Older lifters: less is more

I find as a 45yr old that working out three days a week is the ideal. Why? Because I get a day’s recovery between each (i.e. I’m hitting it Monday, Wednesday and Friday) plus the weekend. I used to work out five days a week and before that four days a week for three years, but I find three days per week the best in fact, I may switch it up to two days per week!

What’s more, I don’t do full body work outs each day; instead I work each muscle-group once a week. When I first began, this method was the last thing I wanted to do but when you’re my age and have to work out before the family gets up due to time constraints, it works well. The program looks like this:

Monday: Legs (RDLs for hamstrings then squats followed by calf raises; stomach vacuums - doing hamstrings first stretches them and assists my squatting as my flexibility is shit).

Tuesday off: Pick my nose, go for a 20–30 minute walk.

Wednesday: Chest & back (bench press, bent-over rows then dips finishing with stomach vacuums).

Thursday off: 4–5 hill sprints (max effort for the last two) the whole session lasting maybe 15 minutes.

Friday: Shoulders & traps (deadlifts, push-press and shrugs; finishing with stomach vacuums).

Monday: Isolation work (high-pulls, close-grip benchpress for triceps, curls for biceps followed by overhead tricep-extensions; finish with stomach vacuums).

…here’s where the program simply repeats itself…

Tuesday off: 4–5 hill sprints (max effort for the last two) the whole session lasting maybe 15 minutes. I sprint here because I’ve done no leg work prior.

Wednesday: Legs (RDLs for hamstrings then squats followed by calf raises; stomach vacuums — doing hamstrings first stretches them and assists my squatting as my flexibility is shit).

Thursday off: Pick my nose, go for a 20–30 minute walk.

Friday: Chest & back (bench press, bent-over rows then dips finishing with stomach vacuums).

Monday: Shoulders & traps (deadlifts, push-press and shrugs; finishing with stomach vacuums).

…and so on.

I know I put deadlifts down for my shoulder/trap day but they also work the bejesus out of your hamstrings and entire posterior chain, so after either squats or deadlifts - both of which hit legs - I’ll always walk for recovery purposes. In the above program I designed for myself, you’ll also note its shaped around compound lifts though I do have an isolation day.

The reason for an isolation day is to bring up my triceps so as to assist my bench and shoulder pressing, as well as bring up biceps simply for aesthetics (yep, even at my age you can be a vain bugger!). All work outs are probably somewhere between 30–45 minutes due to time constraints, but are doing well for me.

Kia ora koutou!