50 years old, getting back into lifting after 30 year hiatus

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followernotfan

New member
Background:

6'9", 335lbs. Have moderately High blood pressure. Well controlled by medication. Had an ACL replacement 2007, scar tissue revision 2020.

Dad bod, still strong, bit of a spare tire.

In HS, competed in VBall, Bball, downhill skiing, track and field (all the throwing events), University rower, intramural soccer, downhill skiing.

After university, life happened, got married, had kids, real job, moved multiple times, etc. Activity level dropped drastically. On the plus side I do daily dog walks about 0.75-1 mile, daily, every single day, regardless of weather.

Now, decided to take control of my life and engage in a proper fitness routine again (after my dad had a sudden heart attack; he's fine, had stents put in, changed his lifestyle as well). But that was a wakeup call and shocked me into action!!

Changes I've made:

Have modified eating habits, less carbs, more protein, salad, water. One beer a night (every other day) on average. Don't/Never smoked.

Working out at the local YMCA (Don't laugh). I have a family pass, we are all using the various facilities there. My son (20) and I are working out together.

Activity levels:

Cardio: Biking 16-22 km once a week, about an hour of hard cardio workout, decent pace. about 17-19kph.

Weight Training: (been doing this now for 6 weeks, 3x a week)

Warmup: Stationary bike, resistance set at 10, 1.5 miles (takes about 5 min to do). Just trying to get blood flowing thru body.

Leg Curls: 130lbx 15 reps, 3x

Leg Press: 370lbsx 10reps, 3x

Machine squat: 300lbs x 10, 3x

Lat Pull down: 145lbs x 10, 3x

Seated row: 145lbs x 10, 3x

Bicep Curls: 100lbs x10, 3x

Machine Bench: 110lbs x10, 3x

Nautilus machine Triceps extension with rope handle: 60lbs x10, 3x

Back extension machine: 160lbs x15, 3x

Question to the groupmind here:

Should I be varying my routine? Are there certain things I should do to address other muscle groups? I know I should bump up my cardio, but only have time for one serious cardio (1+ hrs) a week, due to work/family etc. My goal is to be able to do a 30 mile ride this season, and be able to do a 50mile ride in a years time frame.
 
@followernotfan Big congrats on making such sudden and important lifestyle changes. You won't regret it.

There's gonna be a lot of know-it-alls here that will tell you to do things differently but the best plan is the one you enjoy and will stick to.

Keep it up brotha!
 
@ray88c Yeah, I'm not one for stationary cardio, and I hate distance running (hammer toes) unless I am being chased/chasing something (ie soccer). I like riding in the outdoors, even if it is over 90f and humid out.
 
@followernotfan Fellow 50 yo here.

Congrats buddy.

It sounds line you’re doing it right.

My $0.02:

1. Aim for a plan you can maintain over time - both for exercise and diet - sounds like you have this covered.
2. Avoid at all cost explosive power exercises or sports - big no no at our age.

3. Add stretching. Alot of stretching. After bike rides, post workouts. Yoga is incredible for flexibility. At 50, your body will thank you big time.
 
One point of disagreement, I’d still play sports at 50 provided you’ve trained and your body can handle it.
 
I am not, but lots of people play sports and are active athletes at 50. Of course, this takes a different level of training/rest/recovery, but we should encourage people to be athletes if they want!
 
@followernotfan I'd say hire a trainer. Go over your goals and he/she can program workouts around your goals. Your current program is very 90's bro body builder. It's way better than sitting on the couch but I think a trainer can program a workout around your goal to do a 30-50 mile ride.

If you like lifting weights but want more cardio involved check out olympic weight lifting.
 
@followernotfan I would probably replace the machine squat with a barbell squat, assuming there’s no specific medical reason to do the machine squats. Consider adding deadlifts in addition to or instead of leg press.

I’d also add in some triceps and shoulder exercises to get a more well rounded arms routine.

Other than that, congrats on your healthy changes, and best of luck on your journey!
 
@debro Deadlifts are on my radar, but I really would like some coaching on proper technique. I'm too tall to give myself back issues this late in life.

Barbell squats: Again, good technique coaching needed. Plus they are always in use by the youngsters. Don't want to wait for them to open up.

Already doing triceps, per the list above.

Shoulders/Delts: what exercise is recommended there?
 
@followernotfan Shoulders/delts exercises to consider: standing (or seated) dumbbell or barbell overhead/military press; face pulls; front and side raises with dumbbells.
 
@followernotfan At 6’9”, 330+ and 50yo you just take the squat rack at that point. Make them do that long stare up from their phones.

Joke aside, proper coaching for DL and Squat wouldn’t be a bad thing, I’m 10yrs behind you and would benefit from it at all. If you have a powerlifting or Olympic lifting gym around, I’d touch base with them, or if you want to think outside the box and don’t want a “bruh” teaching you, if you have a university/college nearby, their strength and conditioning coaches or kinesiology students/profs make for some decent alternatives if you want your mechanics corrected.
 
@euripetelynn Plus a giant beard to boot. Look like a Old Harley rider, minus the tattoos... :/

Actually an ex-kinesiology major here... :) No college close by, but the Y has strength training coaches I can start with and decide if I want to chase private coaching later. Trying not to go too hardcore and burn out early and stop lifting again. Want to make it an easy part of my every week routine.
 
@followernotfan I'd just stay light and do high volume until I got the technique down. Slowly add weight and back off if it feels wrong. And watch some form videos every week before working out, film your lifts (side view) to see barbell path and your positions.

If those spots busy do RDL with dumbells and goblin squats or pick other variations - it's simply a push or pull movement for the legs.
 
@followernotfan I am well over 6 feet tall though a few inches shorter than you....

one thing to keep in mind is when you do deadlifts it is equivalent to an average height person on this sub doing severe deficit deadlifts; my understanding is most NBA players tend to use trap bar deadlifts with the elevated handles for this reason. (Or deadlift off pins/blocks.) The start of the deadlift is an arbitrary point determined by the metallurgy of the plates which was designed with a shotrer person in mind. Similar issue if you were to try to do e.g. snatches-- the collar is almost certainly too narrow for you as it was built for shorter people. I run into some of these issues but not quite to the degree you do.

Dan John has talked about a lot of the above issues as a strength coach [e.g. for throwers and NBA], and he was a serious discus thrower himself. I think you may like his podcast. He has made claims about being 300+ lbs and ageing that you may not like though.

Final piece: given your background in crew you may want to buy a Concept2 rower and do it for a few hours at home every week. Dan John has one but doesn't seem to 'get it' and instead his neighbor uses it. I think with your background you'd fare better. If you have grave concerns about heart attacks, then you'll gradually find ways to bump up your weekly cardio time allocation especially with equipment at home.
 
@cosimnot Yes, I have thought about a rowing machine. I could likely get away with a bike at home on rollers and do that for daily cardio. (or just go to my local Y daily and get access to the rower there...).

YMCA by me does have Trap Bar, so that is something I'd look at using.

I'll look into the Dan John podcasts.

I'd like to get below, 300. I think if I can do that, I'd be fairly shredded. I never was the tall skinny dude. I was always the guy that people called to carry big heavy sh*t. So underneath the dad bod, there is a fair bit of muscle already. :)
 
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