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MyFitnessPal Community

Slow and steady

nossmf

For the past four months, I've been restricted from weight lifting due to an elbow tendon injury. (Sure, I could've done legs only, but nah.) During that time I hit the cardio hard, figuring I may as well cut. Dropped 15 pounds in that time. Today were the twin good news of being cleared to reenter the weight room, plus my weight has dropped below 180 for the first time in decades.

Now it's time to reverse gears, from a no-lifting-fast-cut to a lifting-slow-bulk. I started lifting back in 2009 when I was quite overweight, and ever since have been doing more or less a long-term body recomp, naturally swapping fat for muscle over years. These past four months were my first true cut; highly successful, I think. Now, it's time for my first true bulk, though I hesitate to use that term, as I want to retain my leaner state and only look to gain 5-10 pounds of muscle.

Today I bought creatine (5mg powder) for the first time, so that's gonna be a learning curve as I go. Drink LOTS of water I've been told; I already do two liters per day, was told to up it to a gallon. (Not likely to happen, but a few years ago the thought of drinking two liters was impossible to fathom, so who knows.)

Stats:
Male
Age: 45
Ht: 5'9"
Wt: 179.4 lbs
BF: 15%
LBM: 152.5
Waist: 32.5"
Biceps: 14.75"
Chest: 40"
Quads: 24.5"

My plan will be four lifting sessions per week: M legs, T pull, W push, Sa full-body. I will also have two cardio days (W-Th) per week, and rest day Sunday. (This is not a new routine for me.)

My diet will start at 2000 calories per day, eating back all exercise calories. (This is a change from the past four months of 1800 per day and NO exercise eat back.) Daily protein levels will be 150+ on cardio/rest days, 180+ on lifting days. Goal is a super slow gain of only .25-.5 pound per week tops. (I'm fully aware the creatine combined with rising glucose levels from resuming lifting after a layoff is likely to have a significant water weight increase the first few weeks.)

Replies

nossmf

Thank you, thank you!

I've already changed plans away from bulking back up with pure muscle, as I have taken to running the last couple months and can attest how much less impact there is to my knees when I weigh less! lol Guess I'll be at this weight for a while doing recomp while I try to decide what my new balance in fitness is going to be going forward between lifting and running.

DiscusTank5

I think it's great that you are running AND lifting.

nossmf

It's been 8 months, time for an update:

Starting at the turn of the year, I began training in earnest for running a half marathon. Details of that little journey can be found in this thread, but long story short, I was able to complete the run in under my target time! One more bucket list item checked off!

Upon my return to lifting, however, I was hit upside the head with a few truths:

While training for the half marathon, my strength took a serious nosedive
I just turned 49, which isn't old but does mean I can no longer train the same way I did in my 30s
If I keep my ego in check, I am finally realizing that some lifts just aren't doing for me what I hoped

All this means I'm making a pretty sizeable shift in the way I'm lifting weights going forward. For the first 15 years, my goal was to get strong; going forward, my goal will be to avoid injury, stay strong enough to tackle whatever normal life throws at me, and look like a man who lifts. To whit, some of the changes I'm making include:

Eliminate lifts which have resulted in injury in the past (deadlift, bench press, BB row)
Not go below 8 reps in any lift (by not chasing 1RM any more, easier on joints, less likely future injury)
Include therapeutic movements to prevent injury, especially in the rotator cuff of the shoulder
Limit lifting sessions to max of one hour at a time (at one point in my early days, I was pushing two hours)

Retroguy2000

@nossmf

Those four steps are all great ideas. If you recall, I'm a few years older than yourself. I adhere to all of those except for being lazy with the therapy stuff. If I ever feel any issue in a shoulder or elbow I add more dead hangs and that seems to fix it.

I still do RDL once every 8+ days. And I still do barbell row. I aim for about 10 reps with those.

What are you doing instead of those? What's your concern about bench press?

nossmf

Bench press is great for all around strength, but it does have a risk of improper shoulder positioning, and for some people it ends up improving more the shoulders and triceps rather than the pectoralis muscle…that's me. Swapping out the bench press for DB bench (more freedom in shoulder movement, plus squeezing the pecs together at the top of the movement) and cable flies.

I'm keeping RDL in my leg day.

Was kind of torn about whether or not to keep the BB row, mostly citing concerns about my lower back which has been injured from deadlifting multiple times. For the horizontal pull, I've got 1-arm DB rows and seated cable rows.

Retroguy2000

You could try a Swiss bar for bench press?

Don't you find it's hard to get enough weight for 1-arm db row? Certainly if working out at home anyway, as I am.

I like the chest supported barbell row, at 30 degrees. It doesn't quite have as much ROM as the BB row as you pull to the stomach, but it's close, and it totally saves the lower back and probably has much less fatigue overall than the regular BB row. But, the fact it saves the erectors from all the work that the regular BB row requires is part of the reason I like the latter.

nossmf

Interesting…I've done chest supported DB rows before, never a BB version. What's the setup…pick up weight first, then sidle over to bench? Have a partner help?

Swiss bar…not even sure my gym has a Swiss bar…

My gym has DBs that go up to 120lbs. I have not gone above 225 with the BB row, so the available DBs are more than half that weight.

Retroguy2000

This is my bench.

https://repfitness.com/products/ab-3000-fid-adjustable-bench?variant=42149286772894

As you can see from the design, at 30 degrees if you imagine where your lower chest would be, near the top of the bench, there's clear air down to the floor. So I simply leave the bar there, reach down and row. Depending on the specific bench design, this might not work as well for other benches, but it luckily works perfectly for me. At 30 degrees I have a perfect distance to reach the bar with a stretch, but without the bench being too steep.

As mentioned above, I can't go heavy enough with my db's (I already max my loadable db's, unless I buy a new set of slimmer plates which I won't be doing), but I can load the bar up heavier than I would for regular BB row.