Injury prevention / Lifting as we get older

J

Joe.Muscle

Active Member
Ok guys I need some feedback and hopefully educated opinions on the following.

I will turn 36 this year and want to make sure I am continue to lift the rest of my life.

The only MAJOR injury I have sustained was 15 years ago when I tore my pec tendon benching very heavy without proper warmup. Fast forward 15 years later and recently I have had the following happen.

Started doing dips daily and exploding out of the hole and pulled a muscle in my left pectoral muscle. I took 3 weeks off and I am now back to training with higher reps and easing back into heavier training.

About 3 months ago I was learning the KettleBell Swing and started Extremely light and was going very slow and after only 2 sets pulled a muscle in my back. Needless to say I haven't done those since.

All of that being said I started training full body daily about 2 months or more ago and luckily up until the recent pulled muscle my body had never felt better from the daily aches and pains.

I also have a desk job which causes me to sit at a computer for 8 hours or daily and I have bad forward head posture most likely from 1) desk job......2) Poor posture (IM working on this).......3)From years of Bro Training back in college when I did WAY more pushing exercises than Pulling = forward rounded shoulders and forward head posture???

So that being said I am going to drop my presses to once a week for maintenance and basically row and do rear delt flys for the next 6 to 8 weeks to hopefully correct this posture issue.

Also in REGARDS to heavy training as we get older and IN MY CASE have had a couple of injuries is there a heavy rep range that we should stay away from?

I recall reading years ago that if you have torn a pec or any other muscle then DO NOT LIFT below your 6 rep max.

I have basically always done that after the pec tear I never lifted more than my 6 rep max. I also have seen DC (dante of doggcrapp) suggest lifters over 35 years old not to go heavier than 10 to 12 rep max due to muscle tears.

Is his advice based off b/c its REST PAUSE training or does this go for straight sets also? In other words is REST PAUSE more risky at 6 reps then a normal straight set?

Anyway I hope Bryan Haycock as well as Old and Gray and the rest of you guys can chime in and give advice on what science as well as real world observations says about...

Whats to heavy of a rep range as we get older?

As well as any other advice we should follow as we get older in regards to training volume / frequency and staying healthy and being able to lift healthy the rest of our life.
 
What supplements are you taking? What sort of bed are you sleeping on Do you do stretches, etc at all?

Look into getting a better chair for the desk and making sure the keyboard, monitor and everything are positioned just right. You said you are working on that posture, but really work on it. You have to sit correctly and it's not the way you would naturally be inclined to sit, especially if you have posture issues.
If you think you have a front/back imbalance, try dropping chest exercises, etc for a while and focus on that back - actually focus on the entire posterior chain really.

Plenty of people a lot older than us are training with heavy loads, relative to their strength levels. Don't be scared of heavy loads. They won't hurt you in and of themselves.
 
Totentanz said:
What supplements are you taking? What sort of bed are you sleeping on Do you do stretches, etc at all?

Look into getting a better chair for the desk and making sure the keyboard, monitor and everything are positioned just right. You said you are working on that posture, but really work on it. You have to sit correctly and it's not the way you would naturally be inclined to sit, especially if you have posture issues.
If you think you have a front/back imbalance, try dropping chest exercises, etc for a while and focus on that back - actually focus on the entire posterior chain really.

Plenty of people a lot older than us are training with heavy loads, relative to their strength levels. Don't be scared of heavy loads. They won't hurt you in and of themselves.
Click to expand...

Hey Tot Thanks for the reply.

I am on 2 grams of fish oil daily.

I have started stretches as well as mobility work daily.

Good advice on the office chair and last week I priced one of those chairs from Staples for about 70 bucks that helps with daily posture and sitting.

I think you are right about dropping chest...I think I going to add a bunch of rows,face pulls, and rear delt flys. Any other suggestions?

And to your last point...I agree other people older than we are still lift heavy loads...I just didn't know if there was a general recommendation as to How heavy...and also with having some injuries and now training daily full body if that changed the advice on load for safety reasons?
 
O&G is an assisted lifter, which is worth baring in mind. HRT is something worth considering and investigating for most guys over 40 as well.
 
Stretch daily.
Warmup thoroughly.
Use strict form.
Get proper rest and nutrition.

If you can do all that, you will prevent as much injury as possible.

I am lazy to stretch frequently, but it's super-important. I injured my lower back pretty badly once and it was directly caused by tight hamstrings....
 
Two grams of fish oil a day is diddley squat for a lifter like you, Joe! With your training frequency, I'd be on 5g/day at least.
I'm 49 now and, although I'm having to be more careful to warm up thoroughly, I can still work up to 3-5RMs on many of the lifts I use in my training. For a few lifts I go to my on-the-day 1RMs.
Stretching and mobility work is definitely a good idea too.
 
Lol...I will up my EPA / DHA and see how it goes.

I guess my main question and I can't seem to find any science / research to back it up is how heavy should one train as we get older...in regards to tendon / joint health.


I am going to have to compromise somewhere in order to continue to get stronger without training really heavy? I am just trying to figure out were the wall is...if you know what I mean!
 
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