Workout routine for guys over 40 who want to look 20

Roadie2000

I'm a big fan of SL 5x5 personally, it just works for me. If you have the time you can check out a 5-3-1 program but it involves a lot more sets. If all you care about is looks you don't need to do much else, it will mostly depend on your diet.

Personally I'm a pig so I have to work out a ton if I want to cut, the older I get the harder I find it is to eat on a deficit so I need to supplement with a lot of exercise.

DevilsFan1

bgowder wrote: »

JoRocka wrote: »

lol 1500 seems low for you- not sure how tall you are- but I'm at 1800 as a woman and I'm SQUARELY in a deficit.

But yeah- protein shakes are probably fine- but bananas and peanut butter probably put it over the top.

I wondered about the 1,500 calories myself. Some online tool calculated that for me. I'm 5' 11", 189 pounds and 23.4% body fat. I was 201 on December 10, 2017 and managed to not gain anything over Christmas. I thought 185 pounds was going to be my target weight, but I'm still seeing a little extra on me that I'd like to shave off.

I'm 5'10, 181. I work out six days a week (four olympic weightlifting, one 60-min HIIT session, and one 30 mile bike ride). My maintenance level is over 2600 calories per day. I'm losing over one pound per week at 2000. It depends how active you are, but 1500 seems pretty low.

Of course this all depends on how accurate you are at tracking calories.

DevilsFan1

Roadie2000 wrote: »

I'm a big fan of SL 5x5 personally, it just works for me. If you have the time you can check out a 5-3-1 program but it involves a lot more sets.

And math.

brtgl

I'll continue on with SL 5x5 even though it seems a little slow out of the gate. For food and diet, I did that Scooby's Calorie Calculator (thanks for the tip - http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/) and got the following:

Daily calories to maintain weight (TDEE): 2140
Daily calories based on goal in step 6: 1712

So, I'm not too far off with my 1,500 and will up it to 1,712. As far as my activity is concerned, I sit at my desk most of the work day, but I work from home and can have little fitness breaks whenever. I have a Garmin Vivo smart HR+ and target 10,000 steps per day, no matter what. It also calculates Intensity Minutes with a target of 150 and I always achieve that. I tripled it last week. My weight on 12/10/17 was 201. Now I'm at 188.8.

erickirb

if you are eating 1500 plus eating back your exercise caloreis, that sounds like a good level. If you are eating 1500 and not eating back those cals, then I would suggest upping them to the 1712ish as 200/day over the course of a week can make a difference with recovery and energy levels.

brtgl

erickirb wrote: »

if you are eating 1500 plus eating back your exercise caloreis, that sounds like a good level. If you are eating 1500 and not eating back those cals, then I would suggest upping them to the 1712ish as 200/day over the course of a week can make a difference with recovery and energy levels.

Very good point. I forgot about that. I am eating back the calories. For example, in My Fitness Pal, I logged 1,656 calories yesterday, but after exercise, 162 calories were added back, totaling 1,662 allowed for yesterday, so I was six calories shy of my maximum allowable for yesterday.

nossmf

lorrpb wrote: »

There is a thread in the Gaining forum called Which Lifting Program is Right For You? Surprised no one has mentioned it, but I can't post the link right now.

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

brtgl

nossmf wrote: »

lorrpb wrote: »

There is a thread in the Gaining forum called Which Lifting Program is Right For You? Surprised no one has mentioned it, but I can't post the link right now.

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

Thanks. I ended up going with StrongLifts 5×5 http://stronglifts.com/5x5/ a few days ago. Your link categorizes it as "beginner". That's interesting, but not surprising. SO far, it's been very, very easy, but I understand it gets more strenuous.

brtgl

JerSchmare wrote: »

I’m doing ppl/ppl/rest. I’m finishing week 3 and digging it. What I like about is it’s very flexible. You can do it 3, 4, 5, or 6 Days a week. I do 6 Days, but you don’t have to.

Also, don’t spend too much time obsessing over the perfect program. At the end of the day, all the good ones are the same, you push and pull. Deadlift, squat, bench press, and then other stuff to support those main heavy lifts. It’s pretty simple.

Can you elaborate on "ppl/ppl/rest"? I'd like to check it out.

DevilsFan1

bgowder wrote: »

nossmf wrote: »

lorrpb wrote: »

There is a thread in the Gaining forum called Which Lifting Program is Right For You? Surprised no one has mentioned it, but I can't post the link right now.

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

Thanks. I ended up going with StrongLifts 5×5 http://stronglifts.com/5x5/ a few days ago. Your link categorizes it as "beginner". That's interesting, but not surprising. SO far, it's been very, very easy, but I understand it gets more strenuous.

You really don't have to spend your time squatting or benching the bar if it's too easy. Up the weight to a number that is more challenging but not so challenging you can't complete it.

jseams1234

bgowder wrote: »

JerSchmare wrote: »

I’m doing ppl/ppl/rest. I’m finishing week 3 and digging it. What I like about is it’s very flexible. You can do it 3, 4, 5, or 6 Days a week. I do 6 Days, but you don’t have to.

Also, don’t spend too much time obsessing over the perfect program. At the end of the day, all the good ones are the same, you push and pull. Deadlift, squat, bench press, and then other stuff to support those main heavy lifts. It’s pretty simple.

Can you elaborate on "ppl/ppl/rest"? I'd like to check it out.

A PPL is a body part split. It's a session/day of Push movements and then a separate day of Pull movements and a third day of just Legs... Some folks will say Chest/tri's, Back/Bi's and Legs.

Push/Pull/Legs routines can be extremely high volume for each day, especially for the 3 day a week variants. Some people do 6 days a week, which is just the 3 day PPL doubled - but usually each session is then less volume. Not the best routine for a novice, imo. The volume can be too much on a six day double PPL and too much rest for the 3 day variant. They do work, but it's not always optimal.

brtgl

jseams1234 wrote: »

bgowder wrote: »

JerSchmare wrote: »

I’m doing ppl/ppl/rest. I’m finishing week 3 and digging it. What I like about is it’s very flexible. You can do it 3, 4, 5, or 6 Days a week. I do 6 Days, but you don’t have to.

Also, don’t spend too much time obsessing over the perfect program. At the end of the day, all the good ones are the same, you push and pull. Deadlift, squat, bench press, and then other stuff to support those main heavy lifts. It’s pretty simple.

Can you elaborate on "ppl/ppl/rest"? I'd like to check it out.

A PPL is a body part split. It's a session/day of Push movements and then a separate day of Pull movements and a third day of just Legs... Some folks will say Chest/tri's, Back/Bi's and Legs.

Push/Pull/Legs routines can be extremely high volume for each day, especially for the 3 day a week variants. Some people do 6 days a week, which is just the 3 day PPL doubled - but usually each session is then less volume. Not the best routine for a novice, imo. The volume can be too much on a six day double PPL and too much rest for the 3 day variant. They do work, but it's not always optimal.

Thanks. I might opt for the PPL approach over StrongLifts 5x5. It seems to get serious more quickly. I like the StrongLifts app though and wonder if I could find something comparable if I switch programs.

Okiludy

Stay with SL 5x5 for a minimum of 3 months. Don't fall in for program drift as you will just continue it. This will kill your gains as you keep jumping from one to another programming never seeing a progression and thinking it doesn't work. It works just give it time.

SL5x5 will work and will get damn hard. I did a similar program, Starting Strength, and started at the same point as you did on SL. I did SS for 3 months before moving into intermediate programming. In 10 months I went from 45 squat, 45 bench, 65 deadlift to 415 squat, 225 bench, 500 deadlift. Was it too easy at the start? Yes but it helps you learn the lifts and prevents injury. Before too long it will not be easy.

Oh and enjoy the novice phase. You are basically going to be setting a PR every session and it feels awesome. PRs are now more a weekly or bi-weekly thing for me. I am not looking forward to when PRs are a month or more in between.

Packerjohn

JerSchmare wrote: »

I’m doing ppl/ppl/rest. I’m finishing week 3 and digging it. What I like about is it’s very flexible. You can do it 3, 4, 5, or 6 Days a week. I do 6 Days, but you don’t have to.

Also, don’t spend too much time obsessing over the perfect program. At the end of the day, all the good ones are the same, you push and pull. Deadlift, squat, bench press, and then other stuff to support those main heavy lifts. It’s pretty simple.

Yep, most strength and conditioning people will talk about 5-7 basic human movements: Squat, Hinge (deadlift),
Lunge, Push, Pull and Carry. Some won't call out a lunge separately and/or they may add rotational movement

Sample
https://www.t-nation.com/training/the-6-foundational-movement-patterns

The big thing is being CONSISTENT. 3-4 mid level intensity workouts a week for a year will trump going balls out once or twice a month for that same year.

Juan2manyTacos

Chest bi’s and back day 1
Legs shoulders and tri’s the next day or workout
For example
Start with the Flat bench press and start (1x10) don’t rest when your done with the first set and head to a lat pull down machine and begin (1x10), immediately after this set find a set of dumbbells and complete a standing curl set (1x10). After curls go back to the flat bench and repeat 2 more times. In short pick 1 movement for each muscle group (chest bi’s and back) and complete 3 sets of 10 reps for each movement.

Deacap

I am doing a SL Variation (ICF). Started 1/1/2018 and it was easy but not now. Give SL at least 3 months and then tell us how easy it is.

brtgl

Deacap wrote: »

I am doing a SL Variation (ICF). Started 1/1/2018 and it was easy but not now. Give SL at least 3 months and then tell us how easy it is.

I’m finally feeling challenged with SL 5x5, although I had to increase bench press 20 pounds. I’ll see how it goes for at least another month or so.

erickirb

Juan2manyTacos wrote: »

Chest bi’s and back day 1
Legs shoulders and tri’s the next day or workout
For example
Start with the Flat bench press and start (1x10) don’t rest when your done with the first set and head to a lat pull down machine and begin (1x10), immediately after this set find a set of dumbbells and complete a standing curl set (1x10). After curls go back to the flat bench and repeat 2 more times. In short pick 1 movement for each muscle group (chest bi’s and back) and complete 3 sets of 10 reps for each movement.

Why? what is the goal you are aiming to achieve with this workout?