Back in the Lifting Game, anyone else coming back? What are your goals?

I LOVE whole milk, especially chocolate milk, but it's got too much fat. My macro for fat is 67 grams a day. Whole milk shoots that all to hell so I've been drinking almond milk.

 

I would mix either 2% or skim and chocolate protein powder for a post-workout drink. delicious. and yes, I think it's better for your recovery than just mixing with water.

this is the stuff I would use: http://www.bluebonnetnutrition.com/product/324/100%25_Natural_Dual_Action_Protein_Powder_-_Chocolate_Flavor

 

You guys are thinking too much. I'm almost 46 and have been lifting for about 30 years. I started in high school to put on size for football and got really serious when playing ball in college. I've never really been into body building as I find it boring. Not trying to bash it, just wasn't for me. I've always lifted to improve athletic performance.

I'm almost 6'5" and weighed just under 300LBS in college and until I was about 30. Between 30 and 45 I weighed roughly 275. I weigh about 265 and dropping now due to injuries. A couple of months ago I tore my hamstring tendon. I've also been holding off on a neck fusion but am getting ready to bite the bullet and get it fixed. Four knee surgeries and a back surgery didn't slow me down but this hamstring injury has kicked my butt. A torn hamstring just sucks!

At 45 I can clean and press 385, log clean and press 345, over head squat 315 for reps, push press 365, one one barbell snatch 185, etc., etc. I pull sleds, pull trucks, flip tires, sprint, jump, lift barrels and sand bags, and have a great time. I still bench on occasion, squat, and dead lift but those lifts become boring after so many years. Unfortunately, it looks like my days of heavy lifting might be over but it's been a great run!

Even though I've carried a lot of body weight I've always stayed in good shape. I've never tracked calories and never timed my eating. I've also never been a huge supplement guy. My protein comes from milk (I love milk!), eggs, chicken, fish, and beef. A lot of it. Some days I'll eat a lot, some days not so much. My body tells me what I need.

The biggest mistake that I made when young was working out too often and for too long. I believe if you can lift more then once a day or four times per week you're doing it wrong. I'm wiped out after a workout. My best gains, by far, have been from working out for 90 minutes 3 or 4 times per week. But, it's an intense 90 minutes.

Keep it simple, especially as you get older. Listen to your body. We're all different. If you really need a day off take it. Keep a lifting log but nothing set in stone. Mix it up.

Worrying too much about counting calories, counting grams of protein, routines, etc., takes all of the fun out of it. If it's not fun you won't stick with it.

 

Couldn't agree with you more - only that I cut down to twice a week for 30 - 40 minutes. I'm a firm believer that if you are training to gain muscle (strength/size) you need to train intense but for a short period of time - and then get lots of rest. If done right, less is better.

And other than possibly a good protein powder, IMHO supplements are a colossal waste of $$$.

 

I have 2-3 shakes a day pre and post but I use almond milk, ON Gold Standard Whey, oats, and a banana mixed in for flavor. I'll look into that protein. Other than fish oil that's all I take.

Wow, those are impressive numbers! I'm at my heaviest ever at 185 now but I've always struggled to put on weight. Two years ago I was 155lbs with 7% body fat. Endurance has been my thing.

I actually enjoy the science of fine tuning my diet. It's interesting to see the effects. Listening to my body doesn't work well for me because I naturally am not an "eater". I notice a giant difference when I get the right amount of fuel. Just operating by the seat of my pants doesn't work well for me.

Admittedly I probably do overtrain a bit but I rest when needed. I like to alternate strength and cardio rather than take a day off. I've been doing it for so long I'm used to it. If I were to stop I'd loose all my conditioning I've built so hard to gain. M-W-F I'll run three miles in the morning and then lift in the evening. T-R-S I'll do some type of light strength/technique and or metcon.

This works really well for me. Although I can't put up insane numbers I can go at 10/10ths for up to 60 minutes non-stop. My favorite workout is called "Murph" where you run 1 mile then do 100 pull-ups, 200 pushups, and 300 airsquats followed by another mile. At 44 I can do it all in just under 40 minutes. Body weight exercise are my wheelhouse!

 

How is your macro determined.

The former head strength trainer of the US Olympic team is who told me about the whole milk. Told me that it was prescribed to all his athletes, male and female, when they were in strength months. Our sports nutritionist never prescribed any set limits of fat intake unless someone was grossly overweight (which wasn't anyone I was working with).

Your body needs a lot of fat along with the protein you consume.

 

https://youtu.be/oo3b_5vcS64

Michael Kory has a lot of videos about macros. This is just one.

 

you didn't know this guy?


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Even better video about macros:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Wd8tZiHexPc

 

Whole milk helped me put on weight, almost 30 pounds. I was drinking at least a half a gallon a day. Now that I'm at my target weight I have to cut back or I'd keep gaining. Milk helps but it definitely adds on body fat.

Thanks.

Awesome. Now I'll just eat Pop Tarts all day!

 

Another month on, totals are now just over 1kLbs! 1,047 lbs actually. Not BIG for my weight but closer to 1,500 then I was 3 months ago.

I've hit a plateau due to not consuming enough calories.. increased the food intake a bit more. I don't normally track my caloric intake but decided to 2wks ago. Yeah I was barely hitting 2k a day, more like 1,500 ~1,700 a day. Not good for 6'4" @ 245lbs and weight training. I know that when I was my best 12~15yrs ago I was taking in 3,500~4k a day and lifting 5 days a week and maintained a solid 240lb body weight. My lifts are still off by about 100lbs to then right now. 'Course I'm also past 40 now... nah age has nothing to do with it, not getting old, not getting old... say it enough it's true right

Another upside is my wife decided to change her routine and has started weightlifting now. Oh she hates it! but has decided to change things as all those yrs of pure cardio are not getting the results she wants. She's doing great and has managed to more then double the weight of her lifts in 4wks! though to her she doesn't care. Women!

As most women believe, she has always avoided weights for fear of looking like a body builder or just getting big vs fit. Trying to argue that is pointless, what changed her perspective though is this 'cross fit' craze, no she doesn't do that but I mentioned that she should look into it and see why that kind of workout is effective. Long story short, strength training trumps cardio for weight loss and staying fit, not that cardio is bad of course.

It's been and interesting thing to see develop though. My wife has done cardio for yrs, she can run through a 45min intense cardio routine and be fine the next day. She'd do this for 5 days a week. Over training, but telling her otherwise fell on deaf ears. For her it's the mantra that practically starving yourself and doing lots of cardio will make you skinny. I'd really like to know where that nonsense started. In any case her first day lifting was an eye opener. ZERO core strength and major difficulty maintaining form. It took 2wks to get the form 80% there and she's just now getting the hang of it. Mentally that has been the hardest on her, she was not expecting it to be that hard and was not aware of how weak she was given the volume of cardio and exercise she has been doing. When she started I had her stop all cardio and is only lifting 3x a week. Her squat went from 45 to 110, dead lift went from 35 to 100, and bent rows are up to 85. Instead of BP I have her working on push-ups. I'm impressed honestly, she hates it immensely yet sticks to it, yeah she'd rather do cardio as it's relatively easier but that didn't work by itself.

 

Twelve to fifteen years ago, at age 25 -30, you could get away with lifting 5x's per week. At age 40+, especially if you're trying for 1500LBS, stick with 3x's per week. Have you tried incorporating bands and chains into your routine? They make a huge difference.

 

Recovery time gets longer and that sucks..
Chains, I've thought about it a couple times as I've got probably 300lbs of 1/2" chain too. Just need to find the crate it's hiding in.

 

That's awesome. Congrats on the progress.

I've drank the crossfit kool aid also but it definitely works. I've seen people lose crazy amounts of weight and get i great shape. You do have to be careful, the open nature of the way each location is run means you have to self police. For every spot that is great there is one that doesn't enforce basics such as form and reasonable limits. If it's something your wife tries she might not hate it as much as working on her own. Women tend to prefer group workouts.

I just turned 45 so I hear you about recovery. I try to get a lot of calories but the most important thing for me is sleep. Without a good sleep schedule I can't accomplish anything.

 

Are you sure you are accurately tracking calories?

It is hard to fathom only 1,500 - 1,700 calories per day. I'm 6'3" and anywhere from 190 to 210 lbs, and when cutting hard I would be lucky to keep it to 2,500k calories per day. With activity, I feel like 1,500 calories isn't even possible or you'd be dropping weight incredibly fast, particularly if also working out (esp at over 240 lbs and your height).

 

Yeah, couple things happen when one cuts back on calories over an extended period of time. It's not like I went from 2.5~3k a day to half that suddenly, over the last 5yrs or so I'd been cutting back on caloric intake as I was not actively lifting anymore and didn't want to gain weight. Doing it that way will slow down your metabolism. Now that I'm back to lifting I have to also increase my food intake, but since my metabolism had been down-regulated it's taking a bit more effort to get it back up. I also spend a fair amount of time sitting which I hate or standing, still working on my doctorate in theoretical physics and contract engineering to pay the bills, is time spend buried in books or a PC screen, bottom line: not incredibly physically active as I would like.

Some days I'd hit 2k some days a tick over 1200, I can feel it, it leaves me a bit more tired then I'd like now that I'm lifting again. If you cut back on calories suddenly you'll actually convert muscle to fat, done over a longer period of time you'll end up slowing down your metabolism to avoid that. To a point of course. The lightest I've ever been is 185, eons ago when I bicycled ~25miles a day all over socal, probably had less then 10% body fat. Looked waaaaaay too thin for my frame, only time in my life where I had a 31" waist! Looked like a skeleton wearing clothes!

Back on point, it's taken a week but now my avg intake is just about 3k. I don't like the full feeling, not used to it. back to grazing again (multiple meals). I think one of the more critical reasons why even at low caloric intake I wasn't wasting away is that I don't eat anything pre-packaged, fast food or is loaded with sugar and carbs. My diet is heavy on protein, fruits and veggies, exceptionally light on breads and grains. If there is one food I eat consistently it's eggs, 3 or more a day every day for the last 30+yrs, ZERO cholesterol issues. Funny, don't really care for chicken, but an egg? oh yeah that's the good stuff! liquid gold!

 

Understand the metabolism point but that is really low. 1,200 calories and I would be literally starving. I eat almost exclusively "whole" type foods and I can't imagine such a low caloric intake.

Eggs do provide a feeling of fullness but that is still extreme.

BTW, are you still at 245 while maintaining that intake? Or have you gone back up to that point?

I'm in the middle of a cut and while I made great initial progress, it has become more difficult as my body fat has fallen, though it does seem like I've been able to maintain strength now (initially lost a good 5% off my lifts).

I guess I love food and cooking too much -- and every percentage point decline in body fat I've achieved just makes me think there is cushion for me to now eat more again...

Good luck!

 

I know this is going to sound strange but I just don't get hungry, I can go an easy 8hrs between meals. Many times I'll skip thru lunch and notice it's ~4pm and then wrestle with the idea of eating because if I do then I'm most likely not going to eat till the next day. So up till October I'd eat twice a day.

Don't get me wrong though as I know it cost me muscle mass, lost a lot over the last couple yrs. I was 260lb with about 15% body fat. Most of that was catobolized over the last couple yrs. Dropped down to 240 with an increase in body fat to ~20%. Just thru sheer luck I managed to slow my metabolism waaay down, now I've got to speed it up.

Adaptive thermogenesis is the scientific term for the bodies regulation of caloric intake to expenditure. It's a bit more involved then that sentence but that's the gist of it.

 

Wow, I could never go that long without food. I always have to eat something for luch, if not I usually get a sick feeling, a headache and a bad attitude.

 

Just bumping this up because I hope everyone's still alive.

I just started a new job (not sure how long I'll be there) in The Woodlands. I've run into a dilemma in a way with the gym.

Last week I went to a gym that's on my way home, but I don't get there until close to 530, whereas this week I tried the gym that's about 5 minutes away. I'm going to have to play around with it, but I prefer the gym that's on the way home. It's smaller, less equipment but I seem to have less of a problem using what I want. I also get home around 730. The close gym is much larger, much more equipment, but I have to be more strategic in my routine, it also feels a little dirtier and less eye candy. But I get home about 7.

I'm going to have to play around with it, but I like getting home 30 minutes earlier. It's a long drive home, thankfully no traffic though.

 

2wk hiatus a the beginning of December. Drove me crazy I couldn't lift during that time. Traveling out of state and no gym facilities, figured the time off would be OK. The day I got home first thing I did was a workout, literally dropped my bags in the entryway after hopping out of the cab, changed and hit the gym. after 5hrs of flying I needed to do something! Thankfully I was able to pick up right were I left off and actually was able to move past a couple plateaus!
I've switched to every 3rd day now. Overall on the scale I dropped 10lb then gained 5lb. 1RM is up 341 lbs since 9/21. So at the three month mark the gains have been good and now I'm debating changing up the routine or waiting till I hit another wall.

 

Show of hands, who made it to the gym today?

I did!

 

Gym is in house so pretty bad if I can't raise hand.

Got downstairs today but can't say it was best workout.

 

That's dedication Stat!

I could never have a home gym, I have to get out of the house.

The funniest thing with the gym I normally go to by my house, if I go on odd days like today I still see some of the same people. Same applies with the weekend. I can go at 9am and it'll be the same people, but another weekend I'll go at 2pm and the same people are there. It's like we're all in the same frame of mind.

 

Ive had a weightroom in my houses since 1999, and i still managed to skip a couple yrs of training. Its easy to get into the habbit of tommorow... flip side ofcourse is having the freedom to lift when i can and not have anyone else using my gear. Oh and not having to use a communal shower!