Over 40 and in need of toning

lydian8

Hello,

I'm sorry if this has been asked before and I didn't catch it. Feel free to point me in that direction.

Here's the deal:

I have been overweight to morbidly obese all my life, but I've also been able to move and exercise. I got really high on the scale this time and have decided that it all needs to come off. I've lost 66 pounds. I'm very proud of that, but I still have over 100 pounds to lose. I haven't been working out and I can't really afford a trainer this time around. I understand cardio and can push myself to add high intensity sprints in the cardio session. My problem is with getting into my 40s, my body has changed a lot since the last time I toned. More than ever, I'm seeing that my skin is not snapping back. I feel like a walking sack of pudding. With getting older, do I need to do a modified weight routine or should I just get in and do what I know to do? The muscle structure is still in tact. I have a great deal of upper body strength and pretty muscular legs from moving all this weight around. I'm just not used to all this jiggly mass that I have now. I'm afraid that once all the weight is off, I'm going to look like a human flat tire. I've trained enough that I know what to do to work my muscles properly. I just don't know my body this way, and am I kidding myself that I do have good muscle structure if my body is so different this time? I'm a bit freaked out and could use some encouragement and guidance here.

Thanks.

CipherZero

Congratulations on your first sixty-six! You're 40% the way to your goal already!

I only started getting fit a little over a year ago - starting at age forty-six needing to lose eighty pounds and out on a LOT of muscle that I simply didn't have.

The weight routine I use is a modified stronglifts (after starting with and disliking starting strength). My observations on my own exercise is this:

[1] You MUST worship the Goddess of Good Form, for She is a fickle ***** who will consign you to the Snap City gulag for the slightest infractions against Her will.

Form is *worlds* more important that the weight you lift. Pulling a 300 pound deadlift does you no good if you get injured and can't work out for months.

[2] Take your time.

I had one long-time lifter describe giving me training advice is like training a woman - it'll be slower and take longer. He wasn't kidding. As an older lifter, your recovery times will - at least initially - be longer. Older male lifters typically have less testosterone flowing through their bodies, making progress and muscle growth slower.

[3] Stick with it.

Like other forms of exercise, it's all about frequency and consistency. I lift three to four times a week and nothing short of and emergency will break that schedule.

[4] Worry less about loose skin and jiggling

A half-completed paint job on a house also looks like crap. You're a work in progress, and keep in mind you haven't gotten to the end yet. Even with my being obese for most of my adult life, my skin is starting to shrink into normal proportions - and even if it doesn't snap back all the way, so what? I'm still an order of magnitude fitter and healthier than I was.

Good luck!

lydian8

Thanks man,

I think that's just what I needed. I've been obsessed with so many negatives. I am really stasrting to feel my age and how much damage I've done to my body over the years, but every negative I come up against, I find I'm blowing the typical stats out of the water. The only thing I have not picked back up is weight training. I've been too busy to focus on it, but I don't think I can afford to leave it any longer. My body LOVES weight training. It's funny you should mention her holiness, Goddess of Form. I've always been all over that. I love a nice, slow rep that pushes me right up against muscle failure. So I'm telling you that I'm getting off my butt and doing it, no matter that I'm 43. Thanks.