50 Y.O. seeking advice for good weightlifting routine/app

[Creig]

Yeah, I know I wasn't actually anywhere near being truly obese. I just used it as the final straw to push me back into the gym and start eating healthy again. I'd been unhappy with my weight for awhile and needed that extra little prod to actually get started.

And my weight has finally dropped back down to 218 again. Took a month, though. Oh, and I started my cardio routine back up again this week. I'll hopefully be doing 1/2 hour of various cardio routines on Tues and Thurs. So it's lifting M-W-F and cardio T-Th. I'm leaving my weekends alone simply to recover physically and mentally. I'm not and never have been a real fitness nut. So this level of exercise takes a fair amount of willpower to keep me going. Hopefully I can turn it into a lifestyle thing and it'll get easier.

 

[pauldun170]

Yeah, I know I wasn't actually anywhere near being truly obese. I just used it as the final straw to push me back into the gym and start eating healthy again. I'd been unhappy with my weight for awhile and needed that extra little prod to actually get started.

And my weight has finally dropped back down to 218 again. Took a month, though. Oh, and I started my cardio routine back up again this week. I'll hopefully be doing 1/2 hour of various cardio routines on Tues and Thurs. So it's lifting M-W-F and cardio T-Th. I'm leaving my weekends alone simply to recover physically and mentally. I'm not and never have been a real fitness nut. So this level of exercise takes a fair amount of willpower to keep me going. Hopefully I can turn it into a lifestyle thing and it'll get easier.

Nice.
If you feel like taking it up a notch, sign up for a 5k. Preferably a popular, straight forward one with no gimmicks.
There are a couple of reasons why running those races (and weekend) become addicting.
Great scenery. Great vibe. Nice after parties.

 

[Creig]

A good suggestion, but I doubt I could fit it into my schedule. I am a construction inspector and generally work 60-70 hours a week during late spring, summer, fall and early winter. Basically, all the prime times for runs. And my off hours during this time are generally filled with catching up on all the things that I don't have time to do during the week (lawn mowing, grocery shopping, bills, cleaning, laundry, etc).

In fact, I'm a bit apprehensive about the start of construction season this year because I highly doubt that I'll have the energy to hit the gym after a 10 or 12 hour shift on the construction site. Which means my only other option is to hit the gym at 4:30 AM or 5:00 AM. Definitely NOT looking forward to it.

 

[Mai72]

A good suggestion, but I doubt I could fit it into my schedule. I am a construction inspector and generally work 60-70 hours a week during late spring, summer, fall and early winter. Basically, all the prime times for runs. And my off hours during this time are generally filled with catching up on all the things that I don't have time to do during the week (lawn mowing, grocery shopping, bills, cleaning, laundry, etc).

In fact, I'm a bit apprehensive about the start of construction season this year because I highly doubt that I'll have the energy to hit the gym after a 10 or 12 hour shift on the construction site. Which means my only other option is to hit the gym at 4:30 AM or 5:00 AM. Definitely NOT looking forward to it.

That's what I do. I hit the gym at about 4:30am. That means getting to sleep at about 9pm. For me that's easy, but I don't have kids so I don't have that issue. You just have to ask yourself "how bad do I really want to be healthy?" When you do it for a month it will actually become easier and you'll crave that 4:30am workout. You'll be sharper at work. It's crazy but you'll have a ton of energy. You'll feel better. You'll start eating better. It will be a life changer. But, you have to be consistent. You can't miss a day because 1-day missed means you'll miss two, etc. Then you've stopped going and that sucks.

Put your gym gear in front of your bed in the morning. Build the habit of doing this because seeing the gym gear will let your brain know that you have to work out the next morning. And, it just makes it easier. Start with an easy workout plan. Your goal should be consistency, and you need to get those small micro wins. If you haven't worked out in a while it's going to be difficult and if you get extremely sore you probably won't be back. That's just a fact. You'll feel great because you can prove to yourself that you can make it to the gym at 4:30am. Congratuale yourself when you make it to the gym. It will make you feel good and it lets you know that you got this. After about a month you can start increasing the sets, weights, and new routines. This is what I did. In the beginning I went to the gym and I worked out for about 5 minutes. After a week I increased it to about 10, and so on. I'm at 45 minutes and I do 3 sets of about 5-6 different strength bearing exercises. I looked at a few strategies and went with it. The things I mentioned is excatly what I did. IMO, you have to get the brain on your side first, because your brain is going to want to keep you in bed until it's time for work. You'll talk yourself out of working out. It's what I did until I could trick myself into working out. Now, I don't miss a day.

Good luck.

 

[Creig]

Oh, I am definitely going to attempt to keep working out through the summer. I'm just not looking forward to having to get up at 4:00 AM to do it. I keep my gym bag on the passenger's seat in my car. I joined a gym that is between my home and my office so that I would have to drive past it in order to get home/work. I keep protein powders/supplements at both my home and office. Basically, I'm stacking the deck every way that I can in order to force myself to keep working out.

But that 4:00 AM alarm once construction starts....

Ugh.

 

[Creig]

I have never taken creatine, but I have been told it is a big water weight addition. I wouldn't worry about 5 to 6lbs a week. I do that all the time. Most of it depends on when you weigh yourself. After a workout I gain weight because I drink a shake after, and have a large amount of water+bcaa during.

As we get older, it is harder to keep in shape obviously. Your BMI looks to be complete bullshit to me. Mine also has me in the obese category, yet I am far from it. 6' and 225lbs. Under 10% body fat. I would focus more on looks, how clothes fit, how you feel than the BMI to be honest. Hope it continues to go well, keep it up.

Damn... That's quite an accomplishment. You must have been lifting for a number of years now to have that low of BF at 225 lbs. I doubt that's even attainable for me at this point in my life.

Thanks for the encouragement!

 

[Creig]

Time for my beginning of May update. I am still lifting three times a week, but cardio has been sporadic. I am doing 10 minutes on the treadmill at a fast walking pace as a warmup and have started doing 10 minutes of elliptical at a moderate resistance setting as a cool down afterwards. I really should be doing more cardio on my non-lifting days, but it always seems that I don't make much progress at feeling less winded by the time I finish. I really need to find some form of cardio that I enjoy doing (and have time for).

Unfortunately for me, my right knee issue still hasn't cleared up, so I am going to take the next two weeks off from doing squats, calf raises and leg extensions. I had assumed that it would go away on its own, but no such luck. I hope that I won't have to do anything more than let it heal up on its own.

My weight has finally started dropping down again. That plateau I hit was ANNOYING. I am now down to 214 lbs and am halfway (24 lbs) to my initial goal of 190 lbs. Once I hit 190 lbs, I can see where I am at and re-evaluate my final goals at that point. I am still on 1400-1600 calories and 150 grams of protein a day. So far, so good. Work is set to pick up in the next couple of weeks, so I will be doing a lot of walking outdoors for my inspection duties. Hopefully that will help keep the weight loss going as well.

 

[Ackmed]

Damn... That's quite an accomplishment. You must have been lifting for a number of years now to have that low of BF at 225 lbs. I doubt that's even attainable for me at this point in my life.

Thanks for the encouragement!

To be fair, it is from my work measuring my BMI. Nothing is 100% accurate, and they do the measuring of the chest and stomach, combined with the pinching of arm and side. I think I still have my work form to back up my statement, I'll have to look. Marine Corps did it the same way, just not with the pinching, just measuring the neck/chest/waist, along with height/weight measurements. I'm going on 44, and things are not as easy as when 24, but its not that hard for me. I realize I am probably the exception rather than the rule. Just lucky I guess. I thought you looked great, especially for your age. I don't like BMI, and don't worry about it too much. My work just measuring it twice a year, along with VO2 max. If not for that, I would have no idea.

 

[stAbb]

I have no idea if it's wise of me to even respond to this, as my view on health/food/exercise is rather relaxed.
I cannot tell you what exercises, routine or diet works for you. Only you can figure that out through trying different things.
If anything I type here makes sense to you, try it. If it doesn't, discard it.

I build my routines on this knowledge:

Trying to count calories isn't as easy as you'd think, everything on labels +/- 10% and nobody can tell you how much calories you actually need.
However, it is easy to check if you are gaining or loosing weight, and you are loosing weight. Don't fix what isn't broken right away.

When you want to get back to a normal eating routine, the trick for me was to make sure I actually have time for my meals and enjoy them.
I naturally eat less when I focus on my food, instead of something else.
Eating varied, mostly vegetables still seems like the best advice.

The most important thing is to find out what works for you long term.
Don't just force a diet on yourself but figure out why you where eating the way you did.
For example, is it the taste of those the food? Do you lack of free time to cook? And so on.
Take small steps. Life is a Marathon, not a sprint. Both our mental and physical energy will only get less over time if we don't accept this simple fact.

The same principle applies for any workout routine. If the previous workout routines were fun for you, you'd still be doing them. Find something that is fun for you.
Don't expect that you can just force yourself to do things you don't like to do. There is no need to fight ourselves.

If there was a diet that would work for everyone or some special workout routine that is easy and fun for everybody we would be doing the same thing.
Use your own good judgement and find out what works for you.

Natural processes / changes take time.
Plan accordingly.

With kind regards,
stAbb

Edit: I missed your last post. Glad to hear you are looking for workouts that you enjoy and that you are listening to your own body.
Took out a few "you's" and replaced them with we, because all this advice is as relevant to me as it is to you.

 

[Creig]

June update. Down to 212 lbs. Still trying to work out three days a week, but occasionally I can only squeeze in two due to my work schedule. I'm giving my knee one more week to heal up and then I'm going to add squats, leg lifts and calf raises back in and see how it does. If my knee still hurts, I guess I'll have to go in and have it checked out.

I've added a few exercises to my routine to help hit those muscles groups that I felt weren't getting enough (or anything). I'll try to update this post when I have time with my new routine. Hoping to keep up the exercise through the summer/fall until work calms back down again.

 

[Creig]

Been pretty busy with work (60-90 hours/week) and have barely had any time or energy to hit the gym. But I've managed at least one workout a week just to maintain. Down to 209 lbs. Hopefully by October my schedule will slow down and I can get back to 3 days a week.

 

[BAMAVOO]

I suggest starting to do things with the 45 lb bare bar, just to get the motions going right. Do not give a single thought to how that looks, you do you and don't worry about what others may be doing.
Adding to what Mike said, get somebody to spot for you whenever you feel the need, till you get comfortable. People are willing to help out at the gym.
I get spotted on some presses due to an injury that limits me at full compression. I am working my way out of it but it's a slow go.

i started with just the bar after my heart attack. You could see all the young bucks laughing and making fun. My daughter would get so mad at them. I just told her to let them have their fun, they don't have a clue what i went through and i would make fun of myself if i was watching it from my teen to 20's.

 

[SNC]

i started with just the bar after my heart attack. You could see all the young bucks laughing and making fun. My daughter would get so mad at them. I just told her to let them have their fun, they don't have a clue what i went through and i would make fun of myself if i was watching it from my teen to 20's.

I doubt they really cared. I've been to a number of gyms and no one really cares what a person lifts, unless its a shit ton. Every time I start my workout I do movements with an empty bar, there's no way for them to know where you are in your workout unless they are doing nothing be watching you the entire time, I doubt they are. For you to even notice them says that you are to concerned with them and not enough about you.

 

[mike8675309]

Let the idiots laugh. they'll be the ones with their dicks hanging out and tearing a bicep because their ego can't take it. I've seen some of the biggest guys lift only a bar for various movements. It's a good way to run your first set or first couple on something you may not have done for a while so you can nail the form and hand position before you add weight. I did barbell shoulder presses today and started with bar, and never got above 20lbs (85 total) for my sets as I was doing 15 reps per set.

 

[GasX]

Learning to scale your workout to your fitness level, mobility, current status is art as much as skill but at 50 (I am 49) you should be able to contain your "bro" urges and pace yourself. Another thing, at our age you are far better off doing low weight high rep schemes on a day to day basis. That is not to say that some power lifting won't be beneficial, especially to boost testosterone levels - but if you are getting into a 5 day workout regime, most of those days (imho) should be spent cranking out high quality reps.