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Any Gym Rats Here?

lucasbuck

lucasbuck

Sheriff Buck
Joined
Jun 17, 2003
Messages
7,622
Location
Grand Forks, ND
First Name
Craig
I’ve been strength training since 12 years old. Now old & grey I’m pushing harder than ever as I believe it’s a major benefactor to longevity and especially maintaining mobility as well as flexibility as long as possible. I owe it to my daughter to keep her father here with her and playing hard with her as long as I can or at least die trying 😆

I’m curious what your routine is compared to mine. Through trial and error I’ve come up with a weekly that works well for me. I do mostly machines as they suit my now frail joints. There are some free weights mixed in but only a few that I feel aren’t covered by the machines at my gym. Especially love the FreeMotion machines. High reps (12-15) to failure. Three to four sets per lift. Then first week of every month I do what I call a Blast Week. Crank the weights up about 50% also to failure which is usually about half the normal reps. I shoot for 6-8 or so on Blast.

Monday - avoid gym at all cost! 😅
Tuesday Arms
Wednesday Shoulders
Thursday Legs
Friday Chest
Saturday Back
Sunday Core

I find that hitting each body part just once a week gives my old ass plenty of time to recover and results are much better as well as avoiding amy serious injury and protecting my joints.

Not big on cardio but do love the stair climber and hit that on occasion once I’ve fully depleted my glycogen stores in the weight room and want to torch some fat. Chasing my 3 year old all day as an at home dad is cardio enough!
 
lucasbuck said:
I’ve been strength training since 12 years old. Now old & grey I’m pushing harder than ever as I believe it’s a major benefactor to longevity and especially maintaining mobility as well as flexibility as long as possible. I owe it to my daughter to keep her father here with her and playing hard with her as long as I can or at least die trying 😆

I’m curious what your routine is compared to mine. Through trial and error I’ve come up with a weekly that works well for me. I do mostly machines as they suit my now frail joints. There are some free weights mixed in but only a few that I feel aren’t covered by the machines at my gym. Especially love the FreeMotion machines. High reps (12-15) to failure. Three to four sets per lift. Then first week of every month I do what I call a Blast Week. Crank the weights up about 50% also to failure which is usually about half the normal reps. I shoot for 6-8 or so on Blast.

Monday - avoid gym at all cost! 😅
Tuesday Arms
Wednesday Shoulders
Thursday Legs
Friday Chest
Saturday Back
Sunday Core

I find that hitting each body part just once a week gives my old ass plenty of time to recover and results are much better as well as avoiding amy serious injury and protecting my joints.

Not big on cardio but do love the stair climber and hit that on occasion once I’ve fully depleted my glycogen stores in the weight room and want to torch some fat. Chasing my 3 year old all day as an at home dad is cardio enough!
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Craig - I was a gym rat for years, but as I've gotten older, I'm concentrating on longevity/lean muscle and overall cardio health. I do run what comes out to a 5k, 4-5 times a week. I've gotten into kettlebells lately and honestly, love using them because they hit so many different areas at the same time.

Back when I was in the gym, I had a similar routine as yours above, but I went heavier with less reps. I always concentrated on "push-pull" movements. For instance, I'd do chest (bench, incline, decline) for the "push" and back (rows, lat pull downs, deadlift) for the "pull". I think you're on the right routine, with the high reps as you get "older and grayer" as you say :) If your gym has kettlebells, give them a try. You'd be surprised how well they work. A lot of people get cardio and weight training out of kettlebells.

I'd be interested in your opinion on Pre-workouts and Creatine.
 
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I was never gym rat but mostly stayed active my whole life. With the exception of the last few years I've been an avid kayak fisherman. I will go out at dawn and not come home until late afternoon. I traveled 10 miles some days. Now, retired, I keep active by doing very fast walks everyday 1-2 miles. Having a bad back most of my later life, I have about a dozen core exercises I do daily to keep my back strong. I also do some minor free weights to keep everything else tone. The biggest thing I find at my age, 68, is keeping it up is crucial. If I am lazy, which I am, if I don't keep it up it takes FOREVER to get it back again! More power to you hard core guys. It will pay off in your later years!
 
I'm in a similar situation as Brandon. I used to work out on a 4 day split when I was in my 20s and early 30s and was in pretty good shape and pretty strong, but never did manage to put on all that much mass (genetics, I imagine). I fell off the wagon for a while and somewhere around two years ago decided to get back at it. Now I've been doing a kettlebell routine 3 days per week, and cardio on an elliptical 2-3 days per week, and am down 50 pounds from my heaviest. Let me tell you, it's much harder to lose those last 10-15 pounds in your 40s! (I can't seem to get rid of them).
 
bfreebern said:
Craig - I was a gym rat for years, but as I've gotten older, I'm concentrating on longevity/lean muscle and overall cardio health. I do run what comes out to a 5k, 4-5 times a week. I've gotten into kettlebells lately and honestly, love using them because they hit so many different areas at the same time.

Back when I was in the gym, I had a similar routine as yours above, but I went heavier with less reps. I always concentrated on "push-pull" movements. For instance, I'd do chest (bench, incline, decline) for the "push" and back (rows, lat pull downs, deadlift) for the "pull". I think you're on the right routine, with the high reps as you get "older and grayer" as you say :) If your gym has kettlebells, give them a try. You'd be surprised how well they work. A lot of people get cardio and weight training out of kettlebells.

I'd be interested in your opinion on Pre-workouts and Creatine.
Click to expand...

Do love the kettlebells though I should work them in more than I do. I’ll work on it. As far as pre’s and creatine go I’m not much for pre anymore. Usually have an espresso or two before heading to the gym is all. Huge proponent of creatine. Standard five grams a day of micronized monohydrate. There are some good pre’s but most of them have way too much caffeine. Post-workouts are more valuable in my experience especially glutamine.
 
lucasbuck said:
Do love the kettlebells though I should work them in more than I do. I’ll work on it. As far as pre’s and creatine go I’m not much for pre anymore. Usually have an espresso or two before heading to the gym is all. Huge proponent of creatine. Standard five grams a day of micronized monohydrate. There are some good pre’s but most of them have way too much caffeine. Post-workouts are more valuable in my experience especially glutamine.
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What products do you use? I feel that I have room to grow in the creatine and recovery realm.
 
5/7 days a week at the gym. The other two days can be light 50-60 minute cardio or just a rest day.

Upper body day
Lower body day (low weight deadlifts and ab workout added in)
Pull day
Push day
Legs day (just legs)

I follow that routine with the rest days sprinkled in. Sessions are usually 3-5 sets (including 1-2 warm up sets), last set to failure. Slower eccentric rep on everything. Focusing on exercises that don't load my axial spine too much, as I treat waaaaay too many older weight lifters with spine issues (and I've been watching Ronnie Coleman's journey).

So deadlifts are low weights, higher reps, no bouncing. Belt squats or squat rack seated machine. Incline bench only cause my shoulders are shot on flat bench from doing way too much in my younger years. etc. etc.

Don't blame you for avoiding the gyms on Mondays. Thankfully I go to an older gym with older equipment, and I go at lunch time, so not alot of people usually go to this gym, especially during the day.

Most exercises are machines, but there are some freeweights mixed in. I do some bulgarian single leg squats, but its with no weight and I do it inside a squat rack so I can use the frame to balance my big ass lol, with my off leg resting on a PADDED squat bar on hooks. I ain't out here to condition my shins lol.
 
lucasbuck said:
I’ve been strength training since 12 years old. Now old & grey I’m pushing harder than ever as I believe it’s a major benefactor to longevity and especially maintaining mobility as well as flexibility as long as possible. I owe it to my daughter to keep her father here with her and playing hard with her as long as I can or at least die trying 😆

I’m curious what your routine is compared to mine. Through trial and error I’ve come up with a weekly that works well for me. I do mostly machines as they suit my now frail joints. There are some free weights mixed in but only a few that I feel aren’t covered by the machines at my gym. Especially love the FreeMotion machines. High reps (12-15) to failure. Three to four sets per lift. Then first week of every month I do what I call a Blast Week. Crank the weights up about 50% also to failure which is usually about half the normal reps. I shoot for 6-8 or so on Blast.

Monday - avoid gym at all cost! 😅
Tuesday Arms
Wednesday Shoulders
Thursday Legs
Friday Chest
Saturday Back
Sunday Core

I find that hitting each body part just once a week gives my old ass plenty of time to recover and results are much better as well as avoiding amy serious injury and protecting my joints.

Not big on cardio but do love the stair climber and hit that on occasion once I’ve fully depleted my glycogen stores in the weight room and want to torch some fat. Chasing my 3 year old all day as an at home dad is cardio enough!
Click to expand...
Seems a lot like the Arnold plan. It's what I use for the most part. Im a powerlifter more than a body builder though. So squat, dead, and bench are the main 3 of focus. But your plan looks good. The next part is how is your nutrition that's just as important as working out. Making sure you get 1g of protein per body pound. Carbs are not evil! especially on leg and back days. Just my 2 cents.
 
Always working on the diet and nutrition as I believe it’s the most important for overall health and well being. Protein and good fats are my focus.
 
lucasbuck said:
Always working on the diet and nutrition as I believe it’s the most important for overall health and well being. Protein and good fats are my focus.
Click to expand...

I also fast daily and try to hit 18 hours at least. I try to maintain a feeding window from 2:00PM to 8:00PM, sometimes depending on how hungry I am, it could be 12:00 - 6:00, but it varies. I do seem to get my macros in during those 6 hours, so it works for me.
 
I am also a faster Brandon. I do 20:4 most days and love working out on an empty stomach in the morning. Absolutely blown away how much size and strength I’m putting on in my 60’s. It’s incredibly motivating. My goal this year was to increase my lifts by 25% which I have already surpassed with all but a few I’m stuck on.
 
lucasbuck said:
I am also a faster Brandon. I do 20:4 most days and love working out on an empty stomach in the morning. Absolutely blown away how much size and strength I’m putting on in my 60’s. It’s incredibly motivating. My goal this year was to increase my lifts by 25% which I have already surpassed with all but a few I’m stuck on.
Click to expand...

I've only been doing IF since 2018 and when I started, I was doing 20:4 and dropped a ton of weight. I've found as I've gotten older, my body needs more fuel so I pushed it back a little to 18:6. If I get to 18 hours and feel good, even after working out, I push it to 20:4 and I feel great. I also do IF, for the autophagy benefits, due to my eye cancer. Hoping all those f'ing cancer cells get broken down into new more powerful cells :)
 
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