50th year PRs
Cliffs: I'm 50 later this year and am challenging myself to set as many lifetime PRs as I can
tldr
49yo male. 6ft, 90.5kg/199lbs. Grew up in London, now live in Sydney Australia.
Have long term sporting background. International representative rugby player at top tier sporting university and played semi pro into my late 20s. Also played varsity soccer as freshman at college, plus all the sports including track and field growing up.
The past 20 years since rugby finished...I've almost always exercised/trained and have always been fit but it's mainly been 'working out' rather than training. By which I mean I train hard when I go into the gym...but without any real plans or goals.
I had two serious sporting injuries that still impact my training - the knee reconstruction plus a torn & bulging disc in the L5/S1 region and after a really frustrating 3ish years of a cycle or injuring myself every time I tried to go hard for a period of time, I've cut the intensity of my training over the past 5 years. By doing this and giving up several movements (squat, snatch, squat clean), I've managed to stay active and training all the way through....albeit going through the motions for months and then more committed at other times.
But I find myself bored with my training and staring down the barrel of a major milestone as I turn 50 in the middle of 2021. And so I'm going to aim to reach 50 in great shape and to give myself something to keep me interested by aiming to break as many of my lifetime PRs as I can.
Realistically, I'm never running a sub 11.5 100m or hitting the roads to run a marathon again and I'm not squatting or o lifting heavy any more, so those ones are out. But I think the upper body lifts are within reach (I've never been 'strong' in those anyway, but they haven't dropped off much) and I think some of the cardio PRs are definitely do-able if I can commit to the pain...albeit I'm definitely scared of the pain
Simultaneously, my cholesterol levels have been rising the past few years and I'd like to drop some body fat...so I'm going to be adopting a better diet and substantially reducing my drinking
Here's a list of my PRs...some of them are relatively soft, in that I haven't really trained them for that long.
PRs within reach
Lifting
Bench 107.5kg (currently at approx 100kg)
Press 70kg (currently probably 67.5 but gym closed right now and my home gym ceiling is too low for me to do standing press)
Bar Dips 26 (guessing I could do 15ish)
Erg
1km 3.17 (guessing 3.30)
2km 6.59 (I did a 7.19 yesterday and it damn near killed me)
Assault Bike
100 cals 3.11
200 cals (can't find the PR but I'll be attempting one)
DEXA PR: 16.2% (I think I'd be 18% ish now)
PRs that are possible but not probable
Dead Hangs 18
Erg
500m 1.28 (est 1.32 right now - 4 secs is a HUGE difference in a 500m)
5k 18.43 (guessing 19.30)
Caliper bf% when playing rugby was 12.1 - which I'm guessing equated to 14% ish?
Other lifetime PRs fyi that we won't be attempting to break
Squat 165kg (in 1993)
Deadlift 170kg (2010)
Power Clean 105 (2015)
Snatch 82.5kg (2015)
11.5 100m
1.28 half marathon
This is about as far as I've got.
I haven't worked out an exact training plan yet - our gyms are closed for covid at the moment but I have a barbell, rack and bench at home plus an erg and a pull up bar so I can train most of the above. I generally get to the gym 4 to 5 times a week and aim to do at least one other 'activity' per day as well - I've got quite obsessive about getting 10k steps in since I've been working from home since March. And then I have a very sporty 10 year old son who I am helping get fit for his upcoming season - both soccer and rugby will start in March. So we're doing sprints and skills training too.
Next steps
keep things ticking over with no huge focus for the next 2 weeks, then after a week's holiday 13th to 20th January, I'll commit to a more detailed plan and improve my lifestyle.
I'm very heavy for me (most of my PRs were done with me weighing 83-85kg and I'm 90kg right now), so it's a good time to try to get some upper body PRs.
the cardio goals scare me and are the main reason I've started the thread.
I want to force myself to do more conditioning work but I know the pain I'm in for - that 5k row PR was done when I was peak crossfit and will be a total nightmare to get to from where I am right now.
I'll be getting a DEXA in late Jan.
I had my bloods done last month and will probably get another lot done before my birthday.
I may also add some additional fitness goals...just not sure what they'd be right now
sorry for the wall of text and sorry if you're unable to multiply kg by 2.2 to get to lbs
We haven’t got into full negotiations yet - we put it off given all the stuff we’re doing with the house. But she’ll get the dog and I’ll get the cat. She works from home full time so it makes sense for her to have the dog and the cat hates her
Tbh I’m ok with it. I’m gonna be doing 80%+ of the parenting and I don’t need the extra jobs/hassle. Plus if she has the dog then maybe the kids will go and see her more often which I want selfishly but also for the kids.
neutral grip pull downs medium width 4x13-67
seated chest supported close grip rows 4x11-120kg
pull ups 10,9,10
barbell curl 3x9-35kg ss with
hammer curl 3x8-15kg
chins 1x8
all fine. my bad knee swelled up and was very sore after my sprints the other day so I was rolling out the key muscles around it after every set. I have my touch rugby comp tonight, which will involve probably 10x the running plus changes of direction, so I'm gonna be super sore the next few days. I think my plan is to cut down on the leg weights while I'm playing in this comp - use one of the two weekly leg days to do mobility, stretching, foam rolling type work to get my knee through it and....if I'm feeling it, maybe do a sprint training session on the other weekly leg day. My son is keen to do some sprints with me, now that he's in his offseason. He's also lifting 3-4x per week now. I had originally wanted him to learn how to do the core barbell lifts properly but I actually think it's a better strat to get him using machines that are easier to learn and give him more confidence to go hard and then down the track, once he has some kind of connection between lifts and his muscles and more co-ordination & knowledge, we can get him doing barbell type stuff.
we'll see. Most importantly for now...just hoping my knee gets through tonight and the next few months
the game went ok last night - we won, albeit I don't think we'll win a huge number of games. There are teams with all active u17, u19 or adult semi pro rugby league players and our team has several women and a few useless older guys. But good to start well and nice to do something competitive. I tried to be semi sensible given how little running I've been doing but I did do a few 50-70m full sprints for tries or in defense and oh lordy, I'm feeling sore today. My aching joints woke me before 5 and I've been icing my knee all morning
went to the gym before work but just did a rehab/recovery session to attempt to minimise the damage - 20 mins of stretching and foam rolling and then 30 mins on the bike
the rehab session must have worked as I'm not nearly as sore as I'd feared. Still sore, but not AS sore.
took a day off work to grind through garden stuff. Will be doing the same over the weekend and then it's mainly done. I hope!
snuck in for 45 mins at the end of the day
Isometric bench machine 3x9 pause reps 80kg
DB incline 3x14-25kg
Flye Machine 3x14-54kg - I did mega slow final rep of each set and it really got a huge pump.
Barbell Press 3x8 pause reps 40kg. this was meh but no benches or machines available
Lat Raise 2x15
same deal as yesterday. worked in the garden all day and then went to the gym for 40 mins at 5.15
pull ups 3x10
seated close grip isometric rows 3x12-120
neutral grip pull downs 3x12-67
preacher curl 3x11-40 ss with
hammer curl 3x7-15
all g. I spoke to soon re my recovery from rugby. My bad knee has blown up totally and is 2.5x the size. Probably all the garden stuff hasn't helped. either way, happy to get something in and to have made progress in the yard
rest day yesterday. I still can't manage to have any kind of alcohol and then sleep well - two beers, 1 wine, 1 scotch and I was up for 2 hours in the night. annoying.
knee swelling had reduced enough to have a decent ish leg session
single leg alternating leg extensions 3x10-42.5kg
glute extension 3x10-75
hack squat 3x9-120kg
hip extension 3x12-150kg
skullcrushers 3x10-40kg ss with
close grip ex bar press 3x20-40kg
I think you did it wrong. You're supposed to have one bourbon, one scotch, and one beer.
DB Bench 10,9,10 - 30kg
Seated Isometric Press Machine thing 3x12-70
DB Flye 3x12-22.5
seated DB Press 3x11-22.5
cable lat raise 3x12
seated chest supported close grip isometric rows 3x11-130kg
neutral grip pull downs 3x13-67
dead hang pull ups 3x10 ss with
back extensions 3x10-15kg
chins 1x8
barbell curl 3x8-35kg ss with
hammer curl 3x8-15kg
all fine. big announcement coming soon
The old announcement of an announcement. Cannot wait!
played in my touch rugby comp last night but didn't have time to warm up properly and both quads cramped. made it very difficult to play properly. our other two good players weren't playing and we lost 10-4. So not a great night
was really tired all day today and sore still, so just did stretching/foam rolling and then 30 mins easy cardio on the bike as a recovery day
early am pull session today which.....I realised half way through, should actually have been a push session - only did pull 2 days ago. no wonder it all felt difficult
neutral grip pull downs 4x11-72
wide grip pull downs 2x9-67
close grip isometric seated row 3x14-110 ss with
back extensions 3x10-10
chins 3x9
preacher curl machine 3x12
feel wrath announcement....I started TRT yesterday
it's something I've had in my head on and off this year but I had a random chat with an old crossfit buddy last week and he started on it 6 months ago and reckons it's the best thing he's ever done. He's only 40 but he's reported more strength, easier fat burning, a huge amount more life mojo and vigour and also a lot more sex drive. He's planning on being on it for the rest of his life, albeit he's only 6 months in and he's hopefully got a lot of life left.
He connected me with the doctor/clinic he's been seeing and I reached out last week. Got my bloods done on Mon, appointment on Tues and then received the testosterone yesterday and did my first injection yesterday too. At this stage, it's 2 injections a week and at this dosage I have enough for about 4 months. But I will get bloods done again in 6 weeks time to see how my body has responded
the bloods showed actually pretty high levels of total testosterone, 20.3 with the normal range of 8.3-29 but low free test level 294 with a normal range of 255-720 on account of having a sex hormone of 57 when the range is 11-71
happily cholesterol has got a little better this year with my healthier living. total is now 4.6, with a healthy range of 3.9-5.2. HDL is 1.7 (1.0-2.0) and LDL is 2.6 (1.5-3.4). and every other mark was pretty much in the middle of thehealthy range.
either way, the clinic clearly wants to give you the prescription and the free test level was enough to do this. I need my free test level to be below 900 at the 6 week mark to be allowed further prescriptions. And they tell you to wait til you're due an injection to get the bloods done...so that your level will be as low as possible
dosage is 0.3ml twice a week. cost is approx $400 per quarter
so we'll see how it goes. I'm of course interested in what it does for my body and I'm hoping it'll help me build a bit more muscle and hopefully get a little leaner. But I'm really hoping for the mojo boost as much as anything else. This last 12 months has been by far the most difficult and stressful in my life and while I've always been very driven and full of energy, I've really noticed a drop in my mood, confidence and drive the past 6 months but particularly the past 2. It's not gonna change the fact that I'm getting divorced and will be sole carer for 3 kids, that my wife stole hundreds of thousands of $$ from our personal accounts and my business to put up her nose, that I'm still gonna have to hand over at least half my money and not be able to afford any kind of house to live in...all while my business tries to operate in the worst conditions for at least 15 years. But hopefully it'll give me more drive and energy to rebuild...and a but more muscle to root some nice Sheilas!
I've taken a 'before' pic and hopefully there'll be an 'after' pic that shows a marked improvement
Are there any side effects or long term downsides to it? Good luck! Post the before pic imo
Are there any side effects or long term downsides to it? Good luck! Post the before pic imo
here are the notes on potential side effects I took while I was talking to the doc
- Nut shrinkage!! When you supplement test, your natural test generators shut down and this can lead to nut shrinkage and a lack of fertility. If this is a problem, I can supplement with HCG. Both of these are reversible
- DHT…which is hair loss, chest and shoulder acne and potential hair thinning. Unlikely at these doses
- Gyno…potential growth of man boobs, also water retention, mood swings, irritability. First sign will be nipple sensitivity and pain. This is the one to be very aware of as the man boobs don't reverse, so I should contact them at the first sign of this as it’s important to get onto it quickly.
o 40mg of zinc is a supplement I can take to prevent
o Cialis is another option…2.5mg which will also prevent blood from thickening
- Cholesterol will probably rise but shouldn't take me out of the normal range at these doses
isometric bench press 3x8-80
DB incline bench 3x10-25
cable crossover 3x12
db flye 2x15
seated DB press 4x13-20
lat raise 3x12
I was going to say you look great for an old man, but then you look great for any ****ing age. Well done
Surprised your upperbody looks that good with those babyweight lifts.
LDL 2.6 is not great, barely even passable (they will update guidelines eventually).. Higher standards please. I would say 1.3 is great and makes acsvd an orphan disease.
Now that you are going to get all T'd up, I would want to know if you have CAC score of zero (T increases chances of cardiovascular disease).. If not, then keep working on that LDL.
Back to cardio bro. Vo2max >50 equals 6 extra years of life, nothing better.
Sorry bud, missed this and yep, got the reference. I had weirdly never heard that song til I got to the US in 93 when I worked as a chef for a summer in a beach resort. The drunk young uns sang it every night on the bus ride home. Along with the the Flinstones them tune for some reason
