Trying to figure out the best frequency vs intensity for working out. I am past the point of getting much soreness, now I get kind of a flexed feeling that lingers for a few days before disappearing. When that flexed feeling subsides it seems to be my trigger for working out again. Is that sufficient for mild strength gains? If I have a hard workout, I skip 2 days and a medium workout I skip one day.
I had shared an article that addressed the data, such as it is, in @Dr_Paprika’s weight lifting thread:
Personal opinion is that your approach sounds fine. You importantly are respecting recovery. Likely hitting that 5 to 10 sets per muscle group each week with a two to three times a week frequency of lifting.
And I think the gym rat experts who have learned through experience would agree as well.
It seems reasonable to skip a day after a moderately intense workout, and two days after a strenuous one. This is actually much better than not resting enough. You will not get stronger if the muscles do not have sufficient time to repair the damage caused by an intense workout.
The same advice applies to cardio workouts, if they are sufficiently intense. No need to do this for walking the dog or going on the treadmill at a slow pace for fifteen minutes though.
There are strategies to rotate muscles if you wanted to spend more time in the gym anyway that allow for proper rest. The most common good ones for strength training would be to alternate upper body and lower body. Another good one is to divide exercises into “push-pull-legs” sessions - where one day is spent prioritizing pushing muscles (chest, triceps, etc.), the next pulling exercises (back, biceps), the next leg exercises (machines or squat and deadlift variations); rinse and repeat.
Exercise studies tend to be of limited applicability to meatheads. If I do fairly heavy deadlifts, and do fifty sets of one deadlift each, a minute of two apart, then how many sets does that equate to in some study of people unlike me exercising very differently?
Here is an example of “push-pull-legs”. The three days per week version is more than enough for most people. Or simply skip a day (or two) between strength workouts. This workout seems reasonably well balanced, but you would definitely want to reduce the reps if going heavier, especially if you deadlift (which is sometimes considered a “pull” rather than “legs”. This makes sense, and also divides the three “major lifts” into one per workout. It also makes legs days a little more comprehensive).
Example:
More Info:
Mine is a little odd because the push and pull are built into the same rep. I push the air through a small hole and then I pull it back in. Another difference is the way we experience the weight. Weights get heavier with each rep so more effort is required, mine uses the same effort on each stroke if desired. You choose the effort level you want to use every second of every stroke. I feel like I am working at about 75%. This is something I plan to measure and the reason I bought the pressure meter. I have been doing 1 or 2 sets of each exercise with about 12 reps and that burns me out pretty good. All exercises are done from the sitting position pulling and pushing. I change the elevation of each exercise and the hand position for various muscle groups. I work the stomach and back by not using a back rest or front stop on a couple of sets. I am 76 yrs old and just want to maintain enough strength to do small construction projects and yard work etc.
Here’s another issue that IMO is extra relevant given the audience around here:
Recovery time varies with age. What constitutes moderate or intense varies mostly with level of conditioning, but also with age. A lot of the research, such as it is, is on folks under 30. Not over 60.
Your highlighting the importance of respecting recovery is very well made. There is though a fair amount of research on populations older, including significantly older, than 60, for precisely the reasons that the OP is doing it. It reduces or even partly reverses the muscle mass loss associated with aging (sarcopenenia). The consensus is that 2 to 3 times per week of moderate intensity is “optimal” but once may do it. And individuals vary. More baseline fitness can possibly do more than those starting out unfit. And more intense workouts do need more recovery. The OP’s approach seems spot on.
Another related question possibly facing older people like myself is getting short winded when walking. I am going to talk about something I suspect but cannot confirm. In my 50’s I started having more knee and back problems associated with walking. I basically started avoiding walking any distances. There was a slow decline in the number of steps I took each day that continued until I was about 70. Then when the virus hit my social life collapsed and I had a rapid decline in steps, basically just cooking and small amount of yard work and taking out the trash, for some reason I maintained a lot of muscle in my legs, and they remained firm but lost all stamina. Heart and lungs checked out good even though I have been a smoker. I am kind of suspecting that large muscles put out more co2 when they are badly out of shape causing the heavy breathing. it is improving with walking more but I can already feel the knee and back problems coming back. I think I just need to work around that and keep walking. A few months ago I started little life style changes that required more walking. Shopping once or twice a week instead of once a month. Parking further away from the doors. More yardwork, etc. It seems to be improving and adjusting to whatever my current lifestyle demands.
Talking now about recovery time. If I try to do pushups 4 hours after a workout I can barely do two. The next day I can do about 10 and the third day 20 which I think is abut my max. When I was younger, I could do close to my max within a few hours of working out. So I can see where recovery time is important.
Yes, that sounds like a good approach. Don’t forget to stretch after each workout. Stretching your muscles afterward helps you recover faster and feel less sore.
Stretching before a workout isn’t really necessary unless you’re wanting to work on increasing your flexibility.
I am glad you said that, for some reason I hate stretching before a workout, afterward seems kind of natural.
One day of strength training per week can be enough to gain strength and preserve muscle if done in an intelligent fashion. This applies at any age.
Stretching before a workout does not have much benefit. Better to do a warmup set at lower weight of the specific exercise (sometimes called dynamic stretching). However, there are exceptions, and some people enjoy stretching.
I find it helpful to do shoulder stretches before overhead lifting, a few jumps or ankle mobilizing air squats before squats or deadlifts, and face pulls or pushups before bench presses. But these literally just take a few seconds.
Back when I had a personal trainer, one of his things was to start each session with a 5 minute brisk walk on the treadmill. Not saunter, not jog, just march along smartly. I was 52-ish at the time & he helped me a great deal.
The goal of the brisk walk was to get the blood flowing, the muscles warmed up a little and breathing a bit deeper. Definitely not winded or sweaty or anything like that. That plus some arm waving to run the shoulder joints around their full range of no-stress motion seemed like an effective way to start the session without pissing away 20 minutes or half my energy on preliminaries.
YMMV, but I’ve retained that habit on the rare occasions I still enter a gym.
CrossFit places generally do a similar thing - two minutes of biking, jogging, whatever. I think it a reasonable idea, but this is not the same as a twenty minute warmup doing tons of passive stretches.
It is basic advice across the board. Active warm up. “Dynamic stretching”. … High stepping before sprints.
How old are you? I’m in my 70’s and have been lifting weights my whole adult life. At present I do a simple routine of two sets of six cable exercise twice a week. I do lower weights with more reps now that I’m older. I’ve found that lifting heavy weights to my limit only causes injury.
I’m not a very good long distance runner, even though I did cross-country in high school since many of my friends were very good at this. My muscle fibres are the opposite ratio.
But I am decent at very short sprints and still try to do high MET sprints weekly - usually on available gym machines instead of a track due to convenience and since this is Canada.
If you do not thoroughly warm up your hamstrings before sprinting, you will eventually hurt yourself if past a certain age. Warmup before sprinting is non-negotiable and an exception to my usual feelings old style warmups cut into working time.
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If you do not thoroughly warm up your hamstrings before sprinting, you will eventually hurt yourself if past a certain age. Warmup before sprinting is non-negotiable and an exception to my usual feelings old style warmups cut into working time.
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Even when young you will pull the hamstring doing sprints if you don’t warm up. I found this out the hard way.
Perhaps then, that certain age is three?
Yes it’s good you mention that there can be exceptions, because everyone’s a bit different and it’s useful to review and make changes.
For me, I do both static stretches and then a warm up. I didn’t always do it that way, it’s just what feels most comfortable for me.
And I’ve been training for long enough that friends and colleagues ask me for advice, and when I am giving advice I always point them to the standard advice, so e.g. I don’t tell people to static stretch.