Staving off muscle loss for an older female

Catawampous

Hi guys! Thanks for reading

I'm 54 and I started this adventure about a month ago when I realized, much to my dismay, that I am losing strength. Yep. I know it happens the older you get so I need to do what I can to stave it off or maintain what I have left. Hubby and I own a small farm with horses, chickens, dogs, etc. I use to be able to throw around a 50lb feed bag like it was nothing or a 60lb hay bale. Now I'm struggling and it's really peeving me off. On top of it, I need to lose about 50lbs.

Now to the questions - Right now a gym membership is not possible. We flat out can't afford it. So working out at home is what I have to work with. I have an older bowflex that I've started to use again. I do arms, shoulders, chest, back and legs. 4 sets of 12 reps each for each exercise. Any thoughts on this? More reps, less reps or sets?

DVD's - well actually YouTube. I'm looking at the Jillian Michaels series. My question here is, if I incorporate these programs along with my bowflex, will it help with my strength? I'm not about just cardio, that bores me. But these videos *look* like they sort of incorporate both and I'd be willing to commit to that if that is true. I'm also liking the looks of her Yoga video.

So any thoughts on these things to help out an oldster?

Thank you!!

Cherimoose

Catawampous wrote: »

I have an older bowflex that I've started to use again. I do arms, shoulders, chest, back and legs. 4 sets of 12 reps each for each exercise.

I'd probably do some of the sets with fewer reps, to more closely match how you work on the farm.
Just avoid doing too much too soon, and also avoid working the same muscle group hard 2 days in a row.

I suspect that losing the 50 lbs. will make a big difference in performance. Being at the right weight tends to make everything easier.

CipherZero

While you don't have access to a barbell gym, the same principles can be applied to your Bowflex workouts.

As a beginner, you can work out three times a week and increase the weight every workout. The adaptations are really that fast.

I'd suggest amping up the resistance and doing five repetitions. Your starting resistance point should be where your speed on the rep slows at all. Once that happens, do two more sets at that resistance and move to the next exercise. The next workout, add the smallest increment of resistance the Bowflex allows and repeat.

Do the Jillian Michaels videos on the days you're not on the Bowflex, so long as they're not interfering with your recovery from the Bowflex workouts.

CarlydogsMom

In addition to the above, may I suggest that you look at some established programs that work your primary muscle groups. The essential movements would be: 1) vertical push (think overhead presses or the Bowflex equivalent); 2) vertical pull (think chin-ups or the lat pull-downs); 3) horizontal push (think bench press or Bowflex similar); 4) horizontal pull (think rows or similar); 5) quad/front leg; 6) glutes/hamstring. And, since you're using a Bowflex and not free weights (which help improve your core/ab strength naturally from the balancing of heavy weight), may want to add in some core exercises.

It's important to hit those main groups--otherwise, your strength gains will be imbalanced, and may affect overall functional strength. Example: working just on quads, without doing equivalent hamstring/glute work, may affect how you use your knees--quads will take over and that may affect long-term health of knees.

Packerjohn

An obvious exercise you can do is farmer carries and their variations, will beat the heck out of anything Jillian Michaels puts out there and if you farm you have the equipment and the space.

https://www.t-nation.com/training/secret-of-loaded-carries

Good luck.

Catawampous

Wow - thank you guys. I will definitely take notes on your suggestions and start incorporating them. CarlydogsMom thanks for the detail. That helps me! And Packerjohn. Thanks for that link! That is very useful

jemhh

You've gotten great advice. The only thing I'll add is that Lyle McDonald has a machine-based routine at the link below. It's a beginner routine so fewer sets but you can always add sets. I don't know what all you can do on a Bowflex but if you want a sample routine to look at, it might be helpful:

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/beginning-weight-training-part-4.html/

Sabine_Stroehm

Good suggestions. I'd also say try "You are your own Gym" for some variety. Yoga by Adrienne on youtube is free. There are other body weight exercises on youtube.

middlehaitch

Good for you- recognizing sarcopinia can happen, and taking action.

As well as following a good progressive resistance routine make sure you have plenty of protein. Research is showing that as one ages one needs more, not less, protein for muscle retention even if one is not lifting. Supplementing with creatine, if lifting, has also been recommended.
(A bit of research on sarcopinia is well worth it- I just wish I had saved all the links)

Also, don't rush your weight loss. Losing at a slower rate, especially while lifting, will help with muscle retention. 1lbs a week, dropping to .5 lbs as you get closer to your ideal weight, would be good.

Have a look through the programmes posted below and see if you can adapt any to work with the bow flex (sorry I have no idea how they work).

I probably started off a lot weaker than you, no hay bales in my life , and found hand weights and the beginners bodyweight programme at Nerdfitness challenging enough to begin with.

Once I had acquired a bit more strength I moved on to AllPro which leans toward hypertrophy then strength. I chose it because: 1) I need to build strength and muscle, 2) it increases reps before weight, I work out at the gym alone and like that comfort factor, 3) it is a heavy, medium, light day rotation so I don't get fatigued to quite the same extent as I would running 3 heavy days, I tried.

At 63 I know strength gains are slow and muscle gains even slower, but they do happen. (Not saying muscles gain happens in a deficit, I'm recomping).

Cheers, h.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1