Athletic performance in your 40s?

[TAFKALVS]

I’ll send you my labs with total test levels < 300? Does that count?

[leroy jenkins]

Are "bumbells" malt liquor 40 ouncers?

no, bumbells are using bums as barbells.

its kind of impressive, almost like lifting real people, but junkies don't weigh much. They do twitch though which adds to the whole instability thing.

[ironhippy]

I’d say bodyweight bench press, 1.5x bodyweight squat, 2x bodyweight deadlift.

This is about what I aim for in my build ups. I'm 43.

But I have a strength training background and I'm short and don't weigh a whole lot.

[SkiLyft]

I’ll send you my labs with total test levels < 300? Does that count?

Well shit, I said 40 — not geriatric.


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[2FUNKY]

… wait for it a skate off.
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Hell yeah!




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[The SnowShow]

First week or two I'd do 2 sets of work after one light warm up set. Then 3 from then on, with or without the warm up set as needed. Listen to your body, it'll tell you if you are going too fast.

I’d recommend you start by doing full body lift days focusing on multi joint movements 3 days a week. I’d start with 2 sets of each exercise, see how you feel, and increase or back off depending on how you feel. You don’t want to be super sore or even sore, just slightly sore. Most importantly only move up in weight by 10lbs per session for large lifts and 5lbs for lighter lifts. Even if it feels like you have more in the tank (unless it feels really really easy).

You can design this yourself with a little research or buy a program. Ben Bruno has a really good 6 week program that you can repeat and also gives you access to ask questions and get some coaching.

Thank you both!

[neufox47]

Dude, you’re not >40? Why TF are you posting in this thread.

We’re in our thirties we can eat shit, not drink water and still rage on skis from off the couch! Sure, when our 40s roll around that program will shift. But you legitimately confuse me as to why you are posting in a thread about fitness in an age bracket that does not apply to you for which you have no personal or professional experience.


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lol. I guess that applies to me too for the next 4 months until I turn 40.

His numbers are a good standard for 20-35 year olds, but I’d take 20% off for the over 40 crowd and another 10% for the pver 50.


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[bennymac]

I’d say bodyweight bench press, 1.5x bodyweight squat, 2x bodyweight deadlift.

Yeah you must be in the age group where you don’t miss a week of working out because you injured yourself checking your blind spot on the highway or getting some chicken out of the freezer.

[Self Jupiter]

I’ve had the honor of being in that group since my mid 20s and now I’m in my late 30s. Not the whole time, thank goodness.

[::: :::]

I’m quietly/ruefully laughing to myself reading all this — i am so past considering “performance” as a fitness goal anymore. I’m at: just-do-not-injure & stay-mobile.

Yeah you must be in the age group where you don’t miss a week of working out because you injured yourself checking your blind spot on the highway or getting some chicken out of the freezer.

Can you imagine the 2x bodyweight dead lift?

I’m 53yo & 6-5/195# with 2 back surgeries already & fuck if any recent medical provider would allow me to think about dead lifts weighing more than a 20kg kettlebell — much less an almost 400# lift.

His numbers are a good standard for 20-35 year olds, but I’d take 20% off for the over 40 crowd and another 10% for the pver 50.

Starting with 1x bodyweight & the 20% +10% reductions:
200 x .8 = 160
160 x .9 = 144
Sounds more in the believable range after 30yrs of office life but still NFW from the recommended med side


(sigh)

[Dantheman]

I’m 53yo & 6-5/195# with 2 back surgeries already & fuck if any recent medical provider would allow me to think about dead lifts weighing more than a 20kg kettlebell — much less an almost 400# lift.

I think it was implied that those numbers were for people:

1. On the low side of 40
2. Without major injuries
3. Average height/weight and proportions
4. Not overweight/obese (i.e., for someone 200 lbs and 30 lbs overweight, the DL 1RM would be 340 not 400)

Also, you can use a 1RM calculator to estimate 1RMs with a very high degree of accuracy based on a safer 3-10 rep effort: https://strengthlevel.com/one-rep-max-calculator

[bennymac]

In my 40s. Not overweight. No major injuries. Never have had surgery. 6’3” and around 180lbs.

Aiming to get my deadlift 1RM to 360lbs would serve me how?

I’m 100% on board with the benefits of strength training. At one end of the spectrum is the sedentary version of me doing zero strength training - at the other end is me doing powerlifting at levels that lead to repeated injury. Somewhere in the middle is a sweet spot where I’m staying fit, enjoying life, avoiding injury as much as possible, performing how I like in my recreational activities.

I’m careful to not do things in the gym that put me at high risk of major injury. But I’m talking more about micro-injuries - the kind of stuff that puts you out of commission for a week. You can be super strong and flexible but past a certain age (different for everyone) these micro injuries are likely gonna occur - sometimes even when doing the same thing you’ve been doing for years/decades - whether that’s in the gym or on the trails or around the house.

Aiming for those levels posted above seems to me like 1) it’s gonna eat up a lot of time and focus to get there and 2) it’s gonna increase the risk of getting small injuries from lifting (when part of my goal of lifting is to do the opposite - prevent injury - both in the gym and outside it)

[zion zig zag]

I think it was implied that those numbers were for people:

1. On the low side of 40
2. Without major injuries
3. Average height/weight and proportions
4. Not overweight/obese (i.e., for someone 200 lbs and 30 lbs overweight, the DL 1RM would be 340 not 400)

Also, you can use a 1RM calculator to estimate 1RMs with a very high degree of accuracy based on a safer 3-10 rep effort: https://strengthlevel.com/one-rep-max-calculator

That calculator is pretty cool, I haven’t tried to max a bench press in years but I just calculated my one rep max and it was *exactly* my body weight.

[TAFKALVS]

Obviously I have no say in this discussion being 35, but I’ll say, a 360lb deadlift is not a crazy number. And I never said it’s what you should rush for. There’s lots of guys in there 40s that I workout with who deadlift much more than that.

OP asked where the diminishing returns were.

In my opinion and experience as a 35 year old who has done strength training off and on since age 17, those are the thresholds for diminishing returns, regardless of my age.

Perhaps for a 40 year old it’s a bit less. I’m not 40 yet, but I have dealt with some health and genetic factors that have put my testosterone levels at the low end for any age.

And yeah you shouldn’t go for true 1RM if you’re not a competitive strength athlete. It’s not worth the risk. Being greedy about PRs has hurt me multiple times. Not worth the risk and missed training/life time.

For the record, in the past I have exceeded all of those benchmarks and it didn’t make me better at skiing/hiking/biking/life.

After a multi-year hiatus from gym stuff, I’m now slowly rebuilding to where I was. My slow rebuild is far more focused on conditioning and my progress on increasing bar weights is deliberately slow. I want to be doing this shit when I’m 50. I recently deadlifted 385lbs for a very conservative 1RM as part of the strength program I’m doing.

PS I think starting strength is a dumb program for anyone over 30, let alone over 40, it’s meant for skinny teenagers who need to pack on a ton of muscle and strength quickly. It only really works if you eat like crazy and become a fat fuck. I’ve done it and had great results on strength when I was younger but there’s no way I can or want to sustain 30lb (or even 10lb) per week increases in bar weight. Plus it’s boring as hell… 3 days a week of basically the same thing for an indefinite amount of time? No conditioning work? Very little if any accessory work? Yawn.

[Dantheman]

Aiming to get my deadlift 1RM to 360lbs would serve me how?

For me, like EWG, short-term this is about having the strength, power, and durability to land respectably large airs skiing, hold a line through ugly chunder at speed, and not break in half if I take a tumble. Long-term, it's about having a large enough strength reserve now to still be able to pull BW or better when I'm collecting Social Security. YMMV.

but I’ll say, a 360lb deadlift is not a crazy number.

It's really not. The female WR in the 52 kg weight class (BW 114.4 lbs max) is 195 kg (429 lbs).

[californiagrown]

It's really not. The female WR in the 52 kg weight class (BW 114.4 lbs max) is 195 kg (429 lbs).

Sumo, with about 1.5" ROM haha.


Those go by numbers are just rough one-size-fits-all anyways. Its funny, pretty much every year by November im repping 1.5BW squats 5 times, but ive never sniffed pulling 4 plates (2BW)... and oddly, i dont think there has been a time since i was 12 when i couldnt hit 1BW on bench.


My current theory (we'll see how this, and I, age) is that it will be more important to maintain bounce and quickness than it will be to maintain higher end strength. They are related (you wont have bounce without a baselevel of strength), but It will be more important to retain some semblance of being spry/nimble/agile/quick as i get older than it will just being strong. Eg. ladder drills, lower box jumps, raised plyo pushups, etc will take precedence over my 5rep max squat.

[Mani_UT]

Obviously I have no say in this discussion being 35, but I’ll say, a 360lb deadlift is not a crazy number..

Exactly, even without being a top athlete like Dan, it’s a reasonable goal. 15 years ago I’d do 3x435 at 160 (2.7x for a 3 rep). Now at 51 I would not try but 320 would be a decent goal (I’m 164 now, much less muscle, much more fat despite the minimal weight change).
Having the core to allow you to do a safe 2xBW DL means you’re much less likely to injure your back lifting something a little heavy while cold, not paying attention. It’s just a nice buffer zone.

[bennymac]

I totally get that. And respect it. I’ve seen your footage! But I’d venture that most mags in their 40s are not launching large airs like you and EWG are. And for me I don’t think I’d be doing it to that level even if I could deadlift that much

I think my best natural skill already as a skier/biker is the ability to hold a line at high speed through ugly technical terrain - I don’t want to go faster than I already can because that would approach the point where bad luck would send me into a tree without time to recover. I’m already leaving all my buddies behind as is. And my deadlift working weight is less than my body weight (3x8)

I get the strength reserve part - I guess I’m just talking about where in the spectrum I mentioned above does one stop working towards further progression in weight. Talking about “lots of guys in their 40s lifting more than that” and womens world records doesn’t really answer that.

[californiagrown]

I guess I’m just talking about where in the spectrum I mentioned above does one stop working towards further progression in weight. .

When it starts taking more time/effort/resources than you are willing to put in, when recovery starts affecting your other activities, or when you start getting consistent niggling injuries. Those are all signs that you should stop working towards progressing the weight you are lifting. Its different for everybody. There is no universe where being stronger is not more helpful all other things equal... so keep getting stronger until other things are negatively affected to the point of unacceptability.

[bennymac]

Well when you put it like that I feel like a dummy for asking Common sense is the answer! Thanks (sincerely)

[Ted Striker]

Skateboarding is for Gen X’ers in their 50s trying to relive their youth. It’s super lame. No 30 year old skateboards, yuck.

Ha! I'm super lame.

[JimmyCarter]

[climberevan]

I guess I’m just talking about where in the spectrum I mentioned above does one stop working towards further progression in weight. Talking about “lots of guys in their 40s lifting more than that” and womens world records doesn’t really answer that.

I went on a little bit of a gym kick for the last 18 months or so, but have recently backed off significantly because I prefer to allocate that training budget to climbing and running.

In that time I got almost to 2x BW for 5 reps of DL, but repeatedly had minor lower back pains that would set me back. I now realize that I was progressing too fast and didn't have the core strength to maintain the proper form. Now I'm only doing DLs once a week or less, and can easily do 3 sets of 5 at 1.7x BW, which honestly feels like enough to me. I feel strong and stable, and that amount of training doesn't take away from the other things I prefer to spend my time doing.

It would be nice if there were a prescription for how strong one needs to be for optimum health/longevity/performance/etc, but unfortunately there are as many answers to that as there are people. It's a hard puzzle to solve for oneself.

[Dantheman]

...a top athlete like Dan...

LOL, no, not even close.

In that time I got almost to 2x BW for 5 reps of DL, but repeatedly had minor lower back pains that would set me back. I now realize that I was progressing too fast and didn't have the core strength to maintain the proper form. Now I'm only doing DLs once a week or less, and can easily do 3 sets of 5 at 1.7x BW, which honestly feels like enough to me. I feel strong and stable, and that amount of training doesn't take away from the other things I prefer to spend my time doing.

3x5 is a lot of volume for DL. Even in Starting Strength, once you get out of the rank beginner phase DLs are done every other week for 1x5. I never do more than 3x3 or 1x5 (work sets), and usually every other week at most.

One thing about strength is that it's a much more durable adaption than cardio. You can really dedicate some time to it, get stronger than you need/want to, then back off and maintain 80% of what you built with a lot less work.

IIt would be nice if there were a prescription for how strong one needs to be for optimum health/longevity/performance/etc, but unfortunately there are as many answers to that as there are people. It's a hard puzzle to solve for oneself.

Andy Galpin has some good stuff that's not powerlifts. These are all for up to 40, take 10% off for each decade thereafter.

-Broad jump your height or better
-Vertical jump >24 inches
-Hand grip dynamometer score of 40-60 kg
-Dead hang >60 seconds
-Bilateral leg extension 1x BW
-Goblet squat 0.5x BW
-FFMI >20
- >25 consecutive push-ups

https://podcastnotes.org/huberman-la...-guest-series/

[shroom]