a bigger house. Or a better self.

[californiagrown]

I bought a home gym setup 2 months before my kid was born last summer. Bar, Plates, adjustable Bench, Squat rack (not power rack). Have a dip belt for pullups, jump rope, a couple of sandbags (about 35#s each) and a belt for squating heavy. I would really like to get a few kettlebells for swings and turkish getups, and a trap bar, but its hard to justify added expense. I got everything except plates new. Total cost ~$800. It allows me to keep the total time needed for a workout under 1hour and i can get in training while Jr is napping and mom is out of the house. When i was on paternity leave and Jr was real young, it was super easy to stay in really good shape as i had 3 nap periods to choose from for my workout (he was a really good sleeper). The home gym has allowed me to be much more efficient with my time, even if i really do miss going to a commercial gym.

Im 34 but have some good mileage on a few joints so i usually spend a solid 20-25 minutes on warmup and prehab stuff before touching a weight. And then my training usually consists of 2-3 movements in a general 5x5 template. I try and get in 2-3 leg workouts a week and 1-2 upper body sessions. I find that just the simple act of warming up and doing the prehab stuff is super important to feeling good physically, and the weight training is just icing on the cake.

[old goat]

You'd have more room if you cleared out the skis.
And why is there a computer in your garage? Watching vids while working out?

[Garbowski]

We have a low ceiling, but have this short (71") squat rack and it does the job:
https://www.titan.fitness/racks/powe...RIES-RACK.html

It is nice to have but definitely does go in cycles of use though- I play racquetball and will use the gym to lift a lot. My wife is almost 100% at the gym.


As I get older I keep hurting myself in small ways that will sideline me for way too long. Some dumb pulled muscle or tendonitis will put me back in the cycle of 'taking it easy' on everything but eating too much. I am wise enough not to push too hard on injuries, but not smart enough to prevent them from happening.

Any kind of prehab stuff work well? I know I need to stretch more, yoga?

[schwerty]

BB - I built out a garage gym a couple years ago. You and A are welcome to come over and check out the equipment and see what type of stuff you might like for your space. I went with Torque fitness cuz I had a connection there but I also used an outfit in IF for flooring and a few odds and ends.

Advice…two years ago I was moving around a lot of heavy weights, bags, balls etc…. Doing HIIT stuff, jumping around and basically over training. I still use a fair bit of the gear I have but have been training with Samsara, (check em out. You guys might know Z), which is a very different approach than big weights. Lesson - don’t buy a lot of shit you might not want down the road. Keep it fairly simple. If i could do it over I’d start slowly and add equipment over time.

[californiagrown]

Any kind of prehab stuff work well? I know I need to stretch more, yoga?

Prehab stuff is mostly specific to your personal issues. Think of the injuries you chronically get, or have had recently. Research what the PT exercises are for treatment. Incorporate a few of those, in a circuit, into your warmup.

I like static stretching as a cool down, but mostly cause its relaxing. As a warmup i like moving through extended ranges of motion in a dynamic manner (Ie DeFrancos Agile 8 or similar), and then moving onto bodyweight exercises with extended ranges of motion where i try to "own" and totally control in a slow manner the full range of motion.

Remember the #1 rule of training: DO NOT GET INJURED!!!! Its training, not the sport. Its OK to get injured in the sport, its not OK to get injured in training.

[SumJongGuy]

TL/DR, may have posted this a couple years go. Sage advice is use it or lose it.. and if you lose it you take a lot longer to get it back than younger days.. and it won't be what it was in your 20s unless you get Beta Force..

[Grange]

Take Harry's stuff. Or get him a Chuck Norris approved total gym for cheap on your local craigslist and profit.

My parents have that (a friend gave it to them) and I used it last winter when I was taking care of their dogs and it felt dangerous. It gets less stable as your increase the weight by increasing the angle of the seat. Worst home gym experience I can remember.

When I've advised people on a home gym for weight lifting the starting point is either a dumbbell set or Olympic weight set.

The dumbbell set would be for people who either won't lift a lot of weight or are scared to so an Olympic bar would be overkill. This means a 1" (diameter of the hole) spinlock dumbbell set. New handles can be picked up for as low as $20. Then buy 1" weight plates, try to build at least a 50lb set, so 4x2.5lb, 4x5lb, 8x10lb. 1.25lb are also nice to have so you don't have to jump 5lbs. Search the online classifieds for the weights or even used sports shops, but even new 1" plates aren't too much. Try to buy local as shipping weights and equipment can get pricey. Add more 10lb plates if you wish until the bar runs out of room. You should be able to build at least 80lb (4x10lb per side per dumbbell) dumbbells with thin style plates. You could add a spinlock bar but the problem with that is most of them are pretty narrow so they're awkward to use for a lot of exercises that are intended for Olympic bars.

I have two sets of dumbbells for these weights and they work great. From chest presses to weighted lunges I can use them for many different exercises. The thin 10 lb. plates in the picture are not sold around here because the 10 lb. plates with three holes are what I can get and they are a little wider. With my first set of dumbbells I could only get three 10 lb. and one 5 lb. plate per side and there was barely enough to thread the lock at the end. I purchased another set that was longer so I could safely put 4 10lb plates per side.

I also have a workout rack with a pulley system and an Olympic bar and weights. Having the rack is crucial to lifting heavy so if/when I lift to failure I'm not stuck under the bar.

[Harry]

Super generous of you Harry- thank you. Hope we can cross paths this winter. I need to earn my “I skied with Harry” tshirt

It’s not 100 percent certain that I will be visiting Jackson this winter. But if I do, this gear is yours. Plus I want to ski with everyone. I’ve fished a bunch with schwerty and kokomas, but never skied with them. I need to change that.

[sb]

How often do you use them? And for how long have you been?

I'm tempted to invest, but I know my lack of discipline for my home set-up is quite real so I'm reluctant to buy.

Maybe I just need a bigger house. Or a better self.

They take up very little room. I have several of different sizes, less than $100 for all plus a poster I found with a bunch of exercises on it to go by.

I do it outside on my deck mostly but if the weather is crappy I have a spot just big enough to do most every thing in side.

2 or 3 times a week depending on how I feel or my other activities.


ETA, i do also have a stationary bike, fan resistance kind with the arm handles that go back and forth. I will hit this for 20 minutes prior to the KBs and then 10 min cool down after.

[californiagrown]

My parents have that (a friend gave it to them) and I used it last winter when I was taking care of their dogs and it felt dangerous. It gets less stable as your increase the weight by increasing the angle of the seat. Worst home gym experience I can remember.
.

Is it not just a pilates machine?

[Cruiser]

I think even a used reformer is >$5k. Guessing you can snag a little used total gym for much much less...

That said, I'm not seriously advocating that. I'd get a half rack, an olympic weight set, an adjustable bench, and a power tower. If you've got all that stuff then it def won't be a situation where the equipment is limiting your development.

[Grange]

Is it not just a pilates machine?

The workouts that come with the machine show how to do strength training movements such as chest and back exercises that try to mimic more traditional weight machine movements. I tried doing some of their workouts, but to get the resistance I needed to make the workout worthwhile made me feel like the machine could tip over a few times.

[neufox47]

As I get older I keep hurting myself in small ways that will sideline me for way too long. Some dumb pulled muscle or tendonitis will put me back in the cycle of 'taking it easy' on everything but eating too much. I am wise enough not to push too hard on injuries, but not smart enough to prevent them from happening.

Any kind of prehab stuff work well? I know I need to stretch more, yoga?

Good mobility and soft tissue work is key, more important than strength. Also, having muscular endurance so you don’t start using poor form can be really important.

That said I’d say some of the best skiing related exercises you can do are generally on 1 leg and for you core.

Single leg squat on a low box (not a pistol but similar) add weight once you can get to depth.
Kettlebell swings
Split squats / rear foot elevated split squats
Wheel roll-outs

Hurdle hops - sideways and forward, on one leg

These five exercises done regularly would probably get you 75% of the results you’d see from a professional S&C program.

[californiagrown]

Also, and this backed up by plenty of science, but banging the missus or mister on a regular basis and in different positions is good cardio, will improve mobility and endurance through end-range ROMs, and releases a bunch of healthy chemicals and hormones. I mean, those preworkout powders are basically just viagra with a bunch of caffeine... coincidence? I think not!

[EWG]

BB my lovely wife and I put a gym setup in the garage when Covid hit, cancelling our gym membership. Turned out to be a great idea. Weights work. They make you younger, performance wise. At this point we now have a full olympic weight set x2, rubber dumbbells up to 70lb, full set of kettlebells, squat rack, various other things. We kept adding stuff. Cheaper than the gym membership. Mrs EWG is in there 4 days a week. I’m 3 days, on season, 4 off.

The difference in fitness was quick and pretty shocking. And we are lifelong committed athletes. Did not expect it.

Highly recommend if you still want to do what you are doing at a high level in 10 years. Or 20.

[Timberridge]

I thought all you country bumpkins went to that purple place for $10 a month?

[EWG]

I thought all you country bumpkins went to that purple place for $10 a month?

Yeah, I’m told that is not adequate. I’m not sure why. I’ve learned not to question.

Country bumpkins? Gyms are big business round these here parts. Everybody a fixin to train for somethin or another. If ya ain’t serious thens ya don’t exist.

Welcome to the land of competitive relaxation.

[plugboots]

I have barbells from 2 1/2 to 50 pounds and an incline bench. Super space efficient. I got rid of adjustable weights because I didn’t want to waste time adjusting, I just wanted to reach down and grab. I actually kind of miss a big old squat rack, but I do so much leg stuff, (cycling, hiking, skiing). I know squats helped me get stronger at leg stuff, but I already work out on my bike or something an hour a day and so lifting weights is addition to that, and to get my upper body to look less soft.
Huh. I guess I’ve been lifting weights for about 45 years now.

[m0e54d]

You don't want to know.