I posted this on the training forum. Thought I may have more luck over here.
Hey guys. I just wanted to ask how you older guys train( 40 years + ). I've read about 5x5, but feel it would be a recipe for an injury for me anyway. I am coming off about 2 years worth of shoulder agony/aggravation and am being very careful on what I am doing.
For the most part I am doing 4 sets of 4 exercises per large body part. 4 sets of 3 exercises for small. Also my first set of each exercise I do 20 reps for warm up.
Please share what you guys are up to and any tips. I'm looking forward to your insight.
First things first - you need to decide upon a specific goal toward which to focus your training.
We each have our own inclinations in this regard and for this discussion, I'll impose my own goals for the purpose of illustration.
So my goals are...
First, I want to maintain a
high level of health.
"Healthy" is a relative term. This is what I mean when I say healthy. In my younger years I rarely ever got sick. In my adult life from 18 yrs old to 36 yrs old I can say I was only actually sick 2 times - both the flu. Other than that, I didn't have so much as a sniffle, cough, or cold - ever! Things changed when I was 36 and I started to get sick about 2-3 times a year with colds and such. That is a big reason I started to look into Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT). Since I've been on HRT (over a year now) not so much as a sniffle cough or cold. So I have accomplished my first goal.
Second goal for me is about how I look. I strive to look like a competitive bodybuilder.
That means I don't care anything about how much I can bench or lift on any particular exercise. I have always felt that you have to show folks how strong you are but you never have to show them how good you look because it is visibly obvious. So, for training, my goal have nothing to do with how much weight I am lifting. It is all about training the muscle and feeling the muscle work.
I agree with what you and some others noted about the 5X5 style of training - you are asking for injuries by going down that road at 40+ years old.
So, I suggest you stick with weights that you fail with at around 10-12 reps. This way you have the opportunity to work the muscle effectively but also maintain a higher degree of safety in your training.
Also, at our age, some body parts become less important than others. i know a lot of guys our age who really don't put much effort into things like calves or quads because they really don't care about developing them. That is ok - focus on what you feel is going to improve your physique. If your not destine to get up on stage, then its only your opinion of yourself that matters.
I like less of a training volume and more intensity.
So, I almost never do more than a total of 12 sets for major body parts. Typically one or two compound exercises and one isolation exercise per body part is all I do.
On small body parts, I'll hit 6-9 sets total.
Again, there is a lot of intensity in my training. I often use drop sets and supersets.
