Do you even lift bro?

[Khriss]

...wheel chair by 55  seriously though it's good to listen to yr body. Am always saddened by Tom, ferocious climber an big on sport, but hearing his knees n back cracking,  at 35, he ain't got long. My shoulder collars finished realy,  so the days on days of reductions are over. K

[Dilz]

my knees and back started cracking long before i turned 35!  suffer anterior knee pain, arthritic hip (genetic) and got some lower back wear and tear, had a bulging disc in my upper back a while which caused me no end of grief - seems ok for now    I was recommended to start weight training as a way to combat my various injuries and ailments.  squats do wonders for my knee and hip pain, and other exercises help in keeping my upper back in good working order though this is the odd morning where i cant move my neck and i will do nearly anything to avoid using pole saws.  Jujitsu batters me though....getting slammed into the mats many many times in an hour, repeated locks, and holds etc i should quit it but its fun but have considered dropping this to one night a week.   I think after 15 years of tree work plus the life style im in good shape, in fact its when i take a break of have to sit at a computer for a few days (and dont do any training) that things hurt - but yes i'm pretty much giving up on the idea of living any where with a staircase by the time i'm 50 which is why im working on my game plan to step away more and more from climbing or at least climb at a more relaxed pace.   Personally, i find all the activity is good for the soul as much as anything,  really helps clear the head after a stressful day and is the lesser of evils now i get hangovers.    Swtiching to SRT and using a 150  definitely has added a few years to the game though. 

[bigtreedon]

It just feels great to be under a bar squatting again. It's been a long time. 
 
I'm hoping to structure my lifting a little bit more now that I'm at a gym with proper equipment. I will continue doing legs on each session as I believe that the lower body focus of my lifting is what has fixed my back. I go to the gym every other day and would probably break the program down into something like this:
 
Day 1: 
 
Squat: speed work. 10x2
Leg Press (volume - at least 5x10)
Trap bar deadlift
 
Flat barbell bench: speed work/lower reps
Horizontal row
Bent over dumbell row
 
Tricep push down
Abs
 
Day 2:
 
Squat: Volume. 5x8
Leg extension. 
Back extension machine. 
Leg curl
 
Barbell seated shoulder press (sets of 8)
Hang cleans
Lat pulldown (I can do pullups, but at 110kg and 6ft 8", I'm not in the kind of rep range for optimal work - 90kg on lat pulldown is a good working weight)
 
Curls
Abs
 
Day 3: 
 
Squat: Technique work. 5 rep range, relatively light. 5 sets or so.
Leg press (volume)
 
Dumbell bench press: 5x10
Bent over barbell row
Rear delt fly (rehab really)
 
Tricep work
Abs
 
Day 4: 
 
Squat: Heavier singles/doubles/triples. Not to max, but 5-8 sets of low rep, higher weight work. 
Barbell Deadlift: Light, speed work. Nothing heavy. Focusing on form and explosive power.
 
Dumbell shoulder press: 5x10
Lat pulldown, wide grip
 
Bicep curls
Multiple ab exercises.
 
 
I don't think that I'm missing anything there. Please feel free to critique though as it's been a while since I last did a routine. The focus is basically on lower back and leg rehab, coupled with overall gains in strength and hypertrophy. I'm at 109kg presently, and would like to bulk up to 122kg or so, then cut back to 115kg and maintain. It's going to be hard to resist the urge to keep bulking, but it's not healthy in the long term. 
 

The only thing I would suggest is try and get into doing try and work at doing pull ups they are one of the best things for your back I am not as tall as you am 6ft4 but I weigh 134kg and can manage sets of ten usually try to do 5 sets really is worth it even if the numbers aren't high allot better than pull downs in my experience

[bigtreedon]

Certainly something I want to build up to. I'm able to do about 7, but that's one set. The next set is always less. I've got more back work in the routine than pressing, with the idea that I'll build the strength and mass up there. Hoping that a strong back is enough to prevent any more pain. 
 
5x10 at your bodyweight and height is superb. I'm not naturally a big guy (though I did get to 131kg last time I lifted) and have arms like an urangutan. Good for lifting atlas stones, but crap for chins!

Yea the longer the arms it's defo hard work doing chins my training partner has arms like a t rex so short bit brilliant for pressing and chin ups

[Vespasian]

OK came across some research the other day, the things I come across watching utube its amazing..

 

The human heart beats three times as long as any other mammals.. typically other mammals get one billion beats before they drop down dead.. the human heart lasts for three billion beats...

 

what should this tell you?....   working yourself up into a state at the gym is gonna take years off...   stick to aerobic exercises if you fancy living to old age...   and the shoulders, don't forget to exercise those..   much more important than you might think.. roll your shoulders and see if that doesn't have a calming effect on your mind....

 

 

[the village idiot]

22 minutes ago, Vespasian said:

OK came across some research the other day, the things I come across watching utube its amazing..

 

The human heart beats three times as long as any other mammals.. typically other mammals get one billion beats before they drop down dead.. the human heart lasts for three billion beats...

 

what should this tell you?....   working yourself up into a state at the gym is gonna take years off...   stick to aerobic exercises if you fancy living to old age...   and the shoulders, don't forget to exercise those..   much more important than you might think.. roll your shoulders and see if that doesn't have a calming effect on your mind....

 

 

[Khriss]

...yes, but this in no way factors in how much beer n ear ache the human body has to endure K

[Vespasian]

19 minutes ago, Big J said:

Vespasian, that is Donald Trump's logic, and it's fundamentally flawed. Any one of a thousand peer reviewed studies will tell you that regular exercise with (on average) increase the length of your life. If you're looking at it from the point of view of heart beats, then consider elite cyclists. True, they train very hard for long periods of time, with their heartrate reaching 200 BPM, but on the flip side, their resting heart rate is 30-40 BPM, meaning that per week, their heart beats far less often. 

 

Beyond that, consider my situation. I was in constant pain 12 weeks ago, having been in constant pain for nearly 10 years. I'm now in virtually no pain. It's incredible. I'd rather live a shorter pain free life, if that's the cost.

Well perhaps the cyclists have it..   cycling is sort of aerobic, perhaps a study to see if cyclists last longer than other athletes?.. 

[AHPP]

37 minutes ago, Vespasian said:

perhaps a study to see if cyclists last longer than other athletes?.. 

They're up against it with all the drugs.

[Jonny69]

44 minutes ago, Vespasian said:

Well perhaps the cyclists have it..   cycling is sort of aerobic, perhaps a study to see if cyclists last longer than other athletes?.. 

Cycling is almost exclusively aerobic. Are you confusing anaerobic and aerobic? 

 

Professional cyclists tend not to live to a ripe old age. I suspect the concoction of blood transfusions, drugs and running at 4% fat for long periods stresses the body a lot. 

 

Maybe the newer generation of professionals, none of which dope , will last longer