A Squatting Question…

[Abe Smith]

A Squatting Question…

[Al Myers]

Abe – One thing I have learned over 25 years of lifting is that THINGS CHANGE as you age. What works when you are younger doesn’t necessary work when you are older. This is different for everyone. I used to train my lower body (legs and back) heavy a couple times per week and STILL do at least two hard highland game workouts that included back/leg stuff like the WOB and caber. I could NEVER handle that training volume now. I now have a rule for myself that I can only train back/legs twice per week with at least two days rest between workouts, and it works very well for me in terms of recovery. The only drawback is you have to cram alot of stuff into these two days to make this happen. Typically these two workouts are 3 hours or more in length for me. I also like to train at least 5 days per week, so on my other three days I do a upper body day, a stretching/ab day, and a cardio/grip/stretching day. These workouts are pretty easy compared to my two heavy back/leg days but still lets me get into the gym to have a little fun. Al

[Tom Ryan]

Training frequency and/or intensity must be reduced as we age. The Russians discovered this decades ago and wrote about it. I’ve lifted weights for almost 53 years and for many years I trained 5 days per week: Monday-Thursday and Saturday. I trained hard and never missed a workout. As I reached my early 30s, I found that I had to occasionally put a workout back a day, as my body wasn’t able to go.

Now I train only when my muscles seem to have recovered and I train 2-3 times a week. This is usually easy to determine. For example, I can place my arms in a starting press position (without any weights) and see how my shoulders feel, or bend my knees slightly and see how my legs feel.

I am now training for Olympic lifting and working on my top pull. I didn’t train for Olympic lifting for 24 years and I found that my top pull had totally disappeared! For the past several months I have been doing muscle snatches and muscle cleans for 8 reps, just trying to develop a base. My traps have been quite sore at times.

Tom

[Abe Smith]

Good comments and all quite relevant. One night at Clark’s an ex top 0lympic weightlifter strolled through the door (don’t remember the guys name). He said that he just came from Bill’s house to get okay for him to lift. The guy warmed up and proceeded to knock out huge weights..I believe he finished up near 400 lb on the clean and jerk. For me this was quite a large amount. I asked him about training…he said when he trained at the center he lifted nearly everyday…now as he got older he found he only needs two times a week…clean and jerk and snatch followed by back squats on both days. The extra time gives him the ability to rest up.

For me at this stage the routine squatting seems like a good way to build overall strength without overstressing other parts of the body…one thing for certain it is stressing my paint’s leg seams! Hehehe.

[Thom Van Vleck]

Ok, here’s my 2 cents….which may be all this is really worth.

I found when I worked out every day it helped…..for awhile.

I found when I worked out once a week it helped….for awhile.

My point is IT IS MY BELIEF you need to cycle thru different works to keep things fresh. The one I am currently on is if I have a contest in, say 6 weeks, I have a “conditioning” week where I do some two a day workouts, with lots of cardio (which for me is football type conditioning drills and medicine ball throwing). This if followed by a 4 week cycle of lifting and throwing where the throwing is initially more focused on reps and technique and switches to more all out max effort throwing and the lifting changes from higher rep to lower rep with more weight. Then the last week I go an lift and throw, but warm up, hit one hard set or a couple of hard throws for each event, and call it good. I usually leave the gym a little taxed, but itching to finish the workout….that allows me to be fresh come contest day.

Variety is the spice of life….and workouts.

Thom Van Vleck
Jackson Weightlifting Club
Highland Games athlete and sometimes All-Rounder

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