Thread: Strong and big-trying compound mostly.

At age 44, I'd take it easy and do less exercise per workout. Not so much the leg workout but the Monday and Thursday workout agenda. You could easily cut that workout in half and still be exhausted at the end if you keep your intensity high through out. At 44, one bad injury could sideline you for a long while and that would suck.

What is your current goal?

My current goal is to add as much muscle as possible. I'm not too worried about the fat as I can diet that away later and from what I have read I need a slight calorie excess to build muscle.

I would like to do bodyweight on bench, squat and deadlift.

Getting strong and Big is my main goal right now. Lose some fat down the road a little after I feel like I'm on my way strength wise.

There's too much volume going on here.

Look into a program like Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe to get you going.

4000 calories!!!

what is your lean body mass? use that to calculate your cals

I am also 44 years old. I just started working out about 12 months ago, after a long layoff from the sport.

My advice to you is to train each bodypart once per week. At our age, that is more than enough to produce results if you are performing the exercises correctly. If a bodypart is still sore by the next time you are ready to train it, DO NOT do it. This means that you are not recovered enough. This will lead to overtraining and you could actually lose muscle mass or even worse injure yourself.

Be careful how you train. As stated by x factor , one injury could sideline you for quite a while.

My routine looks like this:

Saturday: Chest / Calves
Sunday: Back / Traps
Monday: Delts (there are times I may skip this workout if my shoulders are too sore from benching)
Tuesday: Arms / Calves
Thursday: Legs

Thank you very much for the responses.

I used a couple different calorie calculators that showed I needed around 3700 calories a day to maintain my weight with my work and exercise level. Am I wrong in thinking I need a few hundred extra to build muscle mass which puts me around 4000? Also-in entering my weight into those things should I use lean body weight instead of my full weight of 275?

I started in the very beginning doing only Bench, Squat, Deadlift, Overhead Press and Rows 5x5. It seemed like my progress was slow so I added a few exercises.

I will try the advice given and cut back to those and see how it goes for a few weeks.

I do put off working out if I'm still sore or just feel worn down and think my body needs some extra rest. I hate getting old.

Thanks again everyone!

Originally Posted by Mongo44

Thank you very much for the responses.

I used a couple different calorie calculators that showed I needed around 3700 calories a day to maintain my weight with my work and exercise level. Am I wrong in thinking I need a few hundred extra to build muscle mass which puts me around 4000? Also-in entering my weight into those things should I use lean body weight instead of my full weight of 275?

I started in the very beginning doing only Bench, Squat, Deadlift, Overhead Press and Rows 5x5. It seemed like my progress was slow so I added a few exercises.

I will try the advice given and cut back to those and see how it goes for a few weeks.

I do put off working out if I'm still sore or just feel worn down and think my body needs some extra rest. I hate getting old.

Thanks again everyone!

yes

Yea use your lean mass. 4k calories would make you gain weight.

Seems like you want to gain muscle, but you get dissapointed when the weight isn't coming off.

Why not diet down to a better weight then try to start adding mass? While you diet down, weight train and keep the fatloss slow and steady and you shouldn't have a problem.

Originally Posted by SloppyJ

Seems like you want to gain muscle, but you get dissapointed when the weight isn't coming off.

Why not diet down to a better weight then try to start adding mass? While you diet down, weight train and keep the fatloss slow and steady and you shouldn't have a problem.

yea man i agree. 275 at 6'2! i would lose some serious fat and at least get in some kind of cardiovascular health going before you start going at the weights full force. im pretty sure a doctor would tell you the same thing. i would get myself out of the heart attack "risk zone" before you do anything if i were you

Yeah youre going about it backwards friend. At your size, definitely cut first....and THEN bulk.

Muscle burns more calories then fat. Wouldn't it make more sense to add as much muscle as I could as fast as I could and then the cutting phases would go much easier since I have more muscle burning more calories.

If I start with a cut first then I lose more of what muscle I have and I end up having to rebuild muscle that was already there.

Not being obstinate-just want to make sure I'm getting this right.

I enjoy and value all the opinions. Thanks.

Also-changed my routine to Bench, Rows, Overhead press on Monday, Thursday and Squat, Deadlift on Tuesday, Friday.

At 44 I feel my body still gets enough recovery with 72 hours between workouts.

Doing 5x5 with progressive loading. Done this last two workouts and feels better.

It would be best for you to cut and keep protein high, you will won't loose any muscle at all if you cut right. Having more muscle isn't going to help you loose fat as easy as you think. You only loose weight if you have a caloric defect on a consistent daily basis.