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I started the following program three weeks ago, it was advised as a program to get me toned within 6 months. Although I have been training for 2 years and I still need to drop another 10 to 15 kg, I have currently lost 50 kg and built a bit of muscle.

What do you think of the following program?

This is the sequence I follow Mon to Fri. Sat/Sun days off

Crunches 50
15 min cardio hr 80 to 85% MHR
2 sets 15 reps per set on everything, legs get 20 reps on each set.
1st set at 40% and the 2nd at 60% of 1 rep max.
Each exercise gets done every day for 5 days.

Legs 3 exercises on Fridays add a 4th exercise
Back 2 exercises
Chest 2 exercises
Shoulders 2 exercises
Arms 2 exercises

Add third set at 80% of 1 rep max is added to each body part on the following days this set is completed to failure, if I can do more that 15 reps then I increase the weight

Mon add third set to chest
Tues add third set to back
Wed add third set to arms
Thurs add third set to shoulders
Fri add third set to legs

Total time taken 90 min
Total weight per day moved 13,000kg to 14,000kg

Any comments welcome

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danny81

thats crazy to do that training over 50. im pretty sure ur over training.

spiirit

Yasss my man. You are headed for a suprise. One day soon you are going to be going thru your routine and suddenly feel weak and not be able to complete the set. You may think it's a cold or hidden injury but after a rest it will be the same thing. You have stripped off all your deep reserve stamina from the body and it cannot keep up (restore quickly enough) the mass of energy you are expending. Just a warning... how you get out of the situation I leave to your imagination... LOL!!! (I am assumming you are a natural builder of course).

rahaas

I'm not an expert but that looks like allot of working out for anybody.

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Guy's

I was given this by a 68 year old who has been doing bodybuilding all his life (he still in competition) and this is his routine when coming back from time off, he has not told me what he does after this but I hope to get it from him.

All natural no extras.

All the work I am doing is at 40 or 60 % no big deal lol, the hard work begins at 80%, I do agree that it is draining but so far I am coping and as for 50 plus well that another story, the reason I am only going to 80% on one muscle group per day is because I am over 50 and well at my age it take a little longer to recover hence only 1 muscle group gets hit per day, as for the 2 day break well I can only say legs on Friday its a killer Dom’s lasts about 2 days and I need to rest.

Something I have not mentioned is carb loading which takes place on the weekend anybody tried this method?

If anybody has any other program they wish to share specifically for people over the big 50 I would like to see it

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Gazhole

Working 5 days in a row is a bad idea. Its not just about letting each muscle group recover, its about letting your central nervous system recover aswell - something thats actually more important the muscles themselves.

From the outline you posted it looks like theres not very much balance in the program, more pushing than pulling, and more upper work than lower work. These should be balanced.

The biggest problem though is the frequency like ive said. 3-4 days a week is fine for anybody. Read the sticky topics in training, they are filled with a hell of a lot of advice on designing a program and lifting in general.

My advice would be to scrap this completely, read the stickies, and put something decently balanced together

http://sdatrainingprograms.blogspot.com - Updated 02/12/08

"Do i not like that? No, i do not not like that, i LIKE that!"

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Gazhole, rahaas, spiirit and danny81

Thanks for your comments and I am aware of the strain and the unusual nature of this program but it is not meant as a long term thing.

Every program I have done has produced results some better than others, my goal this time is clear tone not size and drop some fat, I do agree with your comments about recovery and I am keeping a close eye on my progress.

I will be changing this program I would say within the next 3 weeks to a program designed for increase in size.

2 years ago I lost a lot of fat and muscle when I first started my venture into bodybuilding and I am very conscious of not making the same mistake twice

As for my lower body well all I will say is my legs are performing better than the rest of my body this program has started to produce some interesting results.

In general I feel very good and thanks for your concerns.

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Swede

I am also over 50 (will be 52 next month) and have been training for 13 months now: So far, my results are:

Maintained weight at 200 lbs (I am 5 ft 10 in) and lowered bf from 27% to 22%. My goal is to get to 12% bf and maintain 200 lbs and be much stronger.

Chest grown from 45.5 to 46.5 in.
Biceps grown from 14.5 to 16.0 in.
Stomach gone from 38 to 36 in.

At first, I was training all my muscles 2x week - made initial gains then found out I was overtraining as I was actually getting weaker....

I have made much better progress when I switched to hitting each muscle group only once per week. However, I am considering working chest 2x a week for a while - I really want to emhpasize my chest.

I have also started a program recently where I lift during my lunch hour M -F, then do cardio in the evening - I mix things up stationary bicycle, swimming and walking. I aslo works abs 2 or 3 times a week after cardio.

ALBOB

While I'm not over 50 yet, I'm getting pretty close. Before you decide to hit chest two times a week think about what you've already discovered; by overtraining, you actually LOSE strength. Instead of hitting chest two times per week, move it forward in your workout. (Also known as "prioritization") Let's say you do a three-way split; Monday - Wednesday - Friday. Hit chest on Monday, after having a two day rest, when your body is fully recovered and has the most strength. Then you can split legs and back between Wednesday and Friday, whichever way works best for you. Also, when you hit chest on Monday, use some high intensity techniques to make sure you're getting everything you possibly can out of your workout. Pre-exhausting my pecs with DB flyes before doing bench presses works wonders for me. Some people get good results from doing negatives too. (Though I've never been able to put them to good use.) Just try everything and go with what works.

Rules? You mean we have RULES for that???

Swede

What do you mean by pre-exhausting the pec's with db flyes? Won't I be weaker when I hit the flat bench or will the result be warming up my pec's for an intense chest workout.

And, thanks for the cautionary feedback. Since I posted my earlier message I have rethought my routine. I am consider the following general approach:

M: chest, shoulders, triceps

W: legs

F: back, traps, biceps

Then, on my off days as I can 2or 3 times a week do cardio and abs.

ALBOB

Typically when you do bench presses your triceps give out before your pectorals do. But if you "pre-exhaust" your pectorals with an isolation movement such as DB flyes, you can then move to the bench press and really hit your pecs hard. Obviously you'll need to lower the amount of weight you use on the bench, but the amount of weight you use isn't important anyway. What's important is how much work your pecs do, right?

Your new routine looks good to me since I've done something very similar in the past. I did have a slight variation you may be interested in. I split my shoulders into two workouts. I figured that when doing chest work I was also working my front delts pretty hard. The same with my rear delts on back day. So after my normal chest/triceps routine I'd do a couple quick working sets of side laterals and after my normal back/biceps routine I'd do a couple quick working sets of bent over laterals. No guarantees though, it worked well for me, but wasn't enough volume for some friends of mine.

Rules? You mean we have RULES for that???

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It is interesting that several of the comments given are saying what I am doing is not right and yet I am making progress.

When I see a decrease in weight being lifted or no progress I will change, my objective was to drop some fat shock my body for 6 or 7 weeks and then take a week off, change to my second phase going carb positive while using split routine for about another 6 to 7 weeks take another week off and then add a third phase of cutting as part of my plan.

I don’t think shocking your system when you need to is such a bad thing providing you are able to withstand the effort required.

Anyway wish me luck only time will tell if it works.

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ALBOB

Let me try to clarify. The people that have been telling you you're overtraining, or have a serious potential for overtraining are correct. You've got a TON of volume built into that routine. On the other hand, as you've pointed out, you're only going to be doing it for 6-7 weeks. That SHOULD prevent you from reaching that overtrained condition. But there are no guarantees. Yes, you're making gains, but what we're trying to tell you is that if you back off a bit and give your body more recovery time your gains would probably be much greater with much less chance of injury or illness. Shocking your system not only isn't a bad thing, it's absolutely necessary sometimes. But you have to do it correctly or you'll do more damage than good.

Rules? You mean we have RULES for that???

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ALBOB,

Nice post and again a big thanks to everybody else, I am charting my progress and on Monday and last night this is what happened with my training.

Dumbbell fly 3rd set up from 15 last week to 22 reps this week
Dumbbell bench press 3rd set up from 14 last week to 19 reps this week
Weighted dips increase in weight and 3rd set up to 20 reps
Also
Leg extensions up 5% in weight

These results are happening all over my body ok I do not expect this to continue but while it is and I am able to keep to the program without hurting myself I will for a bit longer, I am very mindful of injuries I have just come through tennis elbow (TENDONITIS) that was 3 months of no training and I do not wish to go there again.

ALBOB you agree with shocking your system correctly could you elaborate a bit more are you saying that what I have done is over the top if so could you give me your opinion on what would be considered a good shock to your system.

Thanks

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ALBOB

First off; the gains you're making are GREAT. As you've already stated, be vary aware of injuries, but go ahead and stick with what you're doing.

Shocking the system. Basically weight training is about adaptation. You're forcing your body to adapt to stimulus. Eventually, when it does adapt, you need to give it a new stimulus. One way of doing this is to "shock" the body. In most cases that means a very short period of drastic change in your workout. Using myself as an example; I prefer to lift heavy weights for low repetitions. My body seems to respond best to this type of lifting, the shorter sets help me stay focused on the lift and let's face it, I've got an ego. It just feels good being able to move a lot of weight. But eventually my body stops responding to this type of lifting. Also, I start to feel pain in my knees after a while. Either one of these two things lets me know it's time to change things up for a while. So for two to three weeks I drop the weight down and jack the repetitions way up. For instance; my normal squat routine routinely goes as heavy as 405 lbs for 3-4 reps. But when my body tells me it's time to change I'll drop the weight down to 225 lbs and go as high as 20 reps. Talk about shocking your system. I can tell you, after doing that for the first time I seriously consider installing those handicap grab bars in my bathroom just so I can lift myself off the toilet. But it sure does work for muscle growth.

The bottom line is that shocking your system is simply a drastic change in your lifting routine for a short period of time.

Rules? You mean we have RULES for that???

Swede

I am learning a great deal from this particular thread!! I was talking to an experienced weight lifter yesteday and comparing notes with him. Based on my goal of getting bigger and stronger he suggested pretty much what ALBOB was talking about in the previous posting.

This guy also suggested for 5 to 6 weeks, pick one muscle group, ie. chest, work it heavy with few reps per set - dont vary the chest routine from week to week during this period. However, work all the other muscle groups as you would normally with more reps per sets AND vary the movements. Then, after 5 to 6 weeks, pick another muscle group, ie. legs or back and work chest with more reps per set including movement variation. What do you all think about this?

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ALBOB,

Totally agree with what you are saying including the grab bars in the bathroom lol.

My next change will possibly be incorporating an increase in TUT Time Under Tension as well as splitting upper and lower body sessions, do you have any thoughts or experience with TUT for over 50's not sure if age has any influence.

I am looking at about 10 to 15 seconds per rep which would be something like 2 seconds for the first movement then hold for 4 seconds second movement for 3 seconds and then hold for 1 second then start next rep if it was a 10 second cycle.

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