hit 35 and super dense wall

[carl68]

I've hit 35 and my body is changing. I'm finding it more and more difficult to maintain mass, keep off the fat, keep metabolism up ... I have cut intake of my 5-6 meals a day routine, seriously boosted my cardio in morning on very empty stomach, but my body is not responding like it use to ...

Any suggestions? Any foods that will keep my bulk? Or is it super-serious concentrated work-outs from here on end w/minimum food intake and lots of protein shakes?

Men over 35 please give inslight

 

[Leslie]

Originally posted by carl68
I'm finding it more and more difficult to maintain mass,

... I have cut intake of my 5-6 meals a day routine,

seriously boosted my cardio in morning on very empty stomach,

I think your answer is right there. Cardio can be a serious muscle/LBM eater. One should not rely on cardio to lose weight but rather manipulate their food.

You say you cut your intake- how much? If you are underfed perhaps you need a refeed due to low leptin levels?

 

[Premo55]

Cardio sucks. Seriously. I only do HIIT when I absolutely have to during the last 4 or so weeks of a cut. If I need to establish a caloric deficit I just do some walking outside.

Peace.

 

[Downtown Guy]

Carl,

Leslie and Premo gave you superb advice - back off on the cardio and concentrate on resistance training and nutrition.

As one of the older guys, I simply came to the conclusion that we have to work harder and smarter to accomplish our goals. Ironically, I have learned much of what I know about nutrition and weightlifting from the younger guys and gals.

For starters, you have to get your nutrition right. You may want to actually eat more, not less. That depends on how your nutrition plan compares to your caloric maitenance levels. It also depends on your current goals, whether you want to build mass or cut fat. You say you want to do both? Yeah, so do I! But I realize it's unrealistic to expect to build mass and cut fat simultaneously. You need to realize that too. Do one first, then the other. A six-month plan may go something like this; you may choose to build mass for 4 months while keeping the fat gains to a minimum, then concentrate on cutting the fat for 2 months. You'll then be ripped, lean and ready for the beach just in time for summer.

You also have to fine-tune your workouts. I think the big compound exercises are absolutely essential for building mass. I'm talking about a routine that revolves around Squats and Deadlifts. It should probably also include Rows, Bench Press, Pull-Ups and Dips.

This is very generic advice, But without knowing exactly what your workout routine and nutrition plan look like, it's not easy to get specific. If you will post your goals and current nutrition plan on this forum, I'll bet you'll get fantastic advice from some extremely knowledgeable nutrition experts. Also, post your your workout on the Training forum along with your goals and you'll get superb advice there as well. May even start a controversy!

Be eclectic! Use the advice that works for you, and discard the stuff that doesn't. Work like hell in the gym while avoiding injury - us older guys don't heal as fast as we used to. And don't forget rest. Remember, that's when our muscles grow - while we rest.

Good luck!!

 

[Premo55]

Yup, as far as training goes:
Squats (ALWAYS ass to ground, parallel sucks)
Front squats
Hack squats
Overhead squats
Leg press
Deadlifts
Sumo stance deadlifts
Stiff-legged deadlifts
Snatch grip deadlifts
Romanian deadlifts
Power cleans
Clean and jerks
Power snatches
Power cleans/snatches/clean and jerks from the blocks
Push presses
Standing military presses
Bench press
Incline bench press
Decline bench press
Dips (leaning in)
Dips (conventional)
WIDE-GRIP PULL-UPS
Sternum chin-ups
Towel chin-ups
Overhead shrugs
Olympic pulls
Snatch grip pulls
T-bar row (neutral grip)
T-bar row (straight bar)
One-armed deadlift
Good morning
Seated good morning
Seated row (neutral or straight bar)
Standing bent-over barbell row wide-grip

Really your workout should be based on stuff like that, but really you can get enormous just doing deadlifts, squats, cleans, snatches, jerks and presses. Just always challenge yourself man. If you really want to shock your body in the gym, try an exercise compound like The Bear, which is basically a power clean from the floor into a conventional full squat into a push press, into a front squat, into another push press. DEFINITELY much more punishing than ANY cardio you can do, and an anabolic, lactic-acid building bodybuilding exercise like NO OTHER. I dunno if you've tried the heavy bag or kettlebells as cardio, those are also great.

I dunno if you vary your workout, but what I do is alternate low-rep failure workouts with higher rep pump/recovery workouts that don't go to failure, and I do some GPP (General Physical Preparedness) work (basically stretching exercises and some flexibility/recovery exercises, or exercises for the rotator cuff like Cuban presses and whatnot)...Your body truly does react when you throw a spanner in the works and alternate your rep ranges and/or exercises weekly. Playing with your diet at the same time yields great results. I also hope you're taking a week off every 6-8 weeks of hard training. When you get back to the gym, you'll notice how your strength and structural gains will skyrocket.

Peace.