Am I too Old for gains? Muscle and Strength?

[acvegas]

@lucaannibale I'm a 49 year old male. I do one day cardio and then do the following day upper body. Day three I focus on core and legs. Day 4 cardio, day 5 upper body and core. day 6 I do an hour walk. Day 7 is my rest day. At my age it's about maintaining flexibility, strength and overall fitness and not looking like a sofa. As we age into our late 40s our male hormones diminish. You can get supplements (or be dumb and do steroids) but I am interested in having functional strength to have a quality of life. In my early 20s I was all about gains. Don't get me wrong l, I have good tone with abs and pecs and all. But I'm not going to win Mr Universe. I wish you well good man.

 

[aranyi_zsolt]

@lucaannibale I got stuck at a similar pullup plateau and I did a long post explaining how I overcame it.

I have been working out like 5-6 days a week for 1.5 years. I spend 70 mins on strength training 5 days a week

I don't know how you're splitting your workouts but it could be that you're not getting enough rest days and are overtraining. 3 days a week is quite enough for most people most of the time.

Protein might help but you might also not be doing the right exercises to stimulate hypertrophy. You didn't post how many grams of protein per day you consume on average so really it's impossible to even have an educated guess on that.

 

[jeczaja]

@lucaannibale Check out mark sissons recent tweet about gaining muscle with resistance training for people 65+

 

[veevalaveeda]

@lucaannibale Not too old!!!

 

[sedonarose]

@lucaannibale My dad is 65. He's pretty ripped for an old, diabetic dude. Taught me to lift when he was at least 50. He'd tell you protein and consistently lift heavier. He loves Starting Strength by Mark Rippitoe. If I understand correctly, that author has some good advice for you as you get older.

 

[dcjh]

@lucaannibale I am 58. A few years ago I got back into very heavy calisthenics and serious boxing.

At 58 I can box recreationally and spar with very high level fighters, but I am no longer competitive. I don’t think I have lost any one aspect. My cardio is fine, strength is fine, reactions are fine. But I just can’t pull it all together and maintain it like I could 30 years ago.

In calisthenics I have probably lost enough that I am not competitive for outside of that, I see very little deterioration. I am probably at 98-99% of what younger people are. I got to 15 pull ups and tons of pistol squats. I think I still have a muscle up in me

 

[unimaginablyhappy]

@lucaannibale Need to eat more. I'm 52 and gaining muscle. But have to track your macros.
Worst part of gaining is eating.

 

[ian000]

@lucaannibale Answer: no, not too told, do it

 

[wasblindbutnow]

@lucaannibale I've been stucked with pull ups for several months just back then. Always doing the standard 3 sets of pull ups to failure and stuff, and just like you, I thought something was wrong. Then I discovered K Boges's pull up routine.

I am not kidding when I tell you I went from 8 pull ups to 12 pull ups straight in just 1 month by having the same diet (I consume less than 1lb/protein per day because money) and sleep. I'm not telling you to expect the same or more results, but based on other comments too, you should definitely give this routine a try.

 

[seekhisface]

@lucaannibale great exercise discussion

 

[grover16]

@lucaannibale Too much time in the gym, not enough in the kitchen.

80% of your results come from the food you eat, and only 20% of your results come from your workouts.

 

[nobunaga]

@lucaannibale A month of RFP would get those pull up numbers up.

 

[soulstamper]

@lucaannibale Why so many people are certain that he needs to eat more? His BMI and fat % seem to indicate a moderately overweight person.

 

[ottawaman227]

@soulstamper Because if your only buttons to improve are to workout more or eat less, eventually you get to an unreasonable/unsustainable. Better to gain muscle, increase metabolism and then cut down and possibly be able to maintain at much higher calorie count.

I think it's probably mostly a protein thing though

 

[lumpyoatmeal]

@lucaannibale Eat more.

Add protein.

Lift heavier than you did last week.

Cut down your training and cardio. You're burning yourself out.

I'm 45 and have been lifting for just over 4 years. I eat a lot, supplement protein and creatine, have a trainer that writes out a program for me that always gets heavier as it progresses and my strength has more than doubled since I started.

If your trainer isn't getting the job done maybe try someone new? No point paying someone if they aren't getting the results you want.

 

[ottawaman227]

@lucaannibale 12 eggs a day on top of what you're eating would net a nice 1000 calories, 84g protein and plenty of cholesterol and micros to maximize testosterone.

Prepare it however you like.

When I really need to hit my protein number I will mix raw egg with protein shake for a yummy easy high protein egg nog. Fat and protein are packaged together in nature and will aid digestion when packaged together. Stomach acids and stuff.

Generally, drink the protein/calories if you have issues going higher, eat them if you want to be my re full and satiated. I don't know how you feel on your current diet.

I would add these clean calories and protein for a few weeks. Then deload for a week, 2 weeks if you have manage it, extremely little activity because your body needs it. Your body will be primed to build muscle, look up MTOR resetting.

The body builds muscle while recovering. Eat carbs post workout and in the evening to fuel your sleep.

With high volumes of training, it's a game of recovery. You can do it, but you have to focus on sleep and nutrition even more. You can do it for amazing gains.

But for mass, hit the weights. I mix both bodyweight and weights. It's just quicker to load the barbell vs doing more pushups and gains are faster.

Post workout cardio can kill gains too. It can flush out metabolites that are good for hypertrophy. It's why you can get less sore with post workout cardio.

High weekly volume is king for hypertrophy and you got that. I have a feeling you will blowup in a good way when you deload and add more protein.

 

[mahjadah]

@lucaannibale are you hungry all day?

 

[ardmore]

@lucaannibale Eating enough protein is essential to building muscle, even if you're not trying to gain weight. You need to eat more overall and make sure that you're getting enough protein for your size. 2000 calories is a rough estimate of "maintenance" for the general population, but in order to work out and still get bigger you need to eat more. You're not going to turn into a body builder overnight you just need to give your body the materials to adapt itself to the work it's doing. If your goal is just to get stronger creatine does help with that too but it sounds like your diet is the main thing holding you back.

 

[damon13]

@lucaannibale Over training and under eating

 

[cellstars001]

@lucaannibale You need to eat more